Child's Pose (Balasana): How to Do It, Why Teachers Use It and Who Should Take Care

Balasana, or child’s pose, is a resting posture. You kneel, sit back towards the heels and fold forward until the forehead rests on the floor, with the arms either stretched out ahead or lying beside the legs. Classes use it as a place to pause between harder postures, and many people find it the most comfortable posture in a session.

It does ask something of the knees and ankles, though, so this page puts the options and the cautions up front. It also describes what teachers say about it, and the cautious way in which some link it to the doshas. See also the safety notes for the whole section.

How to do it

1. Kneel on a mat, folding a blanket under the knees if the floor is hard. Bring the big toes together and let the knees part about as wide as the hips, or wider if your belly or chest needs room.
2. Breathe out and fold the trunk forward between the thighs, letting the hips move back towards the heels.
3. Rest the forehead on the mat, a block or a folded blanket. The aim is for the neck to feel free.
4. Place the arms forward with the palms down for a longer stretch of the back and shoulders, or alongside the legs with the palms up for a softer shoulder position.
5. Let the breath go to the back of the ribs. Stay for five to ten slow breaths, or longer if you like.
6. To come up, walk the hands in and roll up slowly, with the head the last part to rise.

If the hips do not reach the heels, that is fine. Support the gap with a cushion.

What the tradition says

Balasana is a posture of modern yoga, and it does not appear under this name in the old hatha texts, so avoid claims of antiquity. Teachers describe it as a pose of surrender and rest, and use it to help students return to an easy breath, to calm down after effort and to ease tension in the back. They also speak of it as a quiet place for the mind. These are descriptions of what practitioners report and what teachers hold, and they are not medical outcomes.

Child’s pose and the doshas

The pairing of postures with doshas is a convention that modern teachers use. It is not laid down in the Ayurvedic medical texts and has not been tested.

• Teachers often say that resting, grounded postures suit vata, which tradition describes as dry, light and restless, and that child’s pose gives a sense of being held. See vata.
• For pitta, which tradition describes as hot and driven, teachers suggest it as a cooling pause that asks for no effort. See pitta.
• For kapha, which tradition describes as heavy and slow, teachers say that long rests can add to heaviness, so they suggest keeping it brief and following it with something livelier. See kapha.

Treat these as teaching conventions, and use the pose for what it plainly offers: a rest.

Who should avoid it or take care

• People with knee injuries, knee replacements, arthritis or pain on bending the knees should ask a doctor first, and use support or avoid the pose.
• Anyone with ankle problems or foot pain should pad under the ankles, or choose a chair version.
• In pregnancy, especially later on, keep the knees wide so the belly has room, and ask your doctor.
• People with high blood pressure, glaucoma or eye pressure problems are often advised by teachers to avoid long folds in which the head is below the heart. Ask your doctor.
• Anyone with diarrhoea, a recent abdominal operation or a hiatus hernia should take care, since folding compresses the belly.
• Those with vertigo or dizziness should come up slowly.
• If you notice pins and needles in the feet, ease out of the pose at once.

A gentler option

Place a bolster or two firm pillows lengthwise between the knees, and fold over them so the chest is supported. Rest the head on the side, turning it halfway through. Put a rolled blanket behind the knees if bending hurts. If kneeling is impossible, sit on a chair, fold forward over a table with a pillow under your forehead and arms, or lie on your side in a curled position. All of these keep the sense of rest without taxing the joints.

What research says

There is no research on child’s pose by itself. Studies of yoga as a whole show modest benefits for stress and low back pain, and the US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health describes yoga as generally safe when taught properly. Some claims that a resting fold calms the nervous system, improves digestion or relieves headache are teaching claims that have not been shown in trials. A comfortable rest is its own justification, and it does not need to be a treatment.

Making it part of your practice

Use it between harder movements, for example after cobra pose or alongside cat and cow, and let it be a bridge into corpse pose at the end. The yoga sequence tool includes it as a rest. If you practise in the morning, do not eat first, as folding on a full stomach is uncomfortable.

The resting fold above is described as a tradition, not as medical advice. The medical disclaimer sets out the limits of this site. If anything about your health worries you, speak to a doctor before trying it. A registered Ayurvedic practitioner is the person to see for Ayurvedic treatment.

Frequently asked questions