Pose of the Month — Balasana (Child's Pose)
Use balasana to connect with yourself and your breath. When practicing at home, more often than not child's pose is where I begin. It's the ultimate self-check-in. For most of us, the majority of the day is spent in a state of external awareness. Much of our time is devoted to interacting with others and taking in immense amounts of stimuli. Child's pose allows us a chance to reconnect with our own inner guidance system. It's an opportunity to shift to an internal state of awareness where we allow ourselves to check in with our breath, body, emotions, and mind. What better space to do this than curled up in a ball with your forehead on the floor, chest to knees, in a bear cave of your own making.
Balasana is also a powerful opportunity to connect with your back body. As we are frontally oriented beings, we rarely have the opportunity to focus our awareness in the back body. In child's pose, your back body is the only exposed part of your anatomy and therefore receives the spotlight. Next time you are in balasana, experiment with the following exercise to expand your awareness of your back body:
1. Become aware of your breath. Feel your back body rise with your inhale and draw in with the exhale. After several breaths, focus your awareness on the inhale traveling down the spine and the exhale traveling back up. Finally, expand your awareness laterally by feeling the ribs open and expand with your inhale and contract with the exhale.
2. Let child's pose become your instant personal retreat. Feeling overwhelmed, frazzled, or simply in need of some alone time? Treat yourself to a little self-care by indulging in an escape to child's pose. Think of your mat as your own personal island and allow yourself a brief reset in child's pose. This simple act of sweet surrender can be a refuge from turmoil and can have a profoundly positive influence on your emotional state. Try balasana next time you find yourself in need of a little support or a quick reset. A few deep breaths in child's pose after a confrontation or when you're feeling stuck can shift your perspective in a snap.
3. Design your own child's pose to give it that authentic feel. While balasana may seem pretty straightforward as far as asanas go, you can add your own flavor to the pose to suit your needs.
Hips feeling particularly tight? Take your knees wide and bring your big toes together. This variation is also great if you feel confined in traditional child's pose. It allows your chest to melt toward the mat and your hips to receive a deeper opening.
Are your hips still uncomfortably tight or are you experiencing knee pain? Slide a blanket between your calves and hamstrings. You can also roll the blanket for extra support.
In need of some rooting or grounding energy? Bring your arms out in front of you, palms down, and press your hands into the mat. Focus your awareness on your hands, forehead, and feet pressing into the earth.
Feeling particularly devotional? Bring your arms out in front of you, turn your palms toward one another and press them together in prayer. Stay here or bend your elbows and bring your hands behind your head, maybe resting on your upper back if you have the flexibility.
Looking for a delightful side-body stretch? Walk your hands over to the right and press your left palm into the mat while rooting your left sitting bone down. Repeat on your left side with your right palm pressing down and right sitting bone rooting.
If you were not a child's pose devotee before reading this, hopefully I have left you with some fresh enthusiasm to explore balasana further, or at least a reason to show this asana some deep pranams (bows of gratitude) next time your teacher instructs you to shift to child's pose.
Namaste
By Mary Jo & John Johnson, (C-IAYT)
