Hi Beverly, Thank you for asking. I enjoy the question! Its great to hear your experiences too.
Here are a few of my thoughts:
1. My personal experience is that the perineum (energeticallly and physically) descends on exhalation. As the exhale is continuing, I personally do not experience a rising above the perineal body. However! I do notice that in the pause, as exhaling finishes and inhale begins, I do feel and 'energetic' drawing from the perineal body.
So, in my experience there is some pressure downward on the perineum in exhaling. That is there for me in natural breathing too. From there - in the pause - the rising begins. Mulabandha is what contains all of those movements. It_is_ the tone in the pelvic floor and up into the pit of the belly. One structure up and into the dantien, hara, kanda.
Rather than thinking mulabandha is a thing we_do_sometimes, I feel that when we find it with our inquiries and playing around, it is always present.
2.And, yes! I too feel the convergence of sahajoli and ashvini mudra in the region. Sahajoli specifically stimulates and travels up the front lower belly (through the pleasure feeling body) and ashvini stimulates up the back through the spinal cord and gives nice nudges to kundalini.
Thank you for asking, Beverly! I would love to hear further thoughts and observations from you. Please do let me knowwhat you are feeling!
Please excuse the relative brevity of my response! I am off to baby sit my 4 month old granddaughter and didn’t want to wait any longer to get back to you.
I love that you explain the multi-dimensions of what is indicated by mulabandha, Patty. I had a couple of questions arising from my own experience that I'd like to check-in with you for your thoughts, if it's not too much to ask, however, do please point me back to my practice as an answer :-)
1. When I am consciously breathing, so not specifically pranayama practice, and I exhale softly a bit further than perhaps my reflexive breath was travelling, I notice a sensation of rise above the perineal body. This for me is the "natural" ie unintentional, unprovoked, impulse of mulabandha - would that resonate with your experiences?
2. I also notice a convergence towards the pit of the belly that you describe, Patty, when I explore the mulabandha in concert with sahajoli mudra and ashwini mudra i.e. my sensation is of three "lines" converging, they seem to arrive at the same place. I quite like the geometry of this - are there any thoughts you could share?
Hi Beverly, Thank you for asking. I enjoy the question! Its great to hear your experiences too.
Here are a few of my thoughts:
1. My personal experience is that the perineum (energeticallly and physically) descends on exhalation. As the exhale is continuing, I personally do not experience a rising above the perineal body. However! I do notice that in the pause, as exhaling finishes and inhale begins, I do feel and 'energetic' drawing from the perineal body.
So, in my experience there is some pressure downward on the perineum in exhaling. That is there for me in natural breathing too. From there - in the pause - the rising begins. Mulabandha is what contains all of those movements. It_is_ the tone in the pelvic floor and up into the pit of the belly. One structure up and into the dantien, hara, kanda.
Rather than thinking mulabandha is a thing we_do_sometimes, I feel that when we find it with our inquiries and playing around, it is always present.
2.And, yes! I too feel the convergence of sahajoli and ashvini mudra in the region. Sahajoli specifically stimulates and travels up the front lower belly (through the pleasure feeling body) and ashvini stimulates up the back through the spinal cord and gives nice nudges to kundalini.
Thank you for asking, Beverly! I would love to hear further thoughts and observations from you. Please do let me knowwhat you are feeling!
Please excuse the relative brevity of my response! I am off to baby sit my 4 month old granddaughter and didn’t want to wait any longer to get back to you.
I love that you explain the multi-dimensions of what is indicated by mulabandha, Patty. I had a couple of questions arising from my own experience that I'd like to check-in with you for your thoughts, if it's not too much to ask, however, do please point me back to my practice as an answer :-)
1. When I am consciously breathing, so not specifically pranayama practice, and I exhale softly a bit further than perhaps my reflexive breath was travelling, I notice a sensation of rise above the perineal body. This for me is the "natural" ie unintentional, unprovoked, impulse of mulabandha - would that resonate with your experiences?
2. I also notice a convergence towards the pit of the belly that you describe, Patty, when I explore the mulabandha in concert with sahajoli mudra and ashwini mudra i.e. my sensation is of three "lines" converging, they seem to arrive at the same place. I quite like the geometry of this - are there any thoughts you could share?
thank you in anticipation,
Beverley