Child’s Pose, or Balasana, is a beginner yoga pose that stretches the muscles of the lower back and inner thighs. It promotes flexibility, relieves stress and helps circulation to the muscles, joints and spine.
Because it is such an easy and relaxing pose, the child’s pose is often used as a cool-down stretch after strenuous activity.
What is the child’s pose?
To perform Child’s Pose, you kneel onto your yoga mat and bring your knees together. You then lower your bum to your feet.
Exhale and slowly lie your torso on your thighs so that your forehead touches the mat. Then position your palms on the floor and reach your arms out until you feel your shoulders stretching.
Performing this pose puts your body into a relaxed state. It soothes our adrenal glands, which get overworked when we’re constantly experiencing the stresses paired with every-day life. How?
Opens your hips and elongates your back
In our daily lives, we either sit or stand (depending on your line of work) for long periods of time. This can cause compression in our lower back because the top half of our body puts pressure onto our lower back and hips.
By folding your legs, you relieve the pressure from your back and hips.
Encourages deep breathing
When you are taking deep breaths, your spine lengthens and widens with each inhalation. When you exhale, your body relaxes as you allow the stretch to release tension.
When you are in the Child’s Pose, your abdomen is restricted. This allows a deeper opening of the back of the torso as your lungs expand behind the body.
When you breathe, clean oxygen is circulated through your body, making you feel restored.
Calms your mind
When your head is tucked in between your arms on the mat, you feel safe, protected and relieved of stress and tension. This centres, calms and soothes the brain, making it a therapeutic posture.
Gives your rest
Child’s Pose gives us a sense of balance. It allows us a chance to rest and refill our energy.
Improves your blood circulation
By increasing blood flow to your lungs, brain and spine, Child’s Pose takes some of the strain off of daily activities like breathing, thinking and moving your body.
Helps with digestion
Child’s Pose massages your internal organs. Paired with increased blood circulation, it can help your body digest the food that you eat.
A great way to fully reap the benefits that the child’s pose has to offer is to practise it before you go to bed. This can help you relieve the day’s stress and get the rest that you need.
Child’s Pose is relaxing because, by opening your hips and elongating your back, it relieves the tension caused by daily movements. By allowing you to breathe deeply, clean oxygen circulates your body, restoring your energy. It also increases blood circulation, making your body perform better. Child’s Pose gives our bodies the rest it needs from constantly moving about and also allows your mind to rest and calm.
Contact Trifocus Fitness Academy
To learn more about Yoga, check out Trifocus Fitness Academy’s Yoga Certification Course.
