How To Teach Plough Pose (Halasana)

Step 1
Teach The Benefits

• Calms nervous system
• Stimulates abdominal organs & thyroid gland
• Stretches shoulders & spine
• Helps relieve symptoms of menopause
• Reduces stress & fatigue
• Therapeutic for backache
• Therapeutic for headache
• Therapeutic for infertility
• Therapeutic for insomnia
• Therapeutic for sinusitis

Step 2
Teach The Sanskrit

Halasana = plough pose
Hala = plough
Asana = pose

To remember Halasana imagine you’ve just taught a yoga class, but your car has broken down on the way home. So, you hail a cab (sounds like Hala) and for the cabbie’s tip you teach him/her plough pose.

Step 3
Teach A Preparation Pose

Prep Pose #1: Shoulderstand

1) Begin in Shoulderstand.

2) Exhale as you lower your right leg toward the floor behind your head.

3) Inhale as you raise your right leg.

4) Repeat this exercise for your left leg.

5) Exhale as you lower both legs at the same time to move into Plough Pose.

Prep Pose #2: Spinal Rocking

1) Do some spinal rocking.

2) Optional:  Move from Spinal Rocking into Plow Pose.

Step 4
Teach Plough

1) From supported shoulder-stand, exhale & bend from hip joints to slowly lower your toes to floor beyond your head.  As much as possible, keep torso perpendicular to floor & legs fully extended.

2) With toes on floor, lift top thighs & tailbone toward ceiling & draw inner groins deep into pelvis. Imagine your torso is hanging from the height of your groins. Continue to draw chin away from sternum & soften throat.

3) Continue to press hands against the back, pushing back up toward the ceiling as you press the backs of upper arms down. Or release hands away from back & stretch arms out behind you.  Clasp hands & press arms actively down as you lift the thighs toward ceiling.

4) Stay for 1 to 5 minutes.

5) To exit bring hands onto back, lift back into supported shoulder-stand with an exhalation, then roll down onto back, or simply roll out of the pose on an exhalation.

Click here for a video tutorial of plough pose.

Step 5
Teach A Few Variations

Here are some images of me experimenting with plough pose….

Step 6
Give A Counter Pose

Ask your students to perform a counter pose that stretches their spine in the opposite direction, such as Fish Pose.

Step 7
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