Salabhasana (Locust Pose): How to Do It Step by Step

Salabhasana (Locust Pose) is a yoga backbend done lying on your belly: you lift your chest, arms and legs off the floor at the same time, using the muscles along the back of the body. It is one of the first backbends most people learn, and it builds strength rather than asking for flexibility. It looks easy. After 20 seconds most people change their mind.

Pose type: prone backbend, back strengthener. Level: beginner, with harder variations. Props: a mat, and a folded blanket under the hips if the hip bones press into the floor.

What Salabhasana means

The name joins two Sanskrit words: shalabha, locust or grasshopper, and asana, seat or posture. You will see it spelled Salabhasana and Shalabhasana. With the legs lifted behind you and the arms stretched back along the body, the shape is meant to look like an insect with its tail raised. Teachers sometimes call it a "baby backbend", a name that says more about its depth than its effort.

How to do Salabhasana, step by step

1. Lie on your belly with your forehead or chin on the mat. Place your arms along your sides, palms up or down, and let your legs rest hip-width apart or together.
2. Turn your big toes slightly toward each other so the thighs roll in. Press the tops of your feet and the front of your pelvis into the floor for a moment, so you feel where you are grounded.
3. Lengthen your tailbone toward your heels. Firm the buttocks enough to feel them work, without clenching so hard that the lower back pinches.
4. On an exhale, lift your head, chest and arms off the mat. Reach your fingertips back toward your feet and draw your shoulder blades toward each other and down, away from your ears.
5. Lift your legs at the same time. Reach long through the heels first, then lift, so the legs move away from you before they move up. Keep the knees straight.
6. You now rest on your lower ribs, belly and front of the pelvis. Look at the floor a little in front of you. The back of the neck stays long, with the chin neither jutting forward nor tucked hard.
7. Breathe into the back and sides of your ribs. The belly is pressed into the floor, so the breath moves there. Stay for 3-5 breaths, or 20-30 seconds to begin with.
8. Lower on an exhale, turn your head to one side and rest. Repeat once or twice. Most teachers follow Locust with a short rest in Balasana (Child's Pose).

The height matters less than the length. A low lift with a long spine works the back muscles well. A high lift that crunches the lower back mostly tells you where your spine bends most easily.

Benefits of Locust Pose

Salabhasana is a strength pose for the back of the body. In most backbends the arms or legs help push you up. Here nothing does, so the muscles along the spine and the backs of the hips and legs lift your own weight against gravity.

• Back muscles: the erector spinae, the long muscles that run along either side of the spine, hold the chest up. Lying face down, they work against the weight of your upper body.
• Glutes and hamstrings: they lift the legs by extending the hips.
• Upper back and shoulders: drawing the shoulder blades together and reaching the arms back works the muscles between and below the shoulder blades, the opposite of the rounded shape of a day at a desk.
• Front of the body: the chest and the fronts of the shoulders get a mild stretch.

Exercises that extend the back while lying face down are a common part of physiotherapy programmes for back strength, and Locust is the yoga version of them. That makes it a sensible pose for people who want a stronger back. It does not make it a treatment. The old claims that Locust "stimulates the abdominal organs" or aids digestion have no good evidence behind them: the belly is pressed against the floor, and that is about all we can say.

Who should skip or modify Locust Pose

• Pregnancy: skip it from the point where lying on your belly is uncomfortable, which for most people is early. A backbend on hands and knees, like Cat-Cow, works the same muscles.
• Acute lower back pain: leave it out while the pain is new or sharp. Some back conditions, such as spinal stenosis or spondylolisthesis, can get worse with back extension. Ask your physiotherapist first.
• Neck problems: keep your forehead on the mat or your gaze straight down, and lift only the legs.
• Recent abdominal surgery or a hernia: wait until you are cleared for lying on your front and loading the belly.
• A headache: most teachers leave backbends out on those days.

Pain that shoots down a leg, or a pinch in the lower back, means come down. A burning effort in the back muscles is the pose working. For more on staying safe in practice, see our 10 tips to avoid yoga injuries.

Common mistakes

• Cranking the neck. Looking up at the wall compresses the back of the neck. Look at the floor a little ahead.
• Lifting from the lower back only. When the tailbone does not lengthen, the bend collects in the lower back. Reach the legs long first, and lift the chest by moving it forward as well as up.
• Bent knees. Bending the knees lets the legs look higher while the hips do less. Keep the legs straight, even if they lift less.
• Shoulders up by the ears. Draw the shoulder blades back and down before you lift the arms.
• Holding the breath. A held breath makes the pose harder, not easier. Breathe into the back ribs.
• Legs splaying. Knees and feet turning out lets the glutes take over from the hamstrings. Roll the thighs in slightly.

