13

www.CSEcenter.org

Summer is the time of fiery energy.

 According to the ancient 

teachings of Ayurveda, summer is the time when the fire element (pitta) is 
dominant. It can be a time of uplifting energy and healing, mostly due to 
longer daylight hours leading to a more active, outdoor lifestyle.  However, 
during sunny summer days it is easy for the qualities of warmth, dryness,  
and lightness to become excessive and contribute to anxiety, nervousness, 
heartburn, skin inflammations, and insomnia. Excess fire energy can be 
balanced through calming and soothing forward bends. The practice of 
Balasana (child’s pose) can support us to balance the energies of summer  
and to remain inwardly cool and open to life.

Balasana

 

 (ba-lah-sa-na) 

bala = child     asana = pose 

Step by Step Practice

1. Kneel on the floor. Touch your big toes together and sit on your heels, then 

separate your knees about as wide as your hips—wider if needed.

2. Exhale and bend forward, laying your torso forward between your thighs.

3. Broaden across the back of your pelvis and lengthen through the spine—

from the tailbone to the crown.

4. Lay your hands on the floor palms up, alongside your torso, and release the 

fronts of your shoulders toward the floor. Let the weight of the front of the 
shoulders pull the shoulder blades wide across your back—opening the 
back of the heart area. You can also choose to extend your arms directly 
overhead (palms down), or bend at the elbow and place hands, one on top 
of the other beneath your forehead if you would like a little more support 
for your head and neck. 

5. Balasana is a resting pose. Stay anywhere from 30 seconds to a few 

minutes. Beginners can also use Balasana to get a taste of a deep forward 
bend, where the torso rests on the thighs. 

6. To come up, first lengthen the front torso, and then with inhalation lift from 

the tailbone as it presses down and into the pelvis.  

Rev. Sundari Jensen is the Executive Minister at CSE.