Happy Baby Pose for Beginners and Men | A Step-by-Step Tutorial
This is a great stretch for your groin to help relieve lower-back pain. Use Happy baby before a yoga workout to help warm up, or after a workout session to release muscle tension and speed up recovery. This posture...
Aliver
This is a great stretch for your groin to help relieve lower-back pain. Use Happy baby before a yoga workout to help warm up, or after a workout session to release muscle tension and speed up recovery. This posture is also perfect for when you want to move but don’t feel like exercising.
Happy Baby Target Areas
GroinLower backHamstringsInner thighsHappy Baby Benefits
Releases lower-back tension and discomfortStretches groin and hamstringsIncreases hip flexibility– click images to enlarge –
Happy Baby Pose – Step 1
Happy Baby Pose – Step 2How to Do Happy Baby
Grab the outside of your right foot with your right hand, resting your elbow inside the knee.Flex your feet by reaching your toes toward your shins. Press your feet up into your hands, and pull your feet toward the floor with your hands, creating opposing forces to deepen the stretch in your groin.Squeeze outer hips to drive knees outward. Relax your head, shoulders, and back, slightly tucking chin to keep neck and spine neutral. Hold the posture, inhaling to maintain the position, and exhaling to deepen the stretch.Cues for Happy Baby
Keep head and neck relaxed on floor, and chin tuckedMake sure palm faces inKeep lower back on floorRetract shoulder bladesWHAT YOU SHOULD FEEL
Stretch in groin and hamstringsRelease of lower backSlight engagement of quadriceps and upper backWHAT YOU SHOULDN’T FEEL
Lower-back pain; if so, bend knees more, and engage coreHappy Baby Pro Tip
Roll lightly from side to side, and slightly bend and straighten your legs to achieve the desired stretch in your thighs.
Happy Baby Modification
If it’s difficult to hold your feet while retracting your shoulder blades, place a single strap across the soles of your feet, and hold the ends of the strap.
Happy Baby Pose ModificationAbout Dean Pohlman, Founder & CEO of Man Flow Yoga, Author of Yoga Fitness for Men, Expert on Yoga Fitness for Men.
Dean Pohlman is an E-RYT 200 certified yoga instructor and the founder of Man Flow Yoga. Dean is widely considered to be an authority on Yoga for Men. He has worked with physical therapists to create yoga programs for back health and spinal recovery. His workouts and programs have been used by professional and collegiate athletes, athletic trainers, and personal trainers; and have been recommended by physical therapists, doctors, chiropractors, and other medical professionals.
Dean is a successfully published author through DK Publishing (Yoga Fitness for Men), selling 35,000 copies worldwide in English, French, and German; in addition to being a co-producer of the Body by Yoga DVD Series, which has sold over 40,000 copies on Amazon since its release in 2016.
Man Flow Yoga has been featured in Muscle & Fitness Magazine, Mens’ Health, The Chicago Sun, New York Magazine, and many more major news media outlets.
