Day 47. Krishnamacharya General Practice #34

Points of concentration: 16 vital points. (No concentration points in todays practice)

sirsa - the fontanel

murdhna - middle of forehead

bhrumadhya - between eyebrows

nasagra - extremity of the nose

talu mula - back of the palate

lalata - root of the uvula

kantha - throat

kantha kupa - back of the throat

hrdaya - middle of the heart

nabhi - navel

sroni - centre of the pelvis

mula - perineum

jangha- point at top of thighs

janu - point at middle of knees 

gulpha - point at middle of ankles 

pada angusta - point of the big toes.

Also of note...

Murdhna: the point located in front of the nose

Divya Chakshush: Point behind the head (occipital)

Aditya (the sun) is the disk of the sun, black and shiny,

The star: lying on his back to look as far as possible on the sky 

Taraka: the horizon point,

Kumbhaka

A.K. = Antah Kumbhaka (holding of breath after inhalation ) 

B.K = Bhaya Kumbhaka (holding of breath after exhalation )

See Sribhashyam's Pranayama article on the page at the top of the blog.

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Krishnamacharya, standing pranayama ?

The Kapala Bhati while standing is the big surprise in today’s practice. The instructions has us bending our knees slightly and rounding the back with our hands on our thighs almost as if we were going to practice belly rolling Nauli.

That clearly not what’s happening in the Krishnamacharya photo. However, following on from the standing Kapala Bhati, Shribhashyam instructs us to stand in Samashiti and practice Ujjayi breathing. He also instructs B.K. 5s ( Bahya Kumbhaka ) generally we close the nostrils with the hand in Mrgi Mudra for kumbhaka, is that perhaps what Krishnamacharya is showing us in the photo, his belly does seem to be drawn in as if he is perhaps practicing kumbhaka and none of his finhgers are raised as we might expect with Nadi Sodhana?

Sribhashyam does include mrgi mudra on p223 at the beginning of the pranayama section. However, in the general pranayama instruction on the following page he mentions that you MAY drop the hand  back to the thigh or knee after and inhalation or exhalation, if for example an inhalation or exhalation through one nostril is followed by an ujjayi inhalation or exhalation. Kumbhaka is not made clear, in his seminars Andrea Panzer has mention that Sribhashyam tended to drop the hand back to the knee or thigh during kumbhaka.

If we follow the instruction to the letter, there is no mention of mrgi mudra in samasthiti for the kumbhaka following the ujjayi breaths.