What’s the difference between uddiyana bandha and Hypopressives?

The hypopressive breathing technique can appear very similar to practices in yoga such as Uddiyana bandha.

Whilst these practices may look similar the way they are executed is slightly different.

Uddiyana bandha is a traditional yoga practice that sucks the abdominal wall in and up at the end of an exhale to create an upward flying lock. It’s performed in yoga to increase blood flow to the abdominal organs, improve digestion and increase energy. There is more emphasis placed on actively drawing the belly in with this practice.

In hypopressives the apnea and rib stretch is performed, not by drawing the belly in and up, but by stretching the ribs out to the side/ or by performing a fake inhale to achieve this action.

We do not encourage an active drawing in of the belly but you will notice the upper abdomen coming in as you do your rib stretch.

If you are use to practicing uddiyana bandha re-learning this so that the movement comes from the ribs and not the belly can be confusing.

If you perform the rib stretch slowly, not only do you ensure that the movement comes from the ribs but you control how much you are actively sucking in the abdomen.

A slow expansion of the ribs will also work more into the slow twitch muscles fibres of the pelvic floor which contributes to 70% of the muscles. These muscles are responsible for endurance.

I also recommend using visualisations to encourage the ribs to move, some of my favorites are umbrella, shell, handheld fan, filling a cylinder with the ribs, bellows.