Kapalbhati Pranayama For Weight Loss

Kapalbhati Pranayama

It is well-known to everyone how practicing yoga helps everyone. Yoga, which originated in India, has proved to provide a large number of mental and physical health benefits like happiness, sound immunity system, concentration, and inner peace.

One of the most common health benefits of doing yoga is weight loss. Maximum people do yoga to achieve a fit and flexible body. The most efficient yoga that can help you with weight loss is Kapalbhati. This is why it Is always included in all yoga programs, including a 300 hour yoga teacher training in Rishikesh.

Yoga does not offer you a quick-fix solution, but regular practice assists you in achieving a long-term benefit. By practicing Kapalbhati regularly, you can obtain permanent weight loss. But how it assists you in achieving weight loss? Let’s see:

  • Detoxifies your body: Kapalbhati is an extensive breathing method that assists you in removing all toxins. The most crucial body part that burns off your body fat is your liver cleaned perfectly with this breathing method. The exhalation process cleans your liver and assists in efficient fat burning as well as loss in weight.

  • Enhances your rate of metabolism: An increased metabolic rate helps burn your fat which is achieved by doing Kapalbhati regularly. It is responsible for stimulating the working of your endocrine organs, thereby enhancing your rate of metabolism. A rapid metabolism helps convert food and fat into energy, thereby burning calories and enhancing your fat-burning process.

  • Decrease the sugar level of your blood: When your rate of metabolism increases, it also assists in decreasing the sugar level of your blood. When the blood sugar is well controlled, it helps in managing your weight as well.

  • Decreases your appetite: Serotonin is one kind of hormone that helps in decreasing your food cravings and decreases appetite. When you practice kapalbhati regularly, it assists in enhancing your serotonin levels in your brain, thereby helping you avoid fat and heavy food items. This, in turn, decreases your appetite by stimulating your brain and leads to less fat absorption.

  • Assist in burning of your fat in the abdomen: While practicing kapalbhati, the process of inhalation and exhalation works with your abdominal muscles, thereby assisting them in fighting off tight. When you exhale, you are contracting your stomach, and when you inhale, you are relaxing it. This assists you in toning up your waist and burning off the excess fat.

For yoga certification level 1 beginner level training: 200 hour yoga teacher training in Rishikesh

The proper method of doing Kapalbhati.

While you have seen that there are several reasons because of which kapalbhati helps you in losing weight, you must practice incorrect pranayama manners.

When you do it wrong, it does not assist you in achieving the required results. Have a look at the following steps for practicing kapalbhati in the best manner possible:

  • Sit straight on any flat surface with your spine straight and the palm of your knees that faces downward.
  • Your breathing should be impulsive as well as in a rhythm.
  • Now take a deep breath and then exhale forcefully through your nostrils. Ensure your abdominal muscles are contracting towards the inner side of your spinal cord.
  • Now again, keep your stomach muscles loose. This helps you in inhaling air using your nostrils.
  • Now start exhaling using your nostrils by pulling in the muscles of your abdomen.
  • Start inhaling again by keeping your stomach loose. Repeat this method several times.

This is the correct technique of doing Kapalbhati taught in most of the Yoga Schools in Rishikesh. Keep in mind that you might feel a minor soreness around your abdominal muscles initially, but it will go away when you start practicing regularly.

How much Kapalbhati should you do in a day?

If you want to do Kapalbhati for losing weight, it’s essential to practice it many times. But it would help if you never overdid it.

Now the question arises, what is the right count for efficient weight loss? You can start with 45-50 repetitions of inhalation and exhalation at the beginning. One set of kapalbhati is 15 rounds of inhalation and exhalation. You must practice two sets in the beginning and the rest of the 20 in between these sets. Then as days pass by, you can increase the set.

Now lets us know about the best time to practice Kapalbhati.

Kapalbhati practice offers you the maximum benefit when you do it in the early morning and on an empty stomach. You must not eat anything so that your body uses the energy from deposited fat and helps burn it. Or else you can also do kapalbhati 5 hours after you had your last meal. This time gap allows your stomach to digest all food and keep your body relaxed.

Precautions to take while doing kapalbhati pranayama:

There are several considerations as well as precautions for practicing kapalbhati. Keep in mind all these precautions before you start doing Kapalbhati:

  • People having high blood pressure, cardiac problems, and stroke should not do this pranayama.
  • People having respiratory issues should consult their doctor before starting the practice.
  • It is not suitable for people having spinal cord issues.

Other than helping in rapid weight loss, kapalbhati offers you several other health benefits. It has a significant effect on your pancreas, liver, kidneys, along with your mental health.

So, all who want to get rid of extra weight must practice kapabhati rounds daily. It will take time as yoga needs a lot of patience but will give you your desired results on a long-term basis.

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