Jalandhara Bandha

The throat lock, and the least explained of the three. It is simple to perform, and the reason for it is not obvious until you understand what happens during breath retention.

What it is

Two movements at once:

The chin lowers towards the top of the sternum, drawing straight back and down.

The sternum lifts to meet the chin.

Both. Most people do only the first, which is just dropping the head, and it produces neither the compression nor the length in the back of the neck that the lock requires.

The back of the neck stays long. The head does not tilt forward as a unit — it glides back and then down. If your neck is straining or the back of it is compressed, it is wrong.

How to find it

Sit upright with the spine stacked.

1. Lengthen the back of the neck first. Draw the head straight back so the ears come over the shoulders, and feel the base of the skull lift away from the top of the spine.
2. Lift the sternum. Not a big movement — a centimetre or two of the breastbone rising towards the chin.
3. Now lower the chin, keeping that length, until it approaches or touches the notch at the top of the sternum. For most people it will not reach, and that is fine.
4. Check: the back of the neck should feel long, not crushed. The throat should feel compressed at the front. The shoulders should not have risen.

Hold for a few breaths, then release by lifting the head, not by dropping the chest.

What it does

Prevents pressure reaching the head during retention.

This is the real reason for it. When you hold the breath in, particularly with the abdominal locks engaged, pressure rises inside the chest. Without the throat lock, that pressure travels upward — into the head, into the ears, into the eyes. People report a pounding sensation, pressure behind the eyes, and blocked ears.

Closing the throat and compressing the front of the neck interrupts that path. It is the reason retention practices specify it and the reason retention without it is uncomfortable and, at length, unwise.

Seals the breath in. During a retention, a small amount of air escapes continuously if the throat is open. The lock stops that, which means the retention is actually a retention.

Stimulates the carotid area. The lock applies pressure at the front of the neck, where the carotid sinus sits. That structure is involved in blood pressure regulation, and the pressure produces a mild slowing effect. This is also why the practice is not for everyone — see below.

When it is used

During breath retention in seated pranayama. This is its main and almost only use. Engaged after the inhale, held through the retention, released before the exhale.

In shoulderstand, where the position of the body produces it automatically. This is why shoulderstand is described as having a similar effect, and it is worth knowing that you are already doing it whenever you are in that pose.

As part of maha bandha — the three locks together — which is an advanced practice.

Not during ordinary asana. Some traditions cue a light version of it in seated practice. Most do not, and there is no need.

The sequence with retention

For a full breath with retention:

1. Exhale completely.
2. Inhale slowly and fully.
3. Engage jalandhara bandha — sternum up, chin down.
4. Hold for the count.
5. Release jalandhara — lift the head.
6. Then exhale, slowly.

Note the order at the end: release the lock before exhaling. Exhaling against a closed throat produces a sudden rush and defeats the point of a controlled exhale.

Errors

Dropping the head instead of lengthening then lowering. Produces neck compression rather than throat compression. Feel for length at the back.

Rounding the upper back. The chest should lift, not collapse. If your shoulders round forward as your chin comes down, the movement has come from the wrong place.

Holding it too long, or with too much force. It is a position, not a squeeze. Pressing the chin hard into the sternum achieves nothing and strains the neck.

Using it without needing it. If you are not retaining the breath, you do not need this lock.

When not to

The carotid effect means this is a practice with genuine contraindications.

• High or low blood pressure, uncontrolled.
• Heart conditions.
• Any neck injury or cervical spine problem — the position loads the neck in flexion.
• Vertigo or a history of fainting.
• Pregnancy — the retention practices it accompanies are generally omitted anyway.
• Glaucoma.

If any of those apply, work with the breath without retention, in which case you do not need the lock at all. The gentle end of pranayama loses nothing by omitting it.

Learning it

This is one of the practices genuinely worth learning in person if you can. Not because it is dangerous on its own — it is not — but because it accompanies retention, and retention is where a teacher's eye is worth something.

If you are learning alone: get the position right first, without any breath work, for a few weeks. Then add it to very short retentions — two or three seconds. Build slowly. There is no hurry with this and nothing is lost by taking a year over it.