How to Use Mula Bandha (Root Lock) In Yoga
- Mar 31
- 7 min read
From movement to meditation – when, why, and how to practice Mula Bandha.
By PRANA EDITORS | Last Updated: March 31, 2025
Of the four bandhas in yoga, Mula Bandha, or the Root Lock is the most popular and widely practiced internal lock. This is largely because, unlike the other bandhas, Mula Bandha can be easily integrated into asana flows, pranayama, energy work, and meditation alike. There are plenty of guides that explain how to do it, but few offer insights into integrating it into a broader routine. That’s why we created this article —to bridge that gap and guide you in applying Mula Bandha across all areas of your practice.
So, here are ten ways this bandha fits into different layers of your yoga journey:
1. Using Mula Bandha in Asana Practice
Mula Bandha isn’t integrated into yoga poses in traditional styles like Hatha Yoga or Iyengar Yoga. But modern and dynamic styles like Ashtanga Vinyasa encourage its use in asana sequences. These yoga styles don’t view Mula Bandha as a separate technique. Instead, they use it as a constant undercurrent that elevates asana flows into a more energetic, rhythmic, and meditative practice.
Moreover, engaging Mula Bandha during poses is believed to increase mobility, stabilize the hips, and provide additional support for the lower spine. Activating it during asana also improves pranic regulation and enables yoga practitioners to synchronize their breath with movement.
However, these styles approach the Root Lock very differently compared to what is described in traditional texts. Prana Sutra’s instructions follow the classic method, but we have collaborated with a Vinyasa instructor to explain to our readers how to use Mula Bandha in asanas (Coming Soon).
2. Combining Mula Bandha With Pranayama
All yoga bandhas, including Mula Bandha, can significantly deepen pranayama practice. This is because pranayama expands life energy within us, while bandhas allow us to concentrate and redirect it into specific areas of the body. The synergy created by combining these two techniques maximizes their health benefits and results in a more holistic yoga experience.
That said, bandhas are engaged more subtly when they accompany pranayama. In this context, a yogi focuses more on the energy flow rather than intense muscular contraction. So, it’s crucial to attain a certain level of refinement and control before combining the two yoga techniques.
For example, after mastering the basics of Chandra Bhedana (left nostril breathing), you can practice a variation by performing Mula Bandha during internal breath retention. Similarly, the internal lock can be combined with Ujjayi (Ocean Breathing), Sama Vritti (Equal Breathing), Nadi Shodhana (Alternate Nostril Breathing), and other pranayamas.
Unfortunately, there are limited resources to explore these combinations. For those eager to do so, we highly recommended BKS Iyengar’s Light on Pranayama, which contains in-depth information and practice plans for combining pranayama with the three internal locks.
3. Stimulating the Root Chakra
Another purpose of practicing Mula Bandha is to activate an energy center called Muladhara Chakra. In the yogic view, our physical body has an energetic duplicate composed of prana (life-energy), nadis (energy pathways), and chakras (energy centers). This energy body contains 7 primary chakras positioned from the base of the spine to the crown of the head.
Muladhara, or the Root Chakra, is the first and most foundational energy center within us. It is associated with survival needs, stability, and a connection to the physical world. The location of this chakra coincides with the pelvic floor muscles we contract during Mula Bandha practice.
Regular practice of Mula Bandha stimulates the Root Chakra and clears blockages within it, resulting in a harmonious flow of prana in the pelvic floor. This not only yields many health benefits but is also considered a crucial first step in spiritual growth and yogic awakening.
For more information on this subject, we recommend getting a copy of Kundalini Tantra. The book provides instructions for various yogic techniques to activate the root chakra, including the Root Lock, chakra meditations, and nose-tip gazing (Nasikagra Drishti).
4. Cultivating Calmness and Grounding
As Mula Bandha improves pranic flow within the internal energy systems, it has a calming and grounding effect on the mind and body. People who practice it consistently often report a deep sense of mental stability and better emotional regulation. Therefore, Mula Bandha may be particularly helpful for those dealing with high levels of stress and anxiety.
Moreover, the upward redirection of prana caused by contracting and lifting of the perineum results in a feeling of lightness and heightened self-awareness. This helps yoga practitioners stay focused, making them less likely to be disturbed by external or internal distractions.
5. Awakening Dormant Kundalini Energy
As previously discussed, Mula Bandha stimulates the root chakra. Within this chakra lies a dormant energy force called Kundalini Shakti that has many different names in yogic literature, from cosmic energy to divine feminine, and serpent power to primordial energy.
Kundalini essentially represents an untapped spiritual force that exists in every individual since inception. Many ancient yoga and Tantra texts emphasize that Mula Bandha is one of the most effective yogic practices to awaken or arouse this dormant Kundalini energy.
