Malasana - Garland Pose

Malasana invites us to get low, connect with the earth, and find stability from the ground up. It is a deceptively simple posture that asks us to balance effort and ease while opening the hips, ankles, and lower body. Squatting is a natural human movement that has become less common in modern life, particularly for those of us who spend a lot of time sitting in chairs.
Practicing Malasana gives us an opportunity to explore this movement pattern while adapting it to our individual bodies.

Sanskrit:
Malasana (mah-LAH-suh-nuh)
Mala = garland, necklace, or wreath
Asana = commonly translated as pose; more literally, seat or way of sitting
You may also hear Malasana called Garland Pose, Yogi Squat, or Posture of Contemplation.

Benefits:

• Opens the hips and inner thighs
• Stretches the groins and ankles
• Encourage mobility in the hips, knees, and ankles
• Strengthens the legs and feet
• Supports healthy pelvic floor awareness
• Stimulates digestive system
• Improves balance and body awareness
• Provides grounding

How to Practice:

1. Stand with your feet about hip-width apart or slightly wider. You may turn the toes out naturally.
2. Bend your knees and slowly lower your hips toward the floor, moving into a low squat.
3. Bring your hands to prayer at your heart.
4. Use your elbows gently against the inner thighs to create space through the hips.
5. Keep the chest lifted and lengthen through the spine.
6. Press the feet firmly into the floor and notice the connection between your feet and the earth.
7. Keep your gaze soft and your jaw relaxed.
8. Breathe slowly and comfortably.
9. Rather than trying to force your hips as low as possible, find a position where you can breathe, soften, and remain steady.
10. Stay for several breaths.
11. To come out, press firmly through the feet and slowly rise to standing.

Adaptations or Variations:

• Sit on a block - Place a block beneath your sitting bones. 
• Place a bolster beneath you - For a more restorative version, sit back onto a bolster or stack of blankets. This allows you to experience the shape without asking your legs to support your entire body weight.
• Support the heels - If your heels don't comfortably reach the floor, place folded blankets or a wedge beneath them.
• Widen the stance - Take the feet wider than hip-width apart. This may create more room for the hips and torso.
• Keep the hands on the floor - If balancing in the squat is challenging, place blocks beneath the hands or keep your fingertips on the floor.
• Arms overhead - For a more active variation, reach the arms overhead, hands in steeple mudra, while maintaining the squat. This increases the strength and balance demands.
• Posture of Contemplation - Bring hands into prayer position at the third eye center (thumbs pressing into forehead).
• Dynamic Malasana - Move slowly between standing and Malasana, using the breath to guide the movement. This can be a wonderful way to explore mobility without staying in the deepest part of the pose.
• Use the Wall - Behind your back to help with alignment and balance. OR lie on your back with your feet pressing into the wall.

Precautions:
Malasana can be modified to suit many different bodies, but use care if you have:

• Knee injuries or significant knee pain
• Hip injuries
• Ankle injuries or limited ankle mobility
• Recent foot or lower-leg injuries
• Pelvic floor concerns
• Balance difficulties

If you experience discomfort, try some of the variations/propping above.

Keep in mind that a deeper squat isn't necessarily a better squat. Your version of Malasana may look completely different from someone else's—and that's okay. Yoga asks us to work with our bodies rather than trying to recreate someone else's shape. As always, if a posture causes pain, come out of it and ask a qualified yoga teacher for assistance.

Fun Facts
1. Squatting is an ancient human movement.
Humans have been squatting for thousands of years. In many cultures, squatting remains a natural position for resting, eating, working, and socializing.
Our modern chair-centered lifestyles simply mean many of us don't spend much time in this position anymore.
2. "Mala" means garland.
The Sanskrit word mala can refer to a garland or wreath. The name may be connected to the shape of the arms and body forming a rounded, garland-like shape around the legs.
Interestingly, mala is also used in japa mala, the string of beads traditionally used for meditation and mantra repetition.
3. Your heels don't have to touch the floor.
This is one of the most common misconceptions about Malasana.
Limited ankle mobility can make it difficult to keep the heels down, and that doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong.
Props are part of the practice—not a failure of the practice.