Sanskrit name
Balasana (Bala = child)
How to do child pose
Start kneeling on your hands and knees. The arch of the foot is placed on the floor and your big toes are touching each other. You can perform the pose with your knees together or separate them to the sides, opening the hips.
Exhale and lower down your buttocks to your heels and your forehead to the ground. In child pose your arms can be reached out over your head with the palms facing the ground. Or let them rest along side the body with the palms facing upwards.
If you have the knees separated lower your chest to the ground as far as you can without lifting your buttocks from the heels.
Rest in child pose and focus on full breaths. Inhale and feel your torso expanding, belly pressing on your thighs. Exhale and release your spine to lengthen, softening with your chest to the floor and sinking deeper with your buttocks onto your heels.
Stay in the pose from 30sec. to several minutes.
To get out of the pose: place your hands next to your knees and on an inhale roll your back slowly up into a seated position.
Special focus on
Breath: Maintain your focus on the breath. Child pose (balasana) is a very useful to experience the power of the breath taking us deeper into the pose. Inhale consciously and deeply into the back of your torso and your lumbar area. Exhale and feel your spine becoming wider, reaching your pelvis backwards and down and reaching forward and down with your chest and forehead. Feel how the space between your vertebras opens.
Peace for your mind: Find a shelter for yourself and enjoy.
Benefits
- gently stretches the low back, hips and legs
- relaxes shoulders, neck and spine
- stimulates digestion and elimination
- calms the mind and central nervous system
- relieves stress and fatigue
Contraindications
recent or chronic knee injury, pregnancy