Asana · Learn with a teacher
Padmasana
Lotus pose
Lotus pose. The classical seat for breath practice and meditation, each foot resting on the opposite thigh.
Awaiting subject reviewWritten from our source material and not yet checked by a teacher of this practice. Read it as reference, and learn the practice from someone who teaches it.
- Meaning
- padma = lotus, asana = seat or posture
- Family
- Seated
- Level
- Advanced
- Gaze
- Nose
Take care
The rotation must come from the hip. If the knee hurts, come out at once. Learn this with a teacher, and choose an easier seat with any knee injury.
Learn this with a teacher
This page is for reading. The practice itself should be learned in person from someone who teaches it, so there are no practice controls here.
Find a teacherHow it is done
- 1
Breathe freely
Sit with the legs straight. Bend the right knee and, rotating from the hip rather than the knee, place the right foot high on the left thigh.
- 2
Breathe freely
Bring the left foot onto the right thigh in the same way.
- 3
Breathe freely
Sit upright, hands resting on the knees. In the finishing sequence, stay for around ten breaths.
Holding it
Around ten breaths in the sequence; longer as a seat.
Making it easier
Ardha Padmasana, Swastikasana or Sukhasana, raised on a cushion.
What the tradition says it does
- Gives a steady, symmetrical seat
- Supports a long, upright spine
A note on the tradition
Padmasana appears here twice in practice: as a pose of the finishing sequence, and as one of the seats for pranayama and meditation. It is one entry in both places.
To prepare
Variations
Sources and tradition
- YOG Union App Content Map, 2 November 2026, p. 4