Who Should Not Practise Bandhas: Contraindications and Common Injuries
Written and reviewed by The Kriya Yogi · Updated 20 September 2026
Bandhas are often introduced casually — a cue in a class, a line in a video — which hides the fact that they combine held breath, pressure changes in the abdomen and chest, sustained neck flexion and pelvic-floor contraction. Most people are fine. Some people should not do them at all, and a few common mistakes cause almost all the trouble.
The short answers
- Avoid bandhas with breath retention in pregnancy, and avoid uddiyana bandha in pregnancy entirely.
- Uncontrolled high blood pressure, heart disease, glaucoma or retinal problems, hernia, active ulcer or reflux, and epilepsy are all reasons to avoid retention and abdominal locks until a doctor clears you.
- Recent abdominal, pelvic, chest or eye surgery: wait for surgical clearance.
- Pelvic pain, prolapse symptoms or an overactive pelvic floor need a pelvic health physiotherapist before mula bandha practice.
- Cervical disc problems, stenosis, recent whiplash and vertigo make jalandhara bandha risky; modify or skip.
- If retention reliably triggers anxiety or panic, stop holding the breath and stay with slow, unheld breathing.
Conditions that warrant real caution
Pregnancy. Uddiyana bandha and any breath retention are out. Pelvic-floor work in pregnancy is often valuable but should be guided by a midwife or pelvic health physiotherapist, not by a bandha instruction.
Cardiovascular conditions. Holding the breath and changing pressure inside the chest transiently affect heart rate and blood pressure. With uncontrolled hypertension, arrhythmia, a history of heart attack, stroke or heart failure, retention-based bandha practice is not appropriate without medical clearance.
Eye conditions. Glaucoma, recent eye surgery and retinal problems are standard contraindications for practices that raise pressure — this includes forceful retention and strong abdominal locks.
Abdominal conditions. Hernia, active peptic ulcer, a reflux flare, inflammatory bowel disease in flare and recent abdominal surgery all argue against uddiyana bandha and nauli.
Pelvic floor. Prolapse symptoms, pelvic pain, urinary urgency or an overactive pelvic floor mean mula bandha needs assessment first. In these cases more tone is often the wrong direction, and learning to release is the priority.
Neck. Cervical disc problems, stenosis, recent whiplash, vertigo and severe osteoporosis make sustained neck flexion questionable. Jalandhara can often be reduced to a slight lengthening of the back of the neck without bringing the chin down.
Mental health. Breath retention reliably provokes anxiety in some people, particularly those with panic disorder or a trauma history. That is not a failure of practice; it is information. Slow, unheld breathing is the safer route, and working with a therapist alongside practice is reasonable.
Menstruation. Many traditional teachers advise easing off retention and strong abdominal locks. There is no research either way; comfort is a fair guide.
Children and older beginners. Retention-based practice is generally not taught to children. Older beginners are better served by breath awareness, a comfortable seat and gentle movement first.
The mistakes that cause most problems
- Uddiyana bandha with air in the lungs. The single most consequential error. It turns the practice into a strain against a closed, full chest.
- Retentions that are too long. The tell is the breath after release. Gasping means too long, every time.
- Force instead of precision. Clenching the pelvic floor, jamming the chin down, sucking the belly in hard — all produce tension rather than the practice.
- Practising after eating. Uncomfortable, and for uddiyana simply ineffective.
- Never releasing. Holding mula bandha continuously through the day is not devotion; it is a recipe for pelvic-floor overactivity.
- Learning maha bandha from a screen. The combination is where supervision earns its keep.
- Pushing through warning signs. Dizziness, spots in vision, ear pounding, tingling arms, pelvic pain — each means stop for the day, not breathe harder.
What to do instead, if bandhas are not for you
Almost everything valuable about this material is available without risk:
- A genuinely comfortable seat, held longer. A firm cushion is the usual fix.
- Slow nasal breathing with a longer exhalation and no holds — the part of breath practice with the best supporting evidence. See the breathing guides.
- Yoga Nidra, which asks nothing of the breath at all.
