How to do kapalbhati pranayama and its benefits?

Kapalbhati is one of the popular yoga asana (pranayam) focused on inhaling while contracting muscles around the stomach and releasing air out slowly.

What is Kapalbhati?

Kapalbhati is a compound word made up of two words from the ancient Sanskrit language. The first word is Kapal which literally means skull and the second word is Bhati meaning "to shine". Its alternative name in English is "shining breath" and "breath of fire".

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What is the correct way to do Kapalbhati?

To get maximum benefits, follow the steps below.

• Sit comfortably in Padmasana or any other comfortable yoga pose with an erect spine.
• Exhale forcibly using abdominal muscles.
• Inhale passively by relaxing the abdominal muscles.
• Repeat as quickly as possible starting with 60 strokes per minute and increasing gradually up to 120 per minute.
• There is no holding of the breath.
• The rapid active exhalations with passive effortless inhalations are accomplished by flapping movements of the abdomen.
• At the end of the minute, there is an automatic cessation of breath. Enjoy the deep silence of mind associated with this.

Benefits of Kapalbhati Pranayam

Here are some benefits you can get after doing 30 mins of Kapalbhati everyday.

• This pranayama washes out the carbon dioxide from the blood, activates the brain cells, clears the air passages and stimulates the abdominal organs.
• It makes the mind calm and helps a practitioner to achieve inner peace.
• Stress, anxiety, tension and other mental health-related problem can also treat by doing it.
• Kapalbhati is useful in boosting and improving the ability of the respiratory organs.
• Kapalbhati gives relieves gastric and digestion problems like gas, constipation and heartburn.
• Helpful in problems related to lack of sleep (insomnia).
• It reduce the body fat especially areas around the tummy.

Who can not do Kapalbhati?

If surgery done recently around the abdomen area then you should avoid it. Also in health condition like heart cardiac, hypertension and hernia, it is recommended not to perform at any cost.