Wide-Legged Plough Poseसुप्त कोणासन

Set up on folded blankets and come into Plough Pose with the toes on the floor or on a chair. Walk the feet apart until the legs are as wide as they comfortably go. Keep the legs straight and press the toes down evenly on both sides. Take hold of the big toes with the fingers if they reach, otherwise keep the hands on the back. Hold, walk the feet back together, and roll down slowly to the floor. Hold for 30–60 seconds.

Primarily the hamstrings, hip adductors, spinal erectors, with the shoulders, abdominals, calves assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: lengthens the hamstrings and inner thighs at once, with the spine already flexed.

Glaucoma or raised eye pressure, and uncontrolled high blood pressure. Neck or cervical spine injury: the neck is flexed under load, so the blanket stack is essential. Pregnancy — not a shape to begin in pregnancy; continuing an established inversion practice is a decision for you and your doctor. Menstruation: many traditions omit inversions then, which is a personal choice rather than a medical rule. Recent ear infection, groin or hamstring strain, and any disc injury. This is general information, not medical advice — if any of these apply to you, ask your doctor and learn the pose with a qualified teacher rather than from a page.

Not as a first pose. Wide-Legged Plough Pose is rated intermediate here: it assumes a working base of strength and range, and a teacher who has watched you move. Build up through the inversions poses marked beginner first.

The honest answer is that nobody has measured a single asana. The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities publishes MET values for styles of yoga, not for individual poses. Wide-Legged Plough Pose sits closest to Compendium code 02175, yoga, Power, at 4 MET — about 147 kcal for 30 minutes of that kind of practice for a 70 kg adult. Holding one pose for a minute is a rounding error either way.