Bandha

When performing Yoga asanas (poses), the human anatomy and basal kinaesthetic sense are taken into account very precisely. The skeleton is a frame, to which the muscles are attached, serving as the body's active support system. The joints, with the correct angles of the joint surfaces, dictate the mechanical conditions to the muscles. Other important factors are the functional principle of spinal curves, all three foot arches, left-right coordinated movement of the upper and lower limbs, and divergent feet. All body parts move in coordination as one unit and are in synchrony with the action of the gravitational force, which yoga establishes through the implementation of 6 great Bandha exercises. In Sanskrit, the word Bandha means to lock, link, tighten, bind, etc.
Bandha breathing helps by guiding and controlling a coordinated relationship among the body’s entire muscle anatomy, within the scope dictated by the skeletal structure, in connection with body weight and muscle strength, by the rules of gravitational force. Yoga emphasizes that every inhalation and exhalation begins in the lower abdomen and this respiratory mechanics should be consciously monitored, at all stages of passing in to the final placement of each asana.
Analytically, yoga Bandha breathing is categorised into 6 anatomical points of the body, through which we perform gravitating/elongating and rooting. Bandha breathing is a person's conscious action to ensure by correct understanding that the anticipated movement is anatomically correct, which also improves fixed action patterns (instinctive movement) and motor control (self-controlled movement). A basal kinaesthetic anatomy as defined by Yoga, ensures that the body's active and passive support system is always anatomically correct and activated correctly.

Nevertheless, injuries occur, especially in competitive sports, and particularly if movement is burdened by: sports accessories, clothing and sports rules, unilateral loads, sedentary work, mobile balance, leading sports battles...Today, with the help of modern technology, the functional capacity of individual subsystems in the body can be precisely monitored during training and competitions. Sports programs to build body form are optimal and individually tailored; however, brutal escalations are a common occurrence in the active and passive support systems of individuals.

I’ve always been a fan of competitive sports, and I’ve also competed in an extreme sport –which is what white water kayaking is! Although kayaking is no longer my current topic of discussion, whenever I hear of the cities Augsburg, Bourg-Saint-Maurice and Spindler's Mill, it brings back fond memories of my kayak.
I oriented my daughter toward tennis; she completed her competitive ambition at the US Tennis University.

“My” sport today is:
- TENNIS
- CYKLING - MTB
- OlympicMOTOC
- ROSSROWING ....... and I look at everything through my kinaesthetic – yoga eyes.

Jan Špik is a sports professional from Slovenia. He’s the younger brother of Luka Špik, a well-known rower, with whom he won a silver medal in the double duo event in the 2009Mediterranean Games in Pescara and he was a junior World Champion in the quartet event.

In 2013, Jan suffered a spinal injury involving herniated discs in the lower back (lumbar vertebrae).
A month after his injury, he came to me, and we began with his back rescue mission. We spent 2 years, day after day, defining and rehabilitating the deficits of Jan's locomotor movements according to Yoga rules. I've enhanced my insight into the functional anatomy of the back, particularly at the basal functional level, and today, after many years, I'm devoting myself, including my studies and all my attention, to the back – through the implementation of Yoga.
The doctor who was responsible for Jan at the time of the injury even asked me whether I was going to discover something new.
And I discovered Bandha breathing – which is part of India's ancient Yoga culture. I strive to implement Yoga's message into methodological procedures of modern sports training in order to prevent and eliminate "kinaesthetic delusions" or a too-short sports career.
Namaste!
The term “kinaesthetic delusion” is a mild expression of a painful escalation that affects an athlete on any part of the body; in Jan's case, it was surely a kinaesthetic crime!