KAPALABHATI / SHINING SKULL BREATH

Before practicing the Pranayama techniques written by Ebru Şinik in her book Health Breat and Life, you should especially pay attention to the list of contraindications. It is especially recommended that you watch the application video below before practicing.
 

Fire breaths, while running mental calmness and detox mechanisms, also increase the fire element in our physiology, accelerating the metabolism. It helps to evacuate fat cells.
It would be much better to learn this technique one on one. Giving feedback at the beginning, and following up would bring a lot effective and long-lasting result. But if you can’t set up a personal class, not able to join my group classes, or don’t have the opportunity to take a lesson from an experienced yoga teacher, you can read the following instructions carefully after watching my practice video.

•    You can either practice, while you are sitting on the floor in crossed legged position, or sitting straight on your heels.
•    Not recommended for children younger than teenage years.
•    Practice; minimum 1 minute - maximum 10 minutes.
•    You can only practice once a day.

Contraindications (Definite Inadvisable Situation)

•    Full stomach, after main meals
•    Pregnancy
•    Menstruation period
•    Vertigo
•    High eye pressure (glaucoma)
•    Migraine pains (at the time of practice)
•    Heart disease (if you had it within the past six months)
•    Nose bleed
•    Hernia
•    Ascites
•    Operations related to stomach (if you had it within the past six months)
•    Gastritis ulcer
•    Epileptic seizure (if you had it within the past six months)
•    High blood pressure ((>140>90: People who use high blood pressure medicine can practice)
•    Low blood pressure (you can practice with utmost attention.)

Benefits

•    It helps losing weight by increasing the metabolism.
•    The endorphins will be secreted just like doing a high pace sports, as to providing the feelings of happiness, joy, comfort, and liveliness.
 •    It balances high cholesterol.
•    It balances the strength of living.
•    It supports the process of well aging, and it rejuvenates the person.
•    It discharges the toxins off of the skin, and beautifies.
•    It massages the heart and diaphragm. It is known as the “the breath that supports life” in Ayurveda medicine.
•    It massages prostate glands, and it brings the prostate to its normal size. If there is prostate enlargement, it helps it become smaller.
•    It heals the tumors in the ovaries, hepatosteatosis, and diaphragm.
•    It cleanses the consciousness from the toxins of negative thoughts, and negative emotions.
•    It cleans the front nasal sinuses; it is effective in the treatment of common cold, rhinitis, sinusitis, asthma, and bronchitis infections.
•    Heals coughing.
•    It balances the neural, and the digestive system.
•    It treats anxiety and depression.
•    It acts as a neurologic morphine; it secretes hormones of happiness, such as serotonin, melatonin. It comforts, and gives the feelings of joy and wellbeing.
•    It carries life energy (Prana) to the bone marrow, and it increases red blood cell count.

How to Practice?

•    Sit on the floor in cross legged position with your sacrum raised a little. This will help you sit straight and become more comfortable.
•    Softly close your eyes and mouth, and put the tip of the tongue to the fire point.
•    In this breathing exercise, we are going to be focused on exhaling through the nose as if we are coughing or blowing our nose.
•    At the beginning, take a short breath through the nose, and when exhaling, contract your abdominal muscles towards your spine quickly, and forcefully discharge all of the air as if you are coughing. The main movement will happen in the diaphragm.
•    And then, without using any strength, release your stomach muscles slowly.
•    When your stomach muscles relax, your abdomen will expand, and at the same time, this will allow your lungs to fill with air.
•    And right at that second, exhale through your nose forcefully, as if you are coughing or blowing your nose.
•    After the exhalation, when the abdominal muscles relax, the passive breathing will continue automatically. In other words, after the exhalation, do not inhale through your nose consciously. When you release your stomach, lungs are automatically doing their passive breathing.
•    Right after, exhale forcefully.
•    This breathing exercise uses entire abdominal area, in other words, abdominal cavity. The chest cavity, in the upper region, does not move. In other words, the chest doesn’t expand or contract. You can make sure that you are doing this exercise properly by controlling the stomach muscles moving inwards when exhaling, moving outwards when you relax your stomach muscles.
•    Practice this for 1 minute, and when the time is up, exhale the last breath completely, and activate the Three Main Locks (The activation of the Three Main Locks was explained in the Bhastrika Breathing Technique.) – buraya bhastrika nefesi linkini yedireceğim
•    While the three locks are active, without leaving your comfort zone, stay without breathing as long as possible.
•    When you start feeling that you need to breathe, unlock the three locks, relax, and breathe normally through your nose.
•    1 minute, or, for as long as you need to, rest while your eyes were closed.
•    Don’t forget; during the lock exercises, there shouldn’t be any air in the lungs, and we shouldn’t breathe, either. You should start breathing after you unlock the locks, normally through your nose.
•    It is important to rest before starting on the second set. After the exercise, during the resting period, the resonance of the capillaries will increase, which will also increase in the discharge to clean the cardiovascular system.
•    After you rest, practice for another minute, and at the end of 1 minute, end the exercise by activating the Three Main Locks.
•    If you decide to practice this exercise regularly because you enjoy and see benefits for yourself; during the first week, every day for a minute, and a Three Main Lock activation; rest; 1 more minute of exercise, and finish it with the Three Main Lock activation. In other words, total of 2 minutes.
•    If you believe you can increase your exercise more than 2 minutes per day, during the second week, exercise for 2 minutes, twice. In other words, total of 4 minutes per day.
•    In the third week, 2x3 minutes, total of 6 minutes per day
•    In the fourth week, 2x4 minutes, total of 8 minutes per day
•    And, in the fifth week, 2x5 minutes, you can increase it to total of 10 minutes per day.
•    So, if exercised regularly every day, you can go up to total of 10 minutes, by increasing your exercise by 2 minutes per week.
•    The maximum breath per day in this exercise is 10 minutes, for as long as you live. You may never go beyond this count.

You don’t have to go up to 10 minutes a day. I have been practicing Kapala Bhati in 2x2 minutes per day, totaling up to 4 minutes, for years. And it is definitely enough for me.

You need to know your own body’s needs, and practice it accordingly. You should never push yourself beyond your limits in breathing techniques; as soon as you feel discomfort, you should rest, and should either reduce the number or the practicing time.

Click to watch the video prepared by Ebru Şinik for you.

Be Well, Be Happy

Ebru Sinik -  Ayurvedic Instructor