intermediate pose / now-KAH-sah-na
Naukasana (Boat Pose)
In one breath
Naukasana, or Boat Pose, is a intermediate seated pose held for 10 to 30 seconds, two or three rounds, with a rest between each. It works mainly on abdomen, hip flexors, lower back. Read the warnings below before you try it: it is not right for everybody.
On this page
- What Naukasana is, and what it is not
- The lower back is the whole safety question
- What the pose is actually working
- How long to hold Naukasana, and how often
- Where it sits in a sequence, and what to do after
- Who should modify it, or leave it out
- How to do it, step by step
- What it is good for
- Who should not do this
- What Vaithialingam sees people get wrong
- Easier and harder versions
- Questions people ask
What Naukasana is, and what it is not
Naukasana, Boat Pose, is a held abdominal pose. Nauka means boat, and the shape is a shallow V: the trunk leaning back, the legs lifted, and the body balancing on the sitting bones with the chest open. Many Indian schools teach it lying on the back instead, with the head, shoulders and legs raised a few centimetres, and both are called Naukasana. The seated V shape is also widely known by its other Sanskrit name, Navasana, or Paripurna Navasana for the full version.
It is not a sit up and it is not a crunch. Nothing moves during the pose. The abdomen holds a position against the weight of the legs and the trunk, which is how the abdominal wall is actually used in daily life: lifting a bag, carrying a child, standing up from a low chair. That is the argument for holding rather than repeating.
It is also not a pose to be judged by whether the legs are straight. The straight leg version looks like the goal, but a straight legged boat with a rounded lower back is worse than a bent knee boat with a long one, because the load has moved from the abdomen onto the lumbar spine. In my classes the bent knee version is not a stepping stone that people are hurrying through. It is what most of the room practises, permanently, and their abdomens are stronger for it.
In a practice it belongs on the floor, after the standing poses and before the backbends and the finishing poses. It pairs badly with an aching lower back, which is why anyone working through yoga for back pain should leave it out for now, and it pairs well with Bhujangasana, which works the opposite side of the same middle of the body.
The lower back is the whole safety question
There is one thing to watch in this pose and it is not the legs.
Sit up tall and you are on the front of the sitting bones with a long lumbar curve. Lean back and lift the legs and, at some point, the pelvis rolls backwards and the lower back rounds. Before that point the abdomen is working. After it, the abdomen has given up and the lower back is hanging under load. Everything about practising this pose safely is about finding that point and staying in front of it.
- How to find it. Sit with the knees bent and the feet down. Lean back slowly. The moment you feel the abdomen switch on and the back still feels long, stop. That is your starting position, whatever it looks like.
- How to keep it. Bend the knees more. That is the only adjustment needed, and it works immediately, because a bent leg is a shorter lever.
- When to come out. When the back rounds, when the chin pokes forward, or when you stop being able to speak the breath count. Any one of the three is enough.
This matters more than usual because of what is known about yoga and backs generally. The Cochrane review of twenty one trials and 2,223 participants found small improvements in back related function from yoga compared with no exercise, and it also found that the most commonly reported harm was increased back pain. No serious side effects were reported anywhere in those trials, which is reassuring, but the pattern is clear: yoga helps a back modestly and can irritate one, and the poses that irritate are the ones held with a rounded, loaded lumbar spine. Naukasana is top of that list, which is why it gets its own section here rather than a line in the warnings.
What the pose is actually working
The rectus abdominis down the front of the belly holds the trunk against the pull of gravity. The transversus abdominis and the obliques stabilise around the sides, and it is the obliques that complain if you wobble. The iliopsoas and the other hip flexors hold the legs up, and in most people they are the first to burn, which surprises students who expected a stomach ache and get a groin one instead. The quadriceps keep the knees straight in the full version. The erector spinae along the spine work to stop the back rounding, and the deep neck flexors hold the head so the chin does not poke.
Some numbers help set expectations. The review of core activation in yogic postures put peak rectus abdominis activity at 56.10 percent of maximum in the crescent lunge and 50.38 percent in the warrior, both of them standing poses where the abdomen is only assisting. A pose whose entire purpose is to hold the trunk and legs off the floor is therefore asking for a serious contribution, and the ten to thirty second holds recommended here are not an underestimate of what most people can manage.
Because the work is isometric, the breath is the limiting factor as often as the muscle. That is worth knowing: a student who can hold twenty seconds while breathing has trained more than a student who holds forty while not breathing. If you want the breath to stop being the limit, sit with Anulom Vilom or Ujjayi for a few weeks and this pose gets quietly easier.
