A Step-By-Step Guide To Mastering Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (King Pigeon Pose)

Learn How To Prepare & Perfectly Execute The Challenging King Pigeon Pose

King Pigeon pose, also known as Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, is an invigorating posture that offers a full body stretch! It's one of the most intense yoga postures so it may look intimidating to beginners, but with a few preparatory stretches and practice, it can be mastered. This posture works on stretching out many muscles and areas of the body from chest to hips to legs.

Are you interested in learning about Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, aka the King Pigeon Pose? This article is for you! It will cover how to do the pose, which muscles are active when doing it, and how to beat any limitations that may be stopping you from mastering this excellent asana. You'll also get a step-by-step guide on how to make each part of the pose really count - giving you the best possible results. Read on for everything you need to know about the King Pigeon Pose!

Anatomy of King Pigeon Pose: Understanding Muscles & Dynamics

Shoulder Extensors worked in King Pigeon Pose

The shoulder extensors are the muscles responsible for moving the arm from a downward to an overhead position. In king pigeon pose, it is essential that these extensors be flexible and well-stretched for a comfortable and confident execution of the pose. Fortunately, EasyFlexibility’s system can help provide individualized muscle stretching so that each shoulder extensor is properly lengthened for any desired pose – including king pigeon.

Eka Pada Rajakapotasana requires mobility in certain areas of the shoulder to be properly performed. This includes the pectoralis major sternal part, long head of the triceps, and the two short heads of the triceps if bending your elbow very far is part of this pose.

Elbow Extensors worked in King Pigeon Pose

In order to do the King Pigeon Pose, it's necessary to have a decent amount of flexibility in the teres major, posterior deltoid, and latissimus dorsi muscles. These three areas must be stretched and strengthened in order for one to comfortably achieve this complicated yoga postures.

Flexibility in the shoulder extensors is necessary for you to be able to bring your arm overhead, but so too is flexibility in the muscles of your scapula. The scapula, more commonly known as the shoulder blade, acts as a bridge between your arm and chest and plays an essential role in helping you to move your arm.

Scapula Muscles worked in King Pigeon Pose

Limited flexibility of the scapular muscles can affect one's range of motion when doing overhead movements. Two particular scapular muscles, the pectoralis minor and rhomboid major, can be culprits in restricting overhead arm movement if they become tight or stiff.

Stretching individual muscles is key to increasing shoulder and scapula flexibility. By stretching these important muscles separately, you can quickly become more flexible and make it easier to bring your arm up behind your head. This type of stretching will be much more effective than trying to stretch all the affected muscles together.

Front Leg Medial Rotators in King Pigeon Pose

Medial rotators refer to the muscles in your leg that are responsible for helping you rotate your leg inward. When stretching and working on the King Pigeon Pose, it is important to stretch out your Gluteus Medius, Gluteus Minimus, and Piriformis, as these need flexibility in order for you to be able to rotate the outside of the top and bottom leg comfortably onto the floor.

When performing certain poses, you may need to have flexibility in the medial rotator muscles. These muscles include the Adductor Magnus, Tensor Fasciae Latae and others located on the inside of your front leg. You may be restricted in these poses if the adductors are tight, but if your leg is extended or behind you, then flexibility in the Tensor Fasciae Latae won’t be an issue since it will stretch on its own. It’s important to note that people with tighter outer muscles of their front legs will tend to try and move them outwards while people with tighter inner thigh muscles might be inclined to move their legs more inward.

Back Leg in King Pigeon Pose

Hip Flexors in Back Leg of King Pigeon Pose

The King Pigeon Pose requires flexibility in the lower body to properly extend your leg back. This is due to the presence of six hip flexors that make up this pose: Pectineus, Tensor Fasciae Latae, Rectos Femoris, Sartorius, Soleus, and Iliacus. Limited mobility or tightness in any of these muscles can prevent you from fully extending your leg. Likewise, all the adductors will also play a role in flexing your hip as you perform this pose.

Adductors of Back Leg in King Pigeon Pose

The Adductor muscles are responsible for the adduction of the thigh or leg. There are four main adductors in the human body, which are: Adductor Magnus, Longus, Brevis and Gracilis. All four of these muscles work together to bring the leg back in toward the midline of the body when contracted.

Quadriceps of Back Leg in King Pigeon Pose

The Quadriceps muscles, often referred to as "quads," are a group of four muscles located in the front of the thigh. These muscles are vital for knee extension and primary hip flexors, and they consist of Vastus Medialis, Vastus Lateralis, Vastus Intermedius, and Rectus Femoris. All four of these muscles work together to extend the leg at the knee joint, providing stability and balance.

Despite making our way through many of the muscles and joints involved in the Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, we are not finished yet!

If your shoulders or hips are tight and lack flexibility, you may compensate for it by overextending your spine to stand upright and bring your arms back. In order to avoid this, it’s important for several muscles to remain flexible around these areas: the Rectus Abdominis, Obliques, and in some cases Psoas Minor. Not everyone has the latter though.

