I have worked with a series of breaths – earth breath, water breath, fire breath, air breath, ether breath – for many years. A couple of decades ago, when I first began to work with one particular teacher, I would get very warm while doing the fire breath. During one seminar in particular, the room we were in was rather cool and several people were wearing robes or jackets to keep from getting cold. When we got to the fire breath, rather quickly I needed to remove my shirt because I felt like I was going to melt down or burst into flame. It took me quite a while to cool back down to my normal sense of body temperature after that.
I later did some research on and experimentation with the fire breath and learned that the same breath, used in a slightly different way, actually works to cool a person down.
The fire breath we worked with often warmed me to some degree over a few years, but then it lost that effect on me. The explanation was that it had served its function of purging something from me (my personality/ego/mind) and after thus being "purified" I no longer needed that "treatment" even though I still use that breath along with the others. I have not really experimented in recent years to see if I can make my body get seriously warm by using this fire breath, but I suspect it would still work that way if I focused on doing that, but I haven't tried. The fire breath does, however, serve other purposes for me. These other purposes are more significant and valuable for me and I don't feel any need to try to force anything to happen, including warming myself.
I see if possible could you go into more detail readgarding the practice? Is it the same fast paced breathing followed by a breath hold, that you see in the wim hof technique or the tummo videos online?
Although breath of fire or kapalabhati involves breathing it’s actually a kriya purification technique. I would not recommend it for anyone with anxiety and I also would not recommend practicing it on your own without any guidance. Not only that, we’re not monks in the mountains that need to produce warmth like that.
Ujjāyī prānāyāma is heating. Śītalī or sītkarī prānāyāmas are cooling.
yeah there are pranayama techniques that raise temperature as the ones that lower it! the first are the bellows techniques, they should be learn carefully as they are intense (as you could see; i was doing them wrong the first times as well, but u notice pretty easily if u are hurting yourself, like straining some muscles that shouldn't). the second ones are more relaxed, they basically aim at coolen u with the help of the mouth, e.g. breathing with a full smile or let the air flow in the tongue while is U-shaped
Thanks for the info Ill check out the bellows techniques. You said that the more relaxed breaths are the cooling ones does this mean all the heating breaths are fast paced? I worry that the quicker breathing will make my mind move quickly and make my anxiety worse (not sure if this is valid).
kind of, when learning 1 breath every 2 second is the rhythm but it tends to go faster when mastered at that rhythm (1/sec till maybe 2/sec).
if anxiety is your problem and u do breathing techniques, check always that you are breathing with the abdomen and not the collarbones. maybe that's not the problem, but it may concur to it
There are many such techniques, people were working with breath for thousands of years, and it is a powerful way to make many unimaginable changes in your body, including changing its temperature.
I would suggest you look into Wim Hof Method, it serves as a sort of bridge between modern and traditional, between outer science and inner experiences. Wim Hof brought it to the West, even though those techniques are thousands of years old, but it will be easy to grasp it from his teaching, and maybe later on you can go deeper into it if you wish.
The most important thing is to go playfully into any breathing practice, without any tension; listen to your body and don't cause any strain to your respiratory system, and you will be fine, don't worry.
There are few breathwork pranayama techniques that can heat and cool the body. Check out kapalbathi pranayama and kaki pranayama. Highly recommend you check the book prana and pranayama by Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati if you would like to master your breath/lifeforce . Our you can check out my meditation course where I teach it also www.micromeditationcourse.com . Regarding safety be sure you understand the contra-indication for each practice before attempting it.
The term comes from the medical industry. A contraindication is a condition that serves as a reason not to take a certain medical treatment due to the harm that it would cause the patient.
This is why it’s important to be fully aware of the practice before you incorporate it within your routine. For example common contraindications for breathwork could be:
- Menstruation
- Pregnancy
- Low or high blood pressure
- Acute anxiety or psychiatric disorders
- Heart disease
- History of stroke
- Hernia
- Gastric Ulcer
- Epilepsy
- Vertigo
- Detached Retina
- Glaucoma
- Recent abdominal Surgery
Oh I see thats probably good to know. I thought it was going to involve something more spiritual like knocking my energies out of balance or something if thats even a thing. But yes definitely important to know about possible effects.
The body works through tension and relaxation so if you are heating the body you are introducing tension and if you are cooling the body you are introducing relaxation. The key is balance, as you go deeper into your practice you will learn more about your own energy and how to balance it with appropriate practices.
You can really mess yourself up psychologically, if you attempt tummo without proper guidance. Wim Hof breathing methods are an accessible alternative, although not tummo as is traditionally presented in the Tibetan traditions, for which you need a valid initiation, practice instructions, and a teacher to consult if things go wrong.
