Bandhas - Foundation: Core, Hands and Feet

3rd Pillar of Baptiste Yoga

Bandhas

When you pull your belly button in towards your spine, you activate your uddiyana bandha. Lifting your pelvic floor (perineum) up and in - that’s your mula bandha. Lowering your chin down toward your chest and you activate your jalandhara bandha. The bandhas are muscular systems we can engage to establish a grounded physical foundation allowing us to expand outwards through our extremities.

The work you do on your mat facilitates your whole life.

Baron Baptiste

In Baptiste Power Yoga we also activate the bandhas in our hands (hasta) and feet (pada). Pressing down through the big toe mound and pinky toe edge of the foot creates a lifting in the arch of your foot - that’s your pada bandha. Pressing down through the pads of your fingers, grounding down through the first finger and thumb knuckle activates your hasta bandha and creates a bit of space between the center palm of your hand and your yoga mat. When you’re in Downward-Facing Dog, this distributes your body weight out into your fingers and prevents you from creating pain in your wrists.

Bandha is Sanskrit term for “binding, bond, arrest, capturing or putting together”.

The more you hug in, creating skin to muscle to bone, total body engagement, the more tapas (heat) you’ll generate as you move mindfully from pose to pose. Bringing your attention to the physical muscle engagement is part of the meditative practice of Baptiste Yoga. Setting your attention on the physicality of the pose brings you out of your head and into your body.