Child’s Pose (Balasana): bah-LAHS-anna), bala = child

Child’s pose gently stretches the hips, thighs, and ankles, calms the brain and helps relieve stress and fatigue.  It relieves back and neck pain when done with head and torso supported.  Here’s how to do it.

• Bring yourself to a kneeling position on your mat, with your big toes touching and your knees about hip distance apart.
• Inhale and lengthen through your spine. Exhale and begin to bend forwards, taking your forehead down towards the floor in front of your knees.   Alternatively, you can make soft fists with one or both hands and gently rest your forehead on your fists if it is more comfortable to do so.
• Lengthen through the back of your neck, open the backs of your shoulders and allow your belly and chest to relax down towards the floor between your thighs.   Take your knees slightly apart to give you more room to breathe.
• Relax your arms by your sides with your palms facing upwards, hands down by your feet.
• Breathe and relax, feel the posture deepen as you release the back of your body and just let go.

Child’s pose is a restful pose, so relax here for a few minutes. To come out of the pose, bring your hands to the sides of your knees, inhale and press through your palms into your mat and slowly raise the chest and shoulders back up into an upright kneeling position with your sit bones resting comfortably on your heels.

Contraindications and Cautions

Diarrhoea, pregnancy, Knee injury, Avoid Balasana unless you have the supervision of an experienced teacher.

Variations:

To increase the length of the torso, stretch your arms forward. Lift your buttocks just slightly away from your heels. Reach the arms longer while you draw the shoulder blades down the back. Then without moving the hands, sit the buttocks down on the heels again.