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Ananda Balasana
In Sanskrit, “Ananda” means happiness, “Bal” means baby and “asana” means yoga pose.
How to: Happy Baby Pose
Begin with lying flat on your back. While exhaling, bring in your knees close to your belly. Now inhale and clasp the ends of your feet with your hands.
Now widen your knees a little more than your torso, and adjust them in mid-air so that they are near your armpits.
The shins should be perpendicular to the ground so that the ankles are just vertically above the knees.
Now try to push the feet upwards, and with your hands, try to bring them downwards. This will create something of a resistance in their motion.
Increase the length of your spine by releasing your tail bone and moving your skull away from the posterior of your neck. Remainlike this from 30 to 60 seconds. Make a graceful exit by exhaling and bring the feet back to the ground.
Benefits of Happy Baby Pose
The Ananda Balasana Pose can offer the following key benefits if you add it in your daily yoga practice or semi-weekly class:
Stretches the inner groin as well as the back spine in a gentle manner.
Soothes the mind and relieves from stress and depression.
Strengthens the muscles of the hips.
Supports the muscles of the legs and feet.
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The beginners in yoga will find the Happy Baby Pose beneficial in curing and treating the problems related with hips and spine. If you find it too difficult to hold your feet with your hands, you can use a yoga strap around the middle of the feet. Practice by holding the loop of this strap, and gradually aim for performing the yoga without any props.
The athletes and polished yogis will find Ananda Balasana particularly helpful in providing the mental calmness to a certain level. They may further deepen the pose by increasing the resistance on the feet and lengthening the spine to the maximum.
You should avoid this yoga pose in case you suffer from the following conditions:
Injury of Knee
Injury of Neck
Pregnancy
