Open Exercise

Development draft, v0. Formats and IDs may change.

Catalogue

Extended Child's Pose

oec:extended-child-s-pose

A resting yoga stretch performed from kneeling with the hips back toward the heels and arms reaching forward to decompress the spine, shoulders, and hips.

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: Utthita Balasana, Child's Pose with Arms Extended, Extended Arm Child's Pose

How to do it

Setup

  1. Kneel on an exercise mat with your knees set wider than hip-width apart and your big toes touching.
  2. Sit back so your glutes rest on or near your heels.

Movement

  1. Hinge at the hips and walk your hands straight out in front of you along the floor.
  2. Lower your torso between your thighs until your forehead rests comfortably on the mat or a block.
  3. Extend your arms fully, pressing your palms into the floor while simultaneously sinking your hips back toward your heels.
  4. Hold the position for the prescribed duration while maintaining slow, relaxed breathing.
  5. To exit, slowly walk your hands back toward your knees and sit upright.

Breathing

Breathe deeply and smoothly into the back and sides of your ribcage, using each exhale to sink deeper into the hips and shoulders.

Cues

  • Crawl the fingertips forward
  • Sink hips toward heels
  • Let the chest melt to the floor
  • Relax the neck

Common faults

Excessively lifting the hips off the heels to reach farther forward.
Prioritize anchoring your hips down toward your heels rather than overreaching with your hands.
Shrugging the shoulders up into the ears with excessive muscular tension.
Keep space between your shoulders and ears while allowing the upper back and lats to passively lengthen.

Safety

  • If you experience knee or ankle pain from deep flexion, place a rolled towel behind the knees or under the tops of the feet for support.

Muscles

  • Latissimus dorsi stretched
  • Erector spinae stretched
  • Gluteus maximus stretched
  • Teres major stretched
  • Pectoralis major stretched

Joints

  • Shoulder: Flexion
  • Shoulder blade: Upward rotation, Elevation
  • Lumbar spine: Flexion
  • Hip: Flexion, Abduction
  • Knee: Flexion
  • Ankle: Plantarflexion

Details

Movement
Stretch
Modality
Flexibility, Mobility, Yoga
Mechanics
not applicable
Force
static
Laterality
bilateral
Kinetic chain
closed
Level
beginner
Equipment
None
Record
Duration
Load
none

Sources

This record: CC-BY-SA-4.0.

Data

extended-child-s-pose.json