How to Do the Lotus Yoga Pose [With 5 Variations]

Often considered the “classic” pose in yoga, the lotus yoga pose is one of the advanced poses that significantly engages your hip joints and knees.

The Sanskrit name of this pose is Padmasana, which is derived from Padma, the Sanskrit word for the lotus flower.

The Meaning of Lotus in Yoga

The lotus flower itself is a beautiful proof of nature’s wonders.

It’s a phenomenal sight to witness how the beautiful lotus emerges itself from the muddiest of waters, floating so gracefully above all the murky chaos, proving its strength, resilience, and purity.

Lotus is widely known in yoga because it is influenced by these traits of a lotus flower. However, this is a symbolism that’s descended from Hinduism, an ancient Indian religion that yoga is deeply rooted in.

The lotus flower is particularly associated with many Hindu gods and goddesses, especially the goddess Lakshmi. She is depicted holding lotus flowers, and standing or sitting on one as well.

This symbolises purity, beauty, and enlightenment.

Yoga being rooted in Hinduism, it is too influenced by these traits of a lotus flower. It depicts a yogi’s strive to rise beyond life’s chaos—the strive to bloom with purity, resilience, and strength.

What Is the Lotus Position (Padmasana) in Yoga?

The lotus yoga pose, known as Padmasana in Sanskrit, is an advanced yoga practice that resembles yourself as a flourished lotus flower.

This blooming pose is most used for meditation, with benefits of improving your concentration and promoting flexibility to your lower body.

Warming up for the Lotus Yoga Position

Padmasana being an advanced yoga pose, it’s recommended to put in a bit of prep work in before transitioning into the full pose.

It requires great flexibility at your hips, so here’s how we can warm up for it.

• Sit on the floor: Practice sitting on the floor for 1 hour per day, and you’ll gradually notice a big difference in your hip opening capability.
• Practice easier deep-hip opening poses: The Firelog (Agnistambhasana) and Pigeon (Kapotasana) poses are good hip-openers, easier than the lotus pose to get your warmed up for it.
• Don’t rush it: Be extremely patient with the lotus yoga position. Achieving the flexibility it needs will take time, so practice similar yet easier poses first and then gradually transition to Padmasana.

Verify if you are able to achieve the full lose pose by following the step-by-step guide below.

If at any point you feel uncomfortable or hurt, don’t hesitate to cease trying the pose right then and there. Warm up before trying again.

Lotus Yoga Position: Step-by-Step Guide

1. Seated Staff Pose (Dandasana)

2. Cross Your Legs

Well done if you got it right!

However, if at any point of doing this part feels uncomfortable or is hurting you, please stop. Severe pain will likely lead to injuries that will stay with you forever.

Instead, go back and do the prep work. Do the warm-up for a week before trying again.

3. Gyan Mudra

Next, we will work with our hands to make the Gyan Mudra. Otherwise known as the mudra of knowledge, it’s a hand gesture that works to improve our focus, memory, and mental clarity.

4. Hold the Posture

Make sure you’re keeping your spine straight and your face neutral by gazing forward.

Loosen up your entire body, hold the position without straining too much, and slowly get into the flow of Pranayama or meditation.

5. Switch the Legs

Halfway into your Pranayama or meditation session, slowly and gently unlock your legs and extend them forward to go back to the Seated Staff pose (Dandasana).

Then, repeat the process again, bringing your opposite leg on top this time. Hold this position for the rest of your session.

6. Close the Lotus Yoga Position

After the end of your session, slowly release your legs and go back to Seated Staff pose (Dandasana).

From there, slowly transition into the Corpse pose (Shavasana) for resting.

The 11 Benefits of Lotus Yoga Position

The lotus yoga pose encompasses many benefits for oneself, ranging from helping your physical state to deeper mental and spiritual health.

Here are 11 ways you can benefit from practicing the lotus yoga position…

1. Improves Flexibility

In lotus pose, the hips and knees are flexed deeply, which over time increases their range of motion.

Holding the pose stretches the muscles of the hips, groin, and ankles, gradually allowing for more mobility and flexibility.

