By David Keil • September 2nd, 2010

There is plenty of debate about what the "right" type of breathing is in yoga. The more classical yoga practices such as Sivananda use a belly breath; those of us doing a more vigorous ashtanga type practice keep the belly in during breathing. Other methods don't really pay attention to the breath at all. I must acknowledge that because I'm an ashtanga practitioner my experience and understanding at this point is colored by that method. It's not to say that the way it's done in ashtanga is the "right" way, I see it as a technique to elicit qualities in the practice.

Now, my job is to make this anatomical in some way, which I will do in short order. First, as a reminder, mula bandha refers to the root lock, which is associated with the pelvic floor. Its purpose is to prevent the downward flow and escape of energy through the bottom of our torso. Uddiyana bandha is translated as "upward flying" and is the energetic lock that is responsible for making upward moving energy as well as the lightness we see in an advanced yogi's practice.  We associate the mula bandha with the pubococcygeal muscles and the uddiyana with the psoas muscle.

The main muscle of respiration as many people know is the diaphragm. The diaphragm is a muscle with a shape unlike any other in the body. I often refer to it as dome-shaped. 

As far as attachments of a muscle go, the diaphragm stands alone. Most muscles attach from one bone to another and then moves those bones relative to one another. Because of the attachments of this muscle in its posterior part on the spine and then circling around the bottom of the rib cage until it gets to the xiphoid process at the bottom of our breast-bone, the fibers of the muscle run up and down and attach at the top of the dome to what's called the central tendon.

When the muscle contracts it's going to shorten those fibers and one end is going to move toward the other.

There are two ways that the diaphragm functions and this relates to whether we breathe into our belly or into our chest. It is also the key to the overlap and how mula and uddiyana function anatomically and the physical effect they create in our torso.

The first way we're going to talk about is the way that everyone...

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Location:  Miami, US

David Keil was introduced to yoga in 1989 by his Tai Chi Chuan  teacher. Both the Tai Chi and Yoga practice at the ripe age of 17 began his research into his own mind-body connections. As...