Bandhas are energetic locks or psychophysiological contractions in the body that prevent energy from flowing to a particular area of the body. There are three main bandhas: mula (in the pelvic floor) uddiyana (in the abdomen), and jalandhara bandha (in the neck/throat). When the bandha is released, prana can flow freely throughout the body with an increased pressure, allowing us to collect, contain and control that energy.
Take your asana to the next level by learning to combine it with bandhas, the doorway to the energetics of practice. This week’s featured classes will help us apply the bandhas to our practice so we can increase our ability to build creative power and increase the transformative potential of our yoga.
- Intro to the Bandhas with Jodi Blumstein: In this class we introduce the bandhas in a short practice designed to create awareness of this subtle and elusive aspect of practice. There will be an exercise at the beginning to really wake up this new awareness and then an opportunity to apply this advanced concept. Props Needed: A block.
- Using the Bandhas Effectively with Rod Stryker: According to the yoga tradition, the bandhas are the next step after asana. In this short outline, we look at the three major bandhas, their affect as well as how we practice them. Learning to use bandhas effectively opens the doorway to taking your asana to the next level.
- Cultivating the Core Sheath with Tias Little: Access the central channel of the body by directly engaging the “core sheath”. Via the all powerful ilio-psoas muscle, the inside legs, and musculature along the spine, this class is an internal guide to the deepest muscles of the body. We aim to use less force and more fine articulations of the core structures that support the yoga bandhas. Suggested Props: Blanket, 2 blocks, strap
- High Flying Flow with Dice Iida-Klein: This flow incorporates all the essential elements of a 60 minute flow practice. We use a block and blanket to fire up our bandhas in our Surya Namaskar A and we follow it up with a strong standing sequence. Many handstand options are given through out class for those of you high flyers! Enjoy my fellow yogis.
- Pranayama Hit with Amy Ippolit: Ujjayi and Nadi Shodhana (Alternate Nostril) pranayama (breathing). This practice is perfect before you sit for mediation and gives a quick explanation of the bandhas and Ujjayi pranayama followed by Nadi Shodhana pranayama to balance the right (masculine) and left (feminine) sides of the body. Have a blanket or a cushion to sit on.
- Yoga for Core Strength & Awareness with Tara Judelle: Strong class to activate the core as the centralizing magnet of movement. Strong focus on the bandhas, using standing poses, working into arm balances, eka pada koundinyasana II (extended leg arm balance dedicated to sage koundinya, parsva bakasana (side crane) eka pada koundiyasana I. Class focus is on utilizing the core as the center of digesting awareness in order to cultivate center in challenging experiences.
