Navāsana: Boat pose

Try this: This posture is an excellent way to develop the lowering down from the balance pose on the arms to sitting. In a possible variation, consciously and powerfully extend your arms. Then you can fold your extended legs close to the upper body while keeping your pelvis as counterweight to your feet. Therefore, push your pelvis backwards so that it is located directly above your fingertips. Finally, the feet hover close to the ground between the hands. Through stability in the center of the body, you can now rotate your center of gravity around the axis of your shoulder joints. Your pelvis will come down while your feet move up.

Try this: Just as with the lowering down movement, you can also strive for height and elegance in your movement here when lifting. Ultimately, lifting, reversed from lowering, can be done with straight legs. The key is to draw your legs close to your upper body while still sitting. If you can maintain this stability while pushing your arms into the ground and rolling around your shoulder joints, then you have already mastered the most difficult part of the movement.

Effect: The most important muscle to flex the hips is the iliopsoas (hip flexor). But this can only do its job if the deep abdominal muscles stabilize your entire trunk. Following this principle, Navāsana builds strength in your core. This strength is the key to stabilizing any kind of movement. The more acrobatic the movement, the more the core must stabilize and balance.