Stretch and strengthen your spine with the challenging Reverse Locust Pose…

Reverse Locust Pose (Viparita Shalabhasana) – also known as Flying Locust Pose or Inverted Locust Pose – is an advanced-level yoga pose that helps to strengthen the entire body while improving balance, focus, and stability. This pose challenges the balance while stretching the spine and chest, opening the heart center, and strengthening the core, back, and legs. As both an inversion pose and a back bend, this pose is believed to improve digestion and massage the internal organs to stimulate proper function. It is also thought to stimulate the heart chakra and throat chakra for emotional balance and clear communication.

To modify the pose, you may do it facing a wall, and rest the soles of your feet against the wall for balance.

Those with neck pain, back, arm, or spinal injuries, or those who are pregnant should avoid this pose.

How to Do Reverse Locust Pose:

• Lie down flat on your stomach and place your arms beside your torso.
• Rest your chin on the floor, facing forward.
• Point your toes out and press the tops of your feet gently onto the floor.
• Transfer your body weight to your upper body, as you lift your legs away from the floor and stretch into Locust Pose (Balasana).
• Tighten your glutes and your lower belly.
• Now, press your hands down into the floor as you lift your legs higher.
• Try to bring your hands together under your lifted torso so that your thumbs touch, engaging your upper arms and trunk muscles strongly.
• Breathe in, and lift your legs higher, bending your knees while using your back muscles to keep coming up into a back bend, forming the letter “C”.
• Hold the pose for a few breaths.
• To come out of the pose, slowly exhale as you lower one leg at a time back into Balasana, moving your arms out from under the torso.
• Rest in Child’s Pose to release the back muscles.

Read more at SarvYoga.com…

Image Source: Yogea.org