Bhujangini Mudra – the Destroyer of Decay and Deat

In my experimenting with body I have found a proper position of the neck and the throat (pharynx). I wondered how I should call this – and to my mind there came a snake. And having looked into “primary sources” I found the name to have been given long before me ))).

This is the description Bhujangini-mudra from the Gheranda-Samhita:

3.92. Extending the neck a little forward, let him drink (draw in) the air through the aesophagus; this is called Bhujangini (serpent)-mudra, destroyer of decay and death

3.93. This serpent-mudra quickly destroys all stomach diseases, especially indigestion, dyspepsia and so on.

A number of authors give it a literal interpretation:  Try to drink the air by your throat and after swallowing direct it into your stomach. Do a series of swallows, as if you drink water, hold the air inside for a while and then push it out through belching. 

I think that mystic texts that I believe the Gheranda-Samhita to be referred to are rather metaphoric. In what way can you communicate the (body) experience, especially when you don’t know the names of anatomic structures – muscles, bones, nerves? Most probably you will do this by compаring it to something familiar and known to people around you. There are plenty of snakes in India, and everyone there – or the majority of – has seen the way they eat the prey. The snake eats its prey in one whole piece, extending the throat and dropping down the larynx (the “windpipe”) as if pulling itself over onto the prey.

Now you try to yawn. What happens here? The pharynx shall extend, while the root of the tongue and the larynx shall, on the contrary, low down; the head is lagged and the neck is stretched forward. The core point of bhujangini-mudra performance is the expansion of the pharynx forming the pre-yawning state. Keeping this state is the described mudra proper. The pharynx walls have a large number of perceiving “sensors” – the receptors of the glossopharyngeal and vagus nerves. When the pharynx is stretched, you gastrointestinal tract is activated and the secretion of gastric juice is intensified (due to the work of vagus nervus). Excessive stretching of the pharynx shall cause the diaphragm’ reflexive contraction and drop (almost to the level of tadagi-mudra)) and it may cause belching and pharyngeal (vomiting) reflex. Just like it was promised in Gheranda-Samhita – we now can handle the indigestion.

The pharynx is formed by crossed-striated muscles. That is, they are subject to conscious control. There are pharynx constrictors (detrusors) and pharynx erectors – the muscle fibers that are arranged horizontally and vertically. We make them contract through shortening when perform the hissing breath (see the article Some of Ujjayi Breathing Effects, or Relaxation that Comes after Victory by E. Akhromieieva). The inverse approach – contraction through lengthening – occurs when yawning or when doing the bhujangini-mudra. 

I consider the practices of yoga to be very pragmatic. That is, they are meant for specific tasks. One’s understanding of the mode of action enables a conscious approach to health-rehabilitating or advancing practices, with one’s clear comprehending of the target, the method and the expected result. Thus one should be “zealous” in practicing those mudras and asanas that shall make weak muscles work, that shall set the body into some unusual position and activate emotions in one’s “squeezed”, contracted muscles. In fact, you may tell whether this is the practice that you need by its complexity, uncustomary performance mode and bright emotional reaction.

If the work of some muscles prevails, the others will be respectively “switched off”. Or another variant that happens even more often: if due to some reason one muscle stops working, its function shall be performed by another muscle, this now been a burden. This shall entail muscular asymmetry. Let us, for instance, consider the professional deformation of a body. In case of vocal practice there is a danger that one shall remain with habitually wide pharynx that at the very minimum shall be revealed through snoring. “The truth” (the balance) is somewhere in the middle, in rhythmic alternate contraction of antagonist muscles, in the sequence of muscles’ shortening and lengthening. The pharynx position at inhalation is the wide and lowered one, while that of exhalation is narrow and raised up. In fact this comes as a part of a more global process – the process of etheric breathing. And this is a topic of a separate article.

P.S. Coming back to bhujangini-mudra: it has a separate aspect of application in vocal practice. This applicative aspect has been thoroughly worked through by phoniatrics (the sub-discipline that studies sound and singing). If you want to “sing the voice of Caruso” you should master at least two practices (this is the insufficient minimumJ)) – the tadagi-mudra and bhujangini-mudra. When they teach you to sing in a deep pretty voice the vocal teachers suggest that you “lean” on the diaphragm, widen up your pharynx and “pour out” the sound.

Please Welcome – the Tadagi-Mudra!

What is the interest of a yogi about the art of vocal?

Let us come back to diaphragm.

I shall remind that this is the muscle that separates the chest and the abdominal cavity and its efficiency determines the state of the organs located above it and under it. To have it in a metaphoric way, by dividing the body into upper and lower parts it at the same time unites these parts through its movements. You may find details in my article  "The Case Study of Today is Diaphragm". 

Just like the rest of the muscles – in case of concentric contraction the points of its attachment approach each other and it flattens out. There is another type of muscular contraction – the eccentric, when the places of the muscle attachment move away from each other. So that the diaphragm moves actively upwards increasing the cupula. In the first case the rib cage volume increases – here comes the inhalation, and in the second case it reduces – this is the exhalation.

So, what does yoga have in its store for working with this muscle?

This is, first of all, the full yogic breath (you can find more information on it in the afore-mentioned article). This is probably the perfect pattern of the diaphragm work - the interchange of contraction (concentric) and laxation of muscle fiber, i.e. reduction of a muscle followed by its return to the reference length.

