Deer

Mrigasana

hold 90 s each side · beginner · move in slowly, hold, come out the same way

Take care: Ease the back leg out wider, or straighten it, if the back knee complains; skip it with a knee that hurts as it turns in.

Deer pose, from yin yoga: sitting with both legs folded to the left, the right shin across the front of the mat (the front hip turning out) and the left knee out to the side with its foot back beside the left hip (the back hip turning in). From sitting tall with the hands beside the hips, the trunk folds forward over the front shin with the hands walking out on the mat.

Load and joint demand

Bodyweight: no weights. Joint demand below is your own body's weight in this position.

Faults

Faults grow with knee bend and apply to lifts standing on the floor. The fault check flags a knee caving more than 10° inside the line of the toes and a load split beyond 60/40. Knee cave shows best in the front camera.

Body

Femur changes keep standing height fixed by shortening or lengthening the torso. Longer femurs force more forward lean in any squat.

Muscles worked

Effort and your quota

Hold for 90 seconds on each side: move into the pose slowly, breathe steadily, and come out the way you went in. Yoga is practised for control, balance and mobility, never to failure, so this does not change with your limits.

Level: beginner. One round counts like light conditioning work: 19 legs points, 15 core points.

Prime movers

Deep hip rotators and gluteus medius of the front leg (stretched), hip flexors and quadriceps of the back leg (stretched), spinal erectors (stretched).

What to look for

• Sit on a cushion under the front sit bone if the hips tip.
• Let both knees rest at angles that feel easy; nothing should pinch.
• Fold only as far as the back hip stays comfortable, then stay still.