Another way of sitting they will use during their crawling period is either Vajrasana (Thunderbolt Pose, Figure 43a) or Bhadrasana (Gentleman's Pose, Figure 43b). Some children - those with the flexible feet and ankles, but stiffer knees - will sit more frequently on their feet in Vajrasana which stimulates Swadhisthana Chakra. Others prefer Bhadrasana - those with the stiffer feet and ankles but looser knees - which stimulates Mooladhara Chakra.

   In the quadruped phase they make premature attempts at standing by pushing up onto hands and feet in Sumeru Asana (Mountain, Summit or Dog Pose, Figure 44). This has the effect of stretching the hamstrings, and of further encouraging spinal readiness for squatting and then standing.

   One pose in this Vajrasana Series  children do not often adopt voluntarily is Shashankasana Yoga Mudra, or Pose of the Child, Figure 45). This asana is well known by yogis to be a very pacifying and introverting position. Children naturally express their energy outwardly during the day, and instinctively only feel like resorting to such means when their adrenal system needs to relax deeply, such as when sleeping.

   The time a baby spends getting to crawling ability and stays in the crawling phase depends on many factors, not the least of which is the child's brain's innate ability to connect in that way. Another influence is the parents' assistance or hindrances with devices such as bouncers, prams, carrying them around and other lifestyle behaviours such as the time the adults spend down on the floor with their children or whether they are continually elevating them to the adult heights of life.
   But in fact some babies never do crawl. They by-pass much of the quadruped phase in favour of what is called "bum shuffling". This is a method of forward propulsion done by just sliding around on the buttocks, using the legs and arms to creep along. It wears out nappies at a great rate! Myself, I never crawled - yes, I was a bum-shuffler! And only one of my children turned out the same, the one who was probably the least co-ordinated of them all, the one who has had the greatest difficulty in much of her physical co-ordination, the most accident prone of the lot - my second little girl, Shivaprem. I believe that failure to crawl is an evolutionary disadvantage. In place of developing heterolateral movement of legs and arms, bum shuffling is a homolateral movement, both legs and both arms thrust in unison. Although a bum-shuffler may just as easily get from the sitting position, over onto a kneeling position, then into a squat, and then up into a standing position, by missing out on the crawling phase, a whole stage of brain and body co-ordination has been missed.
   The reasons for a child not crawling may be tied up in weak hands, weak wrists, weak arms, weak shoulders, fear of falling onto their face from the Cat Pose, neck problems, a stiff lower back, or else some mysterious evolutionary or hereditary throwback.