I'm guessing if you've ever taken a yoga or fitness class, you've heard instructions such as:
"Engage your core to protect your spine"
"Lift your belly in and up"
"Draw your navel toward your spine"
"Lift and engage your pelvic floor"
These cues might be useful and have a significant and appropriate impact on your physical or energetic practice. My main concern around these well-intended but generic cues is that we aren't often told HOW, or WHY (apart from some mystical protection we're getting from it) or WHEN we can "let it go." Do I need the same level of engagement in a lunge pose vs. an arm balance or inversion? What is the engagement good for, beyond a yoga pose?
Are we supposed to sustain these activations for an entire practice and in all poses? What about after we practice? Habits cultivated on our yoga mats are often integrated off of our mats. If we're told to practice a skill in yoga, it must be good for us, right? We should just do it all the time! Not so fast. (You are sucking in your stomach at this very moment, aren't you? Let it go for now.)
What if I told you that these well intentioned cues may not be especially helpful or effective in the long term, can be contraindicated for several reasons for many people, and can actually create dysfunction in healthy people?
What if I told you that....
....your "core" is like a pressure system, designed to operate REFLEXIVELY based on our tasks and load demand
....when you consciously engage your core in minimally loaded demands, you may be overriding the inherent wisdom of your body/brain
....engaging your abs on purpose can inhibit your ability to find stability instinctually and efficiently in real-life situations
....your nervous system is the governor of your movement, and has already assigned task focused muscular engagements prior to any purposeful muscular engagement
....sucking your stomach in disrupts your internal abdominal pressure system, and the natural synergy of your diaphragm and pelvic floor as you breathe
....contracting your abs doesn't necessarily mean your spine is protected
....consciously and continuously engaging and squeezing your pelvic floor could create chronic holding patterns, back pain, constipation, incontinence, or painful intercourse
.....habitually drawing your navel in and up could create dysfunctional breathing, poor posture, low back pain or pelvic pain
.....traditional mula bandha and uddiyana bandha weren't meant to be practiced 100% of the time during an asana practice (they were a separate practice, often used with pranayama techniques)
....uddiyana bandha is a diaphragm stretch and stomach vacuum, not simply an activation of the TVA or other abdominal muscles (furthermore, the TVA produces spine stability in the eccentric contraction phase!)
....mula bandha is more than just squeezing your bathroom muscles or doing kegels (more isn't always better)
....the pelvic floor needs to be strong, and holding it up chronically doesn't necessarily make it stronger (a muscle that can't relax is just as problematic as one that cannot contract as it can become overwhelmed when you need it the most)
.....your glutes are part of your core, and discouraging their role in hip extension during backbends creates MORE load on your lumbar spine, not less
....crunches or static planks alone won't give you a strong and reflexive core
....you can have well developed 6-pack abs and have an unresponsive and inefficient core
....you can get a stronger and more naturally responsive core by integrating full-body dynamic movements versus repetitive core-isolating movements
I've been immersed in this subject for the past few years. I've had to rethink some of the things I thought I knew about the human body and movement. I don’t teach bandhas in my classes, but I do teach movements that help to train core stability and responsiveness, in ways that not only support our yoga poses, but also the demands of our life.
I encourage you to take a dive into this subject if this content seems counter-intuitive to you, or if it seems to contradict your yoga education. Have you studied anatomy from anyone outside of the yoga lineage? Remember that we have the same bodies when we practice yoga as we do during any other physical activity, so there shouldn't necessarily be a completely separate set of anatomical/physiological/biomechanical rules when we step onto our mats.
One caveat: There are various opinions on this subject, from many different professionals in a wide range of fields. Some say "the core" doesn't exist at all, that our whole body (a tensegrity system) is our core. Depending on who you ask, the core consists of between 4 muscles, and 35 muscle groups. Bottom line: There is more than one intelligent way to train core stability, and constantly sucking your stomach in isn't one of them.
So I can't tell you what to believe, but I can tell you that during the course I've my research, I've met and interacted with MANY devoted yoga practitioners and teachers who are contending with chronic low back pain, pelvic floor dysfunction, dysregulated breathing mechanics and more. It’s worthy of your time to explore this content.
You might be wondering, how can we engage/strengthen/use our core if we don't suck in, lift up, or draw back? Think of your core as a cylinder. There are 360 degrees of support around your spine, and your core is not just your abs. If we just suck our stomach in/back/up, the pressure needs to go somewhere (up, back, or down.) How might that pressure affect the surrounding structures?
"Dynamic neuromuscular (core) stability is necessary for optimal athletic performance and is not achieved purely by adequate strength of abdominals, spinal extensors, gluteals or any other musculature; rather, core stabilization is accomplished through precise coordination of these muscles and intra‐abdominal pressure regulation by the central nervous system." [Ref]
Dr. Moses Bernard talks about bandhas with Yoga Detour (Dr. Bernard is a movement performance chiropractor and also a yoga & FRC practitioner) Cecily talks about her experience with Ashtanga yoga, the use of bandhas in her asana practice, and the back pain that led her to examine her breathing habits. Dr. Bernard explains how bandhas create the exact opposite pressure required for spinal stability. This is not to say that the use of bandhas isn’t beneficial as a training strategy for certain situations or energetic practices, but don’t confuse “sucking in” for functional core & spine stability. If you teach or practice bandhas in yoga classes, please listen to this conversation!
So now you might be wondering “How can we train our core to operate more naturally and instinctually for more efficient movement in general?” Using dynamic task-based movement is one way we can train the core to become more RESPONSIVE and less RIGID. Want to take a sexy photo for Instagram? By all means, suck it in. Then, let that shit go. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that the aesthetic qualities of a flat tummy are serving you in a functional way.
We study this type of material in my Human Movement workshops which I hold yearly for yoga & movement educators. If you're interested in a more evidence-based approach to teaching asana, be sure you're receiving my newsletter to stay informed. Teachers who attend my workshops get lifetime access to my Human Movement Resource Library which is updated monthly, as well as entry to our exclusive Facebook group where we connect, mentor, and inspire one another to be forever students on the path. It's interesting to me that the majority of teachers who come to my workshops are newer teachers, teaching for less than 3 years. I'd sure love to see some veteran educators in my next one. You will no doubt add value to our discussions, and you might even learn something new that will help YOU and your students.
You can also join my Membership Site to take class with me and choose from multiple formats. You can practice live on Zoom, or on-demand whenever your schedule allows.
Please feel free to email me with your comments and questions. Thanks for reading! ~ Sara
