To perform this asana in the right way follow the following steps -
Sit on the floor with your knees bent. Set your knees a little wide apart in the same way as your hips. While doing so you need to ensure that the distance between both the hips and both knees should be the same, in proportion.
Let your toes face towards the ground.
Now sit straight in Vajrasana pose ensuring that your spine is straight.
Next step is to exhale slowly and bend your body forward towards the thighs. In doing so your forehead should touch the ground.
Now press your hands besides your legs in such a way that they should completely rest on the ground and should be relaxed.
After you touch the ground with your forehead, close your eyes and count your breathe. Inhale and exhale slowly. Now relax your body in this position for some time. You can stay in this position for about a minute or so but ensure that you are not overstressing your body. Do as much as you can without overdoing it.
Now release and go back to the initial pose you started with, i.e. Vajrasana.
This will complete the asana.
The main anatomical focus of this pose is for the thighs. It helps the strengthen it and makes it more flexible and increases the blood flow. It helps to keep this part of the body strong and healthy.
The main therapeutic applications of this asana is to relieve stress and tension. It helps the rejuvenate the mind by releasing emotional and physical stress which is highly beneficial.
This is a very beneficial pose and has many positive effects. Some of the benefits of this asana are as follows -
It helps to stretch the hips, thighs and ankles and makes the strong and healthy.
It helps the calm the brain and relives stress, anxiety and fatigue.
It is also helpful in relieving back and neck pain. You need to perform it with your head and torso supported to ensure maximum benefit.
It releases tension in the back, shoulders and the chest.
It is a highly stress relieving pose, especially if you have dizziness or fatigue.
It helps to flex the internal organs and keeps them supple.
It is beneficial for the spine as it helps to lengthen and stretches it.
It helps to stretch the muscle, tendons and ligaments in the knee.
It encourages strong and steady breathing.
Even thought this is a very beneficial pose, there are certain times you need to avoid it. There are certain contraindications and cautions one needs to take before or while performing this pose. It is best to avoid this pose when one has diarrhea or knee injury as it puts extra pressure on affected parts. It is also not advisable to do it while pregnancy because it will put a lot of pressure on the fetus. It is always advisable to perform this pose in the guidance of an expert trainer or a supervisor.
For beginners to maximize the benefit and make the pose easy they can release the torso a little more deeply into the fold with each exhalation. Balasana provides us with an excellent opportunity to breathe consciously and fully into the back of the torso, which we usually tend to avoid or forget. It is highly beneficial when with each inhalation we doom the back torso toward the ceiling, lengthening and widening the spine.
One can bring interesting variations in this pose to make it more easy, beneficial and interesting. One can stretch their arms forward to increase the length of the torso. Also you can lift your buttocks just slightly away from your heels. When drawing the shoulder blades down the back, reach the arms longer to make it more flexible. Once you do that ensure that you sit the buttocks down the heels, again without moving the hands.
In case you have difficulty while sitting on the heels while performing this poses, place a thickly folded blanket between your back things and calves.
Having a partner while performing this pose can be of real help. He/she can help you lengthen the 'dome' shame of your back in this pose. With your partner standing on one of your sides, ask them to place one hand on your sacrum with the fingers pointing toward the tailbone and the other hand on your mind back. Now when you exhale ask your partner to gently press down and without physically moving the hands, scrub them in the opposite directions. Now your partner can help you regulate the pressure on your back, either more or less. Ask them to apply more pressure only on an exhalation.
You can perform the Virasana as a preparatory pose before trying out this asana.
This is a resting pose and can be followed up by any asana as it helps to relax the whole body.