Tips to Begin Vigorous Pranayama: Kapalabhati and Bhastrika

Patanjali's Yoga Sutra tells us that pranayama thins the veil that clouds our inner light. It makes the mind clearer and more focused and brings the mind great freedom from angst and doubt.
Sarah demonstrates two vigorous pranayama practices-kapalabhati (skull-shining breath) and bhastrika (bellows breath)-both of which involve forceful breathing.
Learn step-by-step how to exhale and inhale forcefully without disrupting the nervous system and how to coordinate the motion of the abdominal wall and the diaphragm so that you gain all of the benefits of pranayama.
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[@seemapatilJapan]

EXCELLENT Video. What a womderful teacher.

[@loubino18]

agree - easier to follow of the others I saw; good teacher.

[@katybowen-Qigong]

Thank you this is an excellent tutorial.

[@emmacoulter5749]

great for relieving sore tummy and wind

[@SaffronTravellerRenjith]

good and informative...thx

[@profoundcontender4696]

I am a Simple man: I see a beautiful explanation, I press like

[@gabrielamenyhart8126]

how is her Bellows breath different than Breath of Fire? I know BOF is a passive inhalation but for all intensive purposes when I watch her it seems the same as her Bellows breath - especially the equal length of inhalation and exhalation. Thank you.

[@marydelirium834]

Fully explained...thak you -_-

[@Diamondmineboy]

Thank you... now I really know what to do...and how

[@prabirkumarsaha3711]

Outstanding! Comparing to others. One important point I found missing is , "should the breathing while exhaling should lightly touch the forhead wall or the center of crown".thanks for your great segmented demonstrations.

[@shivgan3g]

om

[@sanjeevshukla7435]

Adorable u are

[@SuperNovaRider]

of course, don't do pranayama with high blood pressure, except it reduces blood pressure ... yeah, makes sense - but of course they have to tell that, gotta love the law xD

[@YoginiCeleste]

The mind becomes thinner, or less dense because these practices dissolve the samskaras or psychic impressions that can accumulate over lifetimes. These samskaras are a result of attachment to experiences, which then cause us to experience those experiences again and again in other lifetimes. In other words, these samskaras determine our karma and they block our experience of Heaven or Nirvana, which is embedded in this reality because the mind has formed a tapestry of all our experiences, thus obscuring our true nature and the present reality, which is why so few people actually experience life in the here and now. We cannot see our divine nature because we are that, so God has given us a mirror to see our true nature called the mind. If the mind is wavy or dirty, one will not see a clear reflection of our true divine nature or Immortal Self. So the whole point of Yoga is to correct the mind, ie "restrain the mind from being modified from its natural state (the state of meditation) (1:2 Yoga Sutras of Patanjali) then "the Seer abides in his own true nature" (1:3). The mind is also a sensory organ, which absorbs sensory impressions from the outside world and these impressions then give rise to the ego. So by eliminating the samskaras, one is also eliminating the lower mind or the manas and the ego as a result of this mind. These two pranayams are one of the methods Patanajli mentions for liberation and they are also one of the easiest because it is far easier to control the breath than it is to control the mind. The breath controls the mind, while the mind controls the senses. However, I have yet to see anyone online do Bhastrika properly. These practices do not disturb the nervous system, but actually strengthen it. Initially when one begins pranayama, one may start sweating or shaking but that is because your nervous system is weak. And if done correctly, this practice should also not be a problem for hypertension or heart disease and will actually improve these conditions. The way I have seen many people doing these two practices with their shoulders going up and down can be dangerous because prana is a strong force, and one must keep the body STILL and RELAXED while performing vigorous pranayama. These two pranaymas should be done forcefully and NOT slowly but that is not demonstrated here. Simply force air out of the nose and your abdomen will contract for Kapalabhati -- don't think so much about coordinating this and that -- JUST BREATH, which is natural. I feel this video is making everything sound too complicated. Only the abdominal muscles should be moving as we breath in and out, the rest of the body should be still. Another name for Bhastrika is Bellows because the body should be like a bellows when doing this practice: SIMPLY BREATH DEEPLY IN AND OUT and the body will follow along and then begin to increase the speed and length of how long you do this. If done correctly one can perform Bhasrika all day. I do this practice 3 hours a day, two one and half hour sessions of Bhastika with retention. The maximum benefits of this practice are achieved with retention, but the Bhandas or locks must be used to prevent pressure going into the ears and lower organs. Also, the diaphragmatic muscles are not used in Kapalabhati, just the lower abdominal muscles. The diaphragmatic muscles are used in Bhastrika along with the abdominal muscles. Although she has the idea right, she doesn't demonstrate Bhastrika in this video and I have yet to see anyone online who can. I have been doing this practice for many years and reached the goal of Yoga with this practice, but one would have to do the practice much more intensely and for longer periods to get the full benefits, which are explained in the following article posted on Google+: plus.google.com/+YoginiCeleste/posts/NNFh2oXefQp?fscid=z13mv505rrrwjfrnz23iczppkkayezumu.1495414505348435 I just did a video demonstrating the mechanics of these two pranayams: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iYmsnXqqoLeigdU

[@SingerNeoStar]

Impressed by your deep knowledge 👌

[@jadrankapufnica1516]

Hi, thank you for video. I have 2 questions. When inhale, we inhaling in to lungs or abdomen, stomach? Is forceful exhalation result of squeezed lower abdomen or forceful exhalation results with squeezed stomach, lower abdomen?

[@connyverduijn2576]

Try both to sqeeze your belly without a breath out and try to forcefully exhale without a belly sqeeze and you know the answer ;-)

[@connyverduijn2576]

The lungs are the respetory system. So you are breathing with that. You can blok the ribcage a little when you practice so that the abdominal and the diaphrame are isolated moving togheter instead of the whole torso.