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Childs Pose (Balasana)

 

Balasana is a seated forward bend that streaches and releases your spine and lower back. It is often used as a resting pose and a counter pose after performing a back bend.

Your spine should lengthen as you drop your weight to your heels and relax you head to the floor.

NOTE: DO not rest your weight on your neck and forehead.

As with all yoga poses breath evenly while performing the pose. You can also get a very nice streach to the shoulders by extending your arms forward while in the pose.

A resource for you that is very helpful in training this pose as well as others is Scientific Keys Vol 1 - The Key Muscles of Hatha Yoga, It is an excellent book that details the muscle and bone alignments for this pose as well as many other postures. It has brought my training to a whole new level. (The ability to visualize what is happening inside the body can really make allot of the more difficult poses easier to do). They have a free first chapter on the site, I encourage you to check it out.

 

How to do this pose.

1. Kneel on the floor with your knees hip width apart and the top of your feet flat on the floor.

2. Exhale as you sit back on your heels and relax.

3. Place your hands on top of your thighs, close to your knees with palms down

4. Keep your back straight and relax your upper body and shoulders.

5. Lay your upper body on your thighs

6. Rest your forehead on the floor.

7. Extend your arms forward by having your hands crawl slowly forward. Try to keep both side even.

8. Hold this pose for about 2 minutes and then use your hands to push back up into a seated position.

 

I hope you enjoy this pose. When doing a very intensive Vinyasa Flow class, I look forward to this one for a short breather.

I wish you all the best, and do not forget to sign up for our RSS feed to the left to be notified of new pages as they come.

 

 

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