e-swastya: Paripurna Navasana

Last week pose definitely confused few of my reader’s. I completely understand that. Many Yogic pose are a bit similar some times and often can be confused with the names especially the English translation of the Sanskrit names. Thus it is very important to keep the Sanskrit names and keep them in use, even after knowing its English translation some times. Hope it would be easy for one to use.

Today we would work on a pose which I think so I missed when we completed some of the sitting poses. "Paripurna Navasana"or the "Boat pose", the word "paripurna" means complete while "nava" means boat in Sanskrit .It is the formation of the body that one takes in this pose ;that looks like a boat which defines the name of the pose.

How to do it?

Sit in a position where both the legs are straight in front and the spine kept straight. Arms kept on the side. This is a common beginner’s pose for many sitting poses like Paschimottanasana
Inhale in and as one exhales slowly start leaning backward, and at the same time raise your legs above the surface as much as possible. Understand that the whole body weight would now be on your buttocks.
Keep the whole position as stiff as possible to maintain the balance. Another thing to do is to keep your eyes fixed on the toes and maintain the pose.
When you are set with the pose, slowly lift the hands from ground and bring it as parallel to the thighs as possible. This thus would represent the image of a boat with two oars which gives this pose the name Paripurna Navasana.
Try to hold this pose for some time as possible . Start with couple of breathes to hold the pose and then as one practices daily increase the time span.

Caution:

This pose those seems simple ,it is still advised that if one suffers with any issues with health do it with the help and guidance of an yoga expert.
Spine realted health issues such as cervical spondylisis and others.. if one suffers with it should avoid doing this pose.
The stiffness is very important to hold the balance in this pose . So make sure one is stiff enough...
Lastly do not hold your breath when doing this pose.

Benefits :

Works excellent on abdomen.. especially on abdominal fats.
If suffering with bloating this would be the position to try to relive you from the trouble.
Stimulates the kidney, intestines and all organs in the abdominal cavity.