Navasana – Benefits of Boat Pose
Health Benefits of navasana benefits of boat pose Yoga, and all of its innumerable applications that assist in elevating the performance of the mind and body, is much sought after by people of all ages and backgrounds. This article deals with one of the immensely advantageous asanas for the human body – The Navasana. The name ‘Navasana’ is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Nava’, meaning ‘boat’. The moniker for it is “The Boat Pose”, because the posture makes the practitioner resemble a boat. Since this Asana lies in the advanced category, it is seldom utilized to the full extent of its intensity.
Its benefits range from strengthening and purifying your body to igniting your inner flame. Navasana not only expands your chest, strengthens your lungs to facilitate deeper breathing, but will also play a major role in the revitalization of the entire endocrine system, especially the adrenals, pancreas, thyroid, testes, and ovaries.
Steps to perform Navasana The Boat Pose:
- Begin seated on the floor with your legs extended out forward
- Place your hands on either side of your torso by your hips, with your fingers pointing forward
- With an elongated spine, engage your core by activating your lower abdominals while focusing on your breath
- Lengthen your body from your hip bones right to the top of your head
- Start to lean back onto your sitting bones (not your tailbone), while keeping a straight neutral spine and lower abdomen slightly engaged
- On an exhale bend both your knees and lift your feet and shins parallel to the mat
- Maintaining your upper body, start to extend your legs, raising the tips of your toes to eye level or above
- Reach the final position by extending your arms parallel to the floor or take them into whatever expression you feel is appropriate for you
Health Benefits of Navasana – Boat Pose Benefits
- It strengthens your core abdominal muscles
- It strengthens your hip flexors, iliopsoas, and quadriceps
- It strengthens the adductor muscles of the inner thighs
- It strengthens your spinal muscles, specifically erector spinae, quadratus lumborum, lower trapezius, transversospinalis (the small network of muscles that connect each individual vertebra)
- It helps to prevent back problems and also to rectify existing long-term imbalances
- It aligns the spinal column and tones and strengthens the buttocks, thighs and legs
- It cleanses your kidneys and facilitates fresh blood supply, thus ridding your body of toxins.
- It greatly improves concentration and enervates numbness in your mind
- It produces prana flow throughout your body
- It builds willpower, determination, and self-control
- It seals your energy field and prevents prana from leaking out
