The present work addresses structural characteristics of natural gas flames in a lean premixed swirl-stabilized combustor with an attention focused on the effect of the formation of recirculation zones on the combustion instability. It is known that the recirculation zone plays an important role in stabilizing a turbulent, premixed natural gas flames by providing a source of heat or radicals to the incoming premixed fuel and air. To improve our understanding of the role of recirculation zones, the flame structure was investigated for various mixture velocities, equivalence ratios and swirl numbers. The optically accessible combustor allowed for the application of laser diagnostics, and Particle Image Velocimetry(PIV) measurements was used to characterize the flame structure under both cold flow conditions and hot flow conditions. Dynamic pressures were also measured to investigate characteristics of combustion at the same time. The results indicates that the formation of recirculation zone is strongly related to the occurrence of thermo-acoustic instabilities.