Feelings Containment / bhavaBandha

Feelings Containment / bhavaBandha

Locks or bandhas of the physical body are necessary in the practice of kundalini yoga when using kapalabhati/bhastrika pranayama breath infusion methods. The application of these locks and compressions results in control of the passage of kundalini. These are physical muscular actions which affect what happens in the subtle body and in the nervous system of the physical body.

Later after some years of practice, when the subtle body is more evidenced in the awareness of the student, the interest in the application of physical locks is reduced. Those locks become instinctual so that no focus is necessary for their application. But then subtle locks which do not involve muscles contraction, apply.

These are feelings containment and compression where such restrictions of energy are applied by the willpower. These occur in the subtle body which has no muscles and tendons. These are locks of the subtle body where when kundalini bursts occur, it feels like pixels of energy in clusters, sectors and zones some with, and some without, lightning strikes as radiating centers of energy.

A yogi should over time shift from physical body postures to breath infused physical body postures, and then to subtle body postures and the related infusions. This develops after some years of practice. More and more, the subtle body becomes the focus of the yogi, replacing the nature-sponsored physical body awareness.