30 Seconds fro a Quick Relaxation Pose - Child Pose

Stressed Out? Relax in Child's Pose
When you don't have time to relax, a rejuvenating Balasana (Child's Pose) may be just what you need. Practicing this pose for just a few minutes will leave you feeling rested and ready to tackle the rest of the day.

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.

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Anatomical Focus
Thighs
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Therapeutic Applications
Stress
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Benefits
Gently stretches the hips, thighs, and ankles
Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and fatigue
Relieves back and neck pain when done with head and torso supported
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Contraindications and Cautions
Diarrhea
Pregnancy
Knee injury: Avoid Balasana unless you have the supervision of an experienced teacher.
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Beginner's Tip
We usually don't breathe consciously and fully into the back of the torso. Balasana provides us with an excellent opportunity to do just that. Imagine that each inhalation is "doming" the back torso toward the ceiling, lengthening and widening the spine. Then with each exhalation release the torso a little more deeply into the fold.

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Variations
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.

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Modifications and Props
If you have difficulty sitting on your heels in this pose, place a thickly folded blanket between your back thighs and calves.