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

• 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

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