Stress has become a part of our daily life due to the demanding lifestyle. Even though temporary stress can be beneficial to trigger your potential, consistent high level of stress can wear you down physical and mentally. As per latest medical research chronic stress is responsible for more than 90% of all psychosomatic illnesses. I became a yoga and pranayama teacher at Arhanta Yoga Ashrams. I am going to share with you what I learnt there.

Do you suffer from stress? If you are not sure see if you relate to any of the stress symptoms like:

Low level of energy
Fatigue
Upset stomach
Rapid heartbeat
Sleeping disorder
Aches or pains
Hair or skin problems
Becoming easily agitated
Lack of focus
Feeling overwhelmed

If yes, then read on to find out which three breathing exercises you might want to include in your daily routine to help you get instant stress relief.

Introducing Pranayama

Pranayama comprises of two words Prana (life force) & Ayama (expansion). Together it literally means expansion of life force. It consists of certain breathing exercises to increase our capacity to retain the Prana.

Prana is the life force we need for the functioning of our life activities like breathing, speaking, thinking, digesting, moving & excreting etc. We get Prana from food, water, sun & breath. Prana is necessary for functioning of our nervous system as well as our mind. When there is a lack of Prana these functions also get disturbed.

Pranayama exercises help us to absorb and retain more prana. Most of the pranayama exercises are breathing exercises which instantly bring more prana in the body. According to yogic scriptures pranayama exercises are also very effective in stress relief and rejuvenation of the mental faculties.

Getting Ready

Pranayama should be practiced in a well-ventilated room. You should wear breathable light clothes. The room should be clean and silent. Best times are in the morning half an hour after waking up or in night one hour before sleeping.

3 Easy Pranayama Exercises

Though there are variety of pranayama exercises the following three exercises are suitable for all levels of practitioners.

Kapalbhati: Skull-Shining Breathing

As the name reveals, Kapalbhati – kapal meaning skull and bhati meaning shining, is a breathing exercise which rejuvenates the nervous system with vigorous breathing. It accounts for warming up and cleansing the respiratory system from nose to lungs, strengthening the intercoastal muscles, diaphragm and abdominal muscles. The force movement of the belly massages the internal organs and helps improving digestion. For all these benefits, kapalbhati also finds its place among six kriyas (read more about them above). It is also a preparatory pranayama exercise, an easier and more accessible version of Bhastrika.

Avoid Kapalbhati while pregnant or if you have any abdominal pain. Always be careful if your blood pressure is out of the normal range (both too high or too low) or if you have heart issues.

When ready, get down to a proper seated position and place your hand on your legs. Take an easy breath and forcefully breath out by pushing your belly towards your spine. Then reax your belly. This is one pumping. Repeat this for 30 times. Then take an easy abdominal breath and retain your breath for about 20-30 seconds. Repeat for one or two more sets, increasing the pumping to 40/50 and breath retention to 40 seconds.

Make sure that your inhalation stays natural and easy. As soon as your inhalation turns forceful too, you are approaching a way more powerful practice, a pranayama called Bhastrika (bellow breathing).

You might find Kapalbhati difficult in the beginning but once you get a hold of it you will want to incorporate it in your daily yoga practice to freshen up your mind and warm up your breath.

Anulom Vilom: Alternate Nostril Breathing

Another breathing exercise is Anulom Vilom. In this relatively easy-to-do breathing exercise you alternate inhalation and exhalation between your left and right nostril, using a breath retention in between.

To start the exercise, sit down into a comfortable upright position. Left hand in chin mudra (tips of index finger and thumb touching together), right hand in Vishnu mudra (your index and middle finger bent). Close your right nostril with your right thumb and breath in through your left nostril (count of 4). Then close your left nostril with your ring and/or little finger and hold your breath (count of 8). Release your thumb and breath out through your right nostril (count of 8). Continue this circle for 5-10 minutes. The proper count for beginners is 4:8:8. However, as you progress, you will want to move to the traditional ration of 1:4:2, e.g. 4:16:8 or 5:20:10 where one count can be as long as one second or the speed of your heartbeat.

The benefits of Anulom Vilom are countless. Just to mention a few, it strengthens and cleanses the entire respiratory system as exhalation is two time the inhalation and old air is removed from the lungs. It calms your mind and prepares you well for asana or meditation practice. The exchange of your breath between left and right balances the Yin (lunar, cold energy, left nostril) and Yang (solar, warm energy, right nostril) in your body.

There are basically no huge contraindications to Anulom Vilom. If you are pregnant or suffer from anxiety or high blood pressure, simply skip the retention. Naturally, if your nose is blocked due to allergies or cold you should not push too hard and rather skip this exercise until you can breathe more freely. Swop it then for slow exhalations instead (4 in / 4-16 out).

Gloeilamp Do you have difficulties falling asleep at night? Get down for a few minutes of Anulom Vilom to relax your body, calm your mind and nervous system.

Brahamari: Bumble Bee

Brahamari literally means bumble bee. As the name reveals it is the exercise where we make the sound like bumble bee. This pranayama calms the senses and relaxes the mind immediately. This is a great exercise to relieve the stress as it changes the gamma / beta brain waves (stress waves) into alpha brain waves (relaxation waves).

To practice Brahamari, sit in a comfortable position. Place your little fingers below the lips, ring fingers above the lips, middle fingers on your nostrils, index fingers on your eye lids. This position of the hands is called ‘Shunmukhi mudra’.

Now inhale with a snoring sound, imagine you are making the sound like a monster. Now breath out from your nose with a high pitch sound like bumble bee. Continue this for 15-20 times. This exercise can be practiced daily. It is a gentle yet powerful exercise.

If you practice these three pranayama exercises you will quickly see the difference in your stress levels. Always keep in mind that to get maximum benefit of your pranayama practice you also need to adapt to a light and healthy diet.