Return to Hatha Yoga

Halasana
The Plough Pose

Instructions.

• Lie flat on the back with the arms straight and beside the body, palms facing downwards.
• Keeping the legs straight, slowly raise them to the vertical position above the body.
• Only use the stomach muscles to raise the legs.
• Do not use the arms.
• Simultaneously bend the trunk upward, hips first.
• Slowly lower the legs over the head and touch the floor with the toes of both feet.
• Keep the legs straight, bend the arms and place the hands on the back as in sarvangasana.
• Relax the body.
• Remain in the final pose for a comfortable period of time.
• Then either return to the starting position or perform the following additions to the basic pose:
• ADDITION 1:
  • Walk the feet away from the head until the body is completely stretched and a tight chin lock occurs.
• ADDITION 2:
  • Walk the feet towards the head until the back is fully tensed.
  • Keep the legs straight and directly above the head.
  • Grasp the feet with the fingers.
  • Maintain these poses for a comfortable length of time, then return to the final pose of basic halasana.

 Breath.

• Retain inside while assuming and returning from this asana.
• Breathe slowly and deeply in the final pose.

 Duration.

• Adepts can hold the final pose of halasana and the two additional stages for more that 10 minutes each.
• Beginners should hold each pose for 15 seconds during the first week of practice, doing each in rotation up to 4 times and adding 15 seconds every week until each pose is held for 1 minute.

 Concentration.

• Spiritual: On vishuddhi chakra or manipura chakra.
• Physical: On the abdomen, relaxation of the back muscles, respiration, or the thyroid gland.

 Sequence.

• If possible perform halasana immediately after sarvangasana.
• Follow halasana by matsyasana, ushtrasana, or supta vajrasana, practiced for half of the combined duration of sarvangasana and halasana.

 Precautions.

• Beginners should not do poorwa halasana until their back muscles become flexible.

Limitations.

• Not for old and infirm people, sufferers of sciatica and other back ailments, or high blood pressure.

 Benefits.

• Adjusts the functioning of the abdominal organs, especially kidneys, liver, and pancreas.
• Activates digestion, relieves constipation and removes fat from the waist.
• Beneficially influences all the visceral organs.
• Regulates the activities of the thyroid, thereby balancing all the body's metabolic rates.
• Helps to remedy diabetes, eliminate piles, loosen the vertebrae, and tone the spinal nerve.