Wholistic Fitness

OF ALL BANDHAS GREAT AND SMALL (aka; Where Babies Come From)
by coach ilg, ryt/uscf/cpt

(Note; for Student Use, i will keep a copy of this essay in the WF SanghaLounge within the “Yoga” cave.)

“As a kid, i used to practice Mula Bandha on long chairlift rides nearly every winter day. Though i did not know the Source of these Inner Instructions, nor even the Intent of these Inner Practices, i still did them. Blind Faith, you might call it. I later realized that i was simply picking up Inner Work leftover from previous lives.”
– coach ilg
excerpt from an upcoming book
photo; telemarking at Parajito. photo by Ananda.

Bandha
as in Mula Bandha; the Lock at the Root which seals off and thus prevents the unconscious leakage of our life force. Steve Marlowe, my ‘zero-tolerance’ bicycle commuter and racing teammate used to shout, “GO Mr. Muuuuuuula BANdha!” when i jumped off the front of bike race or attacked a hillclimb when i lived in Los Angeles. i owe my recovery from spinal fracture and pelvic detonation to a steadfast gripping and training of Mula Bandha.

In forward folds and particularly when doing the “Inner Cleansing Techniques” like ‘stomach rolling’, Mula Bandha must be activated to ensure proper energetic transmission and purification. photo of coach in a “WF Toilet Yoga” program.

Bandha
as in Uddiyana Bandha; the “Flying Upward Lock” of yogic empowerment science that tends to mystify many Westerners yet promises each of us victory over such massive obstacles like food, sleep, dis-ease, and even death. This Bandha holds us at gunpoint to the bowling bowl of lethargy that resides in our ‘pooch’ area. This lethargy is actually the Princess Kundala, slumbering awaiting our bravery to arouse and seduce Her upward, thus the name; Upward Flying.

While you are just sitting and shitting, i am refining my chances for Enlightenment. It’s all a matter of Willingness. No better place to train the small muscles required for Uddiyanic development than in my unique “Toilet Yoga” routines, available only to WF Online Students due to safety. These routines are POWERFUL catalysts to the energetics of Enlightenment. photo by Ananda.

Bandha as in Jalandhara Bandha; the seductive Net at the Throat Center which, when grabbed and mastered, captures the dripping of the inner solar energies and luxuriates a busy mind into her analgesic balm of lunar nectar. Nothing quite like the meditative wash of Jalandhara that also prevents immature facilitation of cosmic energies.

MOMMIE AND ME
As a Wholistic Fitness Student, i am trained to “Question All Word Choices.” This is a WF Technique used to attain a yogic goal of “Speech Purification.” What else has conditioned your Reality besides words? Nothing. Our egoic shell began forming around our True Nature when perhaps our mother first grabbed our tiny hand and gently patted our’self’ with it while repeating, “Steve…” then lifted our hand to pat herself while repeating, “Mommie.”

“Steve”

“Mommie.”

This is YOU and this am ME. (read; “we are different from each other.”)

The Separation of Self and UniVerse began there and has only accelerated and intensified for many of us, until our Awakening.

Words. Be VERY care-full with them. If used unConsciously, they are Bombs. Destructors of Unity. Instigators of Duality.

BACK TO BANDHA AND BEYOND
Bandha. In Sanskrit, the now accepted language of Yoga, the word Bandha means, “Restraint” or “Bondage”.

Like everything in yoga, the word Bandha is chock full of multilayered meaning. Some range from the gross anatomical gripping of the uro-genital triangle muscles to the more etheric such as the bonding of our base layer mindwaves (manas) to spiritual ignorance (avidya). This is just the start. A more refined meaning of Bandha refers to the adhesion of layers of our consciousness (cit) being glued via avidya to the taking and retaking of lives through a depressing cycle of life, tension, death, and rebirth.

To expound for a moment on that last sentence: have you ever considered why most babies scream like hell coming out into this world? have you ever considered why or studied how the Enlightened Ones are allWays born in very auspicious manner?

An unEnlightened Being experiences (re)birth with a lot of Pain; Pain for Mom certainly, yet far more for the in-fant. The in-fant was just sailing about in In-fantity (Infinity; why do you think they are called “In-fants?). Suddenly, their ageless Soul took another Form (kinda like words except in the Soul Realm). Bingo bango; the overpopulated Human Realm gets another unEnlightened Being!

Before babie-hood, we actually Woke Up during what we grown ups call ‘death’ only to Realize, ‘oh crap, i did not do the Inner Work last time to get Free (moksha),” and well, as we begin our re-Entry into a new incarnation through ‘birth’ we are still close enough to In-fanity to Realize, “i REALLY don’t want to go through all this again! WHAAAA, WHAAA!!!”
And if the realize of our lifelong suffering again ain’t enough at the moment of our ‘birth’ to add more insult to our ongoing avidya, the ‘good doctor’ slaps us a few times as our Welcome Wagon to the Human Realm.

However, those of you who are going deep into your WF Practices already have Realized all this fundamental stuff and are thus determined to gain the top step of this Human Race; Enlightenment. Freedom from reBirth…Freedom from Avidya.

“The root of all human suffering is (spiritual) ignorance.”
– Buddha.

How did the Buddha Wake Up?

Well, He started out by realizing the folly of trying to find Freedom and Happiness in anything or anyone outside our self. He renounced the Outer World, drew His senses inward, and began just like where you and i are each morning: returning again and again to Mula Bandha, Uddiyana Bandha, and Jalandhara Bandha. To Seal Off the outward directed senses and energies is Job Numero One.

As i continued to contemplate the Word Choice of ‘Bandha,” i drew a slash in the word after the “d”.

Band.

As in, “Oh man, i’ve got these bands in my neck that are killing me!”

Such bands are locks, seals, preventing the flow of Prana in that area.

Make Sense?

Go(o)d.

Now,
go forward, upward, and most of DEEPER into your Daily Word Choices and Posture and Breath and enjoy being a skilled hunter of your Inner World.

It is really the only World that will matter on (y)our final exhale.

om so ti,
your humble coach