Halasana
aka: Plow
(hah-LAHS-anna)
hala = plow
Exercise: Press the back of your head into the floor and take your chin away from your chest to increase the curve in your neck
.
Keep your legs together applying pressure trying to really stretch the back. You can place your arms flat in front of you palms facing down or place them on your lower back for support.Physical Benefit: Stretches the shoulders and spine.
Mental Benefit: Calms the mind.
Plow Pose
Plow Pose, or Halasana, is an advanced backbend.
Advantages
Halasana is from the Sanskrit word hala, meaning "plow." This is a healing asana designed to connect the yogi to the earth, calm the mind, and promote sleep.
Other benefits of Plow Pose include:
* Alleviates backaches, stress, sinus pain, and headaches
* Stimulates the thyroid and the abdominals
* Stretches the torso, shoulders, and spine
Step Into the Pose
1. Usually this pose extends out of a shoulder stance, but you can also move into it from Corpse or resting pose, arms flat at your side.
2. Exhale and lift your legs into the air, rotating from the hip while your torso stays firm.
3. Inhale and then, on the exhale, extend your legs over your body.
4. Even experienced yogis can't always touch the floor with their feet. If your core is strong, keep the legs extended over the head, or use a chair or yoga equipment such as blocks or bolsters for support.
5. Pull the shoulders up toward the ears slightly to ease strain on the neck.
6. Press the arms firmly into the earth.
7. Hold the pose for a minute or more, breathing deep.
8. To release the pose, exhale and bring the legs down slowly, or, if advanced, continue into a shoulder stance.
Beginner Tips
Take care not to let momentum swing you back, as that might cause an injury. Better to ease backward gradually as you become more familiar with the pose.
Advanced Tips
Lift up onto the tops of the shoulders to extend your range.
Anatomical Focus
* Thyroid
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Therapeutic Applications
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Benefits
* Calms the brain
* Stimulates the abdominal organs and the thyroid gland
* Stretches the shoulders and spine
* Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause
* Reduces stress and fatigue
* Therapeutic for backache, headache, infertility, insomnia, sinusitis
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Contraindications and Cautions
* Diarrhea
* Menstruation
* Neck injury
* Asthma & high blood pressure: Practice Halasana with the legs supported on props.
* Pregnancy: If you are experienced with this pose, you can continue to practice it late into pregnancy. However, don't take up the practice of Halasana after you become pregnant.
* With the feet on the floor, this pose is considered to be intermediate to advanced. It is not advisable to perform the pose in this way without sufficient prior experience or unless you have the supervision of an experienced instructor.
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Beginner's Tip
In this pose (and its companion, Salamba Sarvangasana) there's a tendency to overstretch the neck by pulling the shoulders too far away from the ears. While the tops of the shoulders should push down into the support, they should be lifted slightly toward the ears to keep the back of the neck and throat soft. Open the sternum by firming the shoulder blades against the back.
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Variations
Parsva Halasana (pronounced PARSH-vah, parsva = side or flank)
This pose can only be performed with the feet on the floor. Perform Halasana, keeping your hands on your back. With an exhalation walk your feet to the left as far as you comfortably can. One hip or the other may sink toward the floor, so try to keep the pelvis in a relatively neutral position, hips parallel to the floor. Hold for 30 seconds to 1 minute, then inhale the feet back to center. Take 2 or 3 breaths, then exhale the feet to the right for the same length of time, come back to center, and release Halasana.
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Modifications and Props
Most beginning students can't comfortably rest their feet on the floor (nor is it advisable for the neck). But you can still practice this pose with an appropriate prop. Brace the back of a metal folding chair against a wall (if you like, cover the seat with a folded sticky mat), and set one long edge of your support a foot or so away from the front edge of the seat. The exact distance between the chair and support will depend on your height (taller students will be farther away, shorter students closer). Lie down on the support with your head on the floor between the blanket support and the chair. Roll up with an exhalation, rest your feet on the seat (and check to see that you are neither too close nor too far from the chair), then lift into Salamba Sarvangasana first before moving into Halasana.
