Asana, Alignment & Anatomy: Boat Pose

Boat Pose (Navasana) is yet another favorite.  You can make it as challenging as you want, and it targets the entire body.  It's also a GREAT way to work on building your core strength.  If you've ever practiced this pose, you know that your entire core is working hard to keep your body in this nice V shape.  Just staying in this pose for 30 seconds can feel like an entire workout.

Navasana (Boat Pose)

How to Get There

There are quite a few ways to get into this pose ranging from simply lifting your legs off the floor from a seated position to getting fancy and jumping through to it from Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana).  You can also lower down into it from Chair Pose (Utkatasana), which is a personal favorite.  

We'll go with the basics:

1. Start seated with your legs straight out in front of you.  
2. Place your hands on the mat a few inches behind you with your fingers pointed forward.  Begin to lean back as far as you can while still keeping your back straight.
3. Bend your knees into your chest and straighten your legs out in front of you at a 45 degree angle.  
4. Reach your arms out in front of you, palms facing up, to further activate the core and to help broaden your chest.
5. Draw your belly in and breathe here for 10 - 15 breaths.  When you're ready to release, hug your knees into your chest and return your feet to the mat.

Alignment Tips

• Press through the balls of your feet to activate those "yoga toes", which in turn will activate every muscle in your leg.
• Squeeeeeeeze your thighs together as if you were trying to hold a tiny marble between your thighs.
• Think of pulling your belly button in to touch your spine to help hollow out your abdominal muscles.
• Relax your shoulders away from your ears and lift your chin away from your chest.
• Pretend that you are holding a heavy tray full of drinks in your hands where you need your muscles to lift the tray, but you also need some balance and grace to not spill any of the drinks.  This will help you activate the muscles in your arms, as well as in your torso.

Newbie Modifications

• Keep your feet planted on the mat to lessen the intensity.
• Bend your knees so that your shins are parallel with the floor and lightly grab hold of the backs of your thighs for extra support (see photo on top right).
• Place your hands back on the mat behind you, with fingers pointed forward and start to bed your arms slightly to lean back a little more as you feel the work intensify.
• If this feels okay, keep the knees bent, but reach your arms straight out in front of you (see photo on bottom right).  The straighter your legs are, the more challenging the pose becomes.

Navasana (Boat Pose) Modification

Navasana (Boat Pose) Modification

Advanced Variations

• V-Sits: Take a deep breath in and lift your chest high.  As you exhale, slowly lower your legs and back down, straightening your body down so that your back and legs are just a couple inches off the mat.  Inhale as you tighten your core to lift back up into boat pose.  Repeat this nine times, bring your feet back to the mat for a break, and then repeat 10 more times. 
• Oblique Twists: From Boat Pose, inhale as you reach your arms out in front of you, and on your exhale, twist your torso to the right, reaching both arms outside your right leg to follow your upper body.  Inhale to come back through center and exhale to twist left with arms reaching outside your left leg.  Repeat this at least nine more times on each side.
• Toe Hold: Bend your knees into your chest so that you can wrap your thumb, index and middle fingers around your big toes.  Hug your belly in as you slowly press your heels upwards. 

Navasana (Boat Pose) Variation: Toe Hold

• Jump-back to Chaturanga: Start by crossing your ankles and shift your weight forward (step 1).  Press your hands into the mat as you lift your hips high while walking your feet underneath you (step 2).  Shift forward even more to bend into your arms and send your legs up and out behind you (steps 3 & 4).  Land in Chaturanga with your elbows bent and hugging in towards your body (step 5).  Try to not let your shoulders dip below your elbows.

Navasana (Boat Pose) Jump-Back Step 1

Navasana (Boat Pose) Jump-Back Step 2

Navasana (Boat Pose) Jump-Back Step 3

Navasana (Boat Pose) Jump-Back Step 4

Navasana (Boat Pose) Jump-Back Step 5

Bloopers

The nice thing about this pose is that there are so many stages, modifications and variations so as long as your muscles are engaged, you are most likely doing the pose correctly.  I can tell when someone isn't engaging all of their muscles because they look something like this:

Slouching Navasana (Boat Pose)

The back is drooping, the neck is straining, and the arms and legs are dangling.  It's actually quite risky to go this route because you risk seriously pulling/straining a muscle.  If you're still working on building up the core strength for full Boat Pose, try one of the modifications above to avoid risking any injuries. 

Happy sailing! :)