Jalandhara Bandha

(waves lapping) And our last bandha is jalandhara bandha. Again surprise, surprise, we have two. We ha and tha. So ha and tha jalandhara bandha. And how is it built with the marmas?

So we have here this marma, this root of the throat, is called kanthakupha. And then we have external kanthakupha, which is the bahya kanthakupha. It's this sternoclavicular joint here. So these are the two marmas we're gonna use. Then the other is the mula sirsa marma, which is the C7.

It's this big vertebra, what comes little bit out in the root of the neck. So we have these two marmas. So when you do the jalandhara bandha ha, jalandhara bandha ha is when the chin is moving down. The problem with this that I shorten the throat. I shorten the throat, and that gives tension to the nerves of the neck.

So we try to give the throat side long when you move the chin in and then we give it, in order to tilt the upper sternum up, towards the ceiling, which helps to keep the throat side long. We try to move these two marmas in, so this bahya kanthakupha is moving towards the back side of the body. And then the C7, which is the mula sirsa marma, is moving forward towards the front side of the body. So this is now ha jalandhara bandha and then when we do the tha, we have two marmas. We have here on the root C1, which is the uttama mula sirsa and then we have the mula sirsa which is the C7.

So now when you turn the head up, problem is that the neck start to shorten. One point when the chest stops, so you should only move that far that you can still open the chest. If your movement of the chest stops, then if you still move the head back, then you start to squeeze the neck. So we try to keep the distance between C7 and C1. And madhyama bras, center sternum is moving forward.

So push the center sternum forward and up, and then move the C7 the big vertebra down along the spine line. Then you remove the C1 up between the eyebrows, between the ajna marma. So C1 is moving between the eyebrows. C7 is moving towards the lower back, and madhyama uras, center sternum is moving forward. So now we have four marmas for the tha jalandhara bandha, exhale release.

And then let's try it with the dhanurasana. So lie down first, and then inhale, press the ankles, and then lift the front thighs up, open chest, and do first ha. So move the sternoclavicular joint in and then move the C7 towards the front side of the body. Hold couple of breaths, one, two, three, and then C7 down along the spine line. C1 between the eyebrows.

Ajna one, two, three, four and five exhale. Come down. So that's jalandhara bandha. So ha jalandhara bandha, when you do the poses where the head goes down and tha when you do poses where you turn your face or eyes up. So this is also related to these dristhis.

So when there is broomadhya dristhi when you look up, then these many times is tha jalandhara bandha. And when the nasagri dristhi when you look at the tip of the nose, then it's ha. Thank you.