A Pranayama Practice featuring Nadi Shodhana, Kapalabhati, and Bhastrika
First get yourself familiar with each of these pranayamas, you can just pick one for your pranayama practice until you are comfortable and familiar with it, then move on to the next. Once you are comfortable with all 3, you know their names and how to do them, you can choose the one you need for your practice that day (see chart below).
How to put together a pranayama practice:
Making sense of the flow and when to do what by comparing it to our ashtanga practice:
Resonance breathing = sun salutes
Nadi shodhana = primary series
Kapalabhati = second series
Bhastrika = advanced series
Sitali = closing
You always start with resonance breathing, and end with sitali, in between you choose what you need.
Resonance breathing is where you get a grip on your breath, your thoughts, and set the environment for your practice.
Nadi Shodhana regulates your nervous system and directly effects your vagus nerve. It can quickly break a stress response, or release normal work day stress and anxiety. It is a very balancing pranayama, balancing to your heart and lungs, blood pressure, and hemispheres of your brain
Just like primary series is where we bring our body into balance and health, nadi shodhana will do the same.
Kapalabhati is good for your brain. It helps your brain and body detox. Kapalabhati is good to go to when you have to think a lot, at the start or completion of a big project, or when you are under a stressful situation you keep ruminating on it can help you break the cyclical thinking.
- It can help you feel more alert when necessary
- It can help you relax when necessary
Kapalabhati is also good for lung health, it can help to clear your lungs and strengthen all your breathing apparatuses. It improves circulation, and tones the organs in your abdomen.
Just like we use second series to cleanse the channels, we use kapalabhati to cleanse all our channels or nadis (tubes in our body) as well.
Bhastrika is powerful and strengthening. It is very energizing. It improves your cardiovascular fitness, tones and strengthens your abs, cleanses your lungs, sharpens your mind reducing distractions, and helps to move lymph which is cleansing and detoxifying for the entire body.
Choose bhastrika when you want an invigorating practice, when feeling sluggish, or to clear out negative thoughts or feelings. It can also help with digestion (but don’t practice on a full stomach).
Like third series is very strengthening, bhastrika is a strengthening pranayama improving our VO2 max, and our heart and lung health. It also can strengthen our core.
Including Retentions
Breath holding needs to be practiced consistently and progressed slowly. Breath holding will be interwoven with all 3 pranayamas. The benefits of holding your breath have recently been undergoing a lot of research; it has been shown to produce a molecule in the body called hypoxia inducing factor 1 (HIF-1) which is likened to giving super human benefits. Breath holding also increases hemoglobin levels allowing our body to transport more oxygen to all cells, boost stem cell production, helps the body make more blood vessels where necessary to deliver that oxygen to, enhance neuroplasticity (meaning we learn a skill quicker), increases nitric oxide in our body improving circulation, helps our body repair damaged DNA, and lowers blood sugar.
Breath holding within a pranayama practice is best held for 30-60 seconds at the longest.
It is recommended to end your pranayama sessions with Sitali, Sitali is a cooling pranayama that induces relaxation.
To begin a home practice, choose 1 of the pranayamas, and do that one 3 times. Yoga seems to like things in 3s … for example we OM 3x, once for peace within, once for peace with others, and once for peace with nature and the universe.
- Start with your 3 minutes of resonance breathing.
- Choose just 1, either nadi shodhana, kapalabhati or bhastrika and do it for 3 rounds.
- End with Sitali.
Home practices below chart.
|
Nadi Shodhana |
Kapalabhati |
Bhastrika |
|
|
Release stress |
X |
||
|
Relax |
X |
||
|
Help w/ Sleep |
X |
||
|
Balances blood pressure |
X |
||
|
Calming |
X |
||
|
Energizing |
X |
X |
|
|
Increase alertness |
X |
X |
|
|
Increase mental focus |
X |
||
|
break stress thinking |
XX |
X |
|
|
Detoxifying -brain and body |
X |
XX |
|
|
reduce headache |
X |
||
|
Strengthening |
X |
||
|
Cleanses lungs |
X |
XX |
|
A short home pranayama practice:
Start with resonance breathing, choose your pranayama; nadi shodhana, kapalabhati, or bhastrika, end with sitali.
