Abs exercise
Boat Pose (Navasana)How to do it, with form in numbers
- Main muscles
- Abs, Hip flexors
- Also works
- Quads, Lower back
- Equipment
- Yoga mat
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
How do you do the Boat Pose?
- Sit with your knees bent and your feet flat, hands behind your knees.
- Lean back a little, lift your chest and find your balance just behind your sit bones.
- Lift your feet so your shins are parallel to the floor (half boat).
- If you can keep your back long, straighten your legs so your toes come up to about eye level.
- Reach your arms forward beside your legs, palms facing each other, and breathe for 3–5 breaths.
Cues
- Long spine, chest lifted towards your knees.
- Balance on your sit bones, not your tailbone.
- Shoulders down, arms strong.
Common mistakes
- Rounding your back: bend your knees or hold the backs of your thighs until you can sit tall.
- Holding your breath: keep breathing slowly through the hold.
- Leaning back too far: keep your legs and chest close enough to form a V.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
The version in our demo
Full boat (Paripurna Navasana) as Yoga Journal and Iyengar teach it: balanced on the sit bones with straight legs and straight arms, trunk and legs in a V.
Starting position
Sitting on the mat, knees bent, feet flat, hands behind the knees.
The position
Lean back a little until you are balanced just behind the sit bones, lift the feet and straighten the legs, then let go and reach the arms forward. The back stays long and the chest lifted (no rounding into the lower back), the shoulder blades down, the belly drawn in. Legs together and firm, toes softly pointed. Arms straight beside the legs, level with the floor, palms facing each other. Head in line with the spine, gaze towards the toes.
Breathing
Slow, even breaths; don't hold the breath to keep the balance.
Tempo
A held pose through one slow breath, 6 s: in-breath 2.5 s, the chest lifts about 2° and the arms reach about 1 cm; out-breath 3.5 s, back. The sit bones, legs and feet stay put. Real practice: hold 3–5 breaths, rest, repeat 3–5 times.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
- Hip joints about 8 cm above the mat (balanced on the sit bones, not on the tailbone).
- Legs lifted 50° above the mat, knees soft (about 8°), ankles about 10 cm apart (legs together, knees not pressing through each other).
- Trunk and legs make a V of 75–80°.
- Toes a little above eye height, 14–22 cm (Yoga Journal: the toes just above the eyes; Iyengar's legs go higher, 60–65°, with the feet above the head).
- Arms level (within 1°), elbows soft (7–10°), hands outside the knees and shins (2° out from parallel), palms facing each other.
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The Boat Pose is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
Sources
Sources
- Yoga Journal pose library, "Boat Pose (Paripurna Navasana)"
- B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Yoga (1966), Paripurna Navasana
