In honor of the birth of the new year, January's pose of the month is Ananda Balasana, blissful baby pose. A peaceful floor pose, blissful baby lengthens the spine, stretches the groin, and opens the hips. It relieves stress and fatigue, improving the body's energy flow by creating a closed circuit where the hands and feet unite.
While gentle, blissful baby is a powerful pose that can stimulate electric sensations in the body. It is not uncommon to experience the kind of twitch or slight tingle that comes when tight muscles approach the point of release. These gentle, internal fireworks suggest the presence of energy blocks, which cause physical imbalances by forcing the body to compensate for muscle tension, loss of mobility, and a reduction in circulation. Spending time in blissful baby helps remove these blocks by stimulating the spine and peripheral nerves while encouraging blood flow through the muscles. Almost immediately, blissful baby can improve the body's range of motion and relieve seemingly unrelated chronic muscle and back pain.
In class, blissful baby appears at the beginning of the final floor exercises, when the body and mind are fully engaged. If practicing independently, enter blissful baby after the muscles are warm and ready to open. To move into blissful baby, lie on your back and tuck your knees towards your chest on a deep exhale. Filling your body with breath, gently take your feet in your hands, careful to give your hips and low back time to settle and relax into the floor. Allow your knees to open to either side of your torso while your lower legs extend up. Your shins should end up perpendicular to the floor. Knees and ankles vertically aligned, your legs should form a gentle right angle at the knee. Keeping your spine long and your pelvis flat on the floor, slowly relax to let your arms to hang from the balls of your feet. Your hands will naturally exert some downward pressure that flexes each foot. Your toes, in return, should press up slightly into your fingers, creating a touch of dynamic tension as the energy circuit closes.
As the body settles into the pose and the muscles begin to open, allow the thighs to relax down toward the torso, lengthening the muscles in the hips and groin. Elongate the spine by pressing the tail bone into the floor as the chin tucks slightly, easing the base of the head away from the hips.
Hold the pose for a minute or two, feeling the breath and energy as it flows through the body. Stay present and survey your thoughts. The hips and groin are so essential for stability that they often tighten up from the physical and emotional stress that accompanies our heavy investment in staying upright. Take a few moments in blissful baby to monitor and release any unnecessary tension that may collect here. Anxieties about weakness and rejection, along with the drive to overcompensate by competing, pushing, and defensively "holding your ground" may all affect flexibility and energy balance in this region.
Most importantly, give yourself the space to renew and open in this pose. Take a moment to be an infant again, soft and open, full of love and wonder for the world.
While gentle, blissful baby is a powerful pose that can stimulate electric sensations in the body. It is not uncommon to experience the kind of twitch or slight tingle that comes when tight muscles approach the point of release. These gentle, internal fireworks suggest the presence of energy blocks, which cause physical imbalances by forcing the body to compensate for muscle tension, loss of mobility, and a reduction in circulation. Spending time in blissful baby helps remove these blocks by stimulating the spine and peripheral nerves while encouraging blood flow through the muscles. Almost immediately, blissful baby can improve the body's range of motion and relieve seemingly unrelated chronic muscle and back pain.
In class, blissful baby appears at the beginning of the final floor exercises, when the body and mind are fully engaged. If practicing independently, enter blissful baby after the muscles are warm and ready to open. To move into blissful baby, lie on your back and tuck your knees towards your chest on a deep exhale. Filling your body with breath, gently take your feet in your hands, careful to give your hips and low back time to settle and relax into the floor. Allow your knees to open to either side of your torso while your lower legs extend up. Your shins should end up perpendicular to the floor. Knees and ankles vertically aligned, your legs should form a gentle right angle at the knee. Keeping your spine long and your pelvis flat on the floor, slowly relax to let your arms to hang from the balls of your feet. Your hands will naturally exert some downward pressure that flexes each foot. Your toes, in return, should press up slightly into your fingers, creating a touch of dynamic tension as the energy circuit closes.
As the body settles into the pose and the muscles begin to open, allow the thighs to relax down toward the torso, lengthening the muscles in the hips and groin. Elongate the spine by pressing the tail bone into the floor as the chin tucks slightly, easing the base of the head away from the hips.
Hold the pose for a minute or two, feeling the breath and energy as it flows through the body. Stay present and survey your thoughts. The hips and groin are so essential for stability that they often tighten up from the physical and emotional stress that accompanies our heavy investment in staying upright. Take a few moments in blissful baby to monitor and release any unnecessary tension that may collect here. Anxieties about weakness and rejection, along with the drive to overcompensate by competing, pushing, and defensively "holding your ground" may all affect flexibility and energy balance in this region.
Most importantly, give yourself the space to renew and open in this pose. Take a moment to be an infant again, soft and open, full of love and wonder for the world.