Child’s pose
Muscles worked : Back, mobility · Hips, shoulders
How to do it
- Start on all fours, knees about hip-width apart.
- Sit back progressively onto your heels, leaving the hands where they are.
- Reach the arms far forward and let the forehead lower toward the floor.
- Breathe slowly, letting the back round a little more with each exhale.
Common mistakes
- Shoulders hunched toward the ears instead of letting the torso release.
- Forcing the hips onto the heels when ankle or knee mobility does not allow it.
- Holding the breath, when it is the breathing that opens the position up.
Where you should feel it
A diffuse stretch along the back and across the back of the shoulders, with a sense of release rather than traction. Nothing should pull in the knees.
Range of motion
Sit back as far as comfort allows; how wide the knees are set decides how much room the torso has. The position opens on its own across the breaths.
Tempo and breathing
No execution rhythm: the position is held. It is the exhales that grow the range, not effort.
What works, precisely
This is not strengthening: the spinal erectors and the latissimus dorsi are passively lengthened while the hips move into full flexion. It is the static counterpart of cat-cow, which mobilizes the same area dynamically.
Movement mechanics
Global flexion of the spine and hips while unloaded, the bodyweight resting on the thighs and arms rather than on the spine.
Benefits
- The only back stretch in this library, the static complement to cat-cow.
- Works as a transition at the end of a session, or as recovery between two demanding back sets.
- Needs no equipment, just a comfortable floor.
Precautions
A knee that hurts in this position is relieved by sliding a cushion between the hips and the heels, rather than by giving up on the pose.