Sitali and Brahmari

by anandena

The fourth limb of Patanjali’s Ashtanga yoga system is pranayama, or restraint of the breath and life force of the body. By giving boundaries to the breath through these breathing practices, the life force or prana becomes more vital, we feel expansive and more present in the body.

In our asana practice, we practice ujjayi breath, a breath where we constrict the back of the throat. A slight whispering sound is produced in the back of the throat. This builds heat during the asana practice and the audible nature of the throat also helps to keep our attention focused.

It is important to practice pranayama besides ujjayi breath. Today we will focus upon two practices, sitali and brahmari.

Start your pranayama practice by sitting up nice and tall, perhaps on a cushion, so that your hips are higher than your knees. Relax your shoulders and close your eyes.

Sitali is a cooling breath which calms and focuses the mind. Bring the tongue close to the roof of the mouth. If you can, roll your tongue into a tube with the edges curled up. If you can’t roll your tongue (don’t worry, I can’t either!), simply keep the tongue flat close to the roof of the mouth. (The practice is then called sitkari if the tongue is flat). Suck the air in through your mouth bringing the air across the tongue. It will make a sucking sound. Now if you are just practicing sitali, you could simply exhale through your nose. However, today we are going to link sitali with brahmari breath.

For brahmari you exhale through your nose making a buzzing sound in the back of your throat like a bee. In fact, brahmari means bee! Brahmari reduces anxiety as it helps to lengthen the exhalation. The vibration also helps us to practice nada yoga, or deep inner listening, where we connect to the sound of subtle vibrations going on within us and throughout the universe all of the time. When you need to inhale, again practice sitali.

Do about 10 rounds of sitali and brahmari, then breathe evenly in and out of your nose for a few minutes. Feel present in the breath, body and mind. My teacher Sharon Gannon always reminds us that each breath we take in has been breathed before by countless beings — let the practice of breathing consciously remind you of your connection to every being on this great earth.