In short: in this pose you sit with the legs spread wide, kneecaps and toes pointing up, and fold forward from the hips between the legs. It stretches the hamstrings and inner thighs. Sit on a folded blanket, open the legs only as wide as you can keep the kneecaps facing up, and lengthen the spine before you fold.
The wide-legged seated fold is a staple of slow and alignment-based classes. Yoga Journal calls it good preparation for most seated forward bends, twists and wide-leg standing poses. The shape is simple; the challenge is that tight hamstrings tip the pelvis back and the spine rounds. Below we explain the names, how to make the fold come from the hips, the precautions and the yin version.
The name
Upaviṣṭha means seated and koṇa angle. In B.K.S. Iyengar’s Light on Yoga (1966), Upaviṣṭha Koṇāsana begins with the legs spread as wide as possible, the big toes held and the spine erect and concave; then the head and finally the chest come toward the floor, and in a last stage the chin rests on one knee and then the other. Yoga Journal teaches the same pose as Wide-Angle Seated Forward Bend. It is also part of the Ashtanga Primary Series, after bound angle pose, on the AshtangaYoga.info practice sheet. “Seated wide angle” and “wide-angle seated forward bend” are the same record on this site.
How to make it work
Start tall. Sit on a folded blanket so the pelvis can tilt forward; Yoga Journal’s Natasha Rizopoulos explains that short hamstrings pull the back of the pelvis down, so raising the hips gives the spine room to lengthen. Open the legs only as wide as you can keep the kneecaps and toes pointing straight up; if the legs roll in or out, bring them closer. Press the thighs down and the heels out.
Inhale to lengthen the spine, exhale to hinge forward from the hips, walking the hands ahead. As you reach forward, keep the legs from rolling toward the floor with you. Stop where the spine starts to round, and stay there; the fold deepens over weeks, not breaths. If bending forward is hard, bend the knees a little and support them on rolled blankets, kneecaps still pointing up. A bolster or blocks under the chest or forehead make a longer, restful hold possible.
Precautions in plain words
Do not bounce or force the fold. With a hamstring tear, an inner-thigh (groin) strain or a sacroiliac or lower back problem, keep the legs narrower, sit higher, stay upright and ask your doctor or physical therapist. If you feel pulling at the sitting bones or behind the knees, bend the knees slightly. With a disc problem, folding with a rounded back is usually discouraged; keep the spine long or skip the fold. This page is general information, not individual advice.
Preparation, next poses and the yin version
Begin in staff pose; bound angle and wide-legged standing forward bend prepare the inner thighs. From here, the Ashtanga order moves on to reclining angle pose (Supta Koṇāsana) in the Primary Series; in other classes head-to-knee pose or seated forward bend often follow. In yin yoga, a similar wide-legged shape held passively for minutes with the spine rounding is called dragonfly; it has its own page because the instructions and intention differ.
Revolved Seated Wide Angle: twisting and side-bending with wide legs
With the legs set wide as in this pose, many classes add a turn toward one leg. “Revolved seated wide angle” is a modern descriptive name; you may see Parivrtta Upavistha Konasana in modern classes and apps, but we have not found it in the classic manuals, so we treat it as modern usage, and teachers use it for two slightly different shapes. In the twisting version, you sit tall, turn the chest to face the right leg, place the left hand on the outside of the right leg or foot and the right fingertips behind you, and lengthen before folding a little over the leg; Iyengar teacher Marla Apt teaches a similar move as Parsva Upavistha Konasana (side seated wide angle). In the side-bending version, you face away from the leg and lean sideways along it, the lower forearm inside the leg and the top arm over the ear, much like revolved head-to-knee pose with both legs straight. In both, keep the kneecaps pointing up, sit on a blanket if the lower back rounds, and turn from the belly and ribs. Keep it gentle with back, sacroiliac or hamstring injuries. Both are intermediate variations; prepare with the forward bend on this page and with revolved easy seat.
Where it is taught
You will meet it in Ashtanga, Iyengar, hatha and vinyasa classes, and in a supported form in restorative yoga. Yoga Journal also describes a version seated on a chair. Browse more forward bends in the pose library.
