Fire of breath breathing technique

This blog is in continuation of my previous week blog on the benefits of deep breathing practice. This blog covers the physiological and psychic aspects of the ‘fire of breath’’ or kapalabathi breathing practice. Please refer elsewhere to a right source of information if you would like to learn how to perform the practice.

Stage 1: If you have learned the fire of breath breathing technique then you must be aware of the four stages of this breathing practice. The forceful exhalation is like a saw tooth waveform where we consciously force our exhalation without paying any attention to the inhale process. There is a good chance to move on to stage two (automatic stoppage of breath) if one maintains above 120 strokes. Stroke rate is the number of forceful exhales in a given duration of time. Personally, I feel that 60 strokes/minute continued for 2 minutes take us to the stage two.

Stage 2: The automatic process of breathing is controlled by Hypothalamus. Even now, the hypothalamus controls our breathing involuntarily as we are engaged in reading this blog consciously. The brain experiences surplus oxygen due to the stage 1 practice. This is due to the piston movement of the diaphragm muscleof stage 1 breathing practice. Hypothalamus stops the breathing process due to the surplus oxygen in the brain cells. This automatic stoppage of breath is technically called as Kevala Kumbak . This is a beautiful meditative state and one experiences a glimpse of Samadhi. Really a power state!!

Stage 3: The third stage is the recovery of breath and the hypothalamus tries to reconstruct the breathing process as it experiences the decrease in the level of oxygen from its maximum level. Again, one can experiences strikingly the period of reconstruct which is really slow with a long duration and gradual increase in the amplitude levels. It is as good as experiencing the characteristics of the hypothalamus. What a wonderful way to experience our own internal device which controls our involuntary breathing mechanism??

Stage 4: Stage four is building up of periodicity with rhythmic sinusoidal wave with raising and falling of breathing by successive inhale& exhale. Once , we reach this stage , the awareness on natural rhythm of the breathing heightens up & hence the clarity of the breathing appears to be lot more better after the fire of breath practice.

Physiological effects: The respiratory system functionality is optimised by this breathing practice. This is mainly due to the piston movement of the diaphragm muscle that is involved in the practice. An effective respiratory system improves the endurance level mainly due to the increased oxygen intake. Also, the energy level is higher due to the good supply of oxygen to the every cells of the body.

Physic effect: Both the automatic stoppage of breath as well as the recovery phase take us to a kind of meditative state. The awareness as well as our own attention faculty improve in this state. This allows one to stay in a “present moment of awareness”.

Are you experiencing all the four stages of this practice clearly and distinctively? Please try it out. It is a powerful energising breathing practice.