Quick Core — Navasana — Day 18 — Ashtanga Yoga Challenge

Hi, everyone. It's Kino here. Welcome to day 18 of this Ashtanga Yoga Challenge. And today's asana is Navasana, which is the boat pose, a very challenging core strength asana that can really help you build so much strength in the core of the body and also so much strength mentally and emotionally. Before we get into the breakdown of the asana of the day, I just want to check in with you and ask you how you're feeling after yesterday's practice. So please leave me a comment and let me know if you enjoyed the traditional counted Ashtanga Yoga practice. And so this traditional counted Ashtanga Yoga practice is the coordination of breath with movement, which as we've already discussed is the vinyasa krama, that coordination of breath with movement, counted in the traditional Sanskrit according to the numbers and so forth, so that each breath is coordinated with a number that really gives you the feeling that you're moving to a steady drumbeat that's taking you deeper and deeper into that inner journey of yoga. So please let me know if you enjoyed the guided half primary class that we did yesterday, including the modifications we went over for the challenging asana called Marichyasana D. And now as we continue our journey in the Ashtanga Yoga method, today we're gonna take a look at core strength. Navasana is kind of the most foundational and pivotal core strength posture in the whole yoga practice. Before we get into the technique, I also want to let you know that I'm not naturally strong. I was never a dancer, I was never a gymnast, I was never anything particularly athletic or physical before I started yoga. I started practicing yoga out of a sincere desire to live and lead a more peaceful life. And then along the way, I realized that I needed to be stronger. It was a big lesson that my teachers, whom I learned yoga from in the south of India in a small city called Mysore, my teachers kept telling me over and over again, Kino, you have to be stronger. And 20 years later, well, I'm a little bit stronger, but I feel that I'm still on the student's path and I still have, in the words of Robert Frost, many more miles to go before it's time to sleep. So in other words, I'm still working on strength too. So in Navasana, this translated into English is the boat pose. So boat, if you think about a boat, there's a nice sort of round bottom to the boat. So the biggest question that comes up in Navasana is where should the sitting bones be or where should the weight be placed? So in Navasana, the tailbone is tucked ever so slightly under, which gives you a nice round boat shape at the bottom of the pelvis. There are different types of Navasanas you could do, but during the primary series of Ashtanga Yoga, we do kind of just a nice traditional version of Navasana. And I kind of think about this as just like a happy sailboat version of Navasana. There's many other types of boats. If you think about an average marina, there's giant yachts, there's small little speed boats, there are even canoes. So there are all different versions of Navasana that you might be interested in practicing some moment of your life. But within the context of the Ashtanga Yoga method, the Navasana we're going for is just kind of, as I said, kind of a nice, happy sailboat, nothing too fancy, nothing too fast, nothing too ordinary, just a good, solid, reliable sailboat. I always like to say with Navasana, don't sink your boat, which means don't collapse the posture, don't, you know, give it up. So the mental aspect of strength is very, very important. And Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, Patanjali says, tatra sthitao yat nobhyasaha. So dhyasa, the Sanskrit word for practice, combined with sthitao, sthita, strength, strength and steadiness of mind, so that we're thinking about what is the actuality of the foundation of the yoga practice. Well, if we take a look at strength, it's not only physical strength, but also the inner fortitude. And the lesson that I've learned from strength is that it's not over when you want it to be over, and it's not over when you're sick and tired of it, but you just gotta find the strength to push through and keep going. It's a sort of mental statement, an emotional statement of deep faith. I hope you'll find that as well, because we do Navasana, the only asana and dashtanga method that we repeat five times. So let's take a look at Navasana. First, I'll show you the asana, and then we'll do a small warmup, and then we'll get our way into Navasana. So Navasana is, you know, as I mentioned before, we're going to rotate the tailbone a little under so you get that kind of boat-like feeling, and then the legs come up, and this is Navasana. The belly is drawn in, and it's the front body that's activating, and you gaze at the toes and point the feet. So this is Navasana. Now, you can see there are a couple of elements that are at play here, the first of which is a forward bend. And so if you don't have a good hamstring flexibility or good forward bend flexibility, then this will kind of be a restriction. So let's just do like downward dog and forward bend maybe to start. And I also have a blanket and two blocks, and we might put those to use in a little bit. So if you'll come onto your hands and knees, then taking the hands and knees position kind of like a nice little tabletop position, grip your fingertips, curl your toes under, and we're gonna come up to downward dog. So inhale, send the hips back and up, and we've got downward facing dog in five breaths here. One, two, three, nice and easy, four, five. Let's walk half the distance in, and then give me a soft bend in your knees. So just hold your knees close to the chest, layer your arms over each other, all right? And then inhale, straighten the legs, and let's just release the hamstrings. And so five more breaths. One, see how you feel, connect into the Bandhas, draw the navel in, two, transfer your weight a little forward, three, four, five, good job. Okay, let's lift the head up, and we're