Sheetali Pranayam – cooling breath

Welcome to our yogic teachings video series. I am very happy to share with you the beautiful and powerful ancient teachings from the science of yoga. These are very practical tips that anyone can and should use throughout the day as needed.

Most of these teachings come from the tradition of Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan. As we move forward with the videos we`ll also introduce beautiful teachings from other great yogic lineages.

Let`s talk about “how to stay cool” during our first yoga video!

For this we will use a very old breathing technique called “Sheetali Pranayam” – the Cooling Breath. This breathing exercise comes in handy when you are feeling overheated, especially during hot weather.

How to do it: stick the tongue out without straining and roll the sides of the tongue upwards and inwards, with the edges almost touching each other so that it forms a tube. The tip of the tongue should be outside of the mouth. Inhale slowly through the rolled tongue, hold briefly, exhale slowly through the nose. Repeat as needed. Maximum 50 times.

When the breath goes through the mouth, evaporation of the moisture on the tongue and the inner surfaces of the mouth cools the air. This cools the blood vessels throughout the lungs, which in turn eliminates excess body heat.

This type of pranayama cools down the body and also the mind. Other benefits are: helps the muscles relax, can be used to induce sleep, soothes away any mental tension and brings in tranquility, has an effect on the brain centers associated with biological drives and temperature regulation, reduces inflammation and fever, purifies the blood, improves digestion, eliminating peptic and mouth ulcers.

Feel free to use Sheetali Pranayam during day to day activities, in a clean environment, whenever the outside temperature is very hot. This will help you stay cool!

Use these teachings outside the yoga studio, applying them in your life as needed. This is the beauty of it! Yoga is designed to keep you healthy and happy!

If this helped you, please share these yoga and meditation videos with your friends and family.

Blessings!

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