How long to hold Naukasana, and how often
This is strength work, so it is measured in short rounds with real rests, not in one long endurance test.
| Stage | Hold | Rounds | Breath | Stop if |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First month | 10 seconds, knees bent | 2, with 30 seconds rest | Normal, counted out loud | The lower back rounds at all |
| After three months | 20 seconds, knees bent or strap | 2 or 3 | Even through the nose | The chin starts poking forward |
| Long practice | 30 seconds, legs straight | 3 | Slow, chest staying open | You cannot speak the count |
| Chair or lying version | 10 to 15 seconds | 3 | Left alone | Any pain in the lower back or groin |
Three days a week is right, not seven. An abdomen worked properly is sore the next day and it should be allowed to be. Anybody who does this pose hard every morning for a fortnight tends to arrive with a complaint about their lower back, and the complaint is usually accurate.
Where it sits in a sequence, and what to do after
Naukasana belongs in the floor part of a practice, once the body is warm, and it should never be the first thing you do. A cold abdomen and a cold lower back in a long lever pose is asking for trouble. Come to it after the standing poses, or after a few rounds of Surya Namaskar.
Afterwards, undo it. Lie on the back and hug the knees in, or kneel and rest in Balasana for forty seconds. Both let the lower back return to neutral, and the second is the counter pose listed for this page. Then, if you want to balance the middle of the body properly, add Bhujangasana or Setu Bandhasana, which work the back of the trunk while this pose worked the front.
A short practical routine that works: two or three rounds of Surya Namaskar, one round of Naukasana, one round of Bhujangasana, one round of Naukasana, then Balasana and Savasana. That alternation is more useful than doing all the abdominal work in one block, and it is roughly how the poses are ordered in the seven day beginner plan for anybody who wants a written version to follow.
Who should modify it, or leave it out
This is one of the few poses on this site where I am comfortable saying that some people should simply not do it.
- Pregnancy. Leave it out entirely, at every stage. There is no version of it worth the risk, and there are plenty of other things to do.
- An active back problem. Leave it out while there is pain, and particularly if pain runs down a leg. Come back to it later with the one leg at a time version and your doctor's agreement.
- Hernia or recent abdominal surgery. Wait for clearance, then bent knees only.
- Blood pressure. Take the lying version, which asks less of the breath. The high blood pressure page rules out the inversions on that site for related reasons, and a strongly held contraction with a shortened breath belongs in the same conversation.
- Cannot get onto the floor. The chair version is not a token gesture. Ten seconds of lifting both bent legs off the floor from a chair is real work for the abdomen and the hip flexors, and it is what I give to older students at the hall.
Everybody else should practise the bent knee version and stop worrying about the straight legged photograph. If you want to be told where your own stopping point is, come and be watched in a class: it is the sort of thing that takes ten seconds to see from the outside and months to guess at from the inside. You can start with a first class.
How to do it, step by step
Read all of it once before you start. Hold for 10 to 30 seconds, two or three rounds, with a rest between each, and come out while the pose is still steady rather than when it gives way.
Step 1. Sit on the mat with the knees bent and the feet flat on the floor, hands behind the thighs. Sit up on the front of the sitting bones rather than rolling back onto the tailbone.
Step 2. Lengthen the spine upwards first. Every version of this pose that goes wrong goes wrong because the back rounded before the legs left the floor.
Step 3. Lean back a little, keeping the chest open and the lower back long, until you feel the abdomen switch on. That point is different for everybody and it is the real starting position.
Step 4. Lift the feet a few centimetres off the floor with the knees still bent, shins roughly parallel to the mat. Hold the backs of the thighs if you need to.
Step 5. Check the lower back. If it has rounded and you are sitting on the back of the pelvis, lower the feet and come up again. The bent knee version held well is worth far more than the straight leg version held badly.
Step 6. If the back stays long, let go of the thighs and reach the arms forward beside the shins, palms facing each other, shoulders down.
Step 7. Only if all of that is steady, begin to straighten the legs so the body makes a shallow V. The feet end up at about eye level, and the chest stays lifted.
Step 8. Breathe. The abdomen is contracting, so the breath will want to go high and short. Let it be as slow as you can manage and count the breaths.
Step 9. Hold for ten to thirty seconds. Come down by bending the knees and lowering the feet, then sit up tall or lie down for a few breaths before the next round.
Step 10. Two or three rounds is a complete dose, with a real rest between each. Then lie on the back and hug the knees to the chest, or take a minute in Savasana.
What it is good for
- It works the abdominal wall harder than almost anything else in a hatha practice, and it works it isometrically, which is how the abdomen is used in real life: to hold, not to crunch. In forty years of classes I have not found a quicker way to show somebody that their abdomen is weaker than they thought.
