How Can Breath of Fire Improve Your Vitality?

Kapalabhati, or breath of fire is a powerful breathing technique that works to increase agni (digestive fire) and burn up stagnation in your abdomen.  It is very cleansing for the lungs and digestion.  It creates blood flow to your pelvis and reproductive organs so it is a great exercise to do to support fertility health.  It also benefits the mind – the translation of Kapalabhati is ‘forehead shining’ to signify the bright awareness that gets cultivated in the mind as a result of consistent practice.  In TCM, both the abdomen and the mind are important aspects of conception.  The mind (which the heart houses) is where the hormones are controlled.  The abdomen energy feeds the gonads of both men and women and needs to be supplied with fresh blood and energy in order to function optimally.  

Breath of fire is used in Kundalini yoga and is combined with specific poses to create various benefits in the body.  For the sake of simplicity, I recommend starting practicing in a cross legged position so you can focus on the technique. The practice is best done on an empty stomach.

Begin by sitting comfortably with loose fitting clothes.  It is important not to have constriction in your abdomen so that you can do the exercise comfortably.

Take a few deep inhalations and exhalations to prepare.

Then inhale and forcefully exhale with your mouth closed as you feel your abdomen constrict with the exhalation.  It is important to note that all of the breath happens in the abdomen and not the chest.  This is a practice that takes time to get used to.

All you need to focus on is the pumping of the abdomen as you exhale and the inhale will happen automatically.  This is an exhalation based breathing technique.  This is a great video that I found showing for a visual of breath of fire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V86Xao9bcRI.

You can begin by doing the breath of fire for a continuous 30 seconds and slowly increasing it over time. The best time to do this is in the morning before breakfast.  This should be avoided for women who are pregnant or menstruating.  

 Photo by Liset Verhaar 

The One Minute Breath

Have you ever notice your breath tense up or get shallow when you’re feeling stressed? 

Do you remember your breath speed up as you watch a scary scene from a movie?

This is because the mind has a direct influence on the breath.  The breath is part of our autonomic nervous system, which means that it is a part of our subconscious mind’s programing.  We breath without having to consciously think so that our bodies can thrive with much needed oxygen when we are sleeping or just focusing on other tasks in life. 

Amazingly our breathing pattern does reflect our state of mind.  It responds to us being relaxed as well as when we’re in distress.  But we can use this to our advantage.

Just as our breath responds to our state of mind, our state of mind responds to our breath.  Yogis have figured this out thousands of years ago and this is why they have been practicing ‘pranayama’ with such great results throughout history. Pranayama is a practice that is done by using specific techniques to control the breath.  The word translates to ‘extension of prana or life force’.  

Prana, or life force is what gives life to all that which has life is in nature.  It corresponds with the same meaning that the Chinese refer as ‘Qi’.  

So getting back to the breath – how can controlling the breath have an affect on the mind?  Think of a time where you had absolutely no pressure, like when you were on vacation and completely free from all responsibility. The weather was perfect, everything felt so right.  You may have noticed that your breath was so calm – and deep.  When the mind is at peace, the breath is deep and slow. 

If you begin to breath deep and slow, you can trick your mind into believing it’s in a state of calm. 

A great Kundalini yoga pranayama exercise is called the one minute breath.  The idea is to breath 20 seconds in, hold for 20 seconds, and breath out for 20 seconds.  Many people are not used to this long of a breath so the ideal place to start is with 10 seconds for all three parts and build up.  

Begin by finding a comfortable seated position at a time that you wont be interrupted.  Inhale deep and exhale fully a few times to begin. Breathe in and count how many seconds you can complete a slow and deep inhale comfortably.  Hold in the breath for that same amount, and exhale for the same amount as well.   Repeat this for at least 10 times.  You will feel refreshed and clear!  This is a great practice before important meetings, to release any stress or anxiety during the day, or if you need some extra energy for the day!

Image by Victor Garcia