A Pose to Help You Age Gracefully
"We sit and walk as we think. Watch any man as he walks down the avenue, and you can determine his status in life. With practice, a finer discernment will have him placed socially and economically, and with a fair idea of his outlook on life. We judge our fellow man more by the arrangement and movement of his skeletal parts than is evident at once." – Mabel Todd, The Thinking Body.
The asanas in general help us to grow old gracefully, but Mr. Iyengar says that it is primarily the action of the spine that shows our age. To help maintain the gracefulness of our spines we need to stretch and strengthen all of the muscles connecting to the spine. In Light on Yoga, he says that Paripurna Navasana, or Full Boat Pose, and Ardha Navasana, or Half Boat Pose, bring life and vigor to the back and allows us to grow old gracefully and comfortably.
Let’s look at how to come into the pose:
To come into Full Boat Pose: Start in Dandasana, or Staff Pose. Place the palms on the floor next to the hips and slightly behind them with the fingers pointing forward. The back is erect and the chest is lifting.
On an exhale, Lean back so as to raise both legs simultaneously from the floor. Keep the legs together, straight and with the knees tight. Balance is maintained on the sitting bones without any part of the spine touching the floor. In the full pose the legs are raised at an angle of about 60 to 65 degrees which should be higher than the head.
If you can, lift the hands from the floor and bring the arms parallel to the floor, close to the thighs. The hands are level with the shoulders and the palms face each other.
Stay in the pose for half a minute with normal breathing. Gradually increase the time to one minute. However, you will begin to feel the effects of the exercise after only 20 seconds!
To come into Half Boat Pose: You start, again, in Dandasana. But this time, you interlace your fingers behind the back of your head, above the neck.
On an exhale, recline the trunk backwards and simultaneously raise the legs from the floor, keeping the knees tight and the toes pointed. As in Full Boat, the weight of the body rests on the buttocks and no part of the spine should be allowed to touch the floor. You will feel the muscles in the abdomen and low back engage.
The legs are maintained at a lower angle of about 30 to 35 degrees and are in line with the head, not above it.
This pose can be held for 20 to 30 seconds. A stay for one minute indicates strong abdominal muscles.
Make sure you do not hold your breath in either of the Boat Pose variations. If the breath is held, the effects will be only on the stomach muscles. If the breath is too deep, you will lose the engagement of the abdominal muscles. The technique is to inhale, exhale and hold briefly breathing only into the upper chest. Breathing in this way not only tones the abdominal muscles, but it will tone the organs as well.
The effects on the organs of Paripurna Navasana and Ardha Navasana differ due to the position of the legs. In Full Boat the effect is on the intestines, in Half Boat the liver, gall bladder and spleen are affected.
In the beginning, if the back is too weak to bear the strain of the pose, modifciatons can be used to build strength. These include keeping the hands on the floor, bending the knees, only raising one leg at a time, or using a belt to hold onto the feet. When the power to stay in the pose comes, it indicates that the back is gaining strength. A weak back is a handicap in many ways. These two variations of Boat Pose coupled with twisting poses will help strengthen the back.
In the section on the effects of Boat and Half Boat, Mr. Iyengar concludes with this observation: “The importance of having a healthy lower back can be realized if we watch old people when they sit down, get up and walk, for consciously or unconsciously they support their back with their hands. This indicates that the back is weak and cannot withstand the strain. As long as it is strong, it needs no support, one feels young though advanced in age. These two asanas bring life and vigour to the back and enable us to grow old gracefully and comfortably.”
P.S. As I am currently struggling with low back pain, I can testify to feeling old and not so graceful. This Pose has become too difficult to do. But rather than skip it, which is the natural tendency, I can work on modifications to help me work towards strengthening my low back and my core. Often it is the poses we avoid that are the ones that can bring the most balance to our bodies. The trick is to find a modification that makes it accessible. Here’s a variation I found that helps with Navasana that can be done sitting in a chair:
Sit on the front edge of a seat with your knees at right angles. Grab onto the sides of the seat with your hands and lean slightly forward. Firm your arms and lift your buttocks slightly off the seat, then raise your heels slightly off the floor (but not the balls of your feet). Let the heads of your thigh bones sink into the pull of gravity and push the top of your sternum forward and up.