Boat Pose (Navasana) strengthens both the front and back body and core, works the hip flexors, and provides a nice test of your balance and stability.

Boat Pose provides a range of benefits, so it’s good to incorporate as a regular part of your yoga practice.

But let’s be real – Navasana is typically not a fan favorite. It’s not a pose that students request very often, and certainly not one that brings a feeling of bliss while in the middle of it.

Let’s change that! With these fun, creative, and challenging Boat Pose variations, you can bring a fresh spin to a classic pose, test your strength and mobility, and maybe even find a new appreciation for this strengthening yoga pose.

Here’s How to Practice a Traditional Navasana:

Before moving onto variations, make sure you have a solid grasp on a traditional Boat Pose first.

Let’s try it:

• From a seated position bend your knees and put the tips of your toes on the ground
• Bring your hands to rest on the outside of your thighs
• Lean back slightly, finding your balance on your sit bones
• Inhale as you lengthen your spine and lift your chest by broadening across your collar bones
• Pull your belly button in and up to engage your core and stabilize your lower back
• Engage your pelvic floor by activating Mula Bandha
• On your exhale, lift your feet and bring your shins parallel to the ground, finding a modified Boat Pose
• Squeeze your inner legs together
• Keep your breath slow and full
• Activate your feet by pointing or “flointing” (pointing your feet and flexing your toes)
• Gaze at one spot ahead of you or at your feet
• Extend your legs out straight to find traditional Boat Pose, use your core to help with this (not just the strength of your hip flexors and legs)
• Play around with your hand placement: plant your hands behind you or grab your thighs for a bit of extra support; extend your arms parallel to the ground; or lift your arms up overhead for an extra challenge
  

  Now You’re Ready to Try These 7 Fun Boat Pose Variations:

  Once you’ve mastered Boat Pose, play around with these fun Navasana variations for an extra challenge.

  1. Boat on a Yoga Block

Add an extra balance challenge by sitting on a yoga block. It’s harder than it looks!

Let’s try it:

• Place a yoga block on the floor on its shortest height
• Perch on the block, making sure both of your sit bones are resting on the block. You can use two blocks next to each other for a bit more support
• Balance is much harder on a block, so you may want to stick with a modified Boat Pose for the first few times you try

2. Revolved Boat Pose (Parivrtta Navasana)

Add a twist to your Boat Pose to increase the difficulty and work your obliques. This is a great pose to use in a sequence preparing for a twisting arm balance such as Side Crow (Parsva Bakasana) or Grasshopper Pose (Parsva Bhuja Dandasana).

More  Yoga Poses to Boost Your Confidence with a Strong Core

Let’s try it:

• • From traditional Boat Pose, loop your right big toe with your left peace fingers
  • On your exhale, twist to the right, extending your right arm to open across your chest
  • Bring your gaze toward your outstretched right hand
  • Add an extra challenge by crossing your ankles. Loop the big toe of your bottom foot with your index finger when trying this version

3. Low Boat Pose (Ardha Navasana)

Occasionally called Canoe, this pose is deceptively challenging and seems to find core muscles you didn’t know you had.

Let’s try it:

• • • Start in traditional Boat Pose
    • Slowly lower your mid-back and legs toward the floor until they are hovering about six to eight inches off the ground
    • Keep your legs firm and together
    • Hover your arms by your hips with your palms facing up or sweep them long overhead
    • Keep your core muscles drawing in toward your spine
    • Transition between traditional Boat (Navasana) and Low Boat (Ardha Navasana) several times to really work your core
    • If you feel any strain in your neck, you can bring your hands behind your head to gently cradle your neck

4. Both Big Toe Pose (Ubhaya Padangusthasana)

This version of Boat Pose combines core and balance work with a deep hamstring stretch.

Let’s try it:

• • • Start in Butterfly Pose (Baddha Konasana)
    • Loop both big toes with your peace fingers and thumbs
    • Shift your weight into your sit bones as you lift your knees up toward the ceiling
    • Lift your feet off the floor and find your balance
    • Slowly stretch your legs out in front of you
    • Keep your spine long and straight while broadening through your front body to prevent rounding in your back
    • Lengthen your legs from your pelvis through your heels and flex your feet
    • Gaze slightly upward toward your toes

5. Wide-Legged Boat Pose (Merudandasana)

This option is similar to Both Big Toe Pose, but it can be a bit more challenging on your balance. If you start to fall backward, stay relaxed and roll with it.

