Morning Pranayama Practice

Namaste, I'm Ali and this will be your morning pranayama routine. This routine is designed to get you energized, to get you ready for your day and to get your Agni going. So Agni in Ayurveda is your digestive fire. So it's best to do this on an empty stomach. If you can use the bathroom before you do this, that's probably a great idea.

And ladies, I'm also just going to say if you're pregnant or you're on the first day or so of your cycle, stay away from this. It's better to take some quieter practices and this is a bit heating and it might be a little too much. I also want to say that pranayama is a very powerful practice. So if at any time during this routine you feel like it's too much, I invite you to stop, to go a little slower, to do a little less or take a shavasana if that's what you need. Take care of your body.

I do recommend watching the tutorial before you begin this practice just so you have a really specific idea of what each breath practice is and what it's useful for. So we're going to start off with two rounds of kapalabhati and there will be 50 breaths in each round. So take a breath in, breathe it out, inhale halfway and begin. And deep breath in, retain. And then a brief pause.

And then we'll begin again, deep breath in, 50 breaths, breathe it out, inhale halfway and begin. Deep breath. Retain the breath in, just feel it traveling up the spine and gentle breath out. And our next practice will be brahmari. We'll do two rounds of 10 breaths each, humming at the back of the throat.

And thenâ?¦ Aum Aum Aum Aum Aum Aum Aum Aum Aum And then just pausing for a moment. This is such a nice breath for calming. And then let's begin again. Breathe in. Aum Aum Aum Aum Aum Aum Aum Aum Aum Aum And pausing.

And our next breath will be Bastrika. So big inhales and exhales, similar to breath of fire, but much bigger. Breathe in. Breathe out. And we'll do two rounds of eight breaths.

And pause. And then just one more round. And pause. Next we'll move into Nadi Shodna with a little bit brisker of a pace than you might usually do it. We'll be doing two rounds of 10 breaths each.

We're going to inhale through the right side first. So bringing your right hand into Vishnu Mudra. Breathe in. Breathe out. And then inhale right.

Breathe in. Breathe in. And let the hand come down. Pause. And then beginning again.

Breathe in. And breathe out. And breathing into the right. And letting the hand come down. And we're going to close with two rounds of Uddiyana Bandha.

So take a really deep breath in. Breathe everything out. And one more time, breathe in. I'm telling you, this one is better than a double espresso. It really gets you going in the morning.

So sit and just observe your breath for a moment. You can let the eyes close. Even have a moment just to be grateful for your breath. And then bringing the hands into Anjali Mudra. Have a beautiful day.

Namaste.