Downward Facing Blog

Going a bit deeper with the breathing now, lets’ review the application of mula bandha (and why)

So the contraction of the pelvic floor muscles lift to redirect the ordinarily downward moving force of the inhale back upwards inside the body.

It’s easy to feel. Sit with your back straight, relax the stomach and inhale. If you feel the belly expanding with your inhale, this is the dropping down of the energy, which relates to apana (the downward moving force of prana). If this downward moving force is very high, then we have little motivation for a higher, spiritual aim in life.

The yogic solution is to tuck the perenium up, along with the lower navel to scoop that apana and redirect it upwards. As the breath moves up, the mind moves up as well. Up in the yogic sense means moving along the energetic system of the chakras towards a non-dual understanding of reality, but more on that later.

Do this now: squeeze your anus and pee-muscle, pull in the lower navel and then inhale. The breathe moves in to the upper chest more doesn’t it?

with an understanding of the energetic anatomy, we then start to visualize that this energy is specifically redirected to enter into a channel at the base of the spine, which moves up towards the crown of the head. With the contraction, and the mind focused on the crown the whole scope of human evolution is explored, and our personal progress along that line is accelerated. There are multiple channels (I like to think of them like straws), but the central channel in the spine is supreme. This ancient diagram shows that there are numerous channels in the body:

To understand why, you need to understand the human energy system in detail… which we will explore more later.

Have a lovely day…