Mastering the King Pigeon Pose requires stretching a number of muscles to achieve the desired flexibility. But it can be daunting to isolate and stretch all of these muscles one at a time. The Zaichik (Kinesiological) Stretching Techniques are designed to help you with this process by isolating the needed muscles and providing techniques to help make them more flexible. By doing some tests beforehand, you can pinpoint your areas that need stretching most, and focus on improving Eka Pada Rajakapotasana with ZST's.

What is preventing you from doing the King Pigeon Pose? Let’s test your flexibility to find out:

If you are interested in learning the King Pigeon Pose, test your current flexibility with a few simple exercises. These tests will help you identify any areas that need to be improved upon in order to perfect your King Pigeon Pose.

Are you ready to test your body? Well, let's get to it! You can start by testing the flexibility in your four key areas for doing a successful Eka Pada Rajakapotasana pose. Once you know where you need help - maybe with your shoulders or hip, back or spine - you can then start improving your flexibility using Zaichik Stretching Techniques. That way, you'll be stronger and more flexible overall.

Shoulder Flexibility Test for the King Pigeon Pose

To test your shoulder flexibility, stand with your back against the wall and make sure that your lower back is in contact with the wall. Next, keep your arms straight and bring them directly over your head. Your goal is to press against the wall so there’s no arching of the lower back – no curve should be there. When you feel your back completely touching the wall, raise your arms to see if you can touch the wall behind you with your wrists. This will demonstrate true shoulder flexibility.

If you find yourself arching your lower back when your arms are up against a wall and your back is flush, this likely means that you have a lack of shoulder flexibility. To improve here, try our Overhead Shoulder Flexibility program to gain greater range of motion in the shoulders.

Can you reach the back of your wrists when straightening your arms against a wall? If so, this would be a good indication that you have good shoulder flexibility.

Are you able to bring both arms up above your shoulders and hold them in place with comfort? If so, your shoulders have good flexibility. However, such flexibility can still be improved with exercises and stretching specifically designed for the overhead shoulder region. The Overhead Shoulder Flexibility program specializes in this area, which will help increase your range of motion and strength.

Do you have difficulty reaching up and behind your head to stretch? If so, you may need to focus on increasing shoulder flexibility. Our Overhead Shoulder Flexibility program is designed to help you gain mobility in your shoulders quickly and easily.

Front Leg Flexibility Test for the King Pigeon Pose

Let's determine if you've got adequate flexibility in your forward leg for this pose.

To do this test:

• Lie down on your back
• Keep both legs straight
• Lift one leg up
• Flex the hip to ninety (90) degrees
• Flex the knee to 90 degrees
• Rotate the leg out

Do you have the ability to move your leg outward until your shin is horizontally aligned with your torso?

If you are able to bring your thigh toward your torso and make contact in the externally rotated position, then your flexibility is sufficient for King Pigeon Pose. Although it is not necessary, having this flexibility will make the pose easier and allow you to stay in it longer. If you are not as flexible, consider focusing on Lotus Pose which can help improve external rotation of the hip joint by increasing flexibility.

Are you able to easily rotate your leg inward and bring it over your body? If not, then it’s time to increase your flexibility. To do this, try the Lotus Program or a Glutes & Iliotibial Band program. These programs will help improve your flexibility!

Spine Flexibility Test for the King Pigeon Pose

Now let's take a look at how much your spine can extend. It's uncommon for someone to be flexible enough in the hip flexors to do King Pigeon pose without needing to overcompensate with their lower back. We'll assess your spine's ability to extend appropriately.

To test your spine's flexibility for the King Pigeon Pose, start by lying on the floor. Place your hands under your shoulders and press up into a cobra position. It's important that your hips stay firmly on the ground; if you place your hand below your belly button and move it to the side, you'll feel two bones (the iliac bones) that should be against the floor. Once in cobra pose, try to straighten a bit more so that your sternum is vertical – this is minimum flexibility needed for the King Pigeon Pose.

Can you do this cobra position?

If the answer is yes, then you have the minimum flexibility required to do the King Pigeon Pose.

If you’re struggling with this pose, it means that you lack minimum flexibility to perform the cobra pose with your chest facing forward and hips pressing into the ground, you may benefit from our Back Extension (Back Bending) Program.

Hip Extension of the leg in the King Pigeon Pose

The fourth component of performing the King Pigeon Pose is hip extension. Generally, people lack sufficient flexibility in the hip flexors and adductors to be able to extend their legs. This can usually be attributed to tightness in these muscles, as there are six hip flexors and four adductors. Some may be able to do the pose with only flexibility in their spine, front leg, and shoulders, while others will need a Hip Flexors program. Testing for this is not necessary as it tends to be the same for most people.

