Frog Pose (Bhekasana): How to Do, Benefits & Precautions

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Facing knee and joint pain at a young age? It could be a bad sign of a lack of mobility in your body. Want to get rid of it? Yoga can help you.

Yoga includes a wide range of exercises that will definitely help you to get rid of joint pain and cracking sounds of the knee joint. One of the bests among these is Bhekasana or Frog Pose.

Frog pose is an intermediate level stretching and bending exercise, that stretches your whole body and provides amazing flexibility to the whole body.

As its name suggests, the body posture in Frog Pose resembles a frog (Bheka), that’s why we call it Frog Pose or Bhekasana.

This asana removes stiffness of the joints, especially of the lower body and provides it good mobility. Practising it daily has an awesome effect on our overall body shape and posture.

How to Perform Bhekasana/Frog Pose

As Frog Pose is an advanced stretching exercise, it needs a lot of flexibility to perform it. You might find it a little hard. Here are the steps you need to follow, to perform this asana easily.

Preparing the Asana

• Firstly lie flat on the floor on your stomach.
• Stretch the arms back and the face should be downwards.

Coming to the pose

• With an exhalation, fold the knees and bring the heels towards your thighs. Then grab the upper part of the left and right feet with respective hands.

Take two breaths in this pose.

• Then, turn your hands and place the wrists on the upper part of the feet such that the fingers come over the toes, facing towards the head. The elbows should be pointing upwards.
• Now, press the hands downwards, pushing the feet towards the floor. Simultaneously, lift the trunk off the floor and raise your head. Make sure to engage your core and thighs.

In the beginning, you might feel very hard to bring the feet close to the floor. But after practice, you will be able to touch the feet to the ground.

• Now, take some deep breaths and hold the position for 15 to 30 seconds.

Note- It’s okay if your knees lift up during the stretch. You don’t need to bother, it is common.

Releasing the Asana

• When you are done, take a deeper breath. With an exhalation, release the hands and lower the trunk and head.
• Now straighten the legs and relax.

You are highly recommended to perform this asana on a yoga mat.

Precautions and Contraindications

• Do not perform this asana in a hurry. Perform it slowly and gently giving full stretch to the body.
• Perform this asana on an empty stomach or after 4-6 hours of having a meal.
• Do not go hard on your body. Do it comfortably and peacefully. Overstretching the body can be harmful to you.
• If you are suffering from any issues or inflammation in the stomach, do not perform it. Also, if you are having any surgery in the stomach region, avoid Bekasana.

As Bhekasana puts pressure on the stomach or abdomen, it can hurt you in such ill conditions.

• If you are having a deep or recent injury in your spine, core, knees, feet, ankle or thighs, you should not perform it at all. It can cause pain and ill effects in such conditions.
• During pregnancy, the pressure on the core, while performing frog pose, can cause harm to the fetus. Therefore strictly avoid this pose during pregnancy.

How Does Frog Pose Work

Frog Pose is an extremely effective stretching exercise. Let’s see what is the mechanism or science behind Bhekasna or the Frog Pose.

Starting from the bottom, when you press your feet towards the floor, the stretch is experienced in four parts of the lower body: feet, ankles, knees, and thighs. Then a little stretch is experienced in the hip region.

Moving forwards, while lifting the trunk, we press the abdomen against the floor. This puts a lot of pressure on the abdominal muscles and organs. Besides, it creates a strain on the lower and middle back, providing exercise to these muscles.

Also, the muscles of the chest, neck, and shoulders are put into work during this asana, thus they get stretched and toned.

This is how Frog Pose works. Now let’s see its benefits.

Benefits of Frog Pose(Bhekasna)

Frog Pose improves the overall flexibility of the body, especially of legs, back, core, shoulders, and neck. It strengthens the body and improves overall body posture. Here is a list of all the major benefits of Frog pose.

• In this asana, we exert pressure on the abdominal muscles. This pressure massages the abdominal organs and glands, such as the liver, kidneys, pancreas, adrenal glands and intestines, etc. This results in better digestion and metabolism.

Also, it stimulates the process of cleansing of the body, and tones the core (abs).

• The stretch on the knees during Bhekasana makes them firm and removes the stiffness from them. It relieves the joint pain in knees due to Rheumatism [efn_note] what is Rheumatism https://www.webmd.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/an-overview-of-rheumatic-diseases#1 [/efn_note] and Gout  [efn_note] what is Gout https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/144827 [/efn_note].

Also, it improves the arrangement of the knee joints and relieves the discomforts in knees.

• The pressure in the feet during this asana makes them firm and improves the arch of feet. It is also helpful in curing flat feet.

Also, it helps to improve the flexibility and strength of the ankles.

• Frog pose removes the rigidness of the heels and makes them softer. It is considered very helpful for those who are suffering from Calcaneal Spurs [efn_note] what is Calcaneal Spurs https://www.physio-pedia.com/Calcaneal_Spurs [/efn_note].
• It stretches the quadriceps (upper thighs) deeply. This stretch improves the strength of the quadriceps and makes them strong.

In short, Frog pose tones and massages the muscles of the entire leg.

• This asana puts gentle pressure on the lower and middle back. This pressure stretches and massages the muscles of the back, providing it better flexibility and energy.

Also, this asana improves the flow of the blood to the spinal columns and removes stiffness from the spine. Thus, this asana helps in keeping the spine healthy and enhances the spinal alignment.

• In spiritual aspects, it opens the Kundalini energy. Also, it creates a proper flow of Prana to the abdomen region. Thus, it helps to stimulate the Sacral Chakra (located just below the navel) and Manipura Chakra (located just above the navel).

Frog Pose/Bhekasana FAQs