Healthy and Green Living

The Yoga pose known as the “Locust” is perfect for Summer, since it looks almost like swimming in the air, giving us more flexibility and stretch to refresh body and mind. Celebrate the locusts’ singing that is such a sign of Summer by doing this simple pose.

Here are the easy-to-follow, easy-to-do directions for this lower-back strengthening, refreshing form of body-mind-spirit exercise.

This subtle backbend strengthens the muscles in the lower back. Keep the back of the waist long and lengthen forward while coming up so as not to compress the lower back. Let a full in-breath come before moving on the out breath. Do only three or four.

1. Lie on your front, arms to either side, palms up. Rest the forehead on the ground, keeping the back of the neck long.

2. Exhale toward the back of the waist and let the upper body lengthen forward and up. Keep the chin in. Bring the arms up behind, palms facing each other. Keep the pelvis heavy, the pubic bone and legs down, buttocks relaxed. The tailbone lengthens downward. Lengthen the back of the waist. Take the shoulders down and back as the arms come up, palms facing. Keep the back of the neck long, chin in.

3. Take a full cycle of breath, if possible, lengthening on the out-breath, before relaxing down. Rest before repeating the pose, using the arm variations below, if desired:

Variation 1 - Clasp the arms behind the skull, elbows out.

Variation 2 - Stretch the arms out in front and rise up from the ground as the torso lengthens forward and up.