JOYFUL BABY POSE
muditā śiśu āsana
muditā (moo-dee-TAH) = delighted, joyful, glad, rejoicing in
śiśu (shi-shoo) = baby
The projection of friendliness, compassion, joyfulness, and equanimity towards objects–be they joyful, sorrowful, meritorious or demeritorious–bring about the pacification of consciousness.
Yoga Sutra 1.33
Muditā is rooted in the word mud (pronounced mood), “joy, delight, gladness, happiness.” If you’ve ever read the 4th or 5th century CE Yoga Sutra, you may recall that muditā is one of the four, Buddhist-inspired practices listed at 1.33. These practices are first found in a 3rd century BCE text titled the Majjhima Nikāya, the “Collection (nikāya) of Middle-length Discourses” (majjhima) of the Buddha. Note that these words aren’t Sanskrit; instead, they’re Pali, the ancient liturgical language of the Theravādan Buddhists. In that text, the four are known as the “stations of Brahma” (brahma vihāra); along with joyfulness, there’s friendliness (maitrī, my-TREE), compassion (karuņa, kuh-roo-nuh), and a word often translated as “indifference,” but probably should be qualified with a word like “benevolent” (upekşa, oo-payk-shuh
Now why or to whom should we be friendly, compassionate, joyful, and benevolent? Vyasa, the first commentator on the sutras, explains that we should be friendly to those who’ve experienced happiness, compassionate to those in distress, joyful to those “treading the path of virtue,” and benevolent to those who’ve wandered off that path. These attitudes, as the sutra says, pacifies the mind, which then becomes one-pointed and serene. This sutra and the next six to 1.39 are together known as “ways of polishing or training the mind” (parikarman).
The names of poses are often reflections of their outward appearance. Downward Facing Dog (adho mukha svanāsana) is a good example (and much better than the pose’s original name, gajāsana, the Elephant). On the other hand, some names don’t make much sense at all; what the heck is a triang mukhaikapada paścimottanāsana? But the name here suits the pose well. It’s easy enough to see the practitioner mimicking a nine-month old, rolling around in her crib on her back, frolicking with her beautifully open groins. The name is also an assurance: do this pose regularly and someday, even as an adult, we’ll be able to again play with “joy, delight, gladness, and happiness,” like the baby.
PREPARATION
1. Lie on you back and draw your thighs to your belly on an exhalation. Rock slowly and consciously side to side, widening your back torso away from the spine. Then hold your right thigh to the belly and put your left foot on the floor. The easiest way to do the pose, relatively speaking, is to keep your left leg just as it is. To add a bit more challenge (and who doesn’t want more challenge in their life?), extend the left leg but raise the heel some distance off the floor. You might press your heel against a wall, or support it on a block, at a height that works for you. The closer your heel is to the floor, the more challenging the pose. And finally, for the most challenge, stretch the left leg out on the floor and keep it strong and straight. If you have a wall handy, it helps to press your heel firmly against it.
2. If you’re tighter in the groins, your head may lift off the floor as you perform this pose. If it does, be sure to support the back of your head on a block or thickly folded blanket.
3. Bring your right knee to the outside of your right arm (which for many students is easier said then done), press your elbow against the back of the right thigh just above the knee, cross your forearm to the outside of the foreleg, and hold the outside of your right foot in your hand. Then raise the foreleg to more or less perpendicular to the floor. Again, be sure your head is resting comfortably either on the floor or support.
4. Try to work the back of the shoulder into the angle made by the bent knee, then press the thigh down toward the floor (again, easier said etc.). Try to keep the inner knee against the side of the shoulder. You might be able to narrow the right hip onto the inner thigh. As always, the back pelvis widens like a hand-held fan, while the front pelvis draws together at the navel.
5. Check your left leg. If you have it fully extended, the knee may be buckling slightly. So either re-affirm its strength by pressing out from the back heel and base of the big toe, or raise it slightly off the floor, using a block or the wall for support. And if the leg is already elevated, you might try to raise it higher.
6. Realistically for most of us, a longer stay in this position is needed, as is regular practice. Stay for at least a minute, two would be better. Don’t forget to BREATHE! However, if you’re more open in the groins, a minute should suffice. When time is up, release the leg, shake it out, and repeat on the left side for at least an equal length of time. If you find one side is considerably more bound up than the other, then stay for a bit longer on that side than the other.
If you find this preparation takes you to your limit, you might stay with it for awhile until you feel more comfortable. But if you’re ready to “baby on,” go to the FULL POSE.
FULL POSE
1. Now, as it always does, the moment of truth has arrived. All you need really do is perform the right and left preps together (easier said etc.). You might find the full pose a slight to considerably greater challenge.
2. Exhale and bring both thighs to the belly, then move them off to the sides of your shoulders, and work the backs of the upper arms across the back thighs just above the knees, swing your forearms to the outside of the forelegs, and hold the outer edges of the feet. This is all exactly what you did for prep, though one side at a time.
3. Your head may not have needed a support for the prep, but it may now, so be sure to prop it up to keep the neck long and the throat soft.
4. It may be more of a challenge (I speak from long experience) to hold the full pose for a time equal to that of the prep. Find a time to stay that’s reasonable for you and call it a day (but don’t quit just because you’re bored). Make note of that time, and in practice on the next day, remember what a famous yogi once said: “Today’s maximum is tomorrow’s minimum.”
ALTERNATIVE
It might happen that pressing your elbows to the back thighs and then holding the outer feet is something you can’t manage comfortably, or at least relatively so. Simply reach your forearms up along the outside of your forelegs, and hold the outer edges of the feet. Can’t easily take the feet? Use straps.