The only thing that the mind and body will obey every single time is our breath. To breathe in different rhythms and depths is to remember that our body has everything that we need to shift our mental, physical, and spiritual state.

Sat Nam, I am Melanie Santos, wholistic educator, creator, and Kundalini Yoga priestess, and I’m here to teach you some very simple but powerful pranayam or breathing techniques that have countless benefits but overall, will bring you back to your center when you need it most.

The first is a foundational breathing technique in Kundalini Yoga, Breath of Fire.

Breath of Fire is done through your nose. It’s a rapid, rhythmic, continuous, and equal on the inhale and the exhale, with no pause in between.

It is a powerful breath that works with the navel and solar plexus, our third chakra or energy center thats all about will, personal power, self-esteem, and self-confidence.

Some of the benefits include

• expanding lung capacity

• repairing the balance between our sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems

• adjusting our subtle energy, electromagnetic and auric field, and energizing our blood

• increasing oxygen delivery to the brain leading us to more clarity, focus, and grounding

For me, it’s a practice I cannot go a day without. You can begin practicing Breath of Fire for 1-3 minutes a day which is what we’re about to do here. Please note that some report initial dizziness and lightheadedness in the beginning – this is normal and could be connected to your body becoming adjusted to the breathing AND the release of mental, physical, and energetic toxins. Just take a break.

Breath of Fire looks like equal inhales, equal exhales, and not pumping of the navel, but allowing the navel to move with your breath

One of the easiest ways to understand this flow is by sticking your tongue out, and with a strong breath pant like a dog. Keep panting for a few seconds then close your mouth and keep panting. That’s the equalized breathing that we want.

Another breathing technique that uses Breath of Fire as the base, Ego Eradicator. And it does just that…

Ego Eradicator has all of the benefits of Breath of Fire plus it consolidates our magnetic field and brings both hemispheres of the brain and body (the left and right, the ida and the pingala) back to center, and back to clarity and conscious alertness.

These pranayam exercises can also be done standing if you cannot sit like this) But sitting in easy pose , spine straight, neck long and slightly tucked…

• Curl your fingertips onto the pads of your palms, with the thumbs stretched long, almost uncomfortably.

• Then raise the arms up to a 60-degree angle

• Keep the elbows straight, shoulders down, and let your thumbs aim at each other above your head

• With your eyes closed gazing at the center of your brow

• Begin Breath of Fire

TO CLOSE

• Inhale deeply, bring your thumbs together above your head, and open your fingers wide

• Hold and suspend your breath, then exhale deeply

• Give yourself a moment to sit and integrate