Yoga Asana: Child's Pose or Balasana
Each posture in the physical yoga practice has a Sanskrit name ending in asana. Asana means seat or posture. Today we will explore Balasana also known as child’s pose. When we break down the Sanskrit we see: Bala which = child and asana which = seat or posture. The history of child’s pose is not clear and it does not seem to appear until the 20th century. Regardless, child’s pose is a helpful, accessible posture for most and is commonly practiced as a resting posture to invoke a feeling of relaxation. Balasana is practiced throughout asana practices and is the common posture suggested when the practitioner needs a “break” during the practice as well as after headstand, forearm stand, and handstand.
This brings us to the WHY behind Balasana. Asana practice will serve the body, breath, and mind, and their connection. It is the norm for Western practitioners to practice yoga as a form of stretching or exercise and reap benefit. Yet, it is vital that we continue to present the true goal of yoga asana as developing one’s meditation seat. This gives the practitioner time and space to allow their practice to evolve from exercise and stretching to Self (atman) realization or the method in which they deem fundamental to having a relationship with what we in the West might call God, but in yoga speak, would be: Ishvara, Brachman, or Bhagavan. Balasana promotes relaxation, spinal flexion and lengthening, stretching of the ankles and shins, and hip mobility. This posture also has the potential to aid in digestion, improve blood circulation, as well as relieve back pain.
Balasana can have symbolic, metaphoric, and meaningful significance to our own personal why’s. When we consider the Sanskrit translation of the posture, bala, stands out, which translates to child. The essence of a child could certainly be considered here. Can you access your own innocence, purity, curiosity, and playfulness? And if not, what qualities have been over compensating in your ways of being? Do you feel more times than not, serious, impure, bored/numb, or cynical? Explore excess, lack, guilt, and shame as avenues to lead you towards who you really are beyond the overlay of residue that lies stagnant upon your soul when left unattended to. Another aspect of child’s pose that is worthy of introspection is the symbolic nature of the shape itself as one of surrender. Bowing down in humility is a profound act that holds space for release. When we give up trying to control everyone and everything around us, space is made available to us. The intense energy of our internal strife is relieved and we are freed to BE. To BE the innocence and purity and curiosity that only exists in presence unbound by the knots of manipulation and control we believe are necessary to get what we think we want. It is only in this space that we can discover, we don’t actually want, what we want, is to be free of the wanting. For it is the wanting itself that stifles the innocence and suffocates the curiosity. Allow child’s pose to be an act of surrender, of renouncing our drunk desires. Only when we know we don’t know, can we know what it’s like to be a child again.
How to do Balasana:
Come to all fours, sit your bottom back onto your heels as you lay your belly and chest onto your thighs. Keep your arms stretched out and allow your forehead to come down onto your mat.
Modifications
Place a block or blanket under your forehead, if you do not have props, stack your fists and place your third eye on your stacked fists.
For sensitive knees, double fold your mat or place a blanket underneath your knees, shins, and feet.
Variations:
Wide leg child’s pose: bring your toes together and knees out wide and allow your belly to fall in-between your thighs.
Tent your fingers and and lift your palms to intensify the shoulder stretch.
Bring your hands to prayer behind your head to experience more sensation in the backs of your arms.
Place your arms beside you, round the shoulders down, and bring the palms face up, this variation might feel more relaxing.
***Permission to modify in anyway that provides you with a feeling of safety, ease, and is alignment with your purpose in practicing the posture.
Dearest Reader,
Thank you so much for taking the time to explore yoga with me. I feel blessed to have this online platform that provides us the space to connect and learn about ourselves through the practice of yoga together. May you feel the innocence and purity of your true essence.
Blessings,
Andrea Dawn
