Plow Pose

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.

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.

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.

• Salamba Sarvangasana
• Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

• Adho Mukha Svanasana
• Paschimottanasana

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.