Happy Baby yoga pose creates ease for the lower back

The Fall

I took a spill the other night that probably would have earned me a place on America’s Funniest Home Videos, had it been filmed. As it turned out, I was alone to ponder my silly stupidity and thank the gods that I am a yogini. Why? Because my body can handle a fall without serious repercussions, even in my forties. As I fell, I had one of those surreal moments where time slows down considerably and I had the conscious thought to protect my head from crashing. I could feel my body twist so that I could keep my head up as my body hit the deck (literally, I was on my upper balcony watching the sunset). My head stayed upright even as my glasses flew off my head.  As a result, the entire right side of my body, from my neck to my toes, is out of whack and badly bruised with a few choice skin scrapings.

The Recovery

My first thought in un-whacking my body is just to lay on my back until everything magically re-aligns itself, but I’m not sure that will do the trick fast enough for my liking. And I’m certainly not up to doing a full series of yoga yet, but I do need some gentle stretching of the back that will lead into some gentle twists (pay attention to the word “gentle” here). So, you can image my joy upon finding a link to the video below by Yoga Great, Rodney Yee, on the Happy Baby Pose! It may not look like much, but done right this pose will release the whole lower back right into the floor. Rodney demonstrates the correct action of this pose, thereby showing us how to avoid the pitfalls of the average “baby” wanting to become happy by doing this pose. For most beginning to intermediate yogis this is a difficult pose to master because of the subtle action required to draw the sacrum down toward the floor rather than letting it curl up. I highly recommend trying this at home (hopefully without injuring yourself first!).

Ahhh, relief.

Click here to watch the video.