Namaste and Welcome to Namaste Yoga.
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 setting
they do not get conveyed to the students.
In today's video we are going to do a deep dissection of Kapalbati Pranayama,
and we are going to talk all about Kaplabati.
In my experience as a yoga teacher, Kapalbati is
the hardest pranayama for majority of the students.
So today we will talk about its benefits, precautions,
how to do Kapalbati, and how you can become better in doing Kapalbati.
So first lets talk about its benefits.
Kapalbati Pranayama takes all the toxins out of the body.
Kapalbati is also called as Forehead Shining Breath.
Because it makes a person glow with healthy and aura from the face.
It also improves our attention and memory.
It ignites digestive fire and also helps us in speeding up or improving our metabolism.
It also increases our stamina, tones our abdominal muscles,
it also clears out our nasal passages.
Now, along with all these benefits there are certain precautions that you should be aware of.
The first precaution, which is the major one is:
If you are suffering from high blood pressure or hypertension,
you should not be doing Kapalbati.
If you still want to do Kapalbati because you want to get all these benefits,
then there is a certain way that you should be doing it.
I have made a video before specifically for people who have high blood pressure,
how to do Kapalbati. You can click on the link and check it out.
Also if you are suffering from asthma, you should not be doing Kapalbati.
And now lets talk about how to do Kapalbati.
What is such a big thing that so many people are having trouble
doing Kapalbati Pranayam properly.
In order to understand Kapalbati better, it is really important to understand the breath better.
Whenever we inhale, naturally, our belly should rise up.
Because anything you take in your body
your body should expand. So when you are breathing in, your belly expands.
But people usually take their breath for granted.
Because nobody has to make any effort to breathe.
They are just naturally breathing, they don't pay attention to how they are breathing.
So, eventually after many years
People start to breathe from their lungs, from their chest,
they do not breathe from their belly.
So what happens whenever they inhale, they suck their belly in.
As you must have noticed when somebody is taking a picture
and they don't want to show their belly, they take a deep breath in
and suck their belly in, and hold their breath so people can take the picture.
And then they release and the belly comes out.
This is a total opposite of the natural way of breathing.
Once you are taking the air in, your belly should expand.
And that is the main reason, many people
they make mistake in Kapalbati.
Because in Kapalbati we don't have to focus on our inhale.
Inhale happens automatically, we absolutely do not have to worry about it.
The focus is on the exhale, we exhale forecefully.
So just for an example here, inhale and then .......
Forceful exhale from the nose, without moving the body
only exhale from the nose.
And when we do this, our belly goes in.
So if you notice my hand.
My hand is going to move inward when I am exhaling forcefully.
Like this.....
So if people do not have a habit of getting the belly in, or breathing from the belly,
they make mistake in Kapalbati.
So, most of the time when I see my students struggling in Kapalbati,
majority of the time, 99% of the time,
it happens because they are try to expand their belly while they are exhaling.
So, they go like .........
And its hard, because its not natural.
So before you even start to attempt doing Kapalbati,
take few breaths. And try to expand your belly when you are breathing in.
So, just take a deep breath in and expand your belly.
Breathe out, and belly goes in.
I need you to focus on my hand, there is a reason I am keeping my hand here.
So you can see my belly rise and go back.
So again, take a deep inhale.
Exhale, belly goes in.
So train your body to breathe like this.
Once you are done, then get ready for Kapalbati.
Remember in Kapalbati we do active exhale.
So we exhale actively,
inhale will automatically happen.
Our body is wired like this
Even if we don't want to we breathe in.
You don't pay attention to your breath, but you naturally inhale.
So absolutely do not worry about inhale, it will naturally happen.
Focus on the exhale.
So sit in any comfortable position.
You can sit in Sukhasana, you can sit in Padmasana,
you can also sit in Ardhsiddhasana.
Whatever you feel comfortable, sit in comfortable position.
If for some reason you cannot sit on the ground, you cannot fold your legs,
you can also sit on a chair. Make sure
both of your feet are firmly on the ground. They are touching the ground.
If the chair is too high, they are not touching the ground,
I would recommend you put something underneath your feet.
Some kind of stool or something.
So your feet are firmly on the ground.
Make sure your spine is comfortably erect.
Do not take support of any kind.
Try to keep your spine comfortably erect.
Once you have the seating position correct, then bring your hands in Dhyan mudra,
and keep them on your lap.
Now, relax, take a deep breath in...... and out.
One more time take a deep breath in, relax your body, relax your shoulders.
and out.
Now, take a tiny breath. Take a very tiny inhale and then forcefully exhale.
Like that
Now, once you are exhaling make sure your whole body is perfectly still.
You are not using your shoulder to go up and down, like....
No, your shoulders stay still, relaxed shoulders.
Don't move your mouth or your nose, like.....
No, absolutely still body
the only thing that is going to move is your belly.
and whatever movement comes from the friction
that's only going to happen in your body. Other than that nothing.
So, both hands should be in Dhyan Mudra.
I am going to keep my hand on my belly, just for you to see how my belly goes in and out.
Now if you are just starting Kapalbati, I would recommend
do it, slower.
