Namaste, and Welcome to my YouTube Channel.
My name is Surbhi. I am a Yoga Teacher.
The Goal of my Channel is to tell you
all those little tips and tricks that many Yoga teachers know,
but somehow in class settings they do not get conveyed to the students.
In today's video
continuing our journey of Pranayama,
I am going to cover Kapalbati Pranayama.
It is also known as Forehead Shining Breath.
I will be telling you all the benefit that Kapalbati Pranayama does.
And also how to do it.
Plus, there are some restrictions that
people should not do with this particular Pranayama.
So, lets get started.
The benefits of Kapalbati Pranayama are:
It clears out the toxins from your body.
It also makes a person glow with health
and aura from the face.
It also heats up the body
by igniting the digestive fire.
Which is why practice of prolonged
Kapalbati is recommended for Cancer patients.
Because in Ayurveda Cancer is considered as Mand Agni,
which means low digestive fire.
So, when we do Kapalbati for a prolong period of time,
specifically for cancer patients,
more than 30 minutes of practice every day,
will increase their digestive fire.
It also causes the arousal of the brain.
When we are doing Kapalbati,
and when we stop after that,
it follows by the reduction in the arousal.
So that arousal and reduction of the brain,
what it does, it improves our attention and our memory.
How we do it, I will tell you when we are learning how to do Kapalbati.
It also speeds up our metabolism.
It increases our stamina.
Obviously it tones our abdominal muscles.
It also improves our digestion and clears out toxins.
It also clears the nasal passage.
It is also a very ideal pranayam for people who have diabetes
and obesity.
Specifically the abdominal obesity.
For that particular reason
Kapalbati needs to be done more than 20 minutes everyday.
So, how do we do Kapalbati?
Normally when we inhale and exhale,
its active inhalation and passive exhalation.
We make sure we inhale and exhalation happens automatically.
But in Kapalbati its opposite.
Its active exhalation
and passive inhalation.
So, its more like blowing your nose.
You exhale, like...
and inhalation happens automatically.
Many people, they are not used to do Kapalbati.
They inhale also actively.
Which is not the right way to do Kapalbati.
And also the speed.
These days Kapalbati has taken so many forms.
Some people, they just go rapidly.
Like that.
Some people say it should be done slowly.
Both of them are correct.
Its just that if you are a yogi,
you have been practicing yoga for so long
and you are not just a yoga teacher, but you are actually a yogi.
They are doing meditation and sadhana and everything.
Then Kapalbati is done fast as a kriya.
When you do it faster, it becomes a kriya.
But when you do it slowly, its a Pranayama.
So, normal people like you and me,
we are not yogis. Its a good idea to do Kapalbati slowly.
So, how we do it is:
sit in a comfortable position.
This can be done sitting on the chair as well,
if you are not comfortable sitting on the floor.
So, any position that you feel comfortable.
Just sit comfortably.
One thing you have to make sure that your spine is erect.
You should not be slouching down.
You should not be going like this.
Comfortably erect.
If you want you can put a support,
but make sure that support is up to here
on the spine, not all the way up to head or neck.
Sit comfortably.
Comfortably erect spine.
Take a deep breath in
and out.
Get your body ready.
Loosen up your shoulders.
Loosen up your neck muscles.
Take another deep breath in
and out.
Relax.
And then start exhaling actively. Like so....
Make sure that your stomach is going in
when you exhale.
I am putting my hand here so you can see the
intensity that it goes in.
So, as you can see,
I am not making any effort
to inhale.
Inhale is just happening automatically.
If you are doing like this
That's wrong
Excuse me
So let the inhale happen automatically.
Just focus on exhaling.
And when you exhale, make sure your shoulders are relaxed.
Your face is relaxed.
You should not be going like.....
Like that
or
Any kind of face making.
Just relax. Just let it go.
Let your body loose.
And just focus on exhaling.
Like so
So repeat as many times as you feel comfortable.
Another thing that Kapalbati does is:
when you are
taking your abdomen in forcefully,
your diaphragm is lifting up.
You are forcing your diaphragm to go up.
the heart that sits right in between the lungs,
right on top of the diaphragm,
It kind of like
gives a little pumping, like a CPR
to the heart.
Which is really good for heart health.
How long you do your Kapalbati is;
if you are not used to doing it,
just do it may be 10 breath or 15 breath,
and then pause a little bit.
And do three rounds of that.
And from that, start building up.
Eventually after practicing every day,
you will see that you are able to do Kapalbati for an extensive period of time.
So, lets start one more round.
We will do about 10-15 breaths.
Every time you are done with Kapalbati,
you should always end it with a deep inhale,
and deep exhale.
And after that exhale,
That's when comes the reduction of the arousal of the brain.
Just be there in the moment.
And you will see that you feel like you don't need to breathe.
And your body is just in the relaxing mode.
So, lets start.
Take a deep breath in.
You can close your eyes, if you want.
and out.
Another deep breath in
and out.
And you can start at your own pace. We will do 10-15 breaths.
Take a deep breath in
and deep breath out.
You can gently open your eyes.
and that's one round.
We will do two more rounds like this.
Another deep breath in
and at your own pace, you can start.
And relax.
Now we are going to do our last round.
Deep breath in.
and out.
Start at your own pace.
As I mentioned in the starting of the video,
that Kapalbati does have some restrictions.
Kapalbati should always be done on empty stomach.
You should always wait for 3-4 hours after a meal, to do Kapalbati.
Make sure that your stomach is empty.
If you are asthmatic,
if you have asthma, then you should not be doing Kapalbati.
For asthma,
Bhastrika Pranayama is a really good therapy for people who have asthma.
I have made the video of Bhastrika Pranayam before,
I will put the link in the description,
so you can go and check it out.
Another thing is if you are a high blood pressure patient,
you should not do Kapalbati.
Or you can do, but make sure that you are doing it at a very slow pace.
And once you are done with Kapalbati,
always, always, follow with Anulom Vyom or cooling pranayama.
I will be doing Anulom Vyom and more of
cooling pranayamas in my future videos.
But always make sure, once you are done with Kapalbati,
follow up with Anulom Vyom.
That is like one wholesome of Pranayamas.
So, that was it for today's video for Kapalbati.
If you have any questions or comments,
please feel free to ask me
put them in the comments.
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so you know when my next video is coming.
That's it for today.
I hope you have a Happy Day and Healthy Day.
Namaste.