Let’s try it:

• • Start in Butterfly Pose
  • Loop both big toes with your peace fingers or grab the outside of your feet
  • Shift your weight into your sit bones as you lift your knees up toward the ceiling
  • Extend one leg at a time out wide to the side of your mat
  • Once you’re stable with extending one leg at a time, try extending both simultaneously
  • Gaze forward or up toward the ceiling for an extra balance challenge

6. Boat Pose With a Yoga Strap

Try this variation for a supported Navasana. The yoga strap and block combination helps you to find lift through your spine and chest. It’s also a great tool to use when working toward L-Sit (Brahmacharyasana).

Let’s try it:

• • Start in Staff Pose (Dandasana)
  • Make a large loop with your yoga strap
  • Bring the strap around your upper body, placing it under your armpits and around your shoulder blades
  • Bend your legs, bringing your knees close to your chest
  • Place a yoga block width-wise at the base of your feet and loop the other end of your strap around the block
  • Press your feet firmly into the block as you extend your legs out and up
  • Use your hands as needed and find your balance
  • Extend your arms parallel to the ground or overhead when you’re ready
  • Push out through your feet toward the block as you lift up and back with your upper body

7. Half-Bound Lotus Boat Pose (Ardha Baddha Padma Navasana)

This beautiful variation is based on a standing forward fold, Half-Bound Lotus Pose from the Ashtanga Primary Series.

Looking to improve – 3 Ways to Improve Your Advanced Yoga Practices Quickly

It may cause strain on the knee due to the foot placement, so you might want to skip this variation if you have any knee issues. Make sure your body is warm and stretched before trying this pose.

Let’s try it:

• • • Start in Staff Pose (Dandasana)
    • Bend your right leg and guide your right foot to the crease of your left hip
    • Extend your right arm to the front, and turn your palm away from you so your thumb is facing down
    • Sweep your right arm around your back and grasp your right big toe or foot with your right hand
    • Bend your left leg, placing your foot on the ground as you find balance on your sit bones
    • Lasso your left big toe with fingers from your left hand
    • Extend your left leg in front of your chest
    • Gaze toward your extended left leg

Have Fun Playing With These Navasana (Boat Pose) Variations!

Next time you’re feeling bored with your core work or your traditional yoga postures, try one of these Boat Pose variations. Your core will very likely thank you!

This article is republished from https://www.yogiapproved.com/ under a Creative Common license. Read the original article.

Find time to exercise in your daily routine. an active life helps boost your immune system. Having an active life does not mean you do not rest. It only means to have balance. Have an active life with a dose of exercise and the right amount of rest time.

Additional good reads:

4 Easy Steps to Get Back Into Full Body Exercises Immediately

7 Ways to Be Fit & Get Healthier Without Dieting

How Much Exercise Is Enough?

There are several key elements to conscious cooking that transform it into a mindful experience. Consider these tips as you set out to create your next meal.

Read these too:

5 Foods For Your Yogic Diet that Are Healthy

How To Count Macros To Lose Fat and Gain Muscle

Counting calories won’t make you healthy. Here are ways to be fit and get healthier without dieting.

Pop quiz. How many diets can you name off the top of your head? If you are like most people these days, you can probably rattle off at least half a dozen without breaking a sweat. Some of them may dominate TV advertisements, and others may tend to be passed around by word of mouth. Still others tend to survive in the pages of self-help books and are splashed across the internet.

You have likely noticed that some people simply seem to have more willpower than others. They manage to avoid eating junk food and instead snack on carrot sticks or celery. Their willpower may seem incredible, but if you looked inside their cabinets, you would probably find that they do not have chips, candy or cookies in the house.

More Sleep to Be Fit

When it comes to staying healthy, sleep is perhaps the most commonly ignored requirement. Almost everyone is aware on some level that they need to get enough sleep in order to remain healthy, but that does not stop most people from acting as if they are convinced that they can teach themselves to go without sleep entirely.

If you read any sort of health columns, parenting advice or technology news, you have almost certainly heard that spending too much time using your electronic devices is terrible for your health. Overuse of electronics tends to keep people sitting down for even longer periods of time than they were already prone to doing.

When you think of your energy level, your first thought might be of reaching for some caffeine—coffee, tea, or soda. But boosting your energy might be even easier. And cheaper!

Do you find yourself barely making it through the day? Are you exhausted long before it’s technically time to fall asleep? It’s not surprising that stress is a major cause of fatigue and yet this is the state of being many people have become accustomed to living. It’s important to start exploring ways to use the body and mind in ways that help you thrive rather than just getting by on fumes when you feel sluggish.

If you want to learn how to have more energy, it all starts with just a few simple habits. You may be accustomed to seeking outside yourself for a solution when there is a wealth of natural vitality within you just waiting to be tapped into.

It’s possible to live a life full of optimism and vigor by consciously adapting your choices and practices that invite more energy rather than decrease it. So, ditch that cup of coffee, stop hitting your snooze button and keep reading for healthy ways to boost your energy.

