Ever since returning from Canada last week and speaking of her work with Rodney Yee at the Toronto Yoga Conference, Denise has been working on Mula Bandha in class, and I told her I was going to do a post here regarding the nature of the work. I can admit I am one student who used to think in order to lift and align the floor of the pelvis I had to engage or contract muscles between the pubis and rectum. In the yogic tradition there are a number of bandhas to consider when attempting to bring the body into balance. Mula bandha is one of them. The word “bandha” translates from Sanskrit into meaning “to lock,” so naturally I assumed muscle contraction was part of the equation. But yoga poses work with the subtle body and the energetic body as well as the anatomical body in ways much different from what I’m used to in our Eastern tradition of so-called working out. It turns out there’s an ongoing interplay between “softening the groins,” which sticks the behind out, and “hooking the tailbone under,’” which pushes the pelvis forward that brings the root of the pelvic floor into alignment, thus aligning the rest of the body with ease. It’s really much more gentle (but not easily mastered) than “locking muscles” into place. I am reminded again that in the asana portion of learning yoga every action has a dual action, and also that the word “yoga” itself means “union of opposites.” How’s that, Denise? I think I’m getting it now.
Tom
