In short: standing split is a one-leg standing forward bend: you fold over the standing leg, hands on the floor, a block or the ankle, and lift the other leg high behind you. It stretches the hamstrings of the standing leg and asks for balance and strength in the lifted leg. Blocks under the hands make it reachable; the height of the back leg matters less than keeping the hips level.
Standing split is a common pose in flow classes, often entered from downward-facing dog or a lunge, and it is also a classical Iyengar standing pose. As Kathryn Budig points out in Yoga Journal, it is related to the floor split, Hanumanasana, but needs more muscle work and less help from gravity. Below we explain the name, the cues behind the steps and the precautions.
The name
Ūrdhva means upward, prasārita extended or stretched out, eka one and pāda foot. In Light on Yoga (1966), Ūrdhva Prasārita Ekapādāsana starts from mountain pose: you fold forward, hold the back of the standing ankle with one hand, place the other hand on the floor, rest the head toward the knee and lift the free leg as high as possible, with both knees straight and the lifted toes pointing straight back rather than tilting sideways. Yoga Journal teaches the same shape under the English name Standing Split, entering from a lunge.
Be careful with one name overlap: the Bihar School’s Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha describes a similar standing forward bend with the leg raised behind under the name Bakāsana, which in most other schools means the arm balance crane pose.
How to make it work
Shift the weight fully onto the standing foot before the back leg lifts; walking the hands slightly forward helps. The standing knee tends to roll inward, so turn the thigh slightly outward until the kneecap faces straight ahead. The lifted leg tends to roll open, lifting that hip and tilting the pelvis; Yoga Journal’s cue is to rotate the lifted thigh inward to keep the front of the pelvis level with the floor. Think of pressing down through the standing leg to send energy up into the raised leg, and let the torso move toward the standing leg as the back leg rises, rather than chasing height.
How you lift the leg matters as much as how high it goes. Lizzie Brooks (Yoga International) suggests that from low lunge you walk the hands slightly forward and shift more weight into the front leg, then, instead of kicking the back leg up, bend the back knee to bring the heel toward the sitting bone and the knee slightly in toward the belly. Pause there for a breath, then extend the leg. She finds this lets more muscles help the lifting leg, and it often rises higher with that support.
The lifted leg should stay “neutral”: kneecap and toes pointing down toward the floor, not turned out to the side. Allison Ray Jeraci (Yoga International) names standing split and warrior III as simpler poses for learning this neutral back leg before the floor split, because a back leg that turns out in the full split brings a twist into the backbend of the lower spine. In Light on Yoga, Iyengar asks for the same thing in his own words: the toes of the lifted leg point straight and do not tilt sideways.
Props, holds and easier versions
Yoga Journal offers several supports: blocks under the hands, a chair to hold, the back foot against a wall, or the lifted ankle resting over the back of a chair. The wall version is a good way to feel a level pelvis without having to balance. Yoga Journal suggests staying for 30 seconds to a minute; Light on Yoga gives about 20 seconds with even breathing. While you learn, a few steady breaths are plenty. Lower the leg with control, bring the feet together and roll up slowly so the head is not rushed above the heart.
Precautions in plain words
The head hangs below the heart, so people with uncontrolled high blood pressure, glaucoma or a detached retina, or who feel dizzy in forward bends, should keep the torso higher on blocks or a chair, or skip the pose, and check with their doctor. Do not force the hamstrings of the standing leg; bend the knee a little if the stretch is sharp. With a hamstring, lower back or hip injury, ask a doctor or physical therapist first. In later pregnancy, inversions of the head and deep folds are usually avoided. This page is general information, not individual advice.
Preparation and next poses
Prepare with standing forward bend, pyramid pose, low lunge and warrior III. From the standing split you can step back into a lunge, move to half moon by opening the hips, or work toward the floor split, Hanumanasana, with plenty of support.
Standing split is also a stepping stone toward handstand: Yoga Journal lists standing splits among the preparatory poses, and its handstand steps lift one leg into a standing split before taking small hops off the bent leg. So the balance and the strong, neutral back leg you build here carry over directly.
Where it is taught
You will meet the standing split in vinyasa and power yoga flows and in Iyengar classes under its Sanskrit name. Find related poses in the pose library.