1. Get Good Sleep

According to Ayurveda, sleep is the nursemaid to humanity—for good reason. A good night’s sleep helps the body and mind recover from the stresses of the day, allowing you to wake up feeling refreshed and energized.

It also helps to sustain your energy levels throughout the day so you don’t fall prey to the “afternoon slump” quite as easily. Unfortunately, with the chaos of the world, good sleep can be elusive. Insomnia and lack of adequate sleep is a real health epidemic.

While there are countless sleep aids available on the market, it’s important to try and restore the body’s natural sleep-wake cycles. Stay conscious of how many hours of sleep you get each night. In doing this, you activate the body’s own healing intelligence, which leads to a good night’s sleep. Ayurveda offers helpful tools to achieve more restful sleep. It’s important to make this a priority in your life for good health and vitality.

2. Establish an Inspiring Morning Routine

How you start the day sets the trajectory for how the rest of your day will unfold. If you start off feeling apathetic and sluggish, it tends to be the theme of the day. If you start off frenetic and scrambling to get ready, you might feel like you spend the rest of your day trying to catch up. Both are extremely tiring to maintain for an entire day. Instead, it’s helpful to anchor yourself through a morning routine that enhances the type of day you wish to have.

You have your morning ablutions, which you move through pretty mindlessly—waking up, drinking coffee, taking a shower, brushing teeth, and then the day begins. This is not inspiring. Start to think of morning rituals you can do to add some energy in your life. Here are a few ideas to help you get out of bed each morning:

• Prepare the night before—a morning routine runs smoothly if you have it planned out ahead of time.
• Meditate.
• Splash cold water on your face as soon as you wake up.
• Journal—It’s a great way to release worry and tension, which are energy zappers.

• Stretch and move—perform a few rounds of sun salutations.

Of course, the first obstacle you might have to overcome is that you don’t have enough time. Set yourself up for success and start with small things. Ultimately, you end up having more time in your day because of the energy you have to complete tasks faster, leaving time for the fun stuff too.

3. Perform Self-Massage To Boost Energy Level

Doing a self-massage might be the last thing you think of when deciding how to have more energy in your day. It is, however, one of the cornerstones of maintaining good health and longevity according to Ayurveda. Good health also means more energy. In Sanskrit, the language of Ayurveda, the word for oil is sneha, which is also the word for “love” or “affection.”

Doing a warm oil massage on oneself, or abhyanga, is one of the most important expressions of self-love. When performed with intention, it feels like you received a warm, loving hug. As a result, self-massage is known to promote numerous health benefits— physically, mentally, and emotionally.

There are many reasons why self-massage is so valued, one of them being that it is an effective way to clear energy channels in the body by moving and dislodging toxins and balancing the energy centers or chakras.

When your body is able to rid itself of waste or anything that is preventing it from functioning optimally, you have more energy. Anything you can do to help “lighten up the load” will always be beneficial in some way, even if it’s subtle. Here are more benefits of self-massage that help improve energy levels:

• Provides better circulation
• Reduces levels of stress hormones
• Increases immunity and stamina
• Promotes restful sleep

Completing a self-massage can take anywhere from five to 15 minutes, depending on how much time you have, though the longer the better. There are different oils you can use and application techniques depending on if you need calming, soothing, or invigorating. When in doubt, listen to your intuition to determine what suits you best in a particular moment. Start loving on yourself today.

4. Breathe Deep

Next time you feel low on energy, take a deep breath. Without breath, there would be no life. It connects the inner world of the mind with the outer world of the body and environment. Notice how stress causes your body to constrict and your breath to become shallow—bodily functioning becomes more of an effort, making you feel fatigued.

On the other hand, during physical activity (running especially) you’re forced to take in deep breaths, which contributes to a “runner’s high” and a feeling of being enlivened. Just as your state of mind and body influences breath, the breath is able to shift the state of mind and body as well.

When directed consciously, the breath can be used as a great tool for stoking energy and vitality when you feel tired. The effects are felt immediately.

Your body craves it, especially during times of low energy and is also why you may find yourself sighing. Pranayama is the Sanskrit term for control and governance of life force (prana) through the breath and is used in Ayurveda as an important tool for everyday health. To help give you a taste of the power of your breath, try this simple breathing exercise.

Quick Breathing Exercise

Take a moment to close your eyes and place one hand on your belly. Breathing in through your nose, take a slow deep breath in and feel the belly rise. At the top of your breath, exhale through the nose and feel the belly slightly contract as you squeeze all the air out. Continue inhaling and exhaling in this manner for three to five rounds. When complete, remain with your eyes closed and notice how you feel.

An effective pranayama exercise to gain an energy boost is called the bhastrika breath. You can incorporate this as part of your morning routine or use it when you feel depleted during the day. Yoga instructors can usually offer some instruction or you can find videos on the internet that demonstrate how to perform it. The techniques might vary a bit, but the effect is the same.

