Health Benefits of Halasana - How to Do It, and Precautions

The modern lifestyle has various challenging activities that can give effective results while simultaneously giving you stress. However, with the progression of time, your body and mind become tired and need relaxation. Practising yoga is a beneficial technique to boost body and mind function. Halasana is an effective yoga posture that can help make your body flexible and relaxed. If you are wondering about the health benefits of Halasana and other details, keep scrolling through the article.

Halasana is the folded and inverted posture of the body, which is primarily considered a finishing pose. In Sanskrit, ‘hala’ means ‘plough’, and ‘asana’ stands for a yoga pose. Therefore, in this yoga posture, your body resembles the shape of a plough, so it is also called a plough pose.

In this posture, you should lie on a surface, and your legs will be lifted upwards and bent over your head while your hands will rest by your side. Further, this pose offers various health benefits and to learn about them, check out the list below.

The health benefits of Halasana are as follows -

1. Helps in Digestion

Halasana is a beneficial yoga pose that puts pressure on your abdomen. Therefore, it helps to boost the function of the stomach and other digestive organs and enhances their activities. People with stomach disorders can get effective help from Halasana.

2. Helps to Relieve Stress

Halasana is an effective pose for releasing stress and anxiety. The pose includes breathing exercises that can help relax your mind. Further, it helps in better blood flow to the brain, so it helps in boosting the cognitive functioning of the brain.

3. Effective for Thyroid Glands

Halasana is a reverse pose that helps to stimulate blood flow in the extreme upper parts of the body. Therefore, the upper glands, such as the pituitary and thyroid, become active with proper blood flow. Further, the endocrine system gets stimulated and functions better.

4. Helpful For Blood Circulation

In Halasana, you need to bend your body backwards so the body gets a reverse posture. Therefore, it helps to reverse the flow of blood to the edge of all nerves and glands of the body. Therefore, this posture helps to activate the body parts through the proper blood supply.

5. Helps to Deal With Menopause

During menopause, women might feel edgy and stressed as their bodies undergo changes. Therefore, in this situation, they need proper care, and Halasana can be helpful, as it relieves stress and tension from major points like the spine, neck and shoulder.

6. Beneficial For Immune System

As Halasana is effective for stimulating blood flow, it boosts the body’s natural protective power for better immunity. Further, it also helps in flexibility and strengthening the spine, resulting in a strong body.

7. Helpful to Reduce Back Pain

Halasana is beneficial for back pain because it allows extreme body bending. Thus it helps to retain the flexibility of the backbone and neck and releases pain and stress from these areas. So, this posture can benefit people suffering from back pain and spine-related issues.

8. Helpful in Managing Diabetes

Halasana is helpful in managing the blood sugar level as it restricts the production of excessive blood sugar in your body. Therefore, people with diabetes can perform this posture as a complementary treatment.

9. Effectively Removes Leg Cramps

Halasana or plough pose allows stretching of whole body muscle. Therefore, it can help release muscle pain from different body parts. As you bend your waist and legs over your heads, it is very effective to retain the flexibility of the leg, thigh and calf muscles. So, if you face frequent leg cramps, you can surely practice this pose for better help.

Other Benefits:

Some other advantages of Halasana are as follows -

• Boosts reproductive organs
• Helps in hair growth
• Helpful for increasing appetite
• Effective for weight loss
• Helpful warm-up for athletics
• Detoxifies the body

Following is the step-by-step guide to performing Halasana -

Step 1: Lie on a soft surface on your back

Step 2: Rest your hands by your side with palms downwards

Step 3: Lift your legs at an angle of 90 degrees

Step 4: Keep your breathing pattern normal and slowly lift your waist more with the help of your hands

Step 5: In this way, take your legs over your head and touch your toes to the ground

Step 6: Keep your back perpendicular to the floor

Step 7: Keep your hands by your side and hold the position for 30 seconds

Step 8: Come back to the starting position slowly

Step 9: Repeat the posture 3 to 5 times

Halasana is very beneficial for different body parts. However, beginners may feel this is tough to perform in one go. For them, here are some effective tips one should know before performing Halasana.

1. Follow the Instruction

No yoga posture should be done without proper instruction. You should take advice from an expert before performing this pose and know how to do it properly.

2. Perform the Pose Slowly

The posture involves extreme body bending; therefore, certain risk factors exist. So it is advisable to perform the pose very slowly to avoid any injury.

3. Keep Your Alignment Intact

Always keep your neck and spine in line to avoid faulty posture. Further, while bending your waist over the head, do not put the weight on your neck but your shoulder. To get comfort, initially bend your knees. Further, hold your waist with your hands at the beginning for support.

4. Use Props for Support

Beginners who face problems while performing the pose can use various props for support. For example, they can keep a soft blanket or pillow under their neck or hips for better support.

5. Perform Other Asanas

As you bend the whole body in an inverted direction, you should perform reverse poses to restore your body flexibility. For this, Bhujangasana and Sarvangasana can be some perfect complementary yoga poses.

Whether you are a beginner or an expert, you should maintain precautions to perform any yoga pose. The precautions that you should maintain are as follows -

• Do not perform this asana if you haven’t practised any yoga posture earlier.
• Avoid holding the position for too long if you face any difficulty.
• Avoid practising Halasana if you have a neck injury.
• Do not perform Halasana if you already have high blood pressure.
• Do not perform it during menstruation or pregnancy.
• If you get frequent headaches, do not perform Halasana regularly.
• Avoid this posture on days of weakness or fatigue.

For beginners, some easy modifications of Halasana can help you gain the benefits easily. These are:

• Take Help of Blocks: If your toes can not reach the ground, you can place a yoga block and rest your toes. This will reduce the chance of extreme stretch and help you to perform the pose safely at the beginning.
• Face the Wall: If you can not reach the ground at the beginning, lie by a wall and touch your legs to the wall for support. This will ensure easy grip and relaxed breathing.
• Support Your Neck: Halasana puts extreme pressure on your neck and shoulder blade. Therefore, you can modify the pose by employing a soft blanket to support your neck.
• Go By One Leg at a Time: If you cannot place both of your legs on the ground, then you can do it separately with a single leg with the support of the wall. Then, slowly, when you gain confidence, you can perform the pose as it is.

Hope that the above discussion has given you a clear idea of the benefits of Halasana and the necessary precautions related to it. The article also discusses the modifications and tips, which are very helpful if you are a beginner or starting yoga after a long gap. Therefore, consider this guide to know everything about Halasana and use the information for better practice.