- Gentle pelvic-floor awareness, guided by a physiotherapist if you have symptoms.
When to see a professional
See a doctor before starting retention practice if you have any cardiovascular, respiratory, eye or neurological condition, are pregnant, or take medication that affects blood pressure. See a pelvic health physiotherapist for any pelvic symptom. See a physiotherapist for neck symptoms. And see someone promptly if practice is followed by chest pain, fainting, severe headache, visual change or new neurological symptoms.
Where this fits
Read the three bandhas for the overview and bandhas in pranayama for the retention context.
In practice
Check the list against your own health
Pregnancy, heart, eye, abdominal, pelvic, neck and mental-health conditions all appear here for concrete reasons.
Get clearance where it is needed
A doctor for cardiovascular, eye and neurological conditions; a pelvic health physiotherapist for pelvic symptoms; a physiotherapist for the neck.
Remove retention first, not technique
If something feels wrong, drop the breath holds before you drop the practice. Most trouble comes from the holds.
Keep uddiyana on empty lungs only
No exceptions, no variations, no matter what a video shows.
Use the following breath as your gauge
Smooth means the dose was right. Urgent means it was too long. Recalibrate every session.
Stop for the day on any warning sign
Dizziness, visual spots, ear pounding, arm tingling or pelvic pain end the session. Persistent symptoms mean a doctor.
Cautions worth reading
- Bandhas are muscular and breath practices, not treatments. Stop if you feel dizzy, breathless, pressured in the head or eyes, or any pelvic pain, and speak to a doctor, midwife or pelvic health physiotherapist before practising if you are pregnant, recently post-partum, recovering from abdominal or pelvic surgery, or managing high blood pressure, glaucoma, hernia, epilepsy or heart disease.
- This page is general information, not medical advice, and cannot account for your history or medication.
- No bandha treats, cures or prevents any disease, and no teacher should tell you otherwise.
- If a practice consistently makes you anxious, that is a reason to change the practice, not to persevere.
- Seek urgent medical attention for chest pain, fainting, sudden severe headache, visual loss or new neurological symptoms after practice.
Where the evidence stands
Contraindication lists for bandhas are built largely on physiological reasoning and clinical caution rather than on trials, because the trials do not exist. The reasoning is sound: breath retention and raised intra-thoracic or intra-abdominal pressure have known transient cardiovascular effects, sustained neck flexion loads the cervical spine, and pelvic-floor overactivity is a recognised clinical problem. Case reports of harm from forceful breathing practices exist but are rare. We present these cautions as prudent, not as established risk figures, and we would rather a reader skipped a practice than assumed safety we cannot demonstrate.
Questions people ask
+ Who should not practise bandhas?
+ Are bandhas safe during pregnancy?
+ Can bandhas cause harm?
+ Can I practise bandhas with high blood pressure?
+ Why do bandhas make me anxious?
+ What can I practise instead of bandhas?
Sources
- *Hatha Yoga Pradipika* (Svatmarama), chapters 2–3 — the eight kumbhakas and the ten mudras, including Mula Bandha, Uddiyana Bandha, Jalandhara Bandha and Mahabandha. Sanskrit with translation: Brian Dana Akers, YogaVidya.com.
- *Gheranda Samhita*, chapters 3 and 5 — its own list of mudras and its staged approach to retention. Sanskrit with translation: Brian Dana Akers, YogaVidya.com.
- James Mallinson & Mark Singleton, *Roots of Yoga* (Penguin Classics, 2017) — on mudra and bandha in the tantric and hatha corpus.
- Mark Singleton, *Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice* (Oxford, 2010) — on how twentieth-century schools reframed these practices.
- Bo & Frawley, clinical literature on pelvic floor muscle overactivity and training — background for the pelvic-floor cautions, not evidence about bandhas.
- Zaccaro et al., 'How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life', *Frontiers in Human Neuroscience*, 2018 — on slow breathing as the lower-risk alternative.
Educational content, not medical advice. Check with a doctor before starting new practices if you have a health condition or are pregnant.