Marichyasana A (Marichi’s Forward Bend): steps, the bind and precautions

How to do Marichi’s Forward Bend step by step

1. Sit in Staff Pose (Dandasana) with both legs straight. Sit on a folded blanket if your lower back rounds.
2. Bend your left knee and place your left foot flat on the floor close to your left sitting bone, a hand’s width from the right thigh. Keep the right leg straight, toes pointing up.
3. Breathing in, reach your left arm forward past the inside of your left shin, so your left shoulder comes in front of the knee.
4. Breathing out, wrap your left arm around the front of your left shin and behind your back. Swing your right arm behind you and clasp your hands, or hold a strap.
5. Breathing in, lift your chest. Breathing out, fold forward over your straight right leg, leading with the chest, not the head.
6. Hold for 20–30 seconds (4–6 breaths). Keep the bent knee pointing up and the straight leg active.
7. Breathing in, lift your chest, release the bind and straighten the left leg. Repeat on the right side.

Where you feel Marichi’s Forward Bend: what it stretches and strengthens

Wrap your arm round your bent shin and fold over the straight leg. In the 3D guide, turn on Body guide: areas that stretch glow green and areas that work glow saffron.

Benefits and precautions

Marichyasana A (Marichi’s forward bend) is a seated forward bend in which one leg stays straight, the other knee bends with the foot flat on the floor, and the arms wrap around the bent shin and clasp behind the back. You then fold over the straight leg. It combines a hamstring stretch with a shoulder-opening bind, and it is the first of the four Marichyasana poses taught in Ashtanga yoga.

What is Marichi’s forward bend?

The pose is named after Marichi, a sage in Hindu tradition. Marichi also means "ray of light", and asana means "pose". The letter A marks it as the first of four related poses. This page covers only Marichyasana A, the forward bend. The twisting version, Marichyasana C, has its own page: Marichi’s Pose.

Marichyasana A, B, C, D (and 1, 2, 3, 4)

Two naming systems exist. Ashtanga uses letters; B.K.S. Iyengar’s Light on Yoga uses numbers. They match like this:

So Marichyasana I in Iyengar yoga is the same pose as Marichyasana A, and Marichyasana III in Iyengar yoga is the twist.

How to do Marichyasana A

The steps above match the 3D figure, which bends the left knee and folds over the right leg first. The details that matter most:

• Foot close to the hip. Place the bent foot near its sitting bone, with a small gap from the straight thigh. Too far forward and the arm cannot wrap the shin.
• Shoulder in front of the knee. Reach forward before you wrap. If the shoulder stays behind the knee, the bind is almost impossible.
• Chest leads. Fold by tipping the pelvis forward. Rounding the back to bring the head down misses the point.
• Straight leg active. Press the back of the knee down gently and point the toes up.
• Bent knee up. Let it lean slightly out, but do not let it fall in.

Marichyasana A for beginners

• Strap bind: if your hands do not meet, hold a strap behind your back.
• No bind: hug the bent knee with the same-side arm and reach the other hand toward the straight foot.
• Blanket under the hips: lifts the pelvis so the fold starts from the hips.
• Upright version: hold the bind and sit tall without folding. This is also the safest version if you have back pain.

For those who cannot sit on the floor, a chair yoga forward bend gives a similar hamstring stretch without the bind: sit on the front edge of a chair, stretch one leg out with the heel on the floor and hinge forward over it with a long back.

Prep poses

Good preparation includes Staff Pose, head-to-knee pose for the hamstrings and cow face arms for the shoulders.

Marichyasana A benefits

The fold stretches the hamstrings of the straight leg and the lower back. The bind pulls the shoulders back and opens the front of the chest, which balances the forward rounding of daily life. The belly muscles work to draw you forward, and the bent leg presses into the belly. Like most seated forward bend pose yoga practices, Marichyasana A tends to slow the breath, and many people find it calming at the end of a practice.

It also teaches a skill: folding from the hips with a long spine. That skill transfers to all yoga forward bend poses, from a standing forward bend yoga class staple like Uttanasana to seated folds.

Muscles stretched and worked

Switch on the Body guide on the 3D figure to see the stretched areas in green and the working belly in saffron.

Marichyasana A vs Janu Sirsasana

Both are one-legged seated folds. In Janu Sirsasana the bent knee drops out to the side, so the hip opens and there is no bind. In Marichyasana A the bent knee points up and the arms bind around it, so the shoulders work more and the fold is a little more compact. Many teachers teach head-to-knee first as the simpler yoga seated forward bend.

Marichyasana A contraindications and back pain

Back pain behaves differently in different people. Some find back pain relieved by bending forward; others have lower back pain bending forward, often with a disc problem. If your lower back pain gets worse when you bend forward, or you have sciatica, skip the fold and practise the upright bound version, or ask your physiotherapist. People with lower back pain who can't bend forward at all should not force this pose. See our yoga for back pain and yoga for slip disc plans for safer options.

Also avoid the bind with a shoulder injury, protect the bent knee if it hurts, and skip the deep fold in pregnancy. You can practise gentle seated folds with voice guidance in our guided sessions.

This page is for general education. Check with your doctor before starting yoga if you are pregnant, have a medical condition or an injury. Stop if you feel pain, dizziness or shortness of breath.