Practicing Padmasana regularly can alleviate stiffness from sitting or standing all day. And as flexibility improves, everyday movements like bending or walking will feel smoother and more comfortable.

2. Strengthens the Spine

This constant engagement helps to reduce back pain and improve overall spinal health over time.

3. Improves Breathing

The steady posture and deep breathing encouraged by Padmasana opens the chest and allows the diaphragm to expand fully, helping to increase lung capacity and improve oxygen intake.

In practice, this means practitioners can take slower, fuller breaths that send more oxygen to the muscles and brain.

4. Enhances Digestion

Sitting upright with legs crossed places mild compression on the digestive tract, and the posture’s breath work stimulates the digestive system.

Plus, the deep breathing in Padmasana helps reduce stress (which is key for healthy digestion) by activating calming neural pathways.

They both aid in gut function, helping food move more smoothly through the intestines and easing issues like bloating or sluggish digestion.

5. Eases Menstrual Discomfort

For women, the lotus yoga position opens the hips and increases blood flow to the pelvic area.

This can help reduce the intensity of menstrual cramps and tension.

6. Enhances Blood Flow

As you are seated with your legs crossed tightly, it creates a gentle compression in the hips and thighs that acts like a massage for blood vessels.

This compression stimulates blood flow, particularly in the lower body.

7. Promotes Calmness

The lotus yoga position is most often used for meditation, and it naturally induces a state of calm.

Its steady, grounded posture alone creates a sense of stability that helps still the mind.

But on top of that, the deep breathing in this pose triggers the parasympathetic nervous system. This counteracts the body’s the stress response, leading to a feeling of relaxation and tranquillity.

8. Improves Focus

Padmasana requires a balance of steady posture and aligned breath work.

It takes immense mental concentration to be able to hold a steady posture and breathing, without being distracted by the “chatter” of your own mind or be disrupted by any external hindrance.

Regularly practicing this concentrated state trains and improves your mind’s focus. Your ability to concentrate both on and off the yoga mat will gradually become stronger and more sustained.

9. Stimulates the Chakras

In yoga philosophy, Padmasana, among many other poses, is believed to align the body’s energy centres, or Chakras.

For instance, aligning the spine in this upright posture is said to activate Muladhara (the root chakra) at the base of the spine, initiating a flow of life energy (prana) upward.

10. Promotes Inner Awareness

Padmasana’s steady posture and focus on breath encourages you to observe your thoughts and sensations without judgment.

Over time, regularly practicing Padmasana often develops a deeper awareness of one’s own mental patterns and bodily sensations. It supports you to turn attention inward and strengthen the connection with your inner self.

This enhanced self-understanding helps you make conscious choices and respond to situations with greater clarity and wisdom.

11. Helps with Sleep

Practicing the lotus yoga position before bedtime helps to quiet a busy mind and release tension, setting the stage for a peaceful night’s rest.

Scientific studies support this: older adults who practice yoga regularly (including poses like Padmasana) report significantly better sleep quality than non-practitioners.

The combination of deep muscle relaxation, regulated breathing, and reduced stress in lotus pose leads to less time falling asleep, fewer awakenings, and a more rejuvenating sleep overall.

5 Variations of Lotus Yoga Position

If you’re not able to do the full lotus yoga position whatsoever, then there are variations of it that you can attempt doing.

The reason we keep mentioning not to force Padmasana is because hurting yourself is not the goal of yoga. Straining too much with the lotus pose can damage your knees and hips.

Every body is different. And thankfully, yoga is flexible enough for us to find a workaround that works for our uniqueness.

1. Half Lotus Yoga Pose (Ardha Padmasana)

This is an easier version of the full lotus yoga position, suitable for practitioners with a less flexible lower body.

Here, only one of your legs go into the lotus position. The step-by-stop process to achieve it:

• Start with the Seated Staff pose (Dandasana).
• Cross one of your legs into the lotus pose:
  • Hold your right ankle and bring it as close as possible to your chest.
  • Then, move the right ankle to the exact fold/crease of your left hip.
  • Your right sole should now be facing upward, while the top of your right foot rests on your left hip.
• Next, slowly bend your left knee and bring your left foot under your right knee.
• Straighten your back and face, hold your Gyan mudra, and start your Pranayama or meditation session.
• Halfway through your session, go back to Dandasana, and bring your left leg to top. Hold it for the rest of your session.