When awakened and stimulated through spiritual practices, Kundalini rises upward through the chakras along the spine, resulting in personal transformation and spiritual growth. Its ascension to the Crown Chakra in the head signifies achieving spiritual enlightenment, which can also be understood as individual consciousness merging into universal consciousness.
These concepts hold great significance in Eastern spiritual traditions but require knowledge of yoga philosophy. To learn these concepts, we recommend Swami Satyananda Saraswati’s book titled “A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya.”
6. Deepening Meditation with Root Lock Activation
There are two ways in which Mula Bandha can deepen meditation. The first one involves practicing a few rounds of it as a solitary practice to prepare for deep meditation. Doing so helps draw the senses inward, prevents prana dissipation, and induce a state of inner stillness.
In traditional yoga, Mula Bandha is also performed right before meditation to enhance concentration and reduce mental chatter. However, in this context, one would practice 10-12 rounds over external breath retention while focusing on the root chakra during practice.
Another way to use this bandha to deepen meditation is to integrate it into the practice itself. This can be done in various ways, depending on your goals and intentions. One example is root chakra meditation, which involves engaging Mula Bandha while mentally chanting the single syllable ‘LAM (लम्), which is the seed mantra of the Muladhara Chakra.
7. Energizing Apana: Mula Bandha’s Role in Pranic Regulation
In Shiva Samhita, an ancient foundational text of yoga, Mula Bandha is described as “press the heel on the perineum and draw Apana Vayu upwards slowly.” (4, 41-42). This passage describes the refined implications of this yogic practice on our internal energy systems.
To explain this concept briefly, when prana (life energy) enters our body, it is split into five energy currents called the Pancha Prana Vayus. These currents circulate in specific regions of the body and ensure the smooth functioning of biological and subtle activities in those areas.
One of these currents is Apana Vayu. It circulates in and around the pelvis, governing processes like menstruation, urination, elimination, and childbirth. This current is also closely linked to the root chakra and earth element, both of which signify stability and security.
Apana is a downward-moving energy current, naturally inclined to escape the body through the pelvic floor. Engaging Mula Bandha creates a barrier to prevent this dissipation, redirecting Apana Vayu upward into the digestive fire (navel). This redirection of prana energy is central to many yogic practices, as it promotes physical well-being and spiritual development.
8. Dissolving Energetic Blockages
In the yogic view, our subtle body contains three inherent energy knots called granthis:
1. The Knot of Brahma, which signifies physical attachment.
2. The Knot of Vishnu, which signifies emotional attachment.
3. The Knot of Rudra, which signifies intellectual attachment.
These energy knots essentially represent forms of ignorance that create delusions and prevent us from knowing our true selves. Ancient Tantra texts describe granthis as pre-installed blockages that prevent Kundalini energy from moving up the spine and energizing higher chakras.
Brahma Granthi, the first of these knots, is located within the pelvic floor. It represents an individual's attachment to physical appearance, material possessions, and sensual pleasures. Yoga philosophy views such attachments as obstacles on the path to self-realization, and there are many spiritual practices designed to transcend these tendencies or behavioral patterns.
Mula Bandha, when combined with pranayama, is one such method to “dissolve” the Knot of Brahma. More simply, it means practicing the Root Lock encourages introspection, raising our self-awareness to a level where it’s possible to recognize the futility of material attachments.
9. Boosting and Preserving Vital Energy
There are several assertions in yoga and Tantra texts about how Mula Bandha mastery can increase sexual virility and stamina. These concepts have been hyped up in modern Neo-tantra texts, many times with spurious claims and questionable interpretations.
In traditional yoga, the enhancement of virility through Mula Bandha, or any other yogic practice, is not intended for pursuing sensual pleasures. It is cultivated because this powerful energy can be preserved and channeled to higher chakras to facilitate spiritual growth.
In Moola Bandha: The Master Key, Swami Buddhananda describes the Root Lock as a means to brahmacharya (sexual restraint), one of the ‘Yamas’ or moral observances for yoga aspirants. We recommend getting a copy of the book as it covers many subtler aspects of this practice.
9. Therapeutic Applications of Mula Bandha
Mula Bandha is an excellent practice to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and shares many therapeutic benefits with Kegel exercises. When practiced under proper guidance, it can be used as complementary therapy to treat urinary incontinence, hormonal imbalance, pelvic organ prolapse, and even to re-strengthen the pelvic floor muscles after childbirth.
However, those practicing bandhas for therapeutic purposes should first consult a physician to check if it is appropriate for their condition. At the same time, it’s also important to learn and practice it under the guidance of a qualified and experienced yoga therapist.
Before You Go
We hope this article establishes the versatility of Mula Bandha and how it can be used in yoga for a wide range of physical, mental, and spiritual purposes. In the next article of this series, we’ll explore the key health benefits and energetic effects of practicing this bandha.
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Before you go, here are a few yoga-related articles that may interest you:
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