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Partnering
A partner can help you learn about the lift of the front thighs in this pose. Perform Halasana, either with your feet on the floor or a chair. Then have your partner straddle your legs, facing your torso. Loop a strap around your top thighs in the creases of the groins. Your partner can pull straight up on the strap, perpendicular to the line of your legs, and lift your top thighs toward the ceiling. Extend strongly through the heels and move your scapulas firmly into your back.
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Preparatory Poses
* Salamba Sarvangasana
* Setu Bandha Sarvangasana
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Follow-Up Poses
* Adho Mukha Svanasana
* Paschimottanasana
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Deepen The Pose
When coming into this pose (and its companion, Salamba Sarvangasana) you can squeeze the shoulder blades together to help yourself lift up onto the tops of the shoulders. But once situated in the position, broaden the shoulder blades across the back, into the resistance of the outer upper arms.
* Thyroid
► ▼
Therapeutic Applications
► ▼
Benefits
* Calms the brain
* Stimulates the abdominal organs and the thyroid gland
* Stretches the shoulders and spine
* Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause
* Reduces stress and fatigue
* Therapeutic for backache, headache, infertility, insomnia, sinusitis
► ▼
Contraindications and Cautions
* Diarrhea
* Menstruation
* Neck injury
* Asthma & high blood pressure: Practice Halasana with the legs supported on props.
* Pregnancy: If you are experienced with this pose, you can continue to practice it late into pregnancy. However, don't take up the practice of Halasana after you become pregnant.
* With the feet on the floor, this pose is considered to be intermediate to advanced. It is not advisable to perform the pose in this way without sufficient prior experience or unless you have the supervision of an experienced instructor.
► ▼
Beginner's Tip
In this pose (and its companion, Salamba Sarvangasana) there's a tendency to overstretch the neck by pulling the shoulders too far away from the ears. While the tops of the shoulders should push down into the support, they should be lifted slightly toward the ears to keep the back of the neck and throat soft. Open the sternum by firming the shoulder blades against the back.
► ▼
Variations
Parsva Halasana (pronounced PARSH-vah, parsva = side or flank)
This pose can only be performed with the feet on the floor. Perform Halasana, keeping your hands on your back. With an exhalation walk your feet to the left as far as you comfortably can. One hip or the other may sink toward the floor, so try to keep the pelvis in a relatively neutral position, hips parallel to the floor. Hold for 30 seconds to 1 minute, then inhale the feet back to center. Take 2 or 3 breaths, then exhale the feet to the right for the same length of time, come back to center, and release Halasana.
► ▼
Modifications and Props
Most beginning students can't comfortably rest their feet on the floor (nor is it advisable for the neck). But you can still practice this pose with an appropriate prop. Brace the back of a metal folding chair against a wall (if you like, cover the seat with a folded sticky mat), and set one long edge of your support a foot or so away from the front edge of the seat. The exact distance between the chair and support will depend on your height (taller students will be farther away, shorter students closer). Lie down on the support with your head on the floor between the blanket support and the chair. Roll up with an exhalation, rest your feet on the seat (and check to see that you are neither too close nor too far from the chair), then lift into Salamba Sarvangasana first before moving into Halasana.
► ▼
Partnering
A partner can help you learn about the lift of the front thighs in this pose. Perform Halasana, either with your feet on the floor or a chair. Then have your partner straddle your legs, facing your torso. Loop a strap around your top thighs in the creases of the groins. Your partner can pull straight up on the strap, perpendicular to the line of your legs, and lift your top thighs toward the ceiling. Extend strongly through the heels and move your scapulas firmly into your back.
► ▼
Preparatory Poses
* Salamba Sarvangasana
* Setu Bandha Sarvangasana
► ▼
Follow-Up Poses
* Adho Mukha Svanasana
* Paschimottanasana
► ▼
Deepen The Pose
When coming into this pose (and its companion, Salamba Sarvangasana) you can squeeze the shoulder blades together to help yourself lift up onto the tops of the shoulders. But once situated in the position, broaden the shoulder blades across the back, into the resistance of the outer upper arms.
