Frog PoseMandukasana
- Category
- Prone & kneeling
- Level
- intermediate
- Hold
- 5–10 breaths, or 1–3 minutes supported, Yin-style
- Type
- Asana
- Breath
- Slow and steady — soften the inner thighs a little more on each exhale.
Frog Pose
Mandukasana — "frog posture"
Also known as: Mandukasana, Yin Frog, Wide-Knee Frog
Knees wide, feet in line with the knees, hips sinking between them — one of the deepest inner-thigh stretches in the practice. In Yin classes it's simply called Frog and held for minutes at a time.
Step by step
- 1Start in Tabletop, then walk your knees out wide, one small step at a time.
- 2Turn your feet out so your ankles line up behind your knees, shins parallel, inner edges of the feet on the floor.
- 3Lower onto your forearms and let your hips sink back and down between your knees.
- 4Stop at the first point of real stretch — this pose gets deep fast, and there are no prizes for going further.
- 5Keep your spine long rather than sagging, and let your head rest if support is available.
- 6To come out, walk your knees back toward each other slowly, then rest in Child's Pose.
Benefits
- ✓ Deeply stretches the inner thighs and groin
- ✓ Opens the hips in a plane most poses don't touch
- ✓ Long, supported holds let the adductors release gradually
- ✓ Grounding — the whole front body is close to or on the floor
Make it yours
- · Fold your mat or a blanket under each knee — for most people this is non-negotiable.
- · Place a bolster lengthwise under your chest and hips so the floor comes up to meet you.
- · Do Half Frog, one leg at a time, keeping the other leg extended.
- · Reduce the depth by keeping the hips more forward, closer to the line of the knees.
Take care
- The knees carry weight at a wide angle here — pad them well, and skip the pose if your knees are sensitive to that.
- Take care with groin or inner-thigh strains; this is exactly the tissue the pose targets.
- During pregnancy, keep the hips higher and the stretch mild, or choose Bound Angle instead.
This is general practice guidance, not medical advice. If something hurts, ease out of it.
Practiced in
Props that help here
- Yoga blanket — Folded under the hips in seated poses, under the knees in kneeling ones, under the shoulders for shoulderstand. A firm household blanket works too. find one
- Bolster — The single best restorative purchase. Under the knees, under the spine, or lengthwise under the back to open a gentle supported backbend. find one
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