Preparatory poses

Locust asks for a strong back, an open front of the hips and shoulders that can move back. These poses prepare each part:

• Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose): the closest relative. The same belly-down position, with the hands helping the lift.
• Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose): glutes and hamstrings lifting the hips, with the back on the floor.
• Anjaneyasana (Low Lunge): opens the front of the hip, so the legs can lift without pulling on the lower back.
• Gomukhasana (Cow Face Pose): the arm position opens the front of the shoulders.
• Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward-Facing Dog): extends the spine with the arms straight.

Follow-up poses

• Dhanurasana (Bow Pose): the next step on the belly. The hands hold the ankles and the legs pull the chest higher.
• Ustrasana (Camel Pose): a deeper backbend on the knees, using the same back strength.
• Urdhva Dhanurasana (Wheel Pose): the full backbend. Locust builds the back strength it needs.
• Balasana (Child's Pose) or Pavanamuktasana (Wind-Removing Pose): to round the back gently after a series of backbends.

Salabhasana variations

• Ardha Salabhasana (Half Locust): lift one leg at a time while the chest and the other leg stay down. A good start for beginners, and the easiest way to feel the glutes and hamstrings work.
• Legs only or chest only: lift the upper body with the legs on the floor, or the reverse. Two short holds are often better than one strained full lift.
• Arms forward: stretch the arms out in front of you, like Superman. The longer lever makes the back work harder.
• Hands clasped behind the back: interlace the fingers behind you and reach the knuckles toward your feet. It opens the chest and shoulders more.
• Makarasana (Crocodile): in B.K.S. Iyengar's Light on Yoga, a Locust with the hands clasped behind the head. The same name is also used for a relaxed resting pose on the belly, head on the forearms, so check which one a teacher means.
• With support: a rolled blanket under the lower chest or under the fronts of the thighs helps you hold the lift for longer.

Locust in Bikram and Ashtanga

In the Bikram sequence of 26 poses, Locust comes right after Cobra and is done with the arms under the body, palms down, in three stages: the right leg, then the left leg, then both legs. Full Locust (Poorna Salabhasana), with the arms out to the sides like wings, follows it, and then Bow Pose. In Ashtanga Yoga Shalabhasana A and B open the backbending part of the Intermediate Series, the second series: in A the arms lie along the body, in B the hands are under the shoulders.

Locust is one pose among many for a stronger back. Our guide to core and yoga covers the front of the body, and the Yoga Strength classes put both together.

To try the pose in a sequence, Hot 26 Spine Series is a 15-minute, level 1 class from the first part of the Hot 26 floor series, with Wind-Removing Pose followed by poses that strengthen the back.

Frequently asked questions

What are the benefits of Salabhasana?

Salabhasana strengthens the muscles along the spine, the glutes and the hamstrings, and works the upper back between the shoulder blades. It gives the chest and the fronts of the shoulders a mild stretch. Claims that it massages the organs or cures back pain are not supported by research.

Who should not do Salabhasana?

Skip it during pregnancy, with acute or sharp lower back pain, after recent abdominal surgery, and with a hernia. People with spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis or a neck injury should ask a physiotherapist first. With a sore neck, keep the forehead on the mat and lift only the legs.

How long should you hold Locust Pose?

Start with 3-5 breaths, around 20-30 seconds, and repeat two or three times with a rest in between. As the back gets stronger, you can hold for up to a minute. Come down before the lower back pinches or the breath gets short.

What is the difference between Salabhasana and Bhujangasana?

Both are backbends lying on the belly. In Bhujangasana (Cobra) the hands press into the floor and help lift the chest, and the legs stay down. In Salabhasana the arms do not push, and the legs lift too, so the back muscles carry the whole lift. Locust is the harder of the two for strength.

Is Locust Pose good for lower back pain?

For many people with long-lasting, non-specific lower back pain, strengthening the back muscles is part of what helps, and Locust is one way to do that. It is not right for every back: with sharp pain, nerve pain down a leg, stenosis or spondylolisthesis, ask a physiotherapist before you try it.

Is Salabhasana good for beginners?

Yes, in its simpler forms. Beginners can start with Half Locust, one leg at a time, or lift only the chest with the legs on the floor. Full Locust with everything lifted comes with practice.