मालासन
Malasana — the Garland Squat
mālā = garland — the body folded like a hanging garland
The deep squat our grandparents rested in: hips low, heart open, hands in namaste.
In the simplest words
Squat down low like you're sitting on your heels near the ground, the way people sit around a campfire. Put your hands together at your chest and let your elbows push your knees apart a little. Comfy? That's your hips saying thank you.
What it is
Feet planted a little wider than the hips, the body sinks into a full squat and stays there, elbows resting inside the knees, palms joined at the heart. For most of history this was how people sat to cook, to wash and to talk, and the hips, knees and ankles were kept supple by daily use. Malasana brings that back: it opens the hips without force, wakes the ankles, and gives the lower back the decompression that chairs take away.
Before you practise: health first
With knee injury keep this high (sit on a low stool instead); in late pregnancy squat only with support and a doctor's approval; heels on a blanket beat wobbling. Rise slowly if the head spins.
Getting into it
Stand with feet slightly wider than the hips, toes turned a little out.
Bend the knees fully and lower the hips all the way down between the ankles.
Heels reach for the floor; a folded blanket under them is the sensible way.
Join the palms at the heart; elbows widen the knees a little; spine grows tall.
Stay, breathing into the lower back; come up slowly, or sit back onto a cushion to rest.
The breath
Slow breaths into the belly and lower back; the squat breathes downward.
What it is kept for
Hips, ankles and lower back; digestion (the tradition's sitting for it); reclaiming the resting squat itself.