So I am going to tell you step by step
starting with you have absolutely not done Kapalbati.
Its hard for you to suck your belly in when you exhale.
Lets start from there. If that is the case
Just take one inhale, tiny inhale
exhale out.
Just concentrate, full concentrate on your belly
that it goes in when you exhale
and relax
Grab your breath, catch up, focus again
and then again, full focus on your next exhale.
So, its going to take some time for you to adjust your belly
whether it goes in or out because you are
making your mind work with your belly. So it will take some time.
So I am assuming that you are absolutely new.
So, even if it takes you at least 3-4 breaths in between
of two breaths of Kapalbati. Its absolutely fine,
don't worry about it. Just practice
exhaling forcefully while sitting in comfortable position,
spine erect, and not moving your body and your belly goes in.
Just focus on that. The speed will come later.
So once you are here, take a tiny breath
Then relax, grab yourself together, whenever you are ready, next breath.
Then again, grab yourself together, whenever you are ready, next breath.
Ok, so that's how you start.
Once you get used to this, then you can speed up a little bit.
Then again take a deep breath in first.
Relax your body
Then take a tiny breath
and you can slowly start speeding up a little bit.
So, I am not doing it that fast, slowly slowly.
When you inhale, when inhale automatically comes,
make sure your belly is expanding.
So look at my hand again.
Like that
So once you practice this for about....... Every person is different
2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks.
Based on your capability, how fast you are grabbing the concept.
Then you can start practicing this at a high speed.
Now how long you should practice this? There is
no restrictions. But what I usually say, once your are starting,
do ten breaths.
So I am going to do ten breaths, then stop
Then again second round of ten breaths,
then stop, then third round of ten breaths.
So thats how you should do in three rounds.
But in between when you stop,
there is a certain thing that you need to focus on.
So, lets go to the next step.
You know the concept, you know how to suck in your belly when you exhale
Now how to break it in three rounds,
what to do in between, lets do that.
So, first sit in comfortable position, hands in Dhyan mudra.
Now take a deep breath in.
Always take at least two deep breaths in to get your body ready.
Take a deep breath in........ and out.
Another deep breath in .......... and out.
Then take a tiny breath
That was ten round, then again take a deep breath in.
and relax.
So after that first round of ten, take a deep breath in and relax.
Now how long you feel like you need to come back to normal,
get you back to normal, that's totally different for different person.
So, I am not going to say that wait for 30 seconds or one minute. Nothing like that.
After the deep breath, relax.
Once you feel comfortable, one more deep breath.
So when we finish Kapalbati, we take a deep breath.
Then nothing in between, relax your body, normal breath.
Once you think that you are ready for the second round,
then again deep breath.
And start the second round
by inhaling a tiny breath.
Deep breath
and exhale.
Relax, bring your body back to normal.
However long it takes.
Then get ready for the third round and take a deep breath.
Tiny breath
Deep breath in.
Relax
After three rounds, just stay in this position
with your eyes closed.
And just full focus on your breath. Normal breath.
So that's how you should do three rounds.
I am going to explain this one more time.
Start with two deep breaths, so your body is ready.
Then take a tiny inhale then start exhaling forcefully in Kapalbati, 10 breaths.
After ten breaths, take a deep breath in, and out.
And relax, for however long it takes for you to get back to normal.
Then one more deep breath and start the second round.
And end the second round with a deep breath.
Then again relax. Then again deep breath and start the third round.
And end the third round with a deep breath.
And then just relax, sit wherever you are
keeping your eyes closed and enjoy that meditative moment.
Now going one step forward.
If you feel absolutely comfortable in doing ten breaths.
Then increase it to 20 breaths.
20 breaths of each, three rounds.
When you feel comfortable doing 20 then increase it to 50.
And once you absolutely feel comfortable doing 50 breaths of Kapalbati in three rounds,
then its totally up to you how you want to do it.
Some people they just keep doing it however long they can.
Some people can go up to 200 or 300 breaths.
Or continous 5-10 minutes of Kapalbati, they can do that.
That's perfect if you can do that.
But once you decide to do continous Kapalbati,
not the three rounds, just one continous round,
make sure that you are comfortable, you can speed up the process
So, it will look something like this. I will tell you when to stop.
First see how its going to look like. So deep breath first
and start
like that
So, if you feel comfortable doing that for prolong period of time, do that.
But how do you know when to stop?
For sure, if you start to feel that you cannot keep up with the breath any longer
or the motion of your stomach is getting upset
tummy is going out when you are exhaling
So anything, whenever slight of discomfort you start, STop
Do not continue your exercise while you are feeling discomfort.
Kapalbati is a really good Pranayama
I am seeing that it is catching up a lot in new people
who are doing yoga, or new yogis.
But you really need to make sure that you are doing it right.
And you also need to know your physical health,
that you are not messing up your health even more.
I hope you enjoyed the video today.
If you have any question or concern
please feel free to write it in the comment box,
I would love to answer it.
You can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter,
links are in the description box.
That would also be a good place to ask any personal question that you might have.
If you have not done so please Subscribe to the Channel
and click on the notification bell so you know when my next video is coming.
I wish you all a very Happy and Healthy Day.
Namaste