gonna take plank pose for another five breaths. So you're gonna walk your hands forward and just slide your feet on back, curl your toes under, and here we got a plank. So make sure your plank is lined up, hands in line with each other, the navel is in, one, two, firm the glutes a little bit, three, draw the navel in, four, ribs in towards each other, almost there, it's looking good, five, good job, cross your feet. Exhale, let's come on down to seated, and I think that's enough warmup so we can kind of get into the feeling of Navasana. So first, bend your knees, sink your hips on the ground, and here's where you might find it useful to sit on a nice soft blanket, and this will just help your pelvis feel relatively comfortable. There are many questions about the tailbone that often arise in Navasana. If you've ever had a broken tailbone, or if your cusps is just rather bony, then you might want to sit on a soft cushion like this. Alternatively, you don't necessarily need to sit on something soft, a regular old yoga mat should probably do the trick, or if you're on a carpeted floor, a carpet should probably also be okay, assuming that you don't have any particularities that you need to concern yourself with in regards to your tailbone. So now let's take a look at the position of the pelvis. I want you to come forward, and hold onto your iliac crests. Then, you pivot forward to the top of the sitting bones. You'll notice that your back muscle's engaged, and the knees spread apart. So this is not a good position for Navasana. In fact, we would kind of think about this as the boat cracking a little bit. So then, if you tune into your Bandhas, remember Mula Bandha and Uddiyana Bandha, that strong activation of the muscles of the pelvic floor. Let's get that turned on, and draw the knees in towards each other. Then, little round your pelvis. Take your hands out to the side, and then just guide your chest a little bit back. Point the toes, and so this is our first version of Navasana. So we can see the angle between the chest and the thighs, and you're using your toes and your fingers as support. Then, just activate the core, and we'll stay here for five. One, two, so this is our most, one of the most accessible versions of boat posture that we can do. So using your hands and your feet as support. Three, keep the integrity of the posture by drawing the navel in. Four, five. Good, now stay here, and check in. If you're not ready to go further, you don't need to go further. If you're having any impingement around your hips, you can open the knees a little bit. Otherwise, keep the knees together. Now, next, come on to only your index finger. Then, tighten the muscles of the lower abdomen and arms forward. So keeping the toes on the ground in this sort of second stage Navasana is a wonderful modification. Watch your hands. Don't take the arms too wide. Don't take the arms up. Just keep the hands right in line with the shoulders, and we'll stay for another five. One, two, three. We would be looking at our toes if the feet were up, so you can just look gently forward. Four, five. Take your hands back behind you. We're gonna do the reverse tabletop to release the front of the hips. So roll the shoulders forward and inhale. Lift the hips. Stay for one and two breaths. Exhale, set it down. Then, check the pelvis. Rotate it back under. Feet together, toes point. Navasana number one. Then, Navasana number two. Now, see if it might be accessible for you to activate the core muscles and lift your knees off of the ground. If the knees separate a little bit, that's okay. Lift the feet off of the ground. The knees are already off the ground. Let's stay for five. One. So this is Navasana number three. Two. The boat is starting to take shape. Three. Almost there. Four and five. We'll take the hands down. Open the knees. Inhale, reverse tabletop just to release the front of the hips. We got one and two. Exhale, set it down. Now, return to your first Navasana and we're gonna look at how to lift the legs. If, when you try to straighten your legs, you push out and down, then the belly will stick out and the legs will feel very heavy. However, if you think about drawing your thigh bones into their sockets, increasing the little top of the tailbone under, and then as the leg straightens, you're thinking about pulling back and in. So let's try that. One leg straight, the other toes on the ground. If your thigh muscles are burning, it's okay. It's totally fine. We'll hold for five. One. Gaze at the left toe. Two. Three. Four. And switch. One. Two. Three. Four. And five. Exhale down. Let's do that. Open, reverse tabletop. We got one and two. Exhale, set it down. Point the toes. Hands forward. Good, and we try again. One leg straight. Once we change the hand position. Two. Three. Four. And switch. One. Two. Your thigh is burning, it's okay. Three. Four. Almost there. Five. Open the knees, hands down. Inhale, reverse tabletop. Open the front of the pelvis. Exhale, set it down. Okay, we're ready for our first full Navasana. So let's build this up like this. Fingers back behind you. Toes point. Lift the knees into the chest just a little so the feet come off. Then your thigh bones into their sockets. Firm the muscles of the lower abdomen. Both legs straight. Good, hold it. One. Two. You can use a little weight towards the back. Three. Four. Five. Hands down, reverse tabletop. Open it. One more breath. Exhale down. Toes point. Legs up. Change your hands. Navasana. So now we have it. One. Two. Three. Start to feel that core strength really lighting on fire. Four. Five. Hands behind you, reverse tabletop. Open. And exhale down. Good, cross your feet. Relax for a moment. Now, we're gonna add in lift up instead of the reverse tabletop. So instead of a counter stretch, what you're gonna feel is kind of an acceleration of the core work that we're doing in the practice together. So when that accelerates, you might feel that there's a lot of tightening and burning around particularly this region. If you feel that the hip flexor is the actual