What is Bandha?
“lock” or “seal”
Yogis use certain muscles to create these seals in order to prevent prana (life force energy) from escaping the body. When performed correctly, they also help to stabilise your core during asana practice and protect you from injury.
What is Bandha in a energetic way?
continued practice of the bandhas encourages Shakti or Kundalini energy to rise up through the central energy channel (sushumna) towards the higher chakras.
During a more advanced pranayama and meditation practice we would use all three of the bandhas together to create an “updraft” deep in the energetic body, effectively sucking Kundalini energy towards the crown.
What are the different types of bandha?
There are three main bandhas:
How to do Mula Bandha?
At the very end of an exhalation, engage your pelvic floor (Beckenboden) muscles as if you were stopping yourself from urinating.
You don’t need to clench (umklammern) them, just a gentle lift will do the trick. Over time, the action will become more subtle (geschickt/feinsinnig), eventually switching from a gross, muscular contraction to more of an energetic lift.
How to do Uddiyana Bandha?
in asana practice (there are different methods for pranayama and meditation):
The muscle you’re trying to work with is the lower part of the transverse abdominis. Try not to suck your whole abdomen in or you risk restricting the movement of the diaphragm (and therefore the breath). When you’re practising postures you want your breath to move freely. This means the upper belly will move as you breathe, as your diaphragm moves up and down.
practise engaging mula and uddiyana bandha.
When you gently draw back uddiyana bandha in this position, can you feel a hollowing out of the pelvis?
It almost feels like you have a small cave forming in the lower abdomen, your own little vacuum pocket gently rousing Kundalini energy from the base of the pelvis up the centre of the body.
Try to make engagement of the bandhas a priority, being conscious when you have lost the connection and coming back to them time and time again.
This will form new neural connections in your brain so that it eventually becomes second nature for you to keep the bandhas engaged during practice.
How to do Jalandhara Bandha?
What is Kapalabhati?
kapal” means skull
“bhati” means shining or illuminating