- It gives a sense of scale for what held abdominal work costs. A review of core muscle activation across yogic postures measured rectus abdominis activity peaking at 56.10 percent of maximum in the crescent lunge and 50.38 percent in the warrior, which are standing poses, so a pose whose entire job is to hold the trunk off the floor is asking for a good deal. Source
- It trains the hip flexors, which is why the fronts of the thighs and the groin ache after it as much as the belly. That is a useful thing to train in anybody who sits all day, because those muscles are usually short and weak at the same time.
- It teaches you where your lower back is. The moment the pelvis rolls back and the lumbar spine rounds, the pose has changed from abdominal work into a strain, and learning to feel that transition is worth more than the pose itself.
- It is a fast pose. Thirty seconds twice, three times a week, is a genuine dose, which makes it one of the few things in a practice that fits into a day where nothing else does.
- It builds the steadiness that seated poses need. Students who can hold this for twenty seconds sit noticeably better in the long breathing practices afterwards, because holding the trunk up has stopped being an effort.
Who should not do this
- Lower back pain, a disc problem or sciatica: this is the pose most likely to aggravate it, because a rounding lower back under load is exactly what an irritated disc does not want. Leave it out while pain is present and get a doctor's opinion first.
- Pregnancy at any stage: strong abdominal contraction and a long lever with the legs are not appropriate. Leave it out entirely.
- Recent abdominal or hernia surgery, or an existing hernia: wait for your surgeon's clearance, and then start with the bent knee version only.
- Uncontrolled high blood pressure or heart disease: holding a strong contraction while the breath goes short raises the pressure. Choose the version lying on the back with the knees bent, or leave it out.
- Neck problems or cervical spondylosis: the neck often takes over as the abdomen tires. If the head starts to poke forward, come out.
- Diarrhoea, an active abdominal complaint or a heavy period with cramping: it is not the day for it.
- Asthma during an episode, or any breathlessness: the pose shortens the breath by design, and a compromised breath should not be shortened further.
If any of these apply to you, say so before your first class. There is almost always a version of the pose that is safe for you, and it is the teacher's job to find it, not yours.
What Vaithialingam sees people get wrong
What the teacher corrects most often in this pose, on the left, and what to do instead, on the right.
The lower back rounds and the student sits on the back of the pelvis, so the pose becomes a slump held in the air.
The fix. Bend the knees until the back is long again. This is not a lesser version, it is the version that is actually working the abdomen rather than hanging off the lumbar spine.
Straightening the legs before the trunk can hold itself, so the shape appears and the work disappears.
The fix. Keep the knees bent and the shins parallel to the floor for a month. Straighten the legs only when you can hold thirty seconds with a long back and an even breath.
Holding the breath for the whole hold.
The fix. Count the breaths out loud. A ten second hold with three audible breaths beats a thirty second hold with none, and the second one raises the blood pressure for no benefit.
The chin pokes forward and the neck strains as the abdomen tires.
The fix. Keep the back of the neck long and the chin level, and treat the poking chin as the signal to come out. The neck is telling you the abdomen has finished.
Doing it once, very hard, and then feeling it for three days.
The fix. Two or three short rounds with a rest between them, three times a week. This is strength work and the same rules apply as anywhere else.
Gripping the mat with the hands and hauling the legs up by the arms.
The fix. If you need the hands, hold behind the thighs rather than pulling on the shins. Better still, take the bent knee version where the hands are not needed at all.
Easier and harder versions
Bent knee Naukasana
Knees bent, shins parallel to the floor, hands beside the shins or holding the backs of the thighs. This is the version the great majority of people should practise for the first several months, and there is nothing second rate about it: the abdominal work is the same and the lower back is safe.
Naukasana lying on the back
Lie on your back, press the lower back gently towards the floor, and raise the head, shoulders and straight legs a few centimetres so the body makes a shallow dish. This is the version taught in many Indian schools under the same name, and it is the one to choose if sitting up in the V shape hurts the lower back or if the blood pressure is a concern.
Chair Naukasana
Sit on a firm chair, hold the sides of the seat, lengthen the spine, and lift both feet a few centimetres off the floor with the knees bent. Hold for ten seconds. The abdomen and the hip flexors work, the back is supported, and anybody who cannot get onto the floor can practise it.
One leg at a time
Sit tall, lean back a little, and lift one bent leg at a time while the other foot stays on the floor. Half the load, all of the lesson about the lower back. This is where I put a student who is coming back after a back complaint, with their doctor's agreement.
