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In this blog post, I will teach you how to improve Pranayama by Cultivating Awareness.
My journey of improving Kapalbhati & Bhastrika Breathing has been a long path.
If you have been practicing Kapalbhati & Bhastrika and wondered if you’re performing these breathing techniques correctly, this post is for you.
My pranayama experience
After attending my first 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training, I set a goal to master 2 Pranayama’s.
The science behind breathing exercises and how they improve energy flow amazed me and wanted to experience it for myself.
Maybe with these Pranayama’s, I can finally become Super Saiyan 😆
There are two breathing exercises that I believe is best for improving and controlling Prana in the body:
Kapalbhati is not considered a pranayama. It is considered a Cleansing Technique.
Bhastrika is considered a Pranayama and great for circulating Prana.
In my opinion, Kapalbhati and Bhastrika Breathing are similar in practice with only one difference: One doesn’t forcefully inhale.
I will write about improving Kapalbhati and Bhastrika Breathing simultaneously because these two Breathing Techniques follow the same principle.
Breathing Technique Before Adjustment
When performing Kapalbhati and Bhastrika Pranayama, my main point of attention was to forcefully inhale & exhale through my nostrils while barely using my abdominal muscles to assist.
After practicing these breathing techniques for about 5-6 months, I was able to do both breathings with ease and got to 100 reps each of Kapalbhati & Bhastrika.
With this, my lungs began to feel a bit cleaner and I began to gain feelings of love and happiness after practice.
Yet, I felt like it was too easy and so I knew I wasn’t performing the breathing exercises properly.
How Kapalbhati Cleans the Lungs
Living in urban areas where clean air is scarce, our lungs begin absorb the products of our environment.
If mouth breathing has been a habit, the polluted air definitely entered the lungs unfiltered.
Air is full of particles, microbes, gases, dust, etc.
These particles settle in the lungs while the heavy particles settle at the bottom of the lungs.
With Kapalbhati, the diaphragm uplifts settled particles then Excretes it.
Polluted alveoli can cause growth of Bacteria which goes into the blood.
If our lungs are polluted with these particles, that settle due to density, they contaminate the alveoli inhibiting it from exchanging the best oxygen possible into our blood stream.
Clean alveoli bringing rich oxygen into the blood is where bellows breath becomes king.
Dividing the Lungs
In yoga, the lungs are divided in 3 parts: Upper, Middle, & lower
If you know the 4 Types of Breathing, you know we have habits of chest and shoulder breathing and seldom we breathe with our belly.
Chest and shoulder breathing only targets the upper and middle parts of the lungs.
While the lower lungs are barely stimulated. In some case, even the middle part of the lungs aren’t even stimulated by some.
This is why it is important to understand and turn belly breathing as your natural breathing rhythm.
Improving Kapalbhati & Bhastrika Continuation.
To begin, when only forcefully exhaling, we aren’t uplifting particles from the bottom part of the lungs. Proper Kapalbhati can help uplift and clean it.
By shifting awareness to the abdomen, focus on the muscles that activate core and diaphragm.
Then, focus on the inward abdominal movement and feel how the air leaves your body effortlessly.
Once exhale movement is proficient, lungs are open and clearer than before; Bhastrika is ready.
Next, focus and feel how the outward movement of your belly subtly inhales oxygen.
Focus on these points like a meditation.
With practice, I could use my abdominal muscles to pump air in and out my lungs with ease.
With this new awareness, I could feel my abdominal muscles get a work out and my body begin to perspire (not all the time).
Remember: Feel the sensations in your practices.
A noticeable difference was the reps I could perform.
The 100 reps I could do before now dropped to 15-30 reps as the max rep before muscle cramps or fatigue began.
A lesson in yoga
During my travels, I crossed paths with india.
An interesting country with many worlds and ancient knowledge older than all Abrahamic Religions.
My hunger for knowledge led to the Decision of attending the 300 hour Yoga Teacher Training in Rishikesh.
in the month of training, my brain made so many connections as if it was filling in missing Puzzle pieces.
All thanks to good teachers and good books.
With this new knowledge I was able to go deeper into my Asanas, Pranayama and Meditation practices.
Here is something important, yet simple, that yoga emphasizes:
Yoga Teaches to Cultivate Awareness
By Cultivating Awareness, I can scan my body and bring focus to specific parts like my abdominal muscles.
The abdomen and diaphragm is the key to properly performing Kapalbhati & Bhastrika Breathing.
With daily practice, my abdominal muscles and diaphragm could perform Kapalbhati and Bhastrika breathing without having to forcefully exhale / inhale through my nose.
My muscles began to tone up and my abdomen became an actual bellow or pump.
If you are physically actively and train core regularly, you will be able to improve this breathing faster.
How to Improve pranayama: Kapalbhati & bhastrika
Starting with Kapalbhati, I familiarized myself with my exhaling abdominal rhythm starting slow then gradually increasing the speed as I got acquainted with the feeling.
After a few days of practice, I applied this awareness to Bhastrika Pranayama but, included expanding my stomach outward.
- Expanding and extending the abdomen outward will passively inhale air without effort.
- Squeezing abdomen inwards & upwards towards the spine and the lungs will exhale without command.
For Kapalbhati, you don’t need to actively push your stomach outward to passively inhale.
When your abdominal muscle finishes pushing inward, that second of relaxation where the muscle is not exhaling will passively inhale a small breath as the belly expands.
No need to focus on Breathing in and out!
Now you will feel the effects of the Pranayama.
My 3 Experiences
1. Began to feel cramps in my abdominal area by 10-20 reps.
As the days of practice went by, reps increased and the cramps hardly came back.
P.S. When cramps begin, I recommend to stop. Rest and try again.
If cramping continues, stop the practice for the day and move onto another Pranayama.
2. My abdominal muscles got a core work out and my organs felt massaged letting out excess gases stuck in the intestines (in some cases, removing stools).
Sometimes it is followed with sweating.
3. Once abdominal muscles became toned with the help of Muay Thai, the Breathing Techniques became easier and I started to feel the mental effects as mentioned below:
a. My frontal lobe would feel a sensation and even in the third eye center. It could be the Pituitary Gland being stimulated.
b. I would follow these breathing techniques with meditation and I can see minor visuals (psychedelic / quantum) when I close my eyes.
c. Throughout the day, my nostrils are breathing smoothly and cleanly. Honestly, It has given me a good Bright feeling that lasts a few hours.
d. My vision becomes bright and crisp. It basically gives you a natural high. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I didn’t smoke weed yet.
Warning:
1. Make sure you are on an empty stomach
2. Ideally, poop before practice. (if not, its okay. Can help with constipation.)
3. Max reps for bhastrika is 100 (no max for kapalbhati)
Avoid if: high blood pressure, heart problems, migraine, pregnant, or Menstruating.
Conclusion
This is my experience so far and will continue improving Kapalbhati and Bhastrika so that I can help readers understand Pranayama’s through personal wisdom.
Furthermore, the key to improving Kapalbhati & Bhastrika breathing is to cultivate awareness on the abdominal area and observe how it effects the air flow.
I will make another post to follow up on these practices when more wisdom has been accumulated.
Thank you for reading and see ya next time!