Second, the practice of concentric (shortening) contraction of this muscle comes as conscious preservation of the diaphragm in the state of inhalation. It is held in the dropped state of lower ribs’ expansion (the “stretched trampoline”) and comes slightly down, as if during “straining” (the state that mothers know from their delivery experience and that is familiar to those who tried to overcome constipation). I think it is this practice of Tadagi-mudra that they describe in “Gheranda-Samhita”

3.61. Sitting in Paschimottana-posture, make a stomach full a lake. This is the Tadagi (lake-like) Mudra, the destroyer of decay and death. /Gheranda-Samhita/

Third, the practice of diaphragm relaxation and its eccentric (extensional) contraction due to active work of the abdominals is the Uddiyana-bandha. Here the diaphragm is held in the state of exhale – in its uppermost position.

3.10. Contract the bowels equably above and below the navel towards the back, so that the abdominal viscera may touch the back. He who practices this Uddiyana (Flying up), without ceasing, conquers death. The Great Bird (Breath), by this process, in instantly forced up into the Sushumna, and flies (moves) constantly therein only. /Gheranda-Samhita/

From this point of view the Kumbhaka (ceasing of breath at inhalation) can be performed in two options:

1.     With diaphragm’ high stand – with Uddiyana-bandha

2.     With diaphragm’ low stand – with Tadagi-mudra.

In the first case the accent shall be laid on increase of intrathoracic pressure, with mild impact on intercostal muscles and exercising influence on cardiovascular and pulmonary system (for details see A.G. Safronov, Yoga: Physiology, Psychosomatics, Bioenergetics”, pg. 78).

In the second option the increase of abdominal pressure, active pressure of diaphragm on liver and widening of inferior vena cava shall increase the dark blood outflow from lower body; the venous return to the heart and the volume of blood passing through lungs shall be increased and the process of respiratory metabolism shall be intensified.

The second variant of Kumbhaka (don’t forget about Mulabandha and Jalandhara-bandha) is indicated in case one suffers from lower pelvis engorgement - reproductive organs diseases, lower limbs’ varicose vein disease, G.I. tract engorgements.

I think that in consideration of our tasks we will be interested in paradoxical respiration used by vocalists. In order to have a nice “flying” sound they use “singing from the diaphragm” that in its performance resembles much the tadagi-mudra. During inhalation the diaphragm works according to classical variant (fyb) while at exhalation it is kept in the dropped position “sealing” the abdominal cavity.

Shall we sing? The sound “A”, for instance. Inhale (expand the lower ribs, drop the diaphragm and now lift the ribs supporting against the diaphragm). Hold the diaphragm and sing ‘A’ while exhaling, using the lower abs to regulate the air intensity. And reflect upon this….

Some Words About Craniasacral Therapy

In the course of my quests I’ve come across this field of knowledge.

You may remember from the course of anatomy you had at school that the skull consists of separate bones attached to each other in a specific way. Such places of attachment are called cranial sutures. The bones in sutures preserve their mobility in respect of each other, though only by some fractions of a millimeter. Actually these phenomena are studied by cranial osteopathy and craniasacral therapy (they differ in their points of application: the first one is focused on skull bones, the object of the second one is the dura mater, the so called membranes that separate the right brain from the left brain, the cerebrum from the little brain (cerebellum).

The skull bones “slide apart” according to a specific rhythm (don’t forget these are only fractures of a millimeter) as if increasing the intracranial volume, and then come back, reducing the volume accordingly. It is rather difficult to detect this movement instrumentally (though in English-language publications we can find research works done with the use of cerebral MRT) but one can sense it with one’s hands. They argue much about what it is and what is the reason of it. The official medicine is sceptical about this issue. I believe that the sticking point here is that scientific medicine mainly deals with physical aspect of a man, while osteopathy takes a wider look at him – at least it takes into account his etheric element. So that both osteopath and craniasacral therapist have one point of application – the etheric body. By the way, the Galen’s (1^st cent. AD) famous saying “The best doctor is also a philosopher” pushes the boundaries of materialistic view of a man )))

Rhythmic change of the skull volume is a specific instance of a more large-scale phenomenon. I have called this phenomenon the etheric breathing. The etheric body increases rhythmically (etheric inhalation) and then reduces its volume (the etheric exhalation). This rhythm differs from the respiratory rate and the heartbeat rate. We can sense it in every part of the body (with help of our hands – by palpation). Separate parts of our body move relative to each other in compliance with a certain pattern (in particular, the craniasacral movement of skull (from Lat. cranium) – the edgebone (sacral bone, from Lat. sacrum); the body diaphragm (the phrenic, the pelvic diaphragm); inner organs).

By doing yoga we affect the rhythm, the amplitude and the symmetry of the etheric breathing. The work with musculoskeletal system in asanas enables us to “reach for” the skull as well. The malfunction of the skull bones (insufficient mobility of separate joints, asymmetry of moves) is revealed and confirmed through muscular asymmetry of the body.

This is the reason of why yoga admires me: for every situation there is a solution proposed))) I think yoga includes the methods and means of working with the cranial system (the skull and the membranes) directly. They are the vibration techniques – bramari, mantras, some of pranayamas; actually, asanas have their influence upon this system as well. The only nuance here is that every practice has concrete points of application and “indications”. And it is here that we in fact come to necessity of understanding and comprehending the things that we do with our body.

PS.  So this is what occult anatomy (оccult – from lat.оccultus hidden, concealed; anatomy – from Greek anatome – to cut open; the study of the body plan) is.