🌙 Week 8: Child's Pose (Balasana): A Moment to Surrender and Begin Again

Welcome to Week 8 of Yoga for Leadership™. 🌱

We've moved through grounding, courage, balance, release, opening, focus, and perspective. This week: surrender.

🌙 Child's Pose (Balasana): A Moment to Surrender and Begin Again

I do this pose the moment I roll out of bed. 

I'm not a morning person. I linger and snooze endlessly. 

But using Child's Pose as the bridge between sleeping and waking changed things. It gave me a soft landing into the day, a moment to be myself before stepping forward.

Child's Pose is one of the simplest shapes in yoga. 

Knees down. Hips back. Forehead rested. 

Arms reaching forward or folded beside you.

There's nothing to perform or control. 

It invites you to stop, bow inward, breathe, and let the ground carry you.

And even in its stillness, there can be movement. 

Sometimes I stretch my hands to one side to ease tight places. 

The pose stays grounded while the body shifts to create space. Surrender isn't staying still. Sometimes a small shift is what creates ease.

Leadership has its own version of this.

I experienced it recently after a consultation call that did not go as I'd hoped. These conversations are usually fine. They're about fit and chemistry. But that day, it landed differently. It felt like one more thing I couldn't hold after weeks of a taxing paradox: fulfilling client work and quiet questions about growth.

When the call ended, something in me cracked. Not dramatically, but in that honest moment when my whole self said, "I can't hold all of this right now."

What I needed was a pause, a moment to let things be so I could gather myself again. 

Once I paused, my breath returned. 

I talked with my husband. I connected with my coach. I shared with my peers. 

And slowly clarity came back.

Ideas emerged. I mapped out what offerings to prioritize, clarified my next outreach steps, and outlined where I want to focus my energy this quarter. The path ahead felt clearer.

Surrender isn't giving up. It's loosening your grip for a moment. Letting things be as they are. Allowing an exhale before the next inhale. It's the pause that helps you transition with steadiness instead of strain.

Child's Pose reminds me that I don't have to force my way through every moment. Sometimes the most powerful action is to surrender, to shift just enough to find a bit of ease, to arrive and meet the next moment from a steadier place.

🌱 Leadership Practice: 

When you notice yourself holding more than you can carry, stop for a moment.

Let your weight settle. 

Take one slow breath and let things be, just for now.

💫 Invitation:

Where is the weight in your day inviting you to pause?