KAPALABHATI
PURPOSE
Kapalabhati can help us notice and re-map our relationship with the transverse abdominal muscles and the pelvic -floor. As a breathing technique it is described differently in different texts. Here we use the exhalation as the active part of the breath and the inhalation is passive.
APPROACHING THE TECHNIQUE
- Sit in a comfortable position and place the fingertips half way between the navel and the pubic bone.
- Imagine you are blowing out a candle flame with one short sharp breath. Feel what your abdominal muscles do. They should move in ( A few people find that the muscles move out instead, which is a very inefficient way of expelling air) The main muscle involved here is the transverse abdominal. It squeezes in, forcing the contents of the abdomen to move up against the diaphragm which in turn pushes on the lungs from below and forces air out of them.
- Practice blowing out your imagined candle five to ten times with a seconds pause in-between each one, each time with a sharp inward contraction of the abdomen. The in-breath comes in passively if you relax the abdomen between each exhalation. With practice, you should be able to blow out the candle many times without running out of breath.
- When you can do at least 20 exhalations comfortably, repeat the process but breathe out through the nose instead of the mouth, this is Kapalabhati.
POINTS TO NOTE
If the ideas of blowing out a candle does not work, you can try making a “ha” sound which will produce a similar response in the diaphragm.
It is also worth attempting to draw the abdomen in and up lifting pelvic floor with the exhalation ( like a tube of tooth paste being squeezed from below) but do not keep them continually lifted, rather contract and release with the abdominal muscles. This will help bring some tone to the pelvic floor as well as the abdominal muscles.