What do you want from your life? Is it wealth, a happy family, an elite lifestyle, and above all mental satisfaction and inner peace? Yes, these are the fundamentals of what we are living. But have you ever pondered what is the main factor that makes you gain all these things in your life?
Let us tell you about- its health!
If you wanna be a real-life gamer, you first have to develop a healthy mind and a healthy body. For that yoga is something you would definitely have to go for! Yoga is a set of physical, spiritual, and mental exercises that one practices for well-being.
It not only helps you in reducing stress and maintaining mental asylum but also promotes good physical and psychological health.
Keeping your health in mind today we bring to you the best of the best yoga asana the Kapalbhati Pranayam or simply Pranayama- because we care. Read on to know all about Kapalbhati Pranayam if you really care about yourself and want to add meaning to your life.
What is Kapalbhati
Kapalbhati Pranayam is a type of yogic breath that involves a set of breathing techniques to promote overall wellbeing and good health.
The words Kapalbhati and Pranayam are of Sanskrit origin where Kapalbhati stands for shining forehead while Pranayam means breathing exercise, making an overall definition as “forehead shining breathing technique”. It is called so because the regular practice of Kapalbhati gives you a shining forehead and bright intellect, thereby, improving your overall mental health and well-being.
Kapalbhati is an important aspect of yoga and being one of the best yogic techniques; it requires one to sit in a particular pose to perform breathing exercises so to keep people healthy and pure.
Although Kapalbhati requires minimal effort to perform, it offers surplus benefits. Pranayama is a kriya technique that cleanses your body by eliminating toxic air from it. This cleansing leads to a plethora of benefits concerning your mental and physical health.
Hence, practicing Kapalbhati keeps you healthy in mind, body, and spirit, but to describe to you in detail all the benefits of Kapalbhati Pranayama, we have managed a detailed guide for you in next, so, let’s get straight into it!
Benefits
Follows is a key list regarding the benefits of Kapalbhati Pranayama it offers to those who perform it. What are those? Have a look!
- Through Kapalbhati aging process slows down.
- It also prevents hair loss.
- Kapalbhati improves kidney and liver functioning.
- Kapalbhati Pranayam is very useful in curing sinusitis, wheezing, and asthma.
- Practicing Kapalbhati, as the name suggests, will give you a natural facial glow.
- Kapalbhati cures uterine fibroids, acne, and insomnia and also treats varicose veins.
- Kapalbhati benefits your eyes by relieving stress from them and removing dark circles.
- Pranayama exercises improve your overall memory by activating your brain/ nerve cells.
- This yoga asana increases your body’s calcium levels, thereby strengthening your bones.
- The techniques of Kapalbhati help you lower your weight by increasing your metabolic rate.
- Pranayama exercises produce heat in your body that dissolves toxins and other harmful elements.
- Pranayama ensures good blood circulation along with improved digestion. This helps in lowering the chances of heartburn, acidity, gas, and related gastric problems.
- It also benefits diabetic patients as it helps regulate abdominal organs and stimulate the pancreas.
- The yogic exercises of Kapalbhati revive your brain and rejuvenate your nerves, making you feel calm because it uplifts your mind energy.
- Kapalbhati Pranayama helps you in establishing sensibility by activating your body and removing lethargy, making you feel fresh, pure, and clear.
- As it’s a breathing exercise, so it strengthens your lungs and increases their net capacity to make them healthy.
- If you’re a Fred’s Forgettrey, Kapalbhati is best for you. It helps you establish a strong concentration power with proper checks of forgetfulness.
- It flushes out the negativity by boosting the production of endorphins, making you fill with positivity.
- Lastly, but not least, Kapalbhati provides spiritual benefits too. It helps you in gaining a higher and greater awakening by activating chakras in your body.
Organismic Benefits
Kapalbhati Pranayama, as discussed in the list above, has distinct mental, physical, and spiritual benefits. Down there are some specific organismic benefits Kapalbhati offers.
Boost Brain Power
The benefits of Kapalbhati for the brain include:
- Kapalbhati benefits your mind by stimulating your nerves, energizing your brain, and de-cluttering your mind.
- It helps you in achieving mental peace with sensibility and a sense of balance.
- It also improves your memory by activating memory cells. This helps you gain a better concentration level.
Skin Treatment
Kapalbhati Pranayama’s benefits for skin include:
- It helps prevent acne and pimples.
- Toxins elimination.
- The slow aging process.
- It gives a radiant glow to your skin by clearing the clogged skin pores from dust and dirt.
Promote Hair Growth
The benefits of Kapalbhati Pranayama for a healthy hair tone are:
- Kapalbhati increases blood flow to the hair scalp and strengthens your hair roots. This eventually prevents hair loss.
Increase Lung Capacity
The benefits of Kapalbhati for your lungs are:
- The forceful breathing used in Kapalbhati strengthens your lungs and increases their capacity.
- It also removes blockages, if any, from the lungs.
Help in Weight loss
The benefits of Kapalbhati for weight loss are:
- It helps in reducing abdominal weight.
- It tones your abdominal muscles, thereby, increasing core abdominal strength.
- Overall, it helps in fighting obesity.
Best for Diabetes
Kapalbhati is so very beneficial for diabetic patients, as it:
- Lowers blood sugar level by stimulating the pancreas. Stimulation of the pancreas helps gain a sufficient insulin level reduces stress and proves to be a significant barrier to a patient’s blood sugar level.
Stomach Friendly
The benefits of Kapalbhati for the stomach include:
- Practicing Kapalbhati regularly helps relieve constipation.
- It improves the digestive system and regulates the stomach, thereby lowering the chances of heartburn, acidity, gas, and related gastric problems.
Types
There are three types of Kapalbhati Pranayama. They are as follows:
Vatakrama Kapalbhati
Vatakrama Kapalbhati requires you to sit cross-legged on a mat or floor to breathe. Breathing should be in the form where inhalation should be passive, whereas; exhalation should be active.
Futurama Kapalbhati
In Vyutkrama Kapalbhati, you have to sniff in water via your nostrils and have to let it flow to your oral cavity (mouth). As the water reaches your mouth, you have to spit it out through your lips finally.
Sheetkrama Kapalbhati
Across from Vyutkrama Kapalbhati is Sheetkrama Kapalbhati. In this type of Kapalbhati, you have to take in water through your mouth that should be expelled via your nostrils.
Side Effects
- Kapalbhati exercises may make you fall prey to hypertension and hernia.
- A vomiting sensation can be felt as a result of Kapalbhati Pranayama.
- Pranayama may cause headaches and dizziness.
- It can also cause excessive perspiration and salivation.
- Side effects may include a dried mouth.
Precautions
- Don’t practice Kapalbhati if you have an ulcer.
- Don’t practice Kapalbhati with an empty stomach.
- If you have a slipped disc or you’re up to with a stent, then avoid too.
- Avoid doing Kapalbhati if you’re pregnant or the menstrual cycle is going on.
- Limitations should be kept in mind while performing Kapalbhati Pranayama.
- If you are a heart patient slow down your breathing exercise. It shouldn’t be very strenuous.
- Learn Kapalbhati Pranayama should be learned from a certified yoga teacher, and it should be implied after a health checkup is done.
- Beware during breathing exercises if you have respiratory disorders like asthma and bronchitis etc.
