Kapalabhati - International Day of Yoga Celebration - NCSM - Kolkata 2017-06-21 2472

Kapalabhati ( sa, कपालभाति, kapālabhāti, "Skull-polishing") is an important

shatkarma The shatkarmas (Sanskrit: षटकर्म ''ṣaṭkarma'', literally ''six actions''), also known as shatkriyas,hatha yoga Haṭha yoga is a branch of yoga which uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel the vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word हठ ''haṭha'' literally means "force", alluding to a system of physical techniques. Some haṭha ...

. The word kapalabhati is made up of two

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

words: ''kapāla'' meaning "skull", and ''bhāti'' meaning "shining, illuminating". It is intended mainly for cleaning the sinuses but according to the ''

Gheranda Samhita ''Gheranda Samhita'' (IAST: gheraṇḍasaṁhitā, घेरंडसंहिता, meaning “Gheranda's collection”) is a Sanskrit text of Yoga in Hinduism. It is one of the three classic texts of hatha yoga (the other two being the ''Ha ...

'' has magical curative effects.Kapalbhati - Frontal Brain Purification
in ''Yoga Magazine'', a publication of

Bihar School of Yoga The Bihar School of Yoga is a modern school of yoga founded by Satyananda Saraswati in Munger, Bihar, India, in 1963. An Institute of Yogic Studies was created in 1994. History The Bihar School of Yoga was established in 1963 at Munger, in the ...

. There are three forms of Kapalabhati: * ''Vatakrama'', a practice similar to the

pranayama Pranayama is the yogic practice of focusing on breath. In Sanskrit, '' prana'' means "vital life force", and ''yama'' means to gain control. In yoga, breath is associated with ''prana'', thus, pranayama is a means to elevate the '' prana'' ''sha ...

technique of

Bhastrika Bhastrikā is an important breath exercise in yoga and pranayama. It is sometimes treated as a kriya or 'cleansing action' along with kapalabhati to clear the airways in preparation for other pranayama techniques. Bhastrika involves a rapid and fo ...

or "Breath of Fire", except that exhalation is active while inhalation is passive, the opposite of normal breathing. * ''Vyutkrama'', a practice similar to Jala neti, it involves sniffing water through the nostrils and letting it flow down into the mouth, and then spitting it out. * ''Sheetkrama'', essentially the reverse of ''Vyutkrama'', in which water is taken through the mouth and expelled through the nose.

References

{{Yoga Kriyas Shatkarmas Pranayama

See also

References