With summer shining it's bright face upon us, I am starting to incorporate a few more breaks and pauses between poses because of the heat. One of my favourite resting poses is "balasana" - more commonly known as Child's Pose.
There are many variations to child's pose and I encourage my student to find whatever position is comfortable for them, at that given point in time. The point of the pose is to allow the body to surrender, so which ever way that works best for you: do it!
Surrendering the body means we allow ourselves to completely relax - from our scalp down to the tips of our toes. It also gives us a chance to focus on our breath.
I typically tell my students to draw their breath all the way into their lower back and hips, and upon exhaling let all of the stale breath and energy to flow out. Then, one day, one of my students approached me after class and said, "I don't want to sound dumb, but I don't understand what you mean when you say draw the breath into the lower back, because I breathe into my lungs."
This was not a dumb question! (Which I, of course, assured the student.) It's true, we breathe into our lungs. But the oxygen that we take in travels to every single nook, cranny, and cell within our body. It doesn't stop at the lungs.
By using intention we can actually bring more oxygen into a certain place within our body. See, feel, and hear your breath moving to a specific place. This will bring more energy and will allow us to move deeper into the pose.
I run a children's yoga program and a huge part of children's yoga is imagination and creativity. When I ask them to draw their breath into their lower backs, inevitably I see fifteen little backs rising towards the sky. Children are so in tune with themselves, which is something that we tend to lose as adults.
So perhaps this summer - amidst all of life's business - you might like to try and release your inner child. Breathe a little more. Relax a little more. Live a little more. Love a little more.
And remember, it's called "Child's Pose" for a reason.
