Roshi's Raw Lifestyle » yoga

sheetali pranayama

rishi — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 01:17:57 +0000

Sheetali pranayama is a breathing technique to reduce heat in the body. It is often referred to as the “Cooling Breath”. Using the cooling tendencies of the tongue, sheetali pranayama only allows cool, relaxed breaths to enter the body. These breaths have the effect of lowering the temperature of the body, as well as cooling the mind. People with disorders resulting from excess heat in the body/mind, such as high blood pressure, acidity, or ulcers will benefit greatly from the daily practice of this pranayama. Remember, since this technique is very cooling to the body, it is preferrable to practice it in warm weather compared to cold weather.

For further reading, check out these links:
http://yogashaastra.blogspot.com/2008/05/beat-heat-with-sheetali-sheetkari.html
http://www.healthandyoga.com/HTML/news/sheetali.html
http://living.oneindia.in/yoga-spirituality/yoga/sheetali-surya-bhedan-pranayama.html

–Rishi

pranayama posture photos

rishi — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:09:32 +0000

I just thought I’d post up a few pictures of the postures I demonstrate in the videos to make them as clear as possible.

Upright Sitting Posture
This posture is for those who have trouble sitting in any of the other postures. Notice that I am not resting my back against the backrest, but am sitting away from the chair with my spine straight and shoulders back.

Vajrasana (Lighting Bolt Posture)
Here you can see I have my knees together and my ankles together, and I am sitting down on my heels. My hands rest on my knees, and again I am keeping my shoulders back, opening my chest and allowing my breath to flow deeply. My spine is also naturally uplifted in this posture.

Sukhasana (Easy Posture)
This is a normal cross-legged sitting position. However, you can see that I am taking care to keep my spine as straight as possible, and my shoulders back. My knees are out farther than in the other cross-legged postures, so there is less stress on them. Still it is not as easy for me to stay upright in this posture for as long as in the other cross-legged postures.

Ardho Padmasana (Half-Lotus Posture)
Half-Lotus eases some of the stress on my lower back and allows for the natural uplifting of the spine which occurs in vajrasana. However, it requires more flexibility in the knees and ankles than sukhasana. If there is enough flexibility, one can stay in this posture for pro-longed periods of time, with little difficulty.

Padmasana (Full-Lotus Posture)
Full-Lotus is the most difficult of these posture to achieve because it requires great flexibility in the knees, ankles, and hips. If it can be maintained without discomfort, however, it is the most comfortable seated position for prolonged periods of time. The spine is completely uplifted, and the sit bones create a natural platform to hold your body’s weight. Even the hardest surface is comfortable for padmasana.

I hope these photos clear up some of the questions people have asked me. If you would like any further clarification, feel free to send me an email.

–Rishi

series of pranayama videos

rishi — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:25:43 +0000

Since I got back from India, I’ve been wanting to do a series of videos on pranayama, since most of the videos I found that actually explained the techniques well were in Hindi. Now that I finally have some free time, I’m going to really get these started. I’ll try to make these as easy to follow and as full of useful information as possible. I won’t go into too much detail, however, because there is a lot of supplemental info about pranayama all over the web.

So here they are, the first two videos in our series on pranayama:

Pranayama – Part 1: Introduction

Pranayama – Part 2: How to Sit

If you have any comments or questions about the videos, please leave them below.

I hope you enjoy these!

–Rishi