There was definitely a moment in my practice that taking child’s pose (balasana) wasn’t an option. Even when my teacher told me that resting was always an option and honoring your body was of upmost importance. In my mind, honoring my body meant pushing its limits and making it sweat. So what if my arms were about to give out and my form suffered? I was powering through it. Thinking I had something to prove to my teacher, my peers and myself, I was stubborn in thinking that child’s pose was giving up or cheating. I can say now after years of being a student and some practice teaching, no one cares what you do on your mat. Seriously. Everyone is caught up in their own little rectangular yoga mat world to worry about what pose you are getting yourself into. So that worry can be dropped.
I can’t pinpoint when it happened, but I started to let go of the notion that child’s pose signified weakness. Naturally, the more I practiced yoga the more aware I became of my body. And by awareness I don’t just mean what my body is physically capable of doing. I mean the art of really tuning into my body in its wholeness. The physical, energetic, spiritual and emotional body. The complexity of these layers still amazes me and tapping into them requires acute attention. The more acquainted I can become with the complexities of the body, the better I can identify what it’s asking for and honoring it’s needs.
So at some point my perception shifted from one of weakness to one of devotion and surrender. Instead of telling my body what to do, I let my body tell ME what to do. And then I actually listened. Sinking my hips to rest on my heels and stretching my arms out in offering became an asana I looked forward to as opposed to averting. It became a symbol of humility and a chance to reconnect with my breath and humble my ego. Balasana quickly jumped the ranks in the list of most underrated yoga poses and I felt no shame in taking a timeout now and again when necessary.
Taking child’s pose is not “childish” or make you an amateur yogi. Quite the contrary in my opinion! Resting in child’s pose is a wise decision to appreciate and love your body – moving past the voice in your head that says push forward and honoring the connection to the body that tells you it’s okay to slow down.
