Step-by-Step
Instructions for Nauli Kriya:
Once in the stance shown above:
- Put Jalandhara Bhanda in place
- Take two full, slow Abdominal breaths
- Inhale through your nose deep into your belly, expanding as
much as possible all the way around your lower torso
- Exhale strongly and audibly from your mouth. Feel free to roar
as you exhale. Push all the air out of your lungs
- Next, we use Uddiyana Bhanda, also
known as the abdominal lift, to empty the abdominal/pelvic cavity
as much as possible. This requires two steps, which together take
place in about a second or two:
a. Pull your abdominal muscles inward and upward as much as possible.
Pull from your pelvis all the way up to your sternum, and side
to side as far as possible. Imagine you are pulling your abdomen
up under your ribcage. Continue holding without breath
b. Now, to pull in further you’ll create a vacuum above
your belly by expanding the muscles all around your ribcage. Hold
your throat closed to prevent inadvertent inhalation, then expand
your chest as though you were inhaling. Expand from the bottom
to top of your chest 360° around. Keep your diaphragm and
abdominal muscles lifted, but do not hold them rigidly. You should
feel your diaphragm being sucked up by the vacuum created by expanding
your empty lungs
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- Keep your abdomen lifted and focus your attention on your rectus
abdominis. That’s the center ridge of muscle running up
and down your belly
- Try to keep the rest of your abdomen lifted maximally while
you isolate and move your rectus abdominis. Don’t be
discouraged if this is difficult at first. The intention is more
critical than the result. Here are some options as you grow
into the practice:
a. Try to move the center ridge of your abdominal muscles
(rectus abdominis) in small circles {see
the Newcomer's Hint below for some early
steps to work your way into this practice.}
b. If you feel comfortable and confident with the circular movement,
try to isolate the rectus abdominis and push forward
c. Next, try to push the center ridge to one side then the other.
Pressing the opposite hand into the knee can facilitate this movement.
For instance, as you push the rectus abdominis to the left, you
push the right hand down into the right knee
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d. Finally, try to isolate, push forward and wave the center ridge
from side to side.
This is a rather advanced practice, and can take years of
hard work to master. Fortunately, all of the benefits of Nauli
Kriya begin to be derived from practicing up to step “a”
above.
- Relax your abdominal muscles completely and inhale as described
in step 3, above
- Repeat steps 3 – 8 for a total of 7 to 12 repetitions
- Rest in a standing forward bend, or in Child’s pose
Clearly, the limiting factor to the length of one cycle of Nauli
Kriya is your ability to hold without breath. Although, it is a
complex practice, one repetition does not take very long. To start,
you may be holding without breath for 5 to 10 seconds.
Newcomer's Hint: Here
are some options as you grow into the practice:
To start, try to move the center ridge of your abdominal muscles
(rectus abdominis) in small circles.
a. Look down and imagine the face of a clock parallel with the plane
of the floor with the center ridge of your muscles at the center
of this clock
b. Focus and isolate just this center ridge of muscles
c. Roll them in very small circles, first clockwise, then counter-clockwise
d. These circles will be an inch or two in diameter
e. You probably won’t circle more than two or three times
each way, since, remember, this is all while holding without breath.
f. It takes place in five seconds or so
Caution: anyone
with a history of high blood pressure, hernias or ulcers should
not practice Nauli Kriya. The same is true for women who are pregnant.
All women should read and follow the precautions recommended in
the article on Women's Health and Pranayama.
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