Balasana (Child's Pose)
bah-LAHS-ah-nah • बालासन • "Child's Pose"Balasana is yoga's sanctuary—a pose you can come home to at any moment. Whether you're in the middle of a challenging flow, catching your breath after an intense sequence, or simply needing a moment of quiet, Child's Pose offers refuge.
A Posture of Return
Balasana is yoga's sanctuary—a pose you can come home to at any moment. Whether you're in the middle of a challenging flow, catching your breath after an intense sequence, or simply needing a moment of quiet, Child's Pose offers refuge. It's the posture that reminds us yoga isn't about pushing through but about knowing when to rest.
The shape itself is ancient and instinctive. Fold forward, draw in, return to the fetal curl that your body knew before you were born. In a practice often focused on expansion and extension, Balasana offers the complementary wisdom of withdrawal and restoration.
How to Practice
Child's Pose is beautifully simple, but attention to alignment helps you find its full comfort and release.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Start on hands and knees in a tabletop position, wrists under shoulders, knees under hips
- Bring your big toes to touch behind you, then widen your knees toward the edges of your mat (or keep them together for a more compact variation)
- Exhale and sink your hips back toward your heels, letting your torso fold forward between your thighs
- Extend your arms forward along the mat with palms down, or bring them alongside your body with palms up
- Rest your forehead on the mat—or on a block if the floor feels too far away
- Allow your shoulders to soften away from your ears, your belly to release, your jaw to unclench
- Breathe naturally—feeling your back body expand with each inhale, your whole self settle with each exhale
Benefits of Practice
Despite—or because of—its simplicity, Balasana offers benefits that accumulate with practice.
Calms the Mind
The forward fold and closed posture activate the parasympathetic nervous system, signaling safety and rest to your entire being
Releases the Back
Gently stretches the lower back, creating space between vertebrae and easing tension from sitting or standing
Opens the Hips
With knees wide, the inner hips and groin receive a gentle opening—especially beneficial for desk-bound bodies
Soothes Fatigue
When energy is depleted, Child's Pose offers restoration without requiring any effort or engagement
Grounds Awareness
The contact of forehead with earth, the inward gaze—Balasana naturally draws attention inward
Resets the Breath
After challenging poses or anxious moments, Child's Pose provides space to return to natural breathing
Variations and Modifications
Bodies vary, and Balasana should be adapted to fit yours—not the other way around.
Extended Child's Pose (Utthita Balasana)
Arms reach forward, palms down, creating a longer line through the spine and shoulders. This variation adds a gentle stretch to the latissimus dorsi and shoulders. Walk your hands to the left, then right, for a lateral stretch.
Knees-Together Child's Pose
Keep knees together rather than wide for a more compact fold. This variation is gentler on the hips and creates more compression in the belly—some find this soothing, like a self-embrace.
Supported Child's Pose
Place a bolster or stacked blankets lengthwise between your thighs and drape your torso over the support. This restorative version allows extended holds—five, ten, even twenty minutes—and is especially soothing for stress or fatigue.
If Your Hips Don't Reach Your Heels
Place a folded blanket or block between your sitting bones and heels. There's no prize for touching down—only the wisdom of meeting your body where it actually is today.
If Your Forehead Doesn't Reach the Floor
Stack your fists, forearms, or a block to bring the ground up to meet you. Straining to reach the floor defeats the purpose of a resting pose.
When to Use Child's Pose
Balasana isn't just a pose—it's a practice of self-awareness and self-care. Here's when to reach for it:
In Your Practice
- As a counter-pose after backbends to neutralize the spine
- As a resting station between challenging sequences
- As a moment of integration to absorb the effects of preceding poses
- As a centering pose at the beginning or end of practice
- Whenever you need to catch your breath or return to yourself
Beyond the Mat
- During moments of overwhelm or anxiety
- Before sleep to transition out of the day
- After long periods of sitting to decompress the spine
- Whenever you need a physical embodiment of pause
Cautions and Considerations
While Balasana is accessible to most practitioners, some conditions warrant modification or avoidance.
- Knee injuries: Place padding under knees or avoid deep flexion
- Pregnancy: Keep knees wide to make room for the belly
- High blood pressure: Keep head level with heart or slightly above
- Diarrhea or recent abdominal surgery: The compression may be uncomfortable
- Ankle injuries: Place a rolled blanket under ankles for support
The Deeper Practice
Balasana teaches something that extends far beyond the yoga mat: the capacity to rest is not weakness but wisdom. In a culture that celebrates constant productivity, Child's Pose is a quiet rebellion—a physical affirmation that you are allowed to pause, to not know, to simply be held by the ground beneath you.
Notice what arises when you rest. Perhaps restlessness, the urge to "do something." Perhaps relief. Perhaps boredom or emotion. Whatever surfaces, Child's Pose holds space for it all. The practice isn't to feel a certain way—it's to be present with whatever actually arises when you give yourself permission to stop.
Like a child who hasn't yet learned to distrust the world, you fold in. You let your body weight release into the earth. You trust that the ground will hold you. And in that trust, something softens—not just in your body, but in the perpetual effort of being human.
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