Kapalbhati Pranayama: The Best Mood Elevating Breath Exercise

A combination of Asanas and pranayamas can work wonderfully to detoxify the brain and induce relaxation. Certain pranayamas help not only to keep unhealthy thoughts at bay but also help you to manage yourself better when you are feeling low. Kapalbhati and Shitali pranayamas contribute immensely to mood and impulse management. When you are overwhelmed by the stresses and the daily grind, take time out for these pranayamas to find your calm. Kapalbhati is the king of pranayamas when it comes to stress control, Kapalbhati, in the layman's language, is a rapid breathwork that involves slow inhalation and forceful exhalation using your abdominal position when you are in a seated position.

Shitali And Kapalbhati Pranayama Techniques

Usually when feeling down in the dumps, people experience palpitations and racing pulse. The Shitali and Kapalbhati relax you and bring down your discomfort to a great extent, People who experience depression report broken sleep and feelings of fatigue. By relaxing your mind, yoga for depression helps sleep you better and feel more relaxed.
Kapalbhati encourages the production of serotonin, a chemical that is responsible for elevating the mood as a result of which you will experience elevated levels of self-confidence. Known as cooling breath exercise, Shitali Pranayama and assists you in managing your emotions to achieve better self-control

Shitali Pranayama

1. Sit comfortably in your seat and rest your palms on your knees.
2. Keep your chest and abdomen open,
3. Close your eyes and start breathing,
4. Stick out your tongue and curl it and inhale through the curled tongue,
5. When you feel it is time to stop, you can stop breathing through the tongue and start breathe through your nostrils.

Kapalbhati Pranayama:

This is the most effective prayanama technique that effectively combats your blues by keeping you relaxed and calm without getting bothered by negative thoughts.
1. Sit comfortably and keep your palms on your thighs.
2. Inhale through your nose deeply and forcefully exhale at the same time, thrusting your abdomen.
3. Atleast 10 minutes of Kapalbhati exercise relieves you of considerable amount of stress. Yogis usually practice this to cleanse their brain, Practitioners usually sense an improvement in their pulse rate by a regular practice of Kapal bhati.

3 Major Mistakes That You Should Avoid During Kapalbhati:

1. See that you do it rather slowly and not too forcefully. Inhale fully and then exhale forcefully but not in a jerky fashion. Breathing quickly and fast and also exhale in a jerky way as per a learned source, is bound to destroy memory in the long run.
2. Keep you shoulders relaxed while you are performing kapalbhati. Be Still and relaxed as straining and shuddering your shoulders does not give the expected results and causes more harm,
3. Do not squeeze your face during the Kapalbhati breathwork, Squinting eyes is another mistake you should not do during breathwork, It will only create creases in your face,
4. Sitting erect and not slouching is an extremely important part of Kapalbhati as the erect stance provides maximum oxygen supply. Otherwise, Kapalbhati fails to make any impact on your moods and health,
5. Keep your eyes closed during the entire procedure as it helps you to focus better inwards and achieve the inner balance

Kapalbhati Pranayama should be done daily for detoxify and cleanse your mind, To see a visible effect in your mental status, work on completing 100-300 strokes of Kapalbhati on an every day basis,