If you are loose jointed like me it can be hard to relate to relate to those who are not. And if you are a loose jointed yoga teacher like me it can be easy to teach poses that don’t always make people happy.
Like happy baby pose.
If you are loose jointed like me you probably love happy baby pose. Laying on my back in happy baby pose with my spine extended and my lower back gently curved up off of the floor I am ridiculously contented. Moving through numerous variations with relative ease it is a balm for my hips, hamstrings, inner thighs and everything else.
So being a loose jointed teacher who loves happy baby pose, I have finished classes with this shape for years.
My classes often follow a similar pattern ending with backbends and twists and then happy baby pose before savanna.
But a few weeks ago while doing a private with a friend I was informed that she hated happy baby pose. I was shocked, shocked I say, to hear this.
After that I began mentioning this in public classes and was further surprised to hear that a solid majority of students hated it as much as my friend.
And thus marks the end of happy baby pose in my repertoire.
Most times when I teach it I tell students that the ideal in happy baby pose it to have the knees in the armpits, the soles of the feet parallel to the ceiling and the lower back arched off the floor with the pelvis and ribcage on the floor.
Even while telling students that this is an ideal they might never achieve, I never made the leap that they might well be miserable while I am blathering on about unachievable results.
To make matters worse, I offer happy baby thinking it is a pleasant way for people to end their practice; a way to release before savasana. Little did I know that it often had the opposite effect.
Going forward I might still use it in the middle of class around intense variations that I favor but I think I will putting it to rest as a finishing pose.