2. Easy Pose (Sukhasana)

Sukhasana is one of the foundational yoga poses, and a much easier variation of the full lotus yoga position.

It’s basically a cross-legged seating position, but with a suitable posture for a Pranayama or meditation session.

Here’s the step-by-step guide to do it:

• Start with the Seated Staff pose (Dandasana).
• Slowly transition into a cross-legged position to go into Sukhasana:
  • Bend both your knees to bring your angles inward, placing your left ankle under your right thigh, and your right ankle under the left thigh.
• Straighten your back and face, hold your Gyan mudra, and start your Pranayama or meditation session.

3. Firelog Pose (Agnistambhasana)

The Firelog pose makes for a good hip-opening practice. It’s a suitable warm-up for practitioners who wish to gradually achieve the full lotus yoga position.

Here, you’re seated cross-legged on the floor, but with a slight twist of position of your legs.

• Start with the Seated Staff pose (Dandasana).
• Slowly bend your left knee and bring your left ankle to rest on your right thigh. This should make your left sole facing upward.
• Next, slowly bend your right knee and bring your right ankle to rest underneath your left thigh.
• To get the posture 100% right, your legs should make a triangle:
  • Ensure your left shin is resting on your right calf. This way, you will find your legs in a triangle.
• Halfway through the session, go back to Dandasana, and transition into the Firelog pose by bringing your right leg on top. Hold it for the rest of your session.

4. Pigeon Pose (Kapotasana)

Kapotasana is another hip-opening practice that’s great to enhance your lower-body flexibility.

It positions you like a pigeon, so here are the steps:

• Start with the Downward Facing Dog pose (Adho Mukha Svanasana):
  • Come to your hands and knees on the floor. Make sure your wrists are positioned right under your shoulders, and your knees underneath your hips.
  • Anchor your toes to the ground, lift your knees off the ground and into the air. Your pose should now resemble a “V” upside-down.
  • Extend your spine by pushing down on the floor with your hands and toes, to stretch as much as possible without straining.
• Then, slowly bring your left knee down to the ground.
• Move it forward and closer to your left wrist, and bend it sideways to the right.
  • Your left knee should now be right behind your left wrist, and your left ankle should be right behind your right wrist.
  • Ensure your left shin stays straight and parallel to your wrists, with your left calf facing your hips. However, you may bring your ankle closer to your hips to easy any pain, if it is hurting much.
• Bring your hips down to completely touch the floor, stretch your right leg backwards, and let it completely touch the floor as well.
  • Ensure your legs and groin area are completely touching the ground now.
  • Your left sole should be facing upward, while the top of your left foot touches the ground.
  • This should now straighten your back into a more upright position as well.
• Stretch your neck, back, and your left leg as much as you can, without lifting yourself off the ground.
• Hold the position as long as needed.
• Then, slowly lift yourself off the ground, bring your left leg backwards and closer to the left one. Take yourself back to the Downward Facing Dog pose.
• Repeat the same to stretch your right leg this time.

5. Bound Ankle Pose (Baddha Konasana)

Another hip-opening pose that makes a great prep work for the full lotus yoga position.

Here, the soles of your feet meets each other as you’re seated:

• Start with the Seated Staff pose (Dandasana).
• Slowly and gently bend both your knees and bring your feet inward, towards your pelvis.
• Touch and press the soles of your feet together, with your knees dropped to the ground on both sides.
  • You can try keeping your knees touching the ground. But if it feels too painful, you can loosen up a bit and let your knees stay up.
• Straighten your back and hold your toes together with two fingers of both your hands.
• Gaze straight and try to hold this position for up to five minutes.
• Close the session by releasing your toes and slowly extending your legs forward into the Seated Staff pose (Dandasana).

Lotus Yoga Position: Tips for Safe Practice

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