against the spine.
To successfully switch on Uddiyana Bandha, it is important to isolate the upper transverse abdominis muscle from the lower part and use only the part below the navel. Doing otherwise impinges on the free movement of the diaphragm. If the movement of the diaphragm is restricted for a long time, aggressive, boastful, egotistical, and macho tendencies can develop in the psyche. This is not endorsed by traditional teaching, however. Shankara and Patanjali provide us with the following explanations. True posture, according to Shankara, is that which leads effortlessly to meditation on Brahman and not to pain and self-torture. Patanjali says that asana is perfected when meditation on the infinite (ananta) is achieved through the releasing of excess effort.6
Some have claimed that Ashtanga Yoga is warrior yoga, and that warriors used it to psych themselves up for battle. This is a very sad misunderstanding. Those who have had a true experience of the practice will have come away feeling tired and happy — and definitely not psyched up for battle. Rather, one feels more like hugging one’s enemy and, in complete surrender, handing them whatever they demand — perhaps even imparting genuine advice as to how to enjoy life and not waste it with such stupidities as aggression and warfare. There is no warrior yoga. War and yoga exclude each other because the first yogic commandment is ahimsa — nonviolence.
Richard Freeman says that Uddiyana Bandha is in fact only a slight suction inward just above the pubic bone. The more subtle Uddiyana Bandha becomes, the more blissful, peaceful, childlike, and innocent becomes the character of the practitioner. I suggest starting by firming the abdominal wall below the navel and then, as awareness increases with years of practice, allow Uddiyana Bandha to slide downward. Again, the more subtle it becomes, the more influence Uddiyana Bandha will have on the subtle body.
As I have mentioned in the previous section, a lot of emphasis has been placed on abdominal breathing in our culture in the last forty years. This has its place in the performing arts — especially dance and theater — and for therapy. It is certainly helpful for singers and actors, and for someone undergoing psychotherapy. Abdominal breathing, with complete relaxation of the abdominal wall, is recommended as useful whenever we want to connect to our emotions and bring them to the fore. In the New Age movement in particular, emotions are seen as something sacred that one needs to follow and live out. Abdominal breathing is a good idea whenever one wants to intensify one’s emotions.
In many other situations, though, it is not helpful to heighten one’s emotions. After all, emotions are only a form of the mind. To be emotional means to react to a present situation according to a past conditioning. For example, if I am rejected in a certain situation that is new to me, I will feel hurt. If I find myself in a similar situation again, I will become emotional even before any new hurt has been inflicted. I will emote “hurt” before I actually feel it. An emotion is a conserved feeling that arises because the original feeling has left a subconscious imprint in the mind. Patanjali calls this imprint samskara. The theory that being emotional is being more authentic is flawed, since an emotional person is as much in the past as a person who is constantly “in his or her head.”
Besides the fact that it makes one emotional, constant abdominal breathing also has negative physical repercussions. It leads to sagging, collapsing abdominal organs with enlarged, weak blood vessels and stagnant blood. Then follow a lack of oxygen supply, a decrease in vitality, and eventually the development of chronic disease.
If the lower abdominal wall is kept firm and the upper wall is relaxed, the diaphragm moves up and down freely and the whole abdomen functions like the combustion chamber of an engine, with the diaphragm as the piston. This produces a strong oscillation of intra-abdominal blood pressure, and it is exactly this mechanism that produces healthy abdominal organs. When the diaphragm moves down and the abdominal wall is held, the pressure in the combustion chamber will rise. When the diaphragm moves up, all the blood is sucked out of the abdomen and blood pressure drops. This strong oscillation of abdominal blood pressure constantly massages the internal organs and leads to strong, healthy tissue.7
We look now at the subtle mechanics of Uddiyana Bandha. Uddiyana means flying up. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika states that, because of Uddiyana Bandha, the great bird of prana flies up incessantly through the sushumna.8 Sushumna is the central energy channel, which lies, albeit in the subtle body, roughly in front of the spine and originates at the perineum. It terminates within the head — some sources say at the highest point of the head, but more often it is described as ending where the head is joined to the spine. The sushumna is usually dormant. It is accompanied by two other nadis (energy channels), which wind around it like the snakes of the caduceus. These are the lunar (ida) and solar (pingala) channels. There are certain parallels between solar and lunar energy channels on the one hand and the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems on the other, but we cannot say that the one is the other.
The Hatha Yoga Pradipika explains that prana should be directed into sushumna by closing the ida and pingala.9 The same text states that, by practicing Mula Bandha, prana will enter sushumna. In a later stanza of the text a great truth is revealed: time (which we perceive as the fluctuation of night and day) is produced by the sun and moon.10 In other words, it is the illusion of time that prevents us from recognizing deep reality (Brahman), which is timeless and is fabricated by the moment of inner breath (prana)in the pingala (solar) and ida (lunar) energy channels.
The stanza goes on to reveal the key to all physical yoga, which is that the sushumna devours time. In other words, if prana is made to enter the central channel it will devour time, which is itself a creation of the fluctuating mind and which keeps us from abiding in deep reality, the timeless consciousness (Brahman). Time is the operating system of the human mind; to go beyond time is to go beyond mind. This is possible when the great bird of prana flies up in sushumna, and sushumna devours time. For this the use of Mula and Uddiyana Bandha is prescribed.
Even the great Shankara says that Mula Bandha should always be practiced, since it is fit for raja yogins. In other words, even raja yogins — those who practice mind suspension and who are sometimes disparaging about Hatha yogins and their preoccupation with their bodies — should take up the practice of Mula Bandha, since it leads to going beyond mind. If we remember now Patanjali’s definition of yoga being the suspension of mind,11 we begin to understand the importance of Mula and Uddiyana Bandha.
Drishti
We move on now to drishti or focal point. As we have seen, the fifth limb of yoga is sense withdrawal (pratyahara). The Upanishads explain that the senses deliver the fuel for the mind in the form of sense objects. The mind then develops desires, which are the source of suffering. The mind’s basic concept is that we are lacking. This lack, according to the mind, can only be alleviated through a constant supply of stimulation from outside.
The concept of yoga, on the other hand, holds that we are always in the original and pristine state of bliss, which is consciousness. This original state is formless, however; and, since the mind has the tendency to attach itself to whatever comes along next, we forget our true nature. Sense withdrawal means to accept the fact that external stimuli can never truly fulfill us. Once that is accepted, we are free to realize that what we were desperately looking for on the outside was present inside all along. The Upanishads explain further that, as a fire dies down when the fuel is withheld, so the mind will return to its source when the fuel of the senses is withheld. The method — or rather the collection of methods — by which this can be brought about is sense withdrawal (pratyahara).
As has been explained, the withdrawal of the audio sense is brought about by listening to one’s own breath rather than to external sounds. The withdrawal or turning in of the visual sense is practiced through drishti, the attachment of one’s gaze to various focal points. These are:
• toward the nose
• toward the center of