Balasana
(Child Pose)
Bala in literal sense means child.
Balasana is a restful pose that can be sequenced between more challenging asanas. It relieves the fatigue of both mind and body, assisting deep breath like that of a child.
Asana Technique:
Kneel on the floor. Touch your big toes together and sit on your heels, then separate your knees about as wide as your hips.
Exhale and lay your torso down between your thighs.
Broaden your sacrum across the back of your pelvis and narrow your hip points toward the navel, so that they nestle down onto the inner thighs.
Lengthen your tailbone away from the back of the pelvis while you lift the base of your skull away from the back of your neck.
Lay your hands on the floor alongside your torso, palms up, and release the fronts of your shoulders toward the floor. Feel how the weight of the front shoulders pulls the shoulder blades wide across your back.
Balasana is a resting pose. Stay anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes. Beginners can also use Balasana to get a taste of a deep forward bend, where the torso rests on the thighs. Stay in the pose from 1 to 3 minutes. To come up, first lengthen the front torso, and then with an inhalation lift from the tailbone as it presses down and into the pelvis.
Aid: If you have difficulty sitting on your heels in this pose, place a thickly folded blanket between your back thighs and calves.
Benefits of Balasana
The asana Gently stretches and tones the hips, thighs, and ankles.
Posture Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and fatigue.
The asana relieves back and neck pain when done with head and torso supported.
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.
Precautions
Avoid Balasana in the presence of:
Diarrhea
Pregnancy
Avoid Balasana In case of Knee injury unless you have the supervision of an experienced teacher.
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