Krounchasana (Heron Pose)

Benefits, Contraindications, Tips and How to Do

Heron pose
English Name(s)
Krounchasana
Heron Pose
Sanskrit
क्रोउन्चासन
Pronunciation
crown-CHAHS-anah
Meaning
krouncha: “heron”
asana: “pose”

Introduction

Krounchasana (crown-CHAHS-Anahstretches the front of the ankles and the joints and muscles of the legs. The pose stimulates the abdominal organs, which tones the core and improves digestion. Also, the pose helps those with flat feet.

The Krounchasana, or Heron Pose, is a challenging hamstring stretch that can provide many benefits for your legs. It takes some practice to get into the pose correctly, but it is well worth the effort! In this article, we will discuss how to do the Krounchasana and what benefits you can get from doing it regularly.

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Muscle Focus

Heron Pose focuses on several muscles such as

  • Hamstrings
  • Gluteus (Hip muscles)
  • Quads (Quadriceps)
  • Tibialis posterior
  • Calf Muscles (Gastrocnemius)

Ideal For Health Conditions

  • It helps to stretch the hamstrings.
  • It helps to strengthen spinal muscles.

Benefits of Krounchasana or Heron Pose

Benefits of Heron pose

1. It Tones the Transverse Abdominis (TVA)

The Transverse Abdominis (TVA) muscle is one of the core muscles, practicing this Pose helps to strengthen it. Transverse Abdominis (TVA) plays an important role in keeping the organs intact and protects them from injuries during physical activities like sports or heavy lifting.

2. It Tones your Leg Muscles

Heron Pose is a great exercise to strengthen your legs, practicing this pose regularly will help you improve the strength of your thighs, calves, and ankles.

3. It Makes you Feel Lighter

It makes you feel light from inside out! You will notice that this poses works on every muscle of your body from head to toe, thus making you look younger than ever before!

4. Improves Hamstrings Flexibility

The Krounchasana is a great pose for improving hamstring flexibility and strength. It will also help you improve your flexibility in other parts of your body as well.

5. It Improves Digestive Health

This pose is known to improve the digestion process, thus helping you get rid of constipation or indigestion problems.

6. Good for Insomnia

If you are suffering from insomnia, then this pose will definitely help you because it helps to calm the nervous system and improves sleep quality.

7. Calms Nervous System And Relieves Stress

The Heron Pose helps to calm the nervous system and relieves stress. It improves your focus, concentration power, and mental clarity.

8. It Improves Blood Circulation in the Body and Increases Energy Level

Practicing this pose regularly will help you improve blood circulation in the body, thus increasing energy levels naturally! This means that it will boost your metabolism as well which means faster weight loss results for those who are trying to shed some pounds off their bodies.

9. Improves Posture & Balance

This is a great exercise for improving posture because it helps strengthen core muscles while also lengthening them at the same time – this leads to better overall balance throughout the day without even having any back pain issues if practiced correctly.

Contraindications

Those with ankle, knee, or hip injuries should avoid this pose. Also, women who are menstruating should not take Krounchasana. People with low back injury or pain may need to modify the pose.

Variations

  • Heron Pose with Yoga Strap or Towel.

Preparatory Pose

Beginner’s Tips

  • If you can’t easily hold your feet with your hands, try holding each foot with a yoga strap looped around the middle arch.
  • To come out of the pose, slowly release your feet and straighten your legs.

How to do Heron Pose

Step by step instructions on how to perform Krounchasana (Heron pose): 

  • Start off with sitting on your Yoga mat with legs extended (Staff Pose).
  • Bend your left knee in half Vajrasana (Half Thunderbolt Pose) and shift your body to the left, and place your left knee on the ground.
  • Bring your right foot in front of you with the top of the foot flat on the floor.
  • Reach forward with both hands while lengthening through your spine, and slowly and gently start to lift your right leg up as much as possible by bending it a little.
  • After raising the leg to the maximum extent straighten your knees
  • Hold for up to 30 seconds before releasing back into Staff Pose. Switch sides and repeat.

Mental Benefits of Heron Pose

  • Relieves stress and anxiety. It is also good for
  • Depression
  • Insomnia
  • Headaches
  • Fatigue
  • Increases blood flow to the brain

The Bottom Line

If you are looking to improve your hamstring flexibility or strength, tone your core muscles, or just feel better in general, the Krounchasana is a great pose to try. This advanced yoga pose takes some practice to get into correctly but is well worth the effort.

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1 sources
  1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4728955/
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Meera Watts
Meera Watts is the owner and founder of Siddhi Yoga International. She is known worldwide for her thought leadership in the wellness industry and was recognized as a Top 20 International Yoga Blogger. Her writing on holistic health has appeared in Elephant Journal, CureJoy, FunTimesGuide, OMtimes and other international magazines. She got the Top 100 Entrepreneur of Singapore award in 2022. Meera is a yoga teacher and therapist, though now she focuses primarily on leading Siddhi Yoga International, blogging and spending time with her family in Singapore.

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