Intro: Yoga’s Full locust pose is a back-strengthening pose that focuses on strengthening the lower back, but also works on opening up the chest, strengthening core, and increases strength and endurance in the lower body.
Technique:
- Start from a prone position and your arms at your side, palms facing down.
- Reach your feet back as far as possible and start to flex your thigh fulls and prepare to point your toes to the back of the room, which will engage your calves.
- Lift your legs off the ground, and point your toes to the back. Press your belly button into the ground to squeeze your abdominal muscles, and tilt your pelvis toward the front of the room so that you are resting on your pubic bone.
- Lift your arms up along the sides of your body. Arms externally rotate so that your biceps face down and your triceps face up at the ceiling. Thumbs reach up, and palms are open to the side.
- The shoulders and head reach away from one another in order to lengthen your neck.
- Keep your gaze focus about 1 – 1.5 feet in front of you.
- Extend your head and toes as far from one another as possible while keeping your core strong.
- Slowly release your chest down to get out of the pose, and make sure you stay here for at least a couple deep breaths before moving to another pose.
Modifications: You can extend the arms in front of you (like Superman) to help get a deeper stretch in the upper back and open the chest more. This requires more strength but can help prepare for your body for complex poses such as Warrior 3 or handstand.
Tips: Try to keep your core engaged here. It is tempting to arch your back as much as possible so that you get really high off the ground, but it is best to create length in your spine and keep a strong core instead of getting your head 2 feet off the ground.
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