Plough Poseहलासन
Halāsana — an intermediate inversion that works the hamstrings, spinal erectors, shoulders.
45–90SECONDS HELD
One line on the timetable. Plough Pose is held 45–90 seconds, with the breath moving throughout — and no set practice here is built around it — it is held on its own.
SOURCE·YogaPath sequence data — stay times as taught·one breath ≈ 5 s at an even pace·REVIEWED JUL 2026
How to do Plough Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Lie with the shoulders on a stack of firm folded blankets and the head on the mat below.
Press the arms down and roll the legs overhead until the toes reach towards the floor behind you.
Rest the feet on a chair seat or a bolster if they do not reach the ground comfortably.
Interlace the fingers behind the back and roll the shoulders under, or keep the hands supporting the back.
Hold with the neck free, then roll down slowly with the abdominals controlling the descent.
Hold: 45–90 seconds. Keep the breath moving throughout — if you are holding it, the pose is too much for today.
Muscles worked
Where the effort and the lengthening land. Primary groups do most of the work; secondary groups assist or are stretched.
What Plough Pose does
Described mechanically — what the movement does to muscle and joint. Not a list of conditions it treats, because a pose does not treat conditions.
- Lengthens the whole back line from the heels to the base of the neck under body weight.
- Holds the shoulders in extension behind the body with the chest broad.
- Trains slow, controlled spinal articulation on the way back down.
Plough Pose is one of 20 inversions in this library and one of 60 poses rated intermediate. Poses where the head sits below the heart. The group that needs the most care and the most teaching.
Who should skip Plough Pose, or change it
- Glaucoma or raised eye pressure, and uncontrolled high blood pressure.
- Neck or cervical spine injury, disc problems, or any tingling in the arms — this pose flexes the neck deeply under load.
- Pregnancy — not a pose to begin in pregnancy; continuing an established practice is a decision for you and your doctor.
- Menstruation: many traditions omit inversions at that time, which is a personal choice rather than a medical rule.
- Recent ear infection, and any low back or disc injury — support the feet on a chair rather than forcing them down.
General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts. If you are pregnant, recovering from surgery or managing any health condition, ask your doctor before starting a practice, and learn the pose itself from a qualified teacher who can see you move.
Common mistakes in Plough Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeLetting the feet drag the spine down so the neck takes the weight.
FixSupport the feet on a chair and keep the hips stacked over the shoulders.
MistakeRolling out of the pose fast and landing hard.
FixBend the knees, hold the arms down, and lower one vertebra at a time.
How the energy figure on a yoga timetable is reached
- Nobody has measured a single asana in a metabolic cart, so no per-pose figure is published here — not by this site and not by anyone.
- The pose is matched to the nearest style of practice in the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. Plough Pose sits at code 02175, yoga, Power, 4 MET.
- That MET value is put through the standard ACSM relationship for a stated reference adult of 70 kg.
- The result is the cost of a practice of that kind for as long as you practise — not the cost of holding this one shape.
- Scale it to yourself: the relationship is linear in body mass, so multiply by your own weight in kilograms and divide by 70.
kcal/min = MET × 3.5 × kg ÷ 200
= 4 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200
= 4.90 kcal per minute
The same practice, hour by hour
Read it the way you would read a timetable: pick the length of session you actually sit down for, and that is the figure.
| Time practising | 10 min | 20 min | 30 min | 45 min | 60 min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 49 | 98 | 147 | 221 | 294 |
SOURCE·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·code 02175 · 4 MET · 70 kg reference adult·REVIEWED JUL 2026
The whole activity dataset, including everything that is not yoga, is at BurnLab.
Asked before class
How do you do Plough Pose?
Lie with the shoulders on a stack of firm folded blankets and the head on the mat below. Press the arms down and roll the legs overhead until the toes reach towards the floor behind you. Rest the feet on a chair seat or a bolster if they do not reach the ground comfortably. Interlace the fingers behind the back and roll the shoulders under, or keep the hands supporting the back. Hold with the neck free, then roll down slowly with the abdominals controlling the descent. Hold for 45–90 seconds.
What does Plough Pose work?
Primarily the hamstrings, spinal erectors, shoulders, with the abdominals, calves, upper back assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: lengthens the whole back line from the heels to the base of the neck under body weight.
Who should not do Plough Pose?
Glaucoma or raised eye pressure, and uncontrolled high blood pressure. Neck or cervical spine injury, disc problems, or any tingling in the arms — this pose flexes the neck deeply under load. Pregnancy — not a pose to begin in pregnancy; continuing an established practice is a decision for you and your doctor. Menstruation: many traditions omit inversions at that time, which is a personal choice rather than a medical rule. Recent ear infection, and any low back or disc injury — support the feet on a chair rather than forcing them down. 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.
Is Plough Pose suitable for beginners?
Not as a first pose. 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.
How many calories does Plough Pose burn?
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. 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.
The rest of the inversions on the wall
More inversions — first at the same level, then the rest of the family.
Asana names are traditional. Every step, benefit and caution on this page is written for YogaPath rather than reproduced from any book, studio or other library — see how this site is written and what it is written from. General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts.
SOURCE·Published asana references·asana names, alignment and cautions as taught·REVIEWED JUL 2026
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