5. Have Some Fun

It’s easy to forget how important it is to have fun and maybe get a little silly when you’re busy. If you can’t change a particular situation right away, you can change your reaction to it and seek out experiences that boost your energy and clear your mind. Here are a few activities to help re-energize your life when you feel sluggish:

• Regularly connect with good friends.
• Go on a nature walk.
• Try laughter meditation.
• Listen to music that gets you moving.
• Use some energizing essential oil.
• Try feet up the wall pose.

Some of these are quick energy boost ideas and some are nice to incorporate on a regular basis for ongoing good health and happiness. The important thing is that you are getting out of your head and enjoying the moment.

In addition to the five ideas above, don’t forget to pay attention to your eating habits. The different foods you put in your body can also affect your energy levels. Try to eat healthy, leafy greens that are full of nutrients to give you a boost.

Additionally, be conscious of what you drink, and know that energy drinks and your daily cup of coffee aren’t your only options. Try to drink green tea to achieve a more natural energy boost, or just stick to water instead!

These are just a few of the ways to help increase your energy throughout the day. You’ve heard of the importance of exercise and a healthy diet, and it’s more a matter of doing it and sticking to it. It’s also important to take care of your emotional well-being; when you are happy there is infinite energy, but when you are sad or depressed there is little energy to pull from.

Any of the recommendations mentioned here will help support and nurture all aspects of your life, not just increase your energy. You might be surprised by what you discover.

Follow these ways and boost your energy level all day. When your energy level is high then you are ready to be productive for the whole day. Make sure to check your energy level from time to time. You need to have a good energy level especially if you deal with a lot of people. Keep your energy level healthy.

Original article by Rachelle Williams, Vedic Educator.

Find more articles to read here:

3 Ways To Improve Your Advanced Yoga Practices Quickly

5 Foods For Your Yogic Diet that Are Healthy

5 Easy Steps To Listen To Your Body & Make It More Resilient

Some things are easier said than done, especially if your fitness routine falls by the wayside. If you haven’t worked out for a while, here are some useful tips and tricks to help you get back on track with full body exercises.

1) Start with Visualization for your full body exercises.

Sometimes the first step can be the hardest. This is why the power of visualisation can be the key in the first step to taking up a consistent workout routine again. Having recently undergone a minor surgery myself, I can only speak from experience when I say that visualising yourself doing what you’d like to do is key before starting any kind of routine.

Your mind is a powerful tool and can aid in preparing your body for any upcoming activity. Ideally, it would be highly recommended to practise meditation, as it in fact helps your mind to become focused on any tasks ahead of you.

2) Simply Breathe.

Another possibility to ease yourself back into your workout routine would be simple breathing techniques. After my surgery I was very restricted in my physical capabilities and I was not allowed to move about a lot. However, I still had my breath. And guess what…lungs need to be exercised too!

One of my go-to breathing techniques in this case is Nadi Shoda, also known as alternate nostril breathing. What may sound simple is actually quite challenging: While holding one of your nostrils closed, you breathe in through the open one.

Once you take a deep breath, you close both of your nostrils for a brief moment before you open the nostril that was previously closed and then you repeat this for at least ten times. Trust me, this will not only challenge your breathing muscles but also strengthen your concentration!

3) Walk, Forrest, walk!

If you haven’t noticed already, I believe in small but consistent steps. So if you feel like you are totally unfit and need to take it easy or need to recover slowly like me, I would strongly encourage you to start going for little walks.

Whether you measure those with a step counter or by minutes, the important thing is not to overdo it. Aim to walk a little further everyday and you will see that you will build up some strength. Promise!

4) Work it! 

Last but not least, the only way to build up a workout routine again is by exercise itself. However, you should not overwork yourself as pain and sore muscles on the next day usually discourage people from continuing to exercise again.

And if you have just undergone surgery like me, it is best to start exercising those muscle groups which you can work and move fully.

Overall, the above steps do not need to be followed strictly and can be combined in whichever way you want to. Just remember: Be kind to yourself and take it easy.

Workout and keep your body fit. Bounce back to full body exercises immediately. Whatever you do it is always good to do full body exercises. It keeps you fit and once you’re fit, your mind will be healthy. These steps here are easy to follow for full body exercises. Whether you go to a gym or you do workouts at home, these steps will help.

Keep your body strong and healthy at all times. Full body exercises will help. Find a way to do these easy steps every day.

Original article by  Dr. Natasa Brasik.

Additional articles here:

4 Quick Exercises To Get Rid Of Back Fat And Underarm Flab

5 Ways to Stay Slim While Indulging Yourself

How To Build Muscle Fast The Right Way