Saturday, March 8, 2014

Yoga Breathing Exercise to Cool the Body & Suppress Hunger - Sitali Pranayama

Relax and sit with your spine straight and close your eyes, watching your breath closely as it enters and exits your body normally. After a minute, roll your tongue lengthwise and extend it outside your mouth, lightly holding it in a hollow straw shape with your lips. Then draw in air in a normal pace through this "air straw", allowing it to fill every nerve and cell in your body with energy. Hold the breath for as long as you are comfortable, then exhale through your nose normally.

When the exhalation is complete, hold the breath for a few seconds and experience the lightness and emptiness of your body without air in your lungs. Then roll your tongue and draw a breath in through it again as before, repeating the cycle up to fifteen times. Here, you should always allow your body and mind to tell you when to stop. At not time are you required to force the completing of recommended cycles. Your body knows best.

Sitali pranayama is unique in that it can temporarily suppress hunger, thirst, cold and tiredness any time you need to by giving your body what it needs. You can use it to cool down the body in hot weather and do without food, water or sleep when you are engaged in a mental or physical activity that requires these effects.

As with all exercises, please consult a medical professional before you begin, specially if you have a condition that needs special care and attention. Pranayama and advanced yoga exercises are best performed under the guidance of a trained teacher.








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