04 Mar Mulabandha: The Root Lock
Muladhara is the Sanskrit name of the base chakra, and its name translates as root or foundation. Here is where your roots dig deep, down into the earth to find grounding, nourishment, and support.
Mulabandha is a yoga practice of muscular and energetic tightening of the body at the root chakra level. The word bandha means lock, similar to a lock in a waterway, and it is designed to hold the energy in and keep it from releasing.
So a question I’m often asked is this: Does muladbandha help you get more grounded or less? When do you use it and what are its effects? What is its general purpose?
Some yoga teachers advise doing muladbandha in almost all poses, especially standing poses. Some yogis don’t use it at all. Let’s examine the pros and cons of muladbandha and then you can decide for yourself whether you want to add it to your practice and how.
First, just experience it and see what happens in your own body. From a comfortable sitting position as you’re reading these words, tighten your anal sphincter and draw the muscles of the legs and hips into the core. Notice what happens to your energy. Does it move upward or down? Does it get more or less intense?
Now release the constriction and see what happens. What changes?
Typically the practice of mulabandha concentrates the energy, waking it up and making it more intense. Like squeezing the bottom of a tube of toothpaste, it pushes the energy upward, toward the crown. Therefore, if you want to perk up and send your energy up the chakras, it can be a good practice.
But at the same time it is sending things upward, it keeps energy from flowing downward, out of your system, into the earth. So in that way it can be very un-grounding, and can inhibit the natural release that lets go of tension and allows relaxation. It can also constrict your first chakra, making it harder to receive earth energy, and that can range from feeling unsafe to difficulty manifesting abundance. You wouldn’t want to use it when you’re trying to ground, for example, or when you want to let down, such as getting ready to fall asleep.
It also depends on who you are and what your personal first chakra patterns are. Some people are chronically contracted in the first chakra, by their past programming. They already constrict the muscles of their legs and butt and their root chakra balance is going to come from relaxing and letting go.
Others are too loose in the root chakra and have too little muscle tone, low energy or aimless focus, or have expanded into too large a body. Then mulabandha can help tone things, make the energy more intense and focused, and create a stronger core.
I like to advise a practice of slowly tightening into muladbandha, and then very slowly releasing it with the breath. Open on the inhalation, when you are taking in the air, and tighten on the exhalation to send the energy upward. Do this practice ten times to see what happens. Just make sure the tightening and releasing happen s-l-o-w-l-y, as that develops more awareness and control in the root chakra.
Interested in learning more?
Lotus Jem
Posted at 16:01h, 08 MayNamaste. I feel surprised that you tighten upon the out-breath ~ I have always breathed-in the light and love up the spine with the tightening contraction in 3 rings in sensual pleasure, and released on a 3-part out-breath.. Can you explain more. Thank you.