Child’s pose a wonderful way to soothe ourselves. It’s a widely used pose in all styles of Yoga, including Yin Yoga. It can be a great counter pose for back bends (heart opening) poses, or as a rest during your practice. Child’s pose can be done anytime even outside of your yoga practice. Especially if you’re looking to relax and wind down your energy. With the added benefits for your hips and spine its a great one to do right before bed, well anytime really if you want to chill, ground and relax your energy.
When we approach Child’s pose from a Yin perspective, we hold this pose much much longer than any other yoga classes.
Holding roughly 1 minute or longer is considered, Yin.
There are many benefits to long holds and one of them is getting into the deeper connective tissues, which in our case with Child’s pose our hip joints and spine gain the most.
Read more below for the benefits of practicing Child’s pose from a Yin Yoga perspective.
The Yin Yoga Practice
In Child’s pose, not everyone will look the same in this pose (well any pose really).
It’s important not to go too deep into the pose at the start. Or go to an “edge” where we think we should be in.
As time creeps up, while you hold in relative stillness, it can make the posture really hard to be in it, if you go past your edge, going too deep and/or moving into an edge too quickly. All of a sudden you might get the urge to come out, rather than marinating in the pose. When we start gradually and move into our first edge (as our edge changes with time) we can stay and hold for longer (typically).
We don’t want feel a strong physical intensity in the pose right away, as we want to marinate in this pose for at least 3-5mins (or longer if you’re doing okay).
Dull achy feeling is what we are after!
Approach your edge gradually, stay relatively still and hold for time.
TIME is our magic ingredient.
There are many ways you can be in and deepen Child’s Pose.
KEEP READING as the next sections outline different variations you can try with props to help you choose and modify the pose for YOU!
Keep in mind, practice with INTENTION and ATTENTION and only hold as long as you can still be breathing calmly and relax your muscles in the targeted area, which is the SPINE and HIPS in this case!
Pain is not gain in Yin Yoga!
Also to note, do this pose if you do not feel pain (pain can be defined as pinching, stabbing, numbing, stinging, tingling, sharp or warming sensations).
If you feel pain, back out right away. Only progress into a deeper version of the pose if you lose sensations (the dully achy feeling of the targeted area). If you are feeling a dull achy feeling, keep in relative stillness, anywhere from 3-5mins (if not longer). It is so important with anything to do with the spine to really be mindful and move slowly in and out of the pose, and again come out immediately, if you feel pain.
Pain is not gain in Yin Yoga.
AVOID THIS POSE if you have any spinal injuries or knee issues that would impede the movements discussed. Always consult your physician or doctor you’re working with, if any of the movements or longer holds could hurt you in any way.
Physical & Mental/Mindful Benefits of Child’s Pose:
Spine release and stretch
Can be healing and relaxing
Used as a break pose in most styles of yoga
Used as a counter pose for back bends (in all styles of yoga)
Compression of the stomach and chest
Compresses the digestive organs
Can be nice release for the neck and upper back region
Overall a simple pose from a look perceptive and it does give us many physical benefits, but one will learn with longer holds, the pose can get challenging with time and sometimes mentally the pose is harder to hold as we notice what arises. It’s important to choose a version of Child’s pose that’s not too deep right off the bat and even modify or support ourselves with props if needed. The benefits above are tapped into more when we hold the pose for longer.
How to get into Child’s Pose?
From table top position, take your knees as wide or as narrow as is comfortable. Narrow version our hands and arms are behind us as shown, the wider knee variation your arms can go above the head
Your toes come relatively together behind you
Check in with how your knees feel. Any discomfort in the knees support them now, with a blanket or change knee placement until discomfort subsides
Depending if you took your knees narrow or not, the narrow knee version of the pose, can sometimes constrict the breath for some, if this is the case, take your knees wider OR try placing a block under the forehead, or stacked fists
If you took your knees wide, and don’t like how the belly and chest hang too much and you want drape and ground yourself on something, a bolster can help with this.
If you feel a dull achy sensation in the hips, and a stretch along the spine, hold and stay (and breathe of course)
Relax again completely, holding in stillness so you can feel the effects of the pose
NOT deep enough? Try staying longer in the hold or removing a yoga prop if you were using one
When COMING OUT and bringing back movement proceed with caution and move SLOW!
Slowly come out, either lie on your belly in Crocodile pose, or lie on your back into Shavasana (corpse pose). You can always do cat/cow or Downward dog if you want more movement. See the next sessions for more ideas on counter pose.
Tip: If you find it hard to relax into the spine try placing a bolster or block under your forehead
Caution: make sure to not feel any pain in the hips, knees, spine or low back. If your arms get tingly bring them closer to your hips
Counter Pose for Child’s Pose
For counter poses move or don’t move, find what works for you, after you come out of a long held posture you will learn and know what you prefer. Here are some ideas for counter poses:
Lay on your back in corpse pose / Shavasana to observe the effects of pose
Crocodile pose, laying on your belly with palms stacked to create a little pillow for the forehead to rest on
Table top
Gentle cat/cow movements
Downward dog, maybe even peddle out the feet.
Legs up the wall without a wall. Here you would like on your back, take your legs straight up, souls of your feet face the sky. This allows the blood to run down the legs (or up the legs depending how you look at it from a laying down position)
Each day is different, assess what you need in the moment, not where you think you should go. The body becomes vulnerable from holding the postures in stillness and for time. Move out of the pose slowly, and choose your counter - move, don’t move!
Different Variations of Child’s Pose
Knees together, hands behind you (above described as the narrower knees version)
Knees wide apart, with arms overhead
Knees wide apart with arms bent, and the hands create a little pillow for the forehead to rest on (pictured above on the top right) OR your head grounded on stacked hands, or fists depending how much you want your head supported
Head grounded on a yoga prop (bolster or block or two blocks stacked). For a subtler prop you can use a folded blanket under the forehead
Come out of any and all Yin Yoga poses SLOW!!
Child’s pose with using props!
If you struggle to stay in stillness and for time in this posture, try using props to support you to stay in the posture to at least get some of the YIN benefits. Shorter time holding postures, but repeating them can also help you build up to longer holds.
A general rule for using props is that they help BRING THE EARTH UP TO YOU. Here are some ideas on how you can use yoga props while doing Child’s pose:
Bolster placed length wise, so that your head, chest, belly rest on it, and the end of the bolster is in between your legs
A block under your forehead, helps create more space for your belly and chest
To intensify the sensations, only if you have someone around they place a sandbag along your spine closer to your low back really anchor you
A blanket rolled up as a bolster
A blanket under the knees, blanket can be folded as thick or thin as needed for the knees to be supported
Compare and test your props out, be curious in your practice in order to discover your pose. Keep in mind, go to a place where you feel something, but not too much, so you can hold for time. Anything longer than 1- 3mins is considered more Yin-like!
Enjoy the HIP and SPINE release!!
ALWAYS KEEP IN MIND when practicing Yin Yoga, be the OBSERVER, move SLOW and with ease, slowly approaching your EDGE rather than striving to go to some defined EDGE.
Don’t feel pressure to look like anyone else.
Start your practice from within and ask yourself where do I feel it?
What does it feel like? Is it painful? Or is it offering a nice release?
Practice with intention and attention as the Yin yoga master, Bernie Clark would say, and intuitively you will know.
This doesn’t come easy, it comes with practice.
Namaste,
Marzena
More on the Blog - Discover and try other Yin Yoga poses
Sources & Other Resources
Yin Pose Info taken from The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga (Bernie Clark, 2005) ✔️Yinyoga.com