Breathing and Bandhas

Hi everyone, welcome to day one of the beginner yoga course. In this course we are just going to break down some fundamental asanas so that it can be accessible by everybody. So it doesn't matter if you are new to the practice of yoga or even if you are an old student who just wants to revisit alignment and work on it a little bit more. So today's class, which is day one, is all about breath and bandhas.

The most important part of the yoga practice is the breathing. Without the breathing, the postures are really not that important. There's a type of breathing we even practice in the yoga asanas, so that is what we are going to look at today. The world renowned teacher Guru Sri K. Pattabhi Jois has mentioned that yoga is primarily a breathing practice — everything else is just bending. So if the breath is not correct, asanas are not correct — that is something to remember as we approach this series.

So we'll start by coming to a comfortable position like so. If this is uncomfortable, sit on a chair — doesn't matter — but the most important thing is the back should be straight. So we want the spine straight. Let's go ahead and just close the eyes and take a few moments to observe the natural breathing of the body when you're not forcing anything.

So observe the natural breath — it's known as diaphragmatic breathing, just the stomach will go in and out. Don't have to take any deep breaths just yet, just observe. See if you can relax any more than normal — relax the hands, relax the shoulders, and most importantly relax the face. From here we'll go ahead and start taking some deep breaths.

So as you inhale, inhale from your chest, hold it there for a moment, and then exhale by pulling the stomach inside. Inhale from the chest, hold it at the top, exhale one more time. Inhale deeply from the chest, from the base of the pelvis, take a breath, exhale through the center line and let it go.

Okay, another important element in the breathing aspect is the bandhas. Bandhas are neuromuscular locks that we use during yoga practice. So the idea of the lock is, when we do one of the bandhas it just momentarily stops the energy flow, and it just momentarily stops the blood flow, so that when you release the lock there's like new blood that is just pumped in through the body, and the energy flow just floods through all the organs and just replenishes and rejuvenates the entire body. So that's the reason why we do the bandhas. There are three bandhas — there's the chin lock, the stomach lock, and the pelvic lock. So we'll look into that a little more.

Keep the back straight again. So now we'll work on the Uddiyana Bandha, the stomach lock. We'll start with that — inhale from the chest, by pulling the stomach in try to keep the stomach in as much as you can, take a breath. Inhale and exhale from the belly, pull the stomach in.

Let's keep the right hand on the chest and left hand on the stomach to understand the breathing. Inhale from the chest, feel the right hand expand. Exhale, pull the stomach in as much as you can, release the air — you have to pull the stomach in, only then that lock is employed. Inhale again, exhale. Let's release the hands and keep going. Inhale — I'll give a count — inhale, hold it there, exhale, inhale, exhale. You can do that a couple of more times on your own. Try to inhale for five counts and exhale for five counts.

Now we'll do the other two locks as well. If it's comfortable for you, stretch out your legs, and you can take one leg in lotus position — this is the best posture for breathing, Padmasana or lotus. You can just take one leg today, no stress — either the right leg or the left leg. Place it as high up as you can on your thigh. Keep the back straight, and now we're going to take a chin lock.

So we'll practice that by doing kumbhaka, breath retention. So you're going to inhale now from the chest, exhale, pull the navel in, take the chin to the chest, hold the breath, inhale, lift the chest up and exhale. Hold the breath, inhale, exhale — Jalandhara Bandha, take the lock, inhale and exhale, let it all go, release all the air from the body. We'll do that one more time — this time we'll hold after inhalation. So inhale, take the lock, hold the breath, exhale, and release everything. Inhale, take the lock, chin lock, pull the stomach in as much as you can, hold the breath, and exhale. As you come up one last time, inhale, hold the breath, exhale, relax.

This one more lock — it's the last thing we'll see — is known as Mula Bandha. It's a little harder to locate; it's the space between your anus muscles and the scrotum or the labia. So that part you have to pull upwards — with practice only it will come, but as much as you can we'll just try today. So that is one lock that you have to pull upward. Next is the stomach lock, Uddiyana Bandha; last is Jalandhara Bandha, chin lock.

So we'll try to do everything together, known as Maha Bandha — it's the ultimate lock. You can take Padmasana position or just sit comfortably, no problem. Take this Dhyana Mudra, like this, and keep it down. Okay, so now with the chin down we're just going to breathe — don't hold the breath, just five deep breaths we're going to take.

So every inhalation, breathe in from the chest, and as you exhale try to make a hissing sound from the throat by pulling the stomach in — it's known as Ujjayi breathing. We'll practice this with asana practice. Okay, so keep it like this. Now let's start — take the chin down and inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale from the chest.

Inhale, pull the stomach inside, release the air. Inhale from the root of the pelvis, breathe in, exhale everything out. Last time, breathe in, breathe out nicely, pull the stomach in, then slowly head up, release all the locks and let it all go — let the stomach be loose, let the stomach be relaxed, and relax.

So throughout the classes that we're going to do now, we'll focus on this kind of breathing — the last breath that we did, Ujjayi breathing — it will give a lot of stamina in the body and it will improve the lung capacity.

Okay, so when you're ready to begin, we'll start moving on to the asanas. Let's just close the eyes and end the practice by observing the breath one last time. Join the palms, inhale.

Thank you for joining me, I'll see you tomorrow.