Happy Baby

How to do it

1. Lie on your back and hug both knees toward your chest.
2. Take hold of the soles of the feet, the ankles, or the backs of the legs — whatever you can reach comfortably.
3. Stack the feet above the knees so the shins are roughly vertical, and draw the knees down toward the floor alongside your chest.
4. Relax your head and shoulders heavily into the floor.
5. Pull actively with the arms for a minute or two, then release the effort and let the weight of the legs do the work.
6. Stay up to 5 minutes when relaxed. To protect the lower back, keep the hips grounded rather than rolling them up off the floor. A strap around the feet helps if they're hard to reach.

Why practise it

• A deep hip opener you can ease into with arm strength, rather than waiting on gravity.
• Releases and decompresses the sacroiliac (SI) joints.
• Gently compresses and massages the abdominal organs.
• Stimulates the Urinary Bladder and Kidney lines along the spine, and the Liver line through the inner groins.

Coming in & out

At a glance

Hold

2–5 minutes (about 2 min if actively pulling with the arms; up to 5 if you relax and let the legs settle)

Level

Beginner

Target areas

hipsinner thighsgroinlower back

Meridians

urinary bladderkidneyliver

Props

strap

Counterpose

Windshield Wipers — knees bent, feet wide, drop the knees side to side — to bring the hips back to neutral · A mild spinal lift, coming up only halfway