Vinyasa as the source of the Bandha

This is a bit of a continuation of the previous article about the ujjayi breath. Not exactly but close enough. If you have ever taken any of my bandha workshops then you know that introducing the bandhas is one of my most favorite things to teach, but if you are a student who takes my classes daily then you know that I rarely mention them in class unless you are personally having them explained and taught experientially to you. I've come to realize over the years that like the breath, in my opinion, the bandhas are a practice that should gradually evolve.

I enjoy taking students to that place within themselves that moves far beyond their external notions of 'doing' a posture. Once the realization that working the asanas correctly and in sequence creates the feeling of the bandha then the focus can be more about the breath and not trying to do something with the body that breaks it apart instead of uniting it and the consciousness inside.

One example of this came up this morning when I was helping someone with Laghuvajrasana. (I'm posting a picture at the end of this article). I noticed that as they went back and the tension from exhaling and the general nature of the posture squeezed everything toward the midline that the concentration/bandha of the posture was broken when instead of being in the pose the focus went toward trying to do something with the pelvis, the arms and the legs. The result of the splitting of the consciousness of the pose was that the vinyasa coming up from the posture was a lot more difficult than it should have been.

Once I mentioned the separation and suggested tuning in to the inward movement of the posture, and its corresponding entry vinyasa, the exiting vinyasa became easier. One could have easily said that more uddiyana bandha or mulahbandha was needed but then the mind would have searched for an external idea of the bandha.

Simply tuning into the internal effects of the pose allowed the mind to be clear and precise in what it was experiencing. It also allowed the vinyasa to be the source of the bandha. This is the key.

I'm reminded of a quote Eddie Stern posted in his shala a long while back that was attributed to Guruji. "When the mind is clear the asana is correct."

It took me a moment to wrap my head around power of the quote but when I thought about it I realized the power of simply doing a posture or doing the practice. Sometimes that is all it takes.

Don't think. Just do.