Bahya Pranayama – A Cure For All Abdominal Problems, Diabetes and Hernia

Bahya pranayama is the 3rd one among recommended 7 breathing exercises. 20 minutes is all it takes to complete these 7 exercises. Bahya pranayama should be done immediately after kapalbhati pranayama as two of these work in synergy to complement each other’s effects.

Benefits of Bahya pranayama:

Bahya pranayama is beneficial for all abdominal problems like constipation, irregular stools, heartburn etc. Done properly, it also works well on hernia, urinary diseases, prostate problems, Uterine prolapse and blocked fallopian tubes. Bahya pranayama is also known to work well towards better management and cure of all types of Diabetes.

Precautions:

Pranayama should be done on empty stomach. Having a gap of 5 hours after a full meal is advised. For this reason, Best time for pranayama is early morning after freshening up.

Heart patients and those with Colitis should NOT do Bahya pranayama. High BP (blood pressure) patients may do this pranayama only if there BP is in control with medications – that too only once lasting 10-15 seconds. If the BP is not in control, they too should avoid this.

How much of Bahya Pranayama:

Bahya Pranayama should be done at least 3 times by everybody to maintain good health. However, those suffering from abdominal problems except colitis, hernia, urinary diseases, prostate problems, uterine prolapse, blocked fallopian tubes and diabetes may do this pranayama up to 21 times.

Start with 3 repetitions of Bahya pranayama and increase gradually to desired number of repetitions. Never go beyond your physical limits and stop as soon as you feel tired.

How to do Bahya Pranayama:

• Sit comfortably but erect; either in Sukhasana or Padmasana. If either of these is not possible; you might use a chair with straight back. Either way, keep your back straight and eyes closed.

• Breathe in through nose forcefully – You’ll feel your diaphragm expand and move down thus forcing abdomen out, this will be followed by your chest expanding, followed by rising up of collar bone. At this time, there is no more space for air and your lungs are fully expanded.
• Hold your breath for a fraction of second and breathe out through your nostrils forcefully, but uniformly. Collar bone will drop first, followed by chest deflating and abdomen getting pulled in with deflation of diaphragm.
• At this point, hold your breath out and apply three physical ‘locks’ known as ‘bandhas’ in given order to retain this position.
  1. Mula bandha: Also known as root lock as it involves contraction and lifting up of body from the anus to the navel towards the spine. The muscle contracted is neither the anal sphincter nor the muscle that controls urination, but the muscle equidistant between the two.
  2. Uddiyana Bandha: Also known as abdominal lock. Pull your stomach in and up under the rib cage such that stomach and back seem to touch each other from inside.
  3. Jalandhar Bandha: Drop down head slightly to touch your chin to the chest as if trying to look at your feet while pushing tongue against the palate in mouth.
• Wait for a few seconds. Then breathe in deeply releasing all three locks in reverse order of locking.
• Repeat as many times as comfortable while remaining within the suggested number of repetitions. Here is a visual demonstration of Bahya pranayama by Swami Ramdev.