Ear Pressure Pose

How to do Ear Pressure Pose

1. 1Begin in Plow Pose (Halāsana) with your legs extended overhead, toes tucked on the floor, and weight balanced across your shoulder tops.
2. 2Bend your knees and slowly lower them down toward the floor on either side of your head.
3. 3Rest the tops of your feet flat on the mat behind you, pointing your toes directly backward.
4. 4Gently press the inner surfaces of your knees against the sides of your ears or temples without forcing weight onto your skull.
5. 5Keep your weight firmly anchored across your shoulder shelf and upper arms, ensuring your cervical spine remains lifted and uncompressed.
6. 6Either keep your hands interlaced and grounded along the mat, or wrap your forearms around the backs of your thighs to lightly cup your knees.
7. 7Soften your facial muscles, relax your throat, and hold the shape for five to eight steady breaths while turning your awareness inward.
8. 8To exit, place your palms flat on the mat as brakes, extend your legs back into Plow, and slowly unroll your spine vertebra by vertebra down to the floor.

Benefits

• Provides an intense, restorative stretch along the entire length of the spine and back body.
• Stimulates and massages abdominal organs to support healthy digestion.
• Promotes pratyāhāra (sensory withdrawal) by shielding the ears and muting external auditory input.
• Releases chronic tension stored within the upper back, shoulders, and glutes.
• Downregulates the sympathetic nervous system to help alleviate stress, anxiety, and fatigue.

Common mistakes and cues

• Bearing weight on the cervical neck

  Keep the body weight firmly distributed across your shoulder girdle and upper arms rather than letting the neck compress directly into the floor.

• Turning the head

  Maintain your head strictly in the midline without turning side to side, which protects vulnerable cervical vertebrae from torque.

• Restricting the breath

  Avoid shallow breathing or gasping in the throat by intentionally directing steady breaths into your expanding back ribs.

• Forcing the knees to the mat

  Never wrench your knees aggressively toward the floor; let gravity and spinal flexion lower them naturally over time.

Modifications and props

• Knees on blocks

  Place yoga blocks or a bolster beneath your knees if they do not yet comfortably reach the floor beside your ears.

• Shoulder blanket stack

  Fold two to three firm blankets beneath your shoulders with your neck free off the edge to maintain the natural cervical curve.

• Hands on the back

  Keep your hands pressed firmly against your mid-back for structural support instead of releasing your arms onto the floor.

• Plow Pose alternative

  Remain in Halāsana with straight legs supported on a chair until your spine develops the comfortable mobility needed to bend the knees.

Cautions

• Neck or spinal injuries

  Avoid this deep flexion pose if you have cervical disc herniation, spinal stenosis, or active neck instability.

• High blood pressure and eye conditions

  Skip heavy inversions if you have uncontrolled hypertension, glaucoma, detached retinas, or sinus congestion.

• Late-stage pregnancy

  Avoid this position during pregnancy due to intense abdominal compression and shifts in your center of gravity.

If you are working with an injury, pregnancy or a medical condition, check with a qualified professional before practising this pose.

Practise this for

Classes that teach this pose

Upcoming Ashtanga classes where this shape shows up.

Teachers and studios for this practice

Related poses