Begin with 3 minutes of Resonance Breathing (opt. use Eddie Stern’s Breathing app) with or without ujjayi sound.
**Optional add HRV (heart rate variability) by feeling your pulse as you breathe and notice if your pulse slightly increases as you inhale and decreases as you exhale. This is how a healthy HRV functions.
Nadi Shodhana – Alternate nostril breathing
- Inhale Right
- Exhale Left
- Inhale Right
- Exhale Left
That is 1 round.
Nadi shodhana – 5 rounds as normal
and/or
Nadi shodhana w/ resonance breath = inhale 5 counts / Exhale 7 -5 rounds
and/or
Nadi shodhana w/ breath holding:
We work with a ration of 1:4:2 = inhale in 4 counts quickly filling your lungs : retain the breath in for 16 counts : slowly exhale for 8 counts. It looks like this
- Inhale Left 4 counts
- Hold in 16 counts
- Exhale Right 8 counts
- Inhale Right 4 counts
- Hold in 16 counts
- Exhale Left 8 counts
That equals 1 round. 3-5 rounds is sufficient most days.
Pumping with your abs and diaphragm on the exhales and being passive with inhales. Remember to keep tongue on roof of mouth aka Jiva Bandha.
Take 1 slightly deeper sniffing inhale; exhale pump at a steady rhythm for about 30-50 exhales – you can start with 10 slow then pick up pace, make your last exhale pump slower and longer
- Take a deep inhale and retain your breath for 30 seconds with bandhas
- Take a recovery breath or two or 5
- Repeat for a total of three rounds.
Bhastrika – Bellows Breath
Strong and forcefully inhaling and exhaling through your nose to your fullest extent. No ujjayi sound. Remember to keep tongue on roof of mouth aka Jiva Bandha.
Begin by taking 5 deep yogic breaths with sound. After your 5th exhale:
- Start with a big Inhale, you can have your hands palms down in jnana mudra on your knees or you can hold your feet if you are in lotus.
- Start your bhastrika breaths — Strongly and forcefully exhale and inhale to your fullest capacity making your rib cage expand and contract like a bellows for up to 30 blasts.
- Initially each breath (one inhale and one exhale) will be slow, then over time increase to each breath about one second, as you progress you may want to make them faster or shorter or a set of each. Inhales and exhale are equal. Bhastrika can be done fast or slow — I have seen bhastrika done slow at 6 breaths / minute and also much faster, both speeds have benefit. Experiment yourself! As a beginner, its better to start slower and gradually increase pace if you so desire.
- End with a slow exhale, then Inhale lift your chin, then tuck your chin into Jalandhara bandha and hold your breath in engaging all bandhas.
- Repeat for a total of 3 rounds
- Take a long slow exhale
- Finish by taking 5 deep yogic breaths.
No matter which pranayama you choose, it’s nice to end with Sitali. Not always required, but recommended.
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And some days you feel so good you want all 3 pranayamas … or somedays your feel so wired, tired, and/or stressed, you just don’t know what you need …
Putting all 3 pranayamas together into a pranayama practice:
1. Nadi Shodhana 3 rounds no breath holding
Nadi Shodhana w/ retention 1 round:
-
- Inhale Left 4 counts
- Hold in 16 counts
- Exhale Right 8 counts
- Inhale Right 4 counts
- Hold in 16 counts
- Exhale Left 8 counts
Take 1 slow inhale and exhale
2. Kapalabhati 30-50 pumps, big inhale, HOLD in 30 seconds, slowly exhale through your nose.
Take 1 slow inhale and exhale
3. Bhastrika 30 pumps, big inhale, HOLD in 30 seconds, slowly exhale through your nose
Take 1 slow inhale and exhale
Repeat for a total of 3 rounds
End with Sitali 3x – Inhaling through your tongue, hold 10 seconds, exhale through your nose.