restriction, it might be exhaustion, or it might be that you're squeezing your thighs too much in towards each other, or that the pelvis was not in a good position. So pay attention to the technique and work step by step. I'm gonna slide off of the blanket, and I'm gonna bring in these two yoga blocks for the lift up. Using the yoga blocks for the lift up, it's just giving you a little bit more space so you can get a really kind of nice feeling of actually being able to lift up off the ground. All right, so position the blocks between the feet and the hips, and then now we're gonna do five times navasana. And I'll be doing some variations, so please feel welcome to choose the one that's better for you, all right? So navasana number one, here we go. One, you wanna straighten your legs right away, you can, but watch that pelvic position. Don't be too much of up. Really get that drawing in and back, front body activation. Three, four, strengthen the shoulders. Five, cross your feet, hands on the blocks. Then inhale, hips back it up, exhale down. Again, navasana. One, two, find the variation that's working for you. Three, four, almost there. Five, cross, inhale, hips back it up, exhale down. Again, navasana. One, two, you could switch. Three, four, five, cross your feet. Maybe this time they stay off the ground. Hips back it up, exhale down, navasana. One, so traditionally, if you really wanna accelerate your core work, you don't touch the feet down in between the rounds of navasana. Three, I can feel that heat getting started, how about you? Four, five, cross, see feet stay off the ground. Inhale, squeeze it up. Exhale down, right back up to navasana. One, two, really firm the core. Three, four, almost there. Five, cross, inhale, hips back it up. Exhale down, let's do one more. One, two, three, four, almost there. Five, cross, we're gonna hold it up for five. One, just for fun. Two, looking good, three, four, and five. Exhale down, ooh, that was hard. I hope you felt that quick core fire get turned on. Move the blocks on over to the side, cross the feet. Inhale, come on back up to plank. Exhale, chaturanga, upward facing. Stay in upward facing for an extra breath to release the hip flexors. Draw the navel in. Exhale, downward facing. Stabilize, downward facing, give me two breaths here. One more breath, that's good. Let's sink the knees down, cross the feet. Come on back to seated, good. So, if you wanna sit on your blanket for a moment, you're most welcome to. Close your eyes, feel that inner heat, that fire, and just ask yourself, where's my obstacle physically? Is there a physical obstacle? Do I feel a physical restriction? Is there some strength that I might be missing somewhere throughout the body? Can I locate that point? Or is my body physically quite strong but mentally there's some limitation? Is the physical body quite strong but mentally there's some limitation? Notice if you felt like you wanted to quit, if you got frustrated with yourself, if your inner dialogue turned negative at any moment, and understand that this too is the mirror of yoga, shining light on who we are in the quiet moments of thoughts. Growing strong physically will only take us so far. It's growing strong mentally, emotionally, spiritually that is the real journey of yoga. So, letting that integrate, allow yourself a deep breath in, and as you exhale, open the eyes, we can start to come back. So, Navasana is kind of, again, boat posture. So, we're taking the name the boat to create that roundedness, that sort of really round, almost floaty sensation inside of the pelvis. And if you really wanna learn strength, I really recommend work your Navasanas in a very disciplined way. This is an asana you can do outside of the primary series quite well. There are many, many variations of Navasana, as I mentioned, many different types of boats. I teach a weekly yoga drills class on Wednesdays at one o'clock, and I really invite you to join me there. It's over on my online channel called OMSTARS, and I really invite you to join me there each week so that we can work on developing more and more strength. So, Navasana is very, very helpful. The variations of Navasana are very, very helpful. But more than anything, remember, it's not brute force, but it's really about slow, consistent strength that shines a light on the inner journey, and this takes years of practice. I couldn't do this at all when I first started practicing. As I mentioned before, I was never a dancer. I was never a gymnast. There was never anything physical before yoga. You're not too old to start. You're not the wrong size, the wrong shape, the wrong age. Just start practicing and understand that each day spent on the mat is just one step further along the eternal and spiritual journey of yoga. So, thanks so much for tuning in, everyone. We're gonna continue to practice tomorrow with the first arm balance of the Ashtanga Yoga Method, so we'll need that core strength to really work in what comes next, and as we, again, start to really build up more and more asanas by the end of this month, this 30-day journey, we're gonna be able to do a full primary series practice, and you'll be able to have all the tools that you'll need to really dive deeply into the method. So, thank you again so much for joining. It really means a lot to me that you're here with me step-by-step along the journey. It gives me inspiration to know that you're still here. I feel sometimes there starts to be challenge fatigue, and around day 18, you're a real trooper for sticking with it, so I just wanna really say thank you for that, and please continue to share about the challenge to your friends, your family, anyone you think might benefit from the Ashtanga Yoga Method. Invite them to do the challenge, and just continue to share that good energy that's in your heart, and leave me some nice comments to let me know that you're still in it, that you're still inspired, so that I can stay inspired to continue this journey together. Okay, everyone, send you a lot of love, and I will see you tomorrow. Namaste.