Pose of the Week

Our pose of the week, Navasana or Boat Pose, is one that is great for building core stability and strength.  It can be very difficult for children (and adults) with low muscle tone to get into this pose.  We start by grounding our bottoms down and sitting up nice and tall with bent knees, the bottoms of our feet on the mat.  Then, we put our hands on our knees or shins and rock back so our feet are off the mat.
At this point, you can extend your legs into "tabletop" - knees bent, calves parallel to the ground, feet together.  You can release your hands and reach them toward your feet.  Here's us getting started with the pose:

If you would like a further challenge, the full pose is extending the legs out straight, keeping your core muscles engaged and legs and feet together.  Your body should form a V-shape.  Here I'm helping Mercedes keep her upper body off the mat - it's quite tempting to just lay down and lift your legs up, but that's not really working the core muscles. ;)

Here's Mercedes's succesful Boat Pose - with kids, they may not do the full pose with correct alignment, but that's ok, as long as they are having fun and are being safe.

And, if you need a little extra support, you can do like Mercedes does and find some furniture to prop your head up. ;)