The verse and its meaning · Yoga in Practice · Yoga in Practice — Asanas as Taught Today

Halasana — plough pose

Asanas as Taught Today 48

हलासन

Meaning · English

Halasana, the plough seat: hala, the plough, and asana, the seat or posture. The English name is the plough pose, for the body lying back with legs carried over the head and toes on the floor, like the long beam and blade of a hand plough.

Take the name apart first. Hala is the plough, the Indian hand plough with a long beam and a blade that bites the earth. Asana is a seat, a way of being placed. So the name is the plough seat. The body makes the shape: the back is the ground, the hips and legs rise and arch over the head, and the toes come down behind like the blade in the soil. Halasana is not described in the Pradipika, the Gheranda Samhita or the Shiva Samhita. It is modern postural yoga, codified in the twentieth century in the Mysore line of Krishnamacharya and the schools that grew from it. Its frame in the old tradition is Yoga Sutras 2.46 to 2.48: a seat that is steady and easy, effort loosened, the mind resting on the infinite. The lesson's sequence is simple. You lie on your back with the arms by your sides. On an in-breath both legs rise straight up. On the out-breath the hips lift and the legs lower over the head until the toes touch the floor. You stay, with the neck still and the breath slow. If the toes do not reach, the hands support the back. Then you roll down one part of the spine at a time, lower the legs and rest. The schools teach it to fold the whole back slowly and keep the breath quiet while the head is low. The lesson also asks for a teacher first, and for no neck, back or blood-pressure trouble.

1. Lie on your back with your arms by your sides, palms down. Let the legs lie long and the back of the neck stay soft. 2. Breathe in. Raise both legs straight up, together, until the feet point to the ceiling. 3. Breathe out. Press the arms down, lift the hips, and lower the legs over your head until the toes touch the floor behind you. Move slowly, so that the legs are never dropped. 4. Stay here. Keep the neck still, with the head quiet and facing the ceiling, and breathe slowly through the nose. The eyes can rest softly, looking toward the chest or closed. Many teachers have beginners stay for a few breaths and add time gradually. That timing is modern teaching, not part of the lesson's words. 5. If the toes do not reach the floor, bend the elbows and support the back with the hands, fingers pointing toward the spine. Let the legs hang at whatever height they reach. 6. To come out, release the hands to the floor and roll down slowly, one part of the spine at a time, from the upper back to the lower back to the hips. Keep the head still. 7. Lower the legs, then rest on your back with the arms by your sides until the breath is ordinary again. The fold begins at the hips, not the neck. The head does not turn, and the weight sits on the shoulders and upper arms, never on the neck. Do not force the toes down. A pose held with a hard breath has lost its ease.

The legs travel over the head, so the spine bends forward along its whole length. The muscles of the lower and upper back lengthen. So do the backs of the thighs and calves, which are the first to resist when the toes reach for the floor. The abdominal muscles and the front of the hips work to lift the legs and then to lower them under control. This is why the way down is slow: the muscles, not gravity, do the lowering. The neck is bent forward under the body's weight, and that is the main reason for the caution. The arms and shoulders pressing into the floor take load that would otherwise fall on the neck. With the hands on the back, the trunk is held up by the arms. The breath is slow because the chest and belly are compressed. A short, tight breath shows the pose is too deep. The in-breath before the lift and the out-breath during the fold follow the body's natural shortening of the belly. For the mind, the head is low and the eyes are quiet. Attention falls to the breath, the spine and the contact of the floor. Yoga Sutras 2.47 speaks of loosening effort. In the tradition's account, the calm of the pose depends on that loosening.

The old hatha texts make no claim for Halasana, since they do not describe it. The schools that teach it today say it gives a supple back and a stretch along the backs of the legs. They say it teaches slow breathing in a folded shape and steadies the attention. They also say it prepares the body for sitting still, and that coming down vertebra by vertebra builds awareness of the spine. These are the teaching of those schools, and nothing here is promised beyond them.

A man has spent the morning bent over a vegetable bed. At noon he straightens up with a stiff back and stiff legs, and wants to stretch them out. A good family doctor would agree on the plain mechanics. Folding the spine forward lengthens the back muscles and the hamstrings, and a slow, controlled return uses the abdominal muscles. Moving the spine gently through its range is generally considered reasonable for many people. There are cautions too. In this pose the neck is bent hard under the body's weight, and that is a recognised source of strain, which is why teachers insist on careful form and supervision. With the hips above the head, the blood pressure and the pressure in the head can change, so anyone with blood-pressure trouble is usually advised to leave it out. Compressing the belly can also make breathing harder. The claims of the schools, that the pose calms the mind or benefits the organs, are traditional and are not well established. Evidence for Halasana specifically is thin. Flexibility gains are the most plausible effect.

This is not medical advice, and a page cannot correct a body the way a teacher can. The lesson is marked intermediate, and the pose is learnt with a teacher, not from a page. Leave it out, or ask a qualified teacher for a gentler form, if there is any neck, back or blood-pressure problem. The same goes for a disc problem, a recent surgery or injury, eye or ear pressure trouble, or pregnancy. Stiff shoulders and a tight lower back also call for a gentler form. Never force the toes to the floor, and never turn the head while the legs are over it. Stop at once at any pain, tingling, dizziness or pressure in the head, and come down slowly.

A gentler form keeps the legs over the head with the feet resting on a chair seat or a stack of cushions, so the spine folds less. Bent knees are allowed, with the knees near the forehead. A stiff beginner can stay with the hands supporting the back and the toes well above the floor. A folded blanket under the shoulders, with the head off its edge, is a common teacher's aid that keeps the neck from flattening. The fuller form lets the toes rest on the floor with the arms stretched along the floor behind the back. It grows slowly, over weeks, as the legs and back lengthen.

Turning the head to look around strains the neck, so keep it still and facing the ceiling. Dropping the legs over quickly loads the spine, so lower them on the out-breath under control. Forcing the toes to the floor rounds the neck and shoulders, so let them hang higher or bend the knees. Holding the breath tightens the belly and chest, so breathe slowly and shorten the stay if you cannot. Flinging down out of the pose jolts the back, so roll down one part of the spine at a time. Pressing the chin hard into the chest narrows the throat, so keep the head quiet and the neck long.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Supta Konasana — reclining angle pose · Asanas as Taught Today 47
• Next: Sarvangasana — shoulder stand · Asanas as Taught Today 49
• All of Yoga in Practice · Ask Krishna about it

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