A new student has joined one of last week’s yoga classes. While she is new to Satori, she is a very experienced practitioner with over 12 years of yoga practice under her belt. When I asked the class to come into the child’s pose, she let me know that her neck doesn’t like child’s pose, and placed a yoga brick under her head.
A humble child pose – balasana – is a staple in most yoga classes. Offering a myriad of benefits, including soothing reprieve for overactive mind, and rest for overworked wrists and shoulders, child’s pose is a welcome break in any vinyasa flow. Yet, many yoga students (and their teachers) struggle to relieve forehead pressure and find neck comfort in this seemingly simply pose. What’s the trick?
What do you think?
The trick is no trick at all: child’s pose (as any pose) is not so simple after all; there are many variables (the health and mobility of your ankles, knees, hips or spine, for example) that can affect your comfort level.
Even though our new student – let’s call her Kate for ease of writing – felt discomfort in the neck, the origin of her problem was far away from neck area. Kate’s tight and short hip flexors (the muscles that connect leg and torso) restricted the movement in the middle of her spine (more exactly, for you, anatomy geeks, – her ability to flex the lumbar spine), which, in turn, affected the movement of the whole spine – including, of course, her neck area.
What’s the solution? I’ve placed a thin rolled up blanket across her knees to improve flexion in the lumbar spine, and asked her to come into child’s pose over that blanket.
Our result? Balanced movement throughout the whole spine, many happy back muscles, and one happy yoga student. In her own words, her back felt “like mint” after the child’s pose.
For yoga teachers: to see this particular pattern, look at your students’ back in child’s pose – is it evenly rounded, or do you see some flat areas that seem out of balance? Pay particular attention to flatness in the lumbar region of your student’s back, accompanied by hyper flexion in the lower thoracic area – these two are the usual suspects when it comes to neck complains in child’s pose.
As usual, please share your findings, insights and this post with others, so that every student in our yoga community benefits from a safe and effective practice.
Namaste!
