KapalBhati Pranayama – 5 Minutes To Lose Weight, Regain Lost Health and Remain Healthy

Daily practice of Pranayama includes 7 breathing exercises spanning over 20 minutes. Nevertheless, if you have to choose only one Pranayama out of recommended seven – Kapalbhati is the winner hands-down.

Benefits of Kapalbhati:

Kapalbhati is described as the cure-all remedy available to mankind that works by harmonizing all bodily functions.

When done correctly, Kapalbhati is known to have worked well towards cure and better management of obesity, allergic problems, asthma, sinusitis, snoring, gastric problems, cirrhosis of liver, hepatitis, diabetes, prostate problems, uterus lumps, tremors of all kind, high blood pressure, higher triglycerides, all cancers and AIDS.

Kapalbhati mimics the rapid contraction and expansion of abdominal muscles experienced in whole hearted belly-ripping laughter. Laughter is long known to cure or manage many diseases.

Thus, regular practise of kapalbhati provides similar or better benefits to a good laugh. Again, 5-10 minutes of kapalbhati multiplies manifold the benefits of laughter lasting a few seconds.

All benefits quoted here are from Swami Ramdev’s various sessions and patient testimonials televised live so, it is certainly worth trying before dismissing it as tall claims for one simple breathing exercise.

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.

pregnant women should avoid Kapalbhati. Those suffering from heart disease, general weakness or high blood pressure should do Kapalbhati at an easy and slow pace. Same goes for women going through menstruation period.

How much of kapalbhati:

Recommended duration for kapalbhati is 5 minutes to 10 minutes. Nonetheless, beginners should do only as much as possible and build strength gradually.

1 Minute of kapalbhati is enough to start with. Beginners should aim to do 60 repetitions of kapalbhati every minute. A small break after 30 repetitions of kapalbhati followed by another 30 repetitions is advised.

Increase these times gradually to reach total of 5-10 Minutes of kapalbhati. Never exceed your limitations and take a break as soon as you feel tired or light-headed.

How To Do Kapalbhati:

• 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.

• Exhale forcefully through nose. You should feel your abdominal muscles contract and pull in.
• Without any delay and effort, let your lungs expand and fill in with air naturally.
• Exhale forcefully as earlier.
• Repeat this cycle upto 30 times at the rate of one cycle every second.
• Take a small break and repeat 30 times again.
• Gradually, increase the repeatitions and frequency. After some expreience, kapalbhati at a frequency of 90 cycles per minute upto 10 minutes is done easily. Here is a visual demonstration of kapalbhati by swami Ramdev.