The verse and its meaning · Yoga in Practice · Yoga in Practice — Mudra and Bandha

Setting the Great Lock

Hatha Yoga Pradipika 3.19

अथ महाबन्धः पार्ष्णिं वामस्य पादस्य योनिस्थाने नियोजयेत्। वामोरूपरि संस्थाप्य दक्षिणं चरणं तथा ॥

Meaning · English

Now the great lock. Press the left heel into the place between the anus and the genitals. Then set the right foot on top of the left thigh, and so rest.

The name comes from maha, great, and bandha, a lock or binding. In the Pradipika a bandha is a way of closing off or gripping one part of the body so that the breath and attention are held in place. This verse begins the great lock and describes only its seat. The breath comes in the next verse. The verse gives two instructions. First, the left heel goes to the yoni-sthana, literally the place of the source. The commentary reads this plainly as the space between the anus and the genitals, the perineum. The heel presses there. Second, the right foot is placed on the left thigh, so the legs are folded into a seat. The small word that opens the second line is, as the commentary notes, a filler that completes the metre. It carries no extra instruction. The verse gives no reason for the posture. The commentary supplies one, and it is the commentary's own. It says the sleeping shakti, the tradition's name for a coiled energy at the base of the body, is to be moved every day, and that by this movement breath is said to enter the central channel, the sushumna. The verse asks for the foundation first. The body is arranged with the heel at the root, and only then does the work with breath begin.

The body comes first. With the left knee bent and the left heel drawn in toward the perineum, the hip turns outward and the knee folds deeply. The inner thigh and groin lengthen. The heel gives firm contact at the base of the pelvis. The right foot then rides up onto the left thigh, which turns the right hip outward too. The shape is close to a half-lotus on one side. The hips and thighs do the opening. The knees should only be hinged. If they take a twisting strain, the foot has been lifted too far. The spine stays upright, because the seat is meant to be steady enough for the breathing in the following verses. The verse names no breath here. The Pradipika gives it in the next verse, and a reader should not borrow a count from somewhere else. For the mind, the heel's pressure gives attention a single, definite place to rest at the base of the body. That is plain description. The tradition's account is its own: the commentary says this seat is the ground for moving the shakti and sending breath into the sushumna. These are the tradition's terms, not anatomy. To come out, release the right foot first, then the left heel, and stretch both legs forward. Shake them loose. The following verses ask for the other side, with the right heel at the perineum and the left foot on the right thigh.

This verse names no benefit of its own. It only sets the seat. The nearby verses on the great seal are about a different practice and should not be pinned onto it. The benefit comes from the commentary, which adds its reading after the instruction. It says that when the shakti is moved well, day after day, breath is carried into the sushumna. It then claims that the one who does this is released from the troubles of the body and from the wearing down of age. This is the commentary's claim about the whole practice, not something the verse itself states. It is the tradition's account, and it is not a promise to the reader. It is not presented here as a cure for anything.

A retired carpenter sits on the floor, knees stiff from years of kneeling, and tries to fold his right foot onto his left thigh. It will not go. He feels it in the knee, not the hip. That is a well-understood point. Sitting like this asks for a good deal of outward turning in the hip. Where the hip does not have that range, the knee is twisted to make up the difference, and that is where people get hurt. Physiotherapists would say much the same, so the old caution to go slowly and not force the foot up is sound. Pressing a heel against the perineum has no evidence behind it as a means of influencing anything inside the body. Awareness of the pelvic floor is a real subject in rehabilitation, and the heel may bring attention to that area. But the idea of a sleeping shakti, a central channel and breath entering it has no counterpart in anatomy, and no modern test has found one. It stays the tradition's account. The claim of freedom from the troubles of age cannot be supported by anything the verse gives.

This is a seal learnt with a teacher, not from a page. A teacher can see whether your knee, hip or lower back is taking a strain that you cannot feel from inside. This reading is not medical advice. Stop at any pain, and especially pain in the knee. Take particular care with stiff or injured knees, hip problems, sciatica, a recent operation near the pelvis, abdomen or groin, and a hernia. If you are pregnant, or have high blood pressure or a heart condition, speak to your doctor and teacher before this practice, because the breath work that follows in the next verses involves holding the breath, which can be harmful if taken too far. Sit on a folded blanket to lift the hips, and keep the upper foot lower on the thigh if it will not go higher. Never pull the foot into place with the hands.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Heel, Leg, Hands: The Great Seal · Hatha Yoga Pradipika 3.10
• Next: Piercing Through Held Breath · Hatha Yoga Pradipika 3.26
• All of Yoga in Practice · Ask Krishna about it

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