Naukasana with a strap
Loop a belt or a strap around the soles of both feet and hold the ends. The strap lets you keep the chest lifted and the back long while the legs straighten, so it is the honest way to work towards the full pose rather than faking it.
Where these claims come from
Anything on this page stated as a fact about the body is sourced below. Anything not sourced is written plainly as what the teacher has seen in his own classes, and is labelled that way in the text.
From Vaithialingam's class
I stopped teaching the straight legged version to new students about twenty years ago. What happened was always the same. Somebody would get the legs up, the back would round, they would hold it grimly for thirty seconds while not breathing, and the next week they would tell me their lower back was sore. So now I teach it with bent knees and I watch one thing only: whether the lower back is still long. If it rounds, I ask them to bend the knees more, and they usually protest that it is too easy. Then I ask them to hold it for twenty seconds while counting the breaths out loud, and the protest stops. The abdomen does not know what your legs look like.
This is what he sees in class, not a medical claim. Where this page states what a practice does for a condition, the evidence is in the sources cited on the page.
Vaithialingam, founder and teacher, 40 years of teaching.
Questions people ask
How long should you hold Naukasana?
Ten seconds with bent knees in the first month, twenty seconds after three months, and up to thirty seconds once the legs can straighten with a long back. Two or three rounds with a real rest between them is a full dose, and three days a week is enough because this is strength work. Come out when the lower back rounds, when the chin starts poking forward, or when you can no longer speak the breath count out loud.
Who should not do Naukasana?
Leave it out entirely in pregnancy at any stage, and while any lower back pain, disc problem or sciatica is present. Wait for your surgeon's clearance after abdominal or hernia surgery, and start with bent knees only. Anyone with uncontrolled high blood pressure or heart disease should take the version lying on the back rather than the seated V, or leave it out. Come out if a neck problem takes over as the abdomen tires. Skip it during diarrhoea, an active abdominal complaint, a heavy period with cramping, or any breathlessness.
What muscles does Naukasana work?
The rectus abdominis down the front of the belly, the transversus abdominis and the obliques around the sides, and the iliopsoas and the other hip flexors holding the legs up, which is why the groin often burns before the stomach does. The quadriceps keep the knees straight in the full version, the erector spinae work to stop the back rounding, and the deep neck flexors hold the head. All of it is isometric: nothing moves, which is how the abdominal wall is used in ordinary life.
Does Naukasana reduce belly fat?
Not by itself, and anybody who tells you it does is selling something. You cannot choose where the body loses fat, and a pose held for thirty seconds three times a week burns very little. What Naukasana does is make the abdominal wall stronger, which changes how you hold yourself and how your middle looks under the same amount of fat. If losing weight is the aim, the useful things are diet, a daily walk and a longer standing practice, which is what yoga for weight loss actually recommends.
Why does my lower back hurt in Boat Pose?
Because the pelvis has rolled backwards and the lower back has rounded, so the load has moved off the abdomen and onto the lumbar spine. It is not a sign that you need to try harder. Bend the knees until the back feels long again and start from there, even if that means the feet are only a few centimetres off the floor. If the back hurts even in the bent knee version, leave the pose out and read yoga for back pain before adding it back.
What is the difference between Naukasana and Navasana?
They are the same pose under two names, and the confusion is about the position rather than the word. Nauka and nava both mean boat. In many Indian schools Naukasana is taught lying on the back with the head, shoulders and legs raised a few centimetres, while Navasana or Paripurna Navasana usually means the seated V shape balancing on the sitting bones. If a teacher says either word, ask which one they mean, because the two feel entirely different. Both names are in the yoga glossary.
Can beginners do Naukasana?
Yes, in the bent knee version or from a chair. What a beginner should not do is straighten the legs. Sit tall, lean back until the abdomen switches on with the back still long, lift the bent legs a few centimetres, and hold for ten seconds while counting the breaths out loud. That is the pose, done properly, on day one. Straight legs can wait several months and will be better for the wait. How to start yoga at home shows where it fits.
How many times a day should you do Naukasana?
Once a day at most, two or three rounds within that one practice, and only three days a week. It is resistance work for the abdomen and the hip flexors and it needs recovery days like any other resistance work. Doing it every morning is the reliable way to develop a sore lower back by the end of a fortnight, which is a lesson I have watched students learn more times than I would like.
Practise in the hall, in person
In a hall in north Bangalore, in a small group, with hands-on correction. The hall is within a short ride of MSR Nagar, Mathikere, Malleshwaram, Yeshwanthpur and further out.
You message on WhatsApp, we send the link. No card, and nothing to cancel afterwards.