Now that you know where your problem areas are you can work on them using the EasyFlexibility programs for:

• The Front Leg
• The Back Leg
• Overhead Shoulder
• Spinal Extension

Or you can use standard yoga poses to prepare your body, which usually will take a longer period of time because there is no muscle isolation and there is no focus on the tight muscles in those groups. Further down below you will find a list of Yoga poses that you can do.

Zaichik Stretching Techniques - Unique Flexibility Exercises to help you with your problem areas so that you can master the King Pigeon Pose

~Stability~ ZST (Psoas)

The following Zaichik Stretching Technique (ZST) is taken from the EasyFlexibility Hip Flexors Program. This ZST works on the famous Psoas muscle.

 To perform ~Stability~ ZST:

To perform ~Discernment~ ZST:

Please note that what we've shared with you is only 2 ZST's from the EasyFlexibility system of over 100 programs. To get full benefit for your King Pigeon Pose we recommend various programs to help you so that you can target areas that are restricting you from doing a full King Pigeon Pose. To learn more about our programs please click here.

Traditional Yoga Poses to Prepare for the King Pigeon Pose

If you're looking to learn King Pigeon Pose, one of the more traditional methods is to progress through a series of poses typically used in yoga. This approach can be effective, but it isn't always the quickest route as compared to training with Zaichik Stretching Techniques.

Supported Fish Pose (Supported Matsyasana)

Enhance your physical and emotional wellbeing with Supported Fish Pose (Supported Matsyasana)! Start by sitting in front of a block or stack of blankets and placing your pelvis 8-10 inches away from the block. Slowly lean back so that your ribs are resting against the edge, allowing your chest and torso to open up. Remain in this pose for at least 30 seconds for maximum benefits, or add an extra shoulder stretch by reaching your arms towards the ceiling.

Cat/Cow Pose (Marjariasana)

Cat Cow Pose is an energizing yoga posture that can be used as a warm-up or transition exercise. It helps to form and strengthen abdominal, arm, wrist and shoulder muscles while improving spinal flexibility. To practice this pose, start in Cow Pose where you inhale deeply and drop the abdomen towards the floor while raising your chest and chin up towards the sky. Next broaden your shoulder blades away from your ears, sucking in your stomach back toward the spine as you arch your back towards the ceiling. After holding for 5-10 reps, extend it up to 30 seconds of holding before extending arms over head if you wish to deepen the stretch in shoulders even more.

Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana)

The Cobra Pose, or Bhujangasana, is a powerful yoga position that can help strengthen your spine, tone your buttocks and open up your heart. This pose may also provide relief from fatigue and lower back pain. Begin in the prone position with palms flat on the ground beneath your shoulders. Keep elbows close to your sides as you inhale and bend them so you are looking down towards the mat with a neutral neck alignment. Next, exhale as you lift your chest off of mat by rolling it through your shoulders while keeping ribs down on the floor.

Low Lunge

The Low Lunge is a fantastic exercise for improving flexibility and strength, particularly in the hips, quads, hamstrings, and knee joints. To do this move, start by putting your left foot forward with your feet hip-width apart. Bend your right knee over your heel and lower it to the floor, keeping your left knee firm. As you inhale, lift your arms up at a 90-degree angle from the floor and sweep them out to your sides to deepen the stretch of your right thigh and groin. Regular practice of this lunge can help reduce tension throughout the body while enhancing mental concentration.

Lizard Pose (Utthan Pristhasana)

Utthan Pristhasana - commonly known as Lizard Pose - is a floor posture meant to strengthen and open the hips. It also helps increase space in the neck, shoulders, and chest while aiding your practice of more difficult poses like King Pigeon. To enter this pose, start in Downward-Facing Dog Position with feet hip-width apart. Tuck the chin into the chest then step the right foot forward. Lower onto the left knee and press up into your hips with straight arms. Slowly lower onto forearms, making sure to keep spine and head in alignment. For a deeper stretch, press up on the ball of left foot while keeping it straight. Hold for a few moments before switching sides and repeating.

Half Pigeon Pose (Ardha Kapotasana)

Ardha Kapotasana, commonly referred to as the Half Pigeon Pose, is an excellent stretching exercise designed to target your lower back, hips, and hip flexors. When performing this pose, start in a resting position on the floor and ensure that your hips are parallel and squared with the ground. Bend your front knee until it is at a 90-degree angle and your foot should be close to the groin area. Straighten out your back leg while pressing your back foot firmly into the mat. Lift up your ribcage while pressing down onto the earth with each finger and keep your gaze forward. Do this regularly to reap its many benefits - such as improving digestion - before progressing on to more advanced poses like King Pigeon!

Mermaid Pose

Looking to increase your flexibility and core strength? The Mermaid Pose is a perfect place to start! This beginner-friendly yoga posture requires you to set up the Pigeon Pose on the right side, aligning your shoulders and hips towards the mat with palms firmly pressing against it. Bend your left knee and bring it close to your body, extending the left arm forward. To deepen the stretch, rotate your shoulder and hold onto your left foot with your hand. Take a few deep breaths while remaining in this pose - presence here is key!