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Please be sure that you are comfortable and confident
in practicing Abdominal Breath and
Ujjayi Breath before trying Breath
of Fire.
Breath of Fire is a vigorous,
very fast-paced breath from your navel center. It requires some
coordination to pull off. It would be extremely difficult to learn
the breath solely from this website or any book. Hopefully, you
also have a qualified teacher who can watch you in the breath. I’ll
give you the basic directions and some keys to focus upon to develop
your practice more fully at home. As you learn Kapalabhati
and Bhastrika, Breath of Fire will
get easier. These three form the core of vigorous pranayama practice.
Since they use similar musculature and coordination, learning one
will reinforce the others. Breath of Fire is not unlike breathing
by performing a drum with your abdominal sheath.
Step-by-step Directions for Breath of Fire:
- Sit tall in a comfortable position.
Be sure your hips are turned so your sit bones are back and your
lumbar spine arches forward in a natural, gentle curve
- Apply chin lock, eye lock, heart lock and tongue
lock throughout the practice
- Take two long, slow Ujjayi Breaths to prepare for
the round of breath
- Inhale a third time filling the lungs fully. Pull
Mula Bhanda if you are familiar with it, and keep it in place
throughout the round
- Begin to breathe by moving your abdominal sheath
in and out. A few things happen pretty much simultaneously to
make this happen:
a. Focus your attention in your navel center, approximately two
inches below your belly button
b. Pull your belly in strongly from your navel center to push
air out your nose
c. Keep a strong, chin lock
d. Do not pause; go right on to an inhale by pushing your abdominal
sheath forward from your navel center
- With no pauses between inhale and exhale, or vice
versa, continue to breathe through your nose. Be certain that
the power for this breath comes from your abdominal muscles at
your navel center
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- Try to let the movement of your abdominal sheath
increase speed and hence the breath speed up. At first, you’ll
probably feel yourself moving your abdominal muscles in and out.
Try to step out of your own way so that they are moving faster
and faster, until it feels as if they are moving of their own
accord. However, keep the breath powerful and from down low in
your belly
- Troubleshooting Breath of Fire:
a. If the breath seems to be just up in your nose and nasal passages,
then take a break. Breathe a couple of deep Ujjayi breath, and
try again
b. If your lose coordination to keep breathing from your belly
do likewise (as in “a”).
c. If it doesn’t stay low in your belly and strong, practice
some of the other pranayama breaths (Abdominal
Breath, Ujjayi Breath, Kapalabhati,
Bhastrika and Nauli
Kriya), and then try again
- Maintain the breath for a minute to start. Gradually,
work up to 3 minutes or longer
- As you work up to longer times (above two minutes),
you might periodically slow your tempo gradually to go from Breath
of Fire to Bhastrika for 10 seconds or so, and then gradually
speed back up to a fast, powerful Breath of Fire. This is useful
for working on breath control, and lung capacity
- Take a few long, deep cycles of Ujjayi Breath before
moving on
It is not uncommon to feel light-headed during or
after Breath of Fire. If you do, just rest in Child’s
Pose or Savasana
before moving on.
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