Child's Pose
oec:child-s-pose
A resting yoga stretch performed on the knees with hips shifted back to the heels and arms extended forward to lengthen the spine, hips, and shoulders.
Generated by gemini-3.8-flash from the sources below. No person has checked this record. Don't rely on it for safety.
Also called: Balasana, Prayer Pose
How to do it
Setup
- Start on your hands and knees in a tabletop position on an exercise mat.
- Bring your big toes together to touch and spread your knees out hip-width apart or slightly wider.
Movement
- Exhale and shift your hips back and down toward your heels.
- Walk your hands out forward in front of you, extending your arms fully.
- Lower your chest toward the floor and rest your forehead gently onto the mat.
- Hold the position, relaxing your shoulders, neck, and lower back into the stretch.
- To exit, slowly walk your hands back under your shoulders and press yourself up to a seated kneeling position.
Breathing
Breathe slowly and deeply through your nose, expanding your ribcage and lower back with each inhalation, and sinking deeper into the stretch with each exhalation.
Cues
- Hips to heels
- Walk fingertips forward
- Melt chest toward the floor
- Breathe into the lower back
Common faults
- Forcing the hips to touch the heels despite tight hips or knee discomfort.
- Place a folded blanket or yoga block between your calves and glutes to provide comfortable support.
- Holding tension in the neck and shoulders.
- Allow your forehead to rest fully on the floor or a yoga block, and soften your elbows slightly if your shoulders are restricted.
Safety
- Avoid deep, forceful flexion if experiencing acute knee pain; widen the knee stance or place a cushion behind the knees.
Muscles
Joints
- Hip: Flexion
- Knee: Flexion
- Ankle: Plantarflexion
- Lumbar spine: Flexion
- Shoulder: Flexion
Details
- Movement
- Stretch, Mobility drill
- Modality
- Yoga, Flexibility, Mobility
- Mechanics
- not applicable
- Force
- static
- Laterality
- bilateral
- Kinetic chain
- closed
- Level
- beginner
- Equipment
- None
- Record
- Duration
- Load
- none, not applicable
Sources
- wger: Child's pose (CC-BY-SA-4.0)
This record: CC-BY-SA-4.0.