NAVASANA (nah-VAHS-uh-nuh)
nāva = boat
The Sanskrit nāva is cognate with the Latin naus, ship, from which we get words like navy, astronaut, and nausea, which originally was a word for seasickness.
There are two versions of Boat in Light on Yoga (hereafter LoY), ardha (are-duh), which means “half,” and paripurna (par-ee-POOR-nuh), which means “full” (purna by itself means “full,” pari is an intensifier, I supppose then paripurna means “full to the brim”). As you may know, most of the 198 poses in the book are given what might be called “difficulty ratings,” on a scale, oddly enough, from 1 to 60, the former assigned to Mountain Pose (tadasana), the latter assigned only to one pose, the antepenultimate, Tiriang Mukhottanāsana, a standing backbend in which the practitioner rounds back and holds her ankles with her hands. Don’t expect this one in the breakdown any time soon.
The Half Boat is rated 2, which makes it seem just one notch up from standing upright. Many of my students may quibble over this rating, at least if it’s held for more than about 15 seconds. The description of Full Boat follows right on the heels of Half, so it has no separate section of its own, and as a result it has no rating.
There are actually two traditional Boat poses, both found in the 18th century Hatha Abhyasa Paddhati and the 19th century Shri Tattva Nidhi. One, Naukasana (nauka means “small boat or “ship”) looks very much like our Half (as illustrated in a 19th century drawing). The difference is that while our Half is performed in LoY with the hands clasped on the back of the head, the practitioner in the older pose has his palms under his buttocks, and so is resting on his forearms. This would seem to make the pose somewhat easier (rating 1½?). The other, Tiryan Naukasana, looks (again from its drawing) something like a shoulder stand with the torso and legs raised to about a 45̊ angle relative to the floor, which gives this pose its name; tiryan means “oblique.” I don’t know if this was ever done, but the former pose could move to the latter and vice versa. From Nauka, the practitioner could roll back onto his shoulders, lift his torso and legs to the proper angle, and support himself with his hands on his buttocks.
Such a sequencing of our two Boats is also possible. In LoY, both Boats begin in Staff Pose, but let’s make it slightly easier and start in Ball Pose (kandukasana) instead. Lie supine on the floor, then with an exhale, curl up into a tight ball: firm your belly, lift your head to your knees, and wrap your arms around your shins. Ideally you should be resting on your sacrum with the rest of your back torso away from the floor.
1. While you continue to squeeze the left thigh to your belly and hold your head to the knee, let go of your right leg and with an inhale, stretch it out, aligning the big toe with your right eye (Quarter Boat?). Press through the heel and base of the big toe, and hold for 15 to 30 seconds, depending on your seaworthiness. When time is up, exhale and draw the right thigh back into your belly.
2. At this point you have two choices. For more challenge (and who doesn’t want more challenge in their life nowadays?), maintain the Ball, and take few breaths before repeating on the left. For less challenge, deflate the Ball and release your torso, head and feet to the floor. Take a few breaths, and then re-inflate. In either case, repeat what you did with your right leg with your left. Try to hold for same length of time you did on the right. Once you’re back in Ball, you again have two choices, maintain or release, prior to doing the complete pose.
3. Now you’re ready to launch your Half Boat. From Ball, inhale and reach out through your heels and again align your big toes with your eyes. Ideally your belly is firm but not hard. There are various ways you can deploy your hands and arms. In LoY, the hands are clasped on the back of the head. If you do this, you can do one of two things: press your hands firmly against the back of your head, which provides some support for the lifted torso, or again for more challenge, just rest them lightly in place. You could also start with firm pressure and gradually lessen it.
You could also stretch your arms (oars?) out toward your feet, more or less parallel to the floor and each other. Again hold for 15 to 30 seconds, breathing as normally as possible, then sink to the floor.
4. Of course you could also enter the pose as described in LoY. Sit in Staff Pose (dandasana), clasp your hands on the back of your head, exhale, and roll back onto your sacrum. No other part of your back torso should touch the floor. As you roll back, simultaneously lift your legs into position and hold for your preferred length of time.
Now for Full Boat
5. Sit in Staff Pose (dandasana). Press your hands against the floor (or blocks) beside your hips, and apply some backward pressure too, as if you’re trying to slide them behind the torso. Use that downward-backward pressure to firm the shoulder blades against your back and lift the top of your sternum straight up.
6. Maintaining the firmness of the shoulder blades and the length of your front torso, lean slightly back onto your tail bone, so that you’re sitting on the “tripod” composed of the tail and your two sit bones. Be sure not to simply slump back.
7. We’ll enter the pose in stages.
a. Bend your knees, touch your feet to the floor, and hold onto the backs of your thighs just above the knees.
b. Inhale, and lift your feet a few inches off the floor. Pull your thighs toward your torso, but at the same time, press your thighs into your resisting hands, so the thighs are held in place between those two pressures. This will further assist the lift of the front torso.
c. Now maintaining the balanced pressure between hands and thighs, inhale and lift your shins parallel to the floor. This may be as far as you can comfortably sail for the time being. Hold for 15 to 30 seconds and release. After a few breaths you might want to repeat.
d. If you want to go farther, inhale and straighten your knees, try to raise the feet sightly higher than your head. Press actively through the heels and big toe mounds.
8. For the full pose, inhale, release your thighs and reach your oars out beside your legs, parallel to each other and the floor. Widen equally across your upper back and chest. Bring your sternum toward your chin and soften your throat. Breathe easily. However far you sail, again hold for 15 to 30 seconds and sink onto the floor. That taste of salt is probably coming from your sweat.
9. There’s actually an exercise that looks a lot like Full Boat but is grouped with the seals (mudra), called Vajroli Mudra. It makes Full Boat slightly easier. It’s described in the 18th century Gheranda Samhita at 3.39 (a different version of this mudra is described in the Hatha Pradipika, it’s NOT the one you want). The torso and legs are arranged exactly as they are in Full Boat, but the hands are pressed to the floor slightly behind the torso, fingers pointing forward. It’s said to “awaken Shakti and bring about long life.” It’s certainly worth a try.
Sequencing the Boats
As mentioned previously, we can sequence these two poses to add to their challenge. Start in Staff and move into Full Boat. Slowly release your torso onto the sacrum, rounding your back, and at the same time, lower your legs to bring the big toes opposite your eyes. Stay in Half Boat for a time that suits you, and then with an inhale, lift back to Full Boat. You can do this several times if you like, holding each position briefly, a sort of yoga sit-ups. End in Staff.
Beginners’ Tips
For many beginning students, the Boats are closer to 60 on the difficulty scale than 2. Don’t despair, props can help. For Half Boat, lie with your shoulder blades on a yoga block or bolster. When you curl up, maintain your contact with the support. You can also or instead support your feet by simply pressing them on a wall, or resting them on some prop. You can start this way, just to get a feel for the pose. Then gradually, over time, rest your torso and/or legs more and more lightly on the support, until one day you’ll be able to sail away from the sup-port and out to sea.
For Full Boat brace a solid chair against a wall and pad the front edge of the seat with a blanket. Then sit a little in front of the chair and lean back against it. From here you can work with your legs as described previously, starting with your feet slightly off the floor and proceeding from there to your capacity. Again, over time, rest more and more lightly against the seat, until you can do without.
Advanced Tip
Want more challenge? OK, perform the Boats with a sand bag held to your chest with crossed arms. Alternatively, do the poses with 2 pound ankle weights wrapped around your ankles.