Today’s Poses: Happy Baby Pose and Fire Log Pose

Happy Baby Pose and Fire Log Pose

Happy Baby Pose

Although it is not one of the traditional poses found in older hatha yoga texts, Ananda Balasana, or “happy baby,” is very popular in contemporary practice. Its benefits include stretching the outer hips, inner groins, chest, and shoulders, lengthening the spine, and releasing tension in the low back.

Steps

• Sit on your heels. Keeping your hips on the heels, bend forward, and lower your forehead to the floor.
• Keep the arms alongside your body with hands on the floor, palms facing up. (If this is not comfortable, you can place one fist on top of another and rest your forehead on them.)
• Gently press your chest on the thighs.
• Hold.
• Slowly come up to sit on the heels, uncurling vertebra by vertebra and relax.

Benefits

• Deeply relaxing for the back.
• Relieves constipation.
• Calms down the nervous system.

Fire Log Pose

The Fire Log Pose stretches the outer hips intensely, particularly the piriformis, which is often the main culprit of sciatic pain.

Agnistambhasana (fire log pose) is a yoga asana named primarily after fire, and with its practice, we can come to know the light of an egoless mind. ‘Agnisthambhasana’, (pronounced ug-knee s-thumB-A suh-nuh) is derived from the Sanskrit words Agni (meaning ‘fire’), Sthamba (meaning ‘pillar’), and asana (meaning ‘pose’). It is a beginner level posture which guarantees a sense of calmness along with several other benefits.

Steps 

• Sit in an Easy Cross-legged Pose, with your back and torso upright.
• Bring your right ankle over your left knee.
• Make sure that your right foot is in contact with the outside of your left knee.
• Slip your left ankle under your right knee, so that your shins are one on top of the other.
• Flex both of your feet.
• Inhale and straighten your spine by bringing your torso up so that you are sitting straight on the sit bones.
• Upon exhaling, relax and bring the hips down.
• Maintain this posture for at least 1 minute.
• Inhale, keep your back straight and uncross your legs to come out of the pose.
• Repeat for the same amount of time with the left leg.

Benefits

• It avails a deep opening in the outer hips
• Strengthening of the legs and hips is guaranteed
• It massages and vivifies the abdominal organs including the large intestine, kidneys, pancreas, and liver
• It gently stretches the buttocks and groin
• It provides relief from lower back pain
• It curtails anxiety and tension and calms your mind.
• Encourages introspection once you can fold forward over the knees
• It opens up the second Chakra, Swadhistana, which is associated to your sexual and creative energy, and its proper expression.
• It controls the health of the hips, sacrum, lower back, and kidneys.
• Consistent practice of this asana will allow much more advanced hip openers to be more obtainable in your future practice.

Happy Baby Pose and Fire Log Pose stretch the outer hips, inner groins, chest, and shoulders, lengthening the spine, and releasing tension in the low back