I’m going to take a moment to demystify something in yoga that is called a bandha. Now, the first time I learned about these things, I found them to be unnecessary. I wasn’t really interested, to be honest.

And over time, as my practice has evolved, I’ve been re-educated on the bandhas, which means lock, and how to lock the physical energy, which is like your vitality, inside different chambers of your body. Now, in the beginning, this can seem very abstract and even strange, but have an open mind and just practice feeling it in the three different places I’m going to teach you about today. So, the first one is called mula bandha.

Now, remember, these Sanskrit words may or may not mean anything to you. So, in English, it means root lock. It’s a strange translation, but it’s very literal.

You are actually locking the root of your pelvis. For lack of better words, you’re contracting your P holding muscles. And I always say in my class, if you think you’re doing a good job, do an even better job, because those muscles can always squeeze more.

You’re pulling the energy up. When those muscles are relaxed, we have a tendency to sort of sag in our body. When you’re in a yoga pose, when you lift and contract those muscles, you feel the whole physical energy of your body coming towards your center.

So, sit for a moment in a chair, on the floor, you can even do it standing, and just take a couple breaths and practice lifting and contracting the pelvic floor, squeezing your P holding muscles, just to make it real simple. Practice doing that as you inhale and as you exhale. I always joke around and say, only you know if you’re doing a good job on that one.

The next bandha we’re going to learn today is called uddiyana. Now, for many years, I thought you could hold uddiyana bandha, which means flying up lock. Another strange translation.

Basically, to me, it translates to sucking it in with all your might. Now, I was taught that you could hold that while breathing and doing your different postures. And recently, I went to another training where we went really deep, and I was taught that you can only hold uddiyana bandha or flying up lock on an exhale retention, which means after you exhale, you hold your breath and then you suck it in tight.

So, we’re not going to get too complicated there. I just wanted to say that if I have any yoga scholars watching. So, for today, we’re going to learn how to move the navel in and pull it up.

Pretend there was a vacuum cleaner hooked up to the top of your head, and it was going to pull your belly button in and vacuum it up to the top of your head. So, the translation is very strange. Flying up lock.

Take a breath in. You’re already doing mula bandha. Inhale.

Pelvic floor lifts. Navel lifts. Pull that belly button up.

You should feel nice and firm in your abs. Now, for today’s purposes, I want you to try to breathe while maintaining that tone in your belly. Another simple way to wake up your abdominals is to poke yourself in the tummy and cough.

You feel this rock in there. It’s very inspiring. You’re like, yes, I feel it.

When you make the connection of these muscles to those muscles, you integrate your core and it makes your whole body stronger. One of the first times I learned about this deep inner strength was in kung fu and the word chi. Another strange word.

My teacher said, what’s chi? And he said, it’s like your deep inner strength. And when you harness your chi, you’re stronger. So he said, if you were holding a pickle jar, you’re like, I can’t get it.

And then you went, oh, and then you open the jar. It’s like you anchored into your deepest strong self. So that’s somewhat easy to understand.

The third bandha that we’re going to learn today is probably the most mysterious, but the side effects of practicing it is a nice toned neck, which nobody would complain about. So I’m going to turn to the side for this one, just so that you can see the action in my body. So I’m sitting cross-legged.

And like I said, you could be sitting on a chair. You’re going to pull the shoulders back. You’re tightening from the pelvic floor, mula bandha.

Your belly button’s pulled in gently. You’re going to inhale really big and full. And then at the last minute, you’ll lift your chin.

Once your breath is full and you feel like a big balloon, you’re going to do this very subtle down and back. You’ll feel this muscle group right here that is very easy to become soft and mushy as we get older. Get really firm and taut.

This bandha is called jalan handra bandha. And I love this translation. It sounds so cool.

It’s called cloud catching lock. So you’re inhaling this big cloud of energy, then you’re locking it in. And my mind would wander to assume that your lungs are going to expand and get more oxygen than they normally would if you were just exhaling.

So I’m going to inhale, apply jalan handra bandha, and hold for like a count of three seconds and exhale. This is one way to start practicing what’s called pranayama. I’m going to take another moment to explain that word.

Prana is the Sanskrit word for vitality. And it basically means like your get up and go energy. In the Western world, we don’t really relate to words like energy and chi and prana right away.

We have to understand what does this mean and what’s it going to do for me. Basically, you already have prana. It means you’re alive.

It means you’re breathing, you’re a living being. And through these practices of yoga, meditation, pranayama, which means breath practice, you can enhance your vitality. And it really does work.

I sometimes have more energy than I know what to do with because I practice deep breathing all day. And so by practicing this over time, it becomes interesting to you because you feel the benefits. And whether you read about it in books that have the Sanskrit terms, or you just practice at home on your own, you’ll feel your energy rising.

You’ll feel that you have more to offer, more energy, and just feel better, a better sense of well-being through your whole body.