Although doing yoga has many benefits, some poses can be difficult to master, especially when you are starting a yoga practice. But you don't have to be a yogi master to incorporate the boat pose into your daily flow. You can do this by first building your core strength and stability.
The boat pose is not only fun and great exercise, but it also has other amazing benefits. It helps with digestion, stimulates the intestines, kidneys and thyroid, and helps to relieve stress, since practicing yoga when you feel stressed, you can increase blood circulation and oxygen flow in your body, reducing your cortisol levels.
And while it is not a complicated pose, the pose can be quite difficult to master. Breaking it down into smaller steps and doing some prep poses can help you express yourself fully.
How to do the beginner boat pose?
Don't worry if you can't complete this ship pose progression on your first try. Stop at any point in the progression you need and hold down. Build strength in the position before moving on to the next stage.
Regardless of where you are, be sure to bring your belly button up toward your spine and keep your neck relaxed while maintaining this pose.
5 moves to build strength in the boat stance
Doing a few exercises that target your abs and core through the movement of the board can help you develop the core strength and endurance you need to maintain boat stance.
Forearm iron
Forearm plates strengthen all core muscles, giving you a stronger back and teaching you to stabilize your body, which helps maintain the posture we want to do.
If you need a modification, you can also do this movement from the knees to remove some of the weight from the shoulders.
Scaler
This exercise will help target and strengthen your triceps, deltoids, abs, back, hip flexors, quads, and hamstrings, which are necessary for posture.
Skater Squat
This is a great exercise to teach your body to keep the spine neutral, while creating stability in the knee and hip. This helps protect your spine during the boat pose.
Pigeon pose
If this feels too intense, place a blanket or block or under your hip or back knee.
Boat pose with block
The inner thighs assist in hip extension, so tightening a block between the legs activates this muscle and stabilizes the core, making the posture more accessible.
Tips to improve posture
Lengthen your spine to avoid back problems
When practicing the boat pose (yes, even modifications), think about engaging the core muscles, front and back of the torso, to extend the spine directly from the tailbone.
You need to make sure your spine is neutral to take the pressure off your back. You don't want to round your spine, but you also don't want to go over it by raising your head too far back and arching your back.
If you're having trouble with this, try a seated forward crease to help you lengthen your spine.
Seated Forward Fold
- Sit with your legs extended forward.
- With your arms stretched over your head and toward the ceiling, stretch your spine up.
- On an exhale, bend your hips and reach your shins, ankles, or toes.
- With each inhalation, lengthen your spine and with each exhalation, deepen your forward curve.
Strengthen your hip flexors
If you have difficulty lifting and extending your legs in the boat pose, you may need to strengthen your hip flexors. One way to do this is to press your heels against the ground in a modified ship pose.
Although more advanced yogis can press the toes on the mat, pressing the heels and flexing the toes will activate the psoas, pectineus, sartorius, and rectus femoris muscles behind the hips and flex the trunk to allow you to better lift your legs at a higher angle height.
If you have lower back pain or injury, try placing a block under your heels for support or a folded blanket under your tailbone.
