While training to teach yoga, I am finding new ways to look at my tango technique and approach old problems. Today, I will discuss the bandhas (bindings, locks) from yoga and how they help tango technique. For those of you who attend my Zoom group classes, this is our focus for the week.
When you engage a bandha, you are contracting tonic, or stabilizer muscles. Tonic muscles have a high percentage of slow twitch fibers. This makes them fatigue-resistant and ideal for functioning as stabilizers and postural supporters. They provide a stable base for movement. The three main muscles/muscle groups are located at your pelvic floor, deep abdominals, and your neck/throat area.
Mula bandha (pelvic floor)
The group of pelvic floor muscles support your pelvis, holding the contents of your pelvic bowl in place and stabilizing everything above them. Think of the lower opening of your pelvis as a diamond: the pubic bone, two sitbones, and your tailbone form the front, sides and back of your pelvic opening.
Many of us are familiar with the Kegel exercises to strengthen the pelvic floor, but many of us just clench ALL our muscles, including our butt muscles to find the pelvic floor, and that makes for tight tango movement :-) One of my yoga teachers suggests thinking of cradling an egg (not crushing it!) as the right amount of activation.
Here’s one way to find these muscles: Imagine that you can hug your sitbones closer together under you. Then, hug your pubic bone and tailbone just a little closer to each other. Imagine little bungee cords crisscrossing your pelvic floor, helping to create an energized—but not gripped—surface to support your dance!
Why should you work this hard? When you activate mula bandha, you have a little bit more elasticity, a little bit better balance, and a little bit more room to let your hip joints open/release so that your tango motion can have more ease. That ease looks elegant and flowing, so a little more work in one area has big tradeoffs for the entire rest of the body!
It’s not easy to focus this much while dancing, so practice it first just sitting where you can feel your pelvic floor against the chair. Then, try it standing. Then add movement. We will do this in class this week.
Uddiyana bandha (transversus abdominis)
The next bandha to tackle is deep abdominal core. The deepest of the four layers of abdominal muscles, transversus abdominis attaches to your ribs, pelvis, and your spine. Its fibers interdigitate with the fibers of the diaphragm as well, so your breathing affects this level of activation! Think of this bandha as a cumberbund or a corset around your entire midriff, hugging in around your body.
When we are told to “stand up straight” we often abandon the front of the body and squeeze our spine into extension, pushing our ribs forward and out. This is NOT a balanced posture! Instead, think of hugging in just below your belly button (again, cradle an egg, don’t squish!) and around your entire body. Can you feel how that elongates your spine and supports it? That’s the main reason I want you to focus on adding this to your dance.
When you use uddiyana bandha for your tango, the stress of any torque around your spine is diffused so that no one joint is overstressed, and because your spine is well-supported, you can usually twist further and elongate, providing a better understructure for all your moves that pivot and twist.
Jalandara bandha (get your head on straight)
There are different ways to teach this position, so I will focus on the method that balances your head on your spine in a good alignment for tango.
Put your thumbs on the back of your skull, under and slightly behind your ears. Move your head up and down until you feel that area release a little. You may feel that your head is tilted down. Hug your chin to your chest a little bit and feel that back of your next lengthen and attach better to the rest of your spine!
I think it’s obvious why this improves your tango. It balances your head in a position that uses less neck tension. It lengthens the top of your spine, allowing your entire spine to lengthen better. It keeps your collarbones open and lets your shoulder blades float further down your back. All the upper body aligns better, which means your lower body can move your around more easily!
Put them all together!
Sometimes it is difficult to keep more than one bandha in gear at the same time. I feel your frustration: it’s not easy for me! Instead, I try to run through the reminders in my head: pelvic floor, abs, head on straight, etc. Oh, right, breathe! And start over again with the reminders.
See you in class!