(Ananda Balasana): Techniques, Benefits, Variations
LEVEL – BEGINNER
HOW TO: HAPPY BABY POSE
- Lie down on your back. Bring both knees into your chest.
- Flex both feet and grab a hold of the outside or inside of each foot with your hands.
- Open your knees wider than your hip and draw them up toward the armpits. Ankles come on top of the knees.
- Pull your feet toward you while pushing your feet into your hands to create a gentle resistance.
- With your elbow press gently to your knees for more opening.
- To come out of this posture, release the feet and draw your knees back into your chest first.
VARIATIONS/MODIFICATIONS
- Hold the shins or ankles if you can’t reach your ankles.
- Blanket or block underneath the neck
- Hold the straps around the sole of each foot and pull it gently down.
PHYSICAL, MENTAL, AND
EMOTIONAL BENEFITS
- Hip opening
- Stretches the hamstrings
- Can be used for stress relief as it’s calming
- Releases the lower back
CONTRAINDICATIONS
- Knee injury
- Pregnancy
- Neck Injury
- Shoulder Injury
NOTES
Ananda Balasana, or happy baby pose, is a gentle hip opener and lower back releaser. In kids yoga, this is called dead bug pose.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Happy Baby is like a lying down Malasana, yogi squat.
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Bet let’s make sure we practice it in the best way we can. Common misconceptions:
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❌ Holding the feet is not necessary nor the goal.
❌ This is not a pose for your hamstrings, extending the legs away from you is not goal either.
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✅ Knees wide and spine flat
✅ Strength of the arms pulls against the legs to open the hips
As the posture is done whilst laying on your back, it’s normally placed at the beginning or the end of a yoga practice. It’s really great for releasing back pain as your spine is in contact with the floor and if it feels comfortable to do so, you can rock from side to side to massage your lower back.
If you can’t reach holding your feet instead of straining, and arching the neck, and lifting the tailbone from the floor use modifications such as holding on to the strap or blanket under your head, or holding on to your sheen or back of your tights instead of ankles. Happy baby pose requires a level of mobility in the hips and hip flexors to be able to draw the knees wide and in towards the armpits.
Doing this will allow your tailbone and sacrum to rest comfortably on the floor, grounding your shoulders and allowing your whole spine to be in contact with your mat, thus relaxing your neck into a neutral position, helping to relieve stress in your body. If you stay here in stillness for a few moments and take a deep inhale and an even deeper exhale, you’ll start to feel your body relax and melt into the posture. Then if it’s comfortable for you, try rocking from side to side, and feel the massage along your back.
You may also want to try half happy baby pose if full happy baby feels quite strong, . You can do this with a yoga strap, by wrapping the strap around one foot using the resistance between you and the strap to draw that same knee into your armpit. You may find that you feel more open along the inside leg when doing one at a time.
In Yin yoga you may hold this position for a few minutes and it can feel really nice to elevate your pelvis by placing a bolster or a folded blanket underneath your sacrum. Then bring your awareness onto your breath and feel into your body with each inhale and exhale.
Happy baby can be a really great starting point when learning crow pose, imitate the pose while on your back. It allows you to practice opening up the hip joint area and drawing the knees as high up the arms as possible.
Happy baby can also be used an alternative to child’s pose in yoga classes to stretch the inner thighs and release tension in the lower back.