23-Oct-2011

Embraced by Yoga

Love Those Locks

At an Anatomy of Yoga workshop I recently attended, I saw a picture of all the abdominal muscles wrapped around the torso of the body, from the hip bones to the rib bones to the spine. It looked like someone was wrapped in several ace bandages, crisscrossing front to back, side to side, up and down, all along the torso.

The image was somewhat comforting to me. It made me think of what it must be like to be swaddled as a baby, embraced, held, nurtured, supported. Then it hit me. This is what yoga teachers mean when they talk about Uddiyana Bhanda.

Bhanda means lock and it is meant to close off the senses as a means of turning within. The Uddiyana Bhanda in its fullest form is a deep pulling in of the abdominal wall as a massage of the internal organs, like the lock of a canal to filter the flow of energy in its purest form.

In modern day yoga, the deepest forms of the practice have been adapted for the Western mind and non-Indian bodies. The modern yogis refer to Uddiyana Bhanda as a slight pulling in and lifting up of the abdominal muscles, an action that should ideally be held throughout the entirety of the vinyasa flow practice.

I have practiced yoga for 12 years, taught for seven. In all those years, referring to the bhanda as a lock made it feel like something that was hard, cold, blocking and solid. The word just carries that connotation. It wasn't until I saw the ace-bandage wrap of the abdominal muscles that I understood it to be an embrace rather than a lock.

The torso (between the lower ribs and the hips) is the home to the manipura chakra, the energy center for identity, purpose, power, passion and individuality. To think of uddiyana bhanda as an embrace of this energy center is to actually hold yourself, your identity, your purpose, your power, your passion and your individuality in a swaddling embrace. How cool is that?

Teri Leigh
Author, Yoga Teacher, Consultant
Article originally published in the Prana Pages
(used with author's permission)

Recommended: Yoga Anatomy by Leslie Kaminoff