How the Bandhas Are Used in Pranayama
Written and reviewed by The Kriya Yogi · Updated 20 September 2026
In the hatha texts, bandhas are not a separate subject from pranayama — they are part of it. The second chapter of the *Hatha Yoga Pradipika* names eight kumbhakas and assumes the locks are applied during the held breath. If you have been taught bandhas only as postural cues in a flowing class, this is the context that was missing.
The short answers
- Bandhas are classically applied during kumbhaka — retained breath — not during the flow of inhalation and exhalation.
- Jalandhara bandha is the lock generally used with retention after an inhalation (antara kumbhaka).
- Uddiyana bandha belongs to retention after a complete exhalation (bahya kumbhaka), on empty lungs only.
- Mula bandha may accompany either, applied lightly.
- Locks are released in reverse order, and the breath after release should be calm — never a gasp.
- Retention should be built over months. A ratio you have to fight is a ratio that is too long.
Retention first, locks second
Kumbhaka means the retained breath: antara kumbhaka after an inhalation, bahya kumbhaka after an exhalation. The glossary entry on kumbhaka covers the textual detail. The practical point for this page is that bandhas are what the tradition does during those holds.
That gives a clear sequence for anybody building a breath practice:
- Smooth, quiet, slow nasal breathing — weeks or months, no holds at all.
- Short, comfortable retentions after the inhalation, with jalandhara bandha.
- Short retentions after the exhalation, with uddiyana bandha.
- Light mula bandha added to either.
- Combinations and longer ratios — with a teacher.
Skipping to step four is where people get headaches, anxiety spikes and a breath that feels worse after practice than before it.
Which lock with which hold
After an inhalation (antara kumbhaka): jalandhara bandha. Holding a full breath with an open throat and a lifted chin sends pressure upward and most people feel it immediately in the head and ears. Lengthening the back of the neck and bringing the chin toward the sternum settles this. Mula bandha may be added lightly.
After an exhalation (bahya kumbhaka): uddiyana bandha. Empty lungs are the only condition in which the abdomen can draw back and up properly. Jalandhara is often applied at the same time, and mula bandha completes what becomes maha bandha if all three are held.
During the flow of breath: nothing, classically. Some modern schools teach light mula and uddiyana engagement through moving practice. That is a valid modern teaching method; it is not what the texts describe, and it should not be confused with the classical practice.
Ratios, honestly
Numbered ratios — 1:4:2 and the like — circulate widely and appear in traditional sources. They are goals described inside long apprenticeships, not starting points. A more useful approach for a self-guided practitioner:
- Make the exhalation comfortably longer than the inhalation before you hold anything at all.
- When you add a hold, make it shorter than your inhalation. Two or three seconds is a real practice.
- Judge by the breath that follows the hold. If it is smooth, the hold was right. If it is urgent, shorten it.
- Increase in small steps over weeks, not within a session.
Practical set-up
A stable seat decides most of this. If your lower back is fighting gravity, the breath will not be quiet enough to layer anything onto — a firm meditation cushion that lifts the hips above the knees does more for breath practice than any technique does. Practise on a reasonably empty stomach, in a room where you will not be interrupted, and stop the session rather than pushing through light-headedness.
Where this fits
See the breathing guides for individual techniques, the three bandhas for the locks themselves, and the contraindications before adding retention to any of it.
In practice
Earn the retention
Weeks of slow, quiet breathing with no holds. Retention added to a strained breath amplifies the strain.
Start with jalandhara on full lungs
Inhale to three-quarters, lengthen the neck, chin toward the sternum, hold two or three seconds, raise the head, exhale slowly.
Then uddiyana on empty lungs
Exhale completely, hold out, draw the abdomen back and up, release the abdomen, then inhale slowly.
Add mula lightly
A subtle lift at the base of the pelvis during either hold. Light enough that the rest of the body does not change.
Release in reverse order
Mula, then uddiyana, then the head position, then breathe. The breath after release is your accuracy check.
Lengthen in weeks, not minutes
Small increments across weeks. Ratios from the texts are destinations reached under supervision, not targets for a first month.
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.
- Never apply uddiyana bandha with air in the lungs, and never inhale against a lock.
- If a retention leaves you gasping, anxious or light-headed, it was too long; shorten it rather than repeating it.
- Breath retention is not appropriate in pregnancy, or with uncontrolled high blood pressure, heart disease, glaucoma, epilepsy or a history of panic attacks without professional guidance.
- Forced retention practice can trigger anxiety in some people; stop and return to slow, unheld breathing if that happens.
Where the evidence stands
Slow breathing at roughly six breaths per minute has a reasonable research literature behind it for short-term effects on heart rate variability and self-reported calm; that literature does not test bandhas, and does not test long retentions. Studies of breath-holding come mostly from diving and physiology research and are not about yoga practice. So the honest position is that the locks are traditional technique with a coherent internal logic and a sensible practical rationale, layered onto breathing patterns that do have some supportive evidence — and that the evidence belongs to the slow breathing, not to the locks.
Questions people ask
+ When do you apply bandhas in pranayama?
+ Which bandha goes with breath retention after inhaling?
+ Can I do bandhas without breath retention?
+ What is a safe breath ratio for a beginner?
+ Should bandhas be held during vinyasa flow?
+ Why do I get a headache during pranayama?
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.
- Zaccaro et al., 'How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing', *Frontiers in Human Neuroscience*, 2018 — on slow breathing, not bandhas.
Educational content, not medical advice. Check with a doctor before starting new practices if you have a health condition or are pregnant.