Position of the Week: Poorna Salabhasana (Locust Pose)

Benefits: This pose strengthens the muscles of your buttocks, spine, backs of your arms and your legs.  It will improve your posture as well as your abdominal organs.  It will stretch out your thighs, belly, chest and shoulders, and it does wonders to relieve stress.  It is a great pose to practice if you are constipated, have lower back pain and are often fatigued.

The very first time I was instructed to go into the Locust Pose, I thought it looked easy. Lie down on your stomach- check! Lift both your legs- check! Lift your upper body and arms- check! Clasp your hands together and keep everything lifted- ummm check? I have the unfortunate luck of being graced with tight shoulders. Clasping my palms behind my back while keeping my arms straight and lifted feels as though I’m trying to sprout wings in lieu of shoulder blades. Anytime I go into this pose I have my teacher’s voice echoing repeatedly in my head, “externally rotate your inner arms and hug your shoulder blades together.” I love that word- hug. A hug is so warm and soothing. Hugging your shoulder blades together while preparing for or being in Locust Pose is, quite honestly, somewhat agonizing.

I often wonder if I am the only one that finds this pose so difficult. Am I being arrogant by blaming it on my tight shoulders?  Some poses seem much more difficult, and I don't struggle as much.  Nonetheless, I always manage to find some love left in me for this pose. While at times I feel tormented (sorry for the melodramatics) the feeling I get when I come out of it is absolutely heavenly. Right before I release and I am in the last few moments of the pose, I feel a surge of life flowing through my veins. It’s as though there is an inner battle of strength and weakness dueling it out, and my strength always manages to overcome. It is my strength, both physical and mental, that allows me to hold the pose until the very end. Then, when my lower and upper body touches the mat beneath me, I am tingling from head to toe. I melt into the mat like hot butter melting into every individual square on a freshly-made waffle. My heart feels like it is going to beat out of my chest- the same way it does when I see Dante on General Hospital (that is a whole other story…) And the sigh that I let out, oh that breath filled sigh, is not only a sigh of relief. It is a sigh of accomplishment. I feel like I can conquer the world!Until, that is, I have to do it a second time…

Oh Locust Pose, the love/hate relationship we share will forever leave an imprint on my practice. Thank you for allowing me to struggle, because by that struggle I know I can feel, and by that feeling, I know I am live.

Namaste,
Lady Lotus