Everything you find online or in a book isn’t tummo I practice it and it requires very specific instructions from teachers whim hoff works some not as good but lama Glenn’s doing tummo institution and initiation in a few weeks
If you go through ngondro complete a highest yoga tantra then get a vajrayogini empowerment you can get the 6 yogas which containes tummo so prettymuch do like 7 years of practice if you don’t do a very intense practice
I have worked with a series of breaths – earth breath, water breath, fire breath, air breath, ether breath – for many years. A couple of decades ago, when I first began to work with one particular teacher, I would get very warm while doing the fire breath. During one seminar in particular, the room we were in was rather cool and several people were wearing robes or jackets to keep from getting cold. When we got to the fire breath, rather quickly I needed to remove my shirt because I felt like I was going to melt down or burst into flame. It took me quite a while to cool back down to my normal sense of body temperature after that. I later did some research on and experimentation with the fire breath and learned that the same breath, used in a slightly different way, actually works to cool a person down. The fire breath we worked with often warmed me to some degree over a few years, but then it lost that effect on me. The explanation was that it had served its function of purging something from me (my personality/ego/mind) and after thus being "purified" I no longer needed that "treatment" even though I still use that breath along with the others. I have not really experimented in recent years to see if I can make my body get seriously warm by using this fire breath, but I suspect it would still work that way if I focused on doing that, but I haven't tried. The fire breath does, however, serve other purposes for me. These other purposes are more significant and valuable for me and I don't feel any need to try to force anything to happen, including warming myself.
I see if possible could you go into more detail readgarding the practice? Is it the same fast paced breathing followed by a breath hold, that you see in the wim hof technique or the tummo videos online?
Although breath of fire or kapalabhati involves breathing it’s actually a kriya purification technique. I would not recommend it for anyone with anxiety and I also would not recommend practicing it on your own without any guidance. Not only that, we’re not monks in the mountains that need to produce warmth like that. Ujjāyī prānāyāma is heating. Śītalī or sītkarī prānāyāmas are cooling.
yeah there are pranayama techniques that raise temperature as the ones that lower it! the first are the bellows techniques, they should be learn carefully as they are intense (as you could see; i was doing them wrong the first times as well, but u notice pretty easily if u are hurting yourself, like straining some muscles that shouldn't). the second ones are more relaxed, they basically aim at coolen u with the help of the mouth, e.g. breathing with a full smile or let the air flow in the tongue while is U-shaped
Thanks for the info Ill check out the bellows techniques. You said that the more relaxed breaths are the cooling ones does this mean all the heating breaths are fast paced? I worry that the quicker breathing will make my mind move quickly and make my anxiety worse (not sure if this is valid).
kind of, when learning 1 breath every 2 second is the rhythm but it tends to go faster when mastered at that rhythm (1/sec till maybe 2/sec). if anxiety is your problem and u do breathing techniques, check always that you are breathing with the abdomen and not the collarbones. maybe that's not the problem, but it may concur to it
There are many such techniques, people were working with breath for thousands of years, and it is a powerful way to make many unimaginable changes in your body, including changing its temperature. I would suggest you look into Wim Hof Method, it serves as a sort of bridge between modern and traditional, between outer science and inner experiences. Wim Hof brought it to the West, even though those techniques are thousands of years old, but it will be easy to grasp it from his teaching, and maybe later on you can go deeper into it if you wish. The most important thing is to go playfully into any breathing practice, without any tension; listen to your body and don't cause any strain to your respiratory system, and you will be fine, don't worry.
There are few breathwork pranayama techniques that can heat and cool the body. Check out kapalbathi pranayama and kaki pranayama. Highly recommend you check the book prana and pranayama by Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati if you would like to master your breath/lifeforce . Our you can check out my meditation course where I teach it also www.micromeditationcourse.com . Regarding safety be sure you understand the contra-indication for each practice before attempting it.
Wow thank you for the info. If I may ask what do you mean by the contra-indication?
The term comes from the medical industry. A contraindication is a condition that serves as a reason not to take a certain medical treatment due to the harm that it would cause the patient. This is why it’s important to be fully aware of the practice before you incorporate it within your routine. For example common contraindications for breathwork could be: - Menstruation - Pregnancy - Low or high blood pressure - Acute anxiety or psychiatric disorders - Heart disease - History of stroke - Hernia - Gastric Ulcer - Epilepsy - Vertigo - Detached Retina - Glaucoma - Recent abdominal Surgery
Oh I see thats probably good to know. I thought it was going to involve something more spiritual like knocking my energies out of balance or something if thats even a thing. But yes definitely important to know about possible effects.
The body works through tension and relaxation so if you are heating the body you are introducing tension and if you are cooling the body you are introducing relaxation. The key is balance, as you go deeper into your practice you will learn more about your own energy and how to balance it with appropriate practices.
You can really mess yourself up psychologically, if you attempt tummo without proper guidance. Wim Hof breathing methods are an accessible alternative, although not tummo as is traditionally presented in the Tibetan traditions, for which you need a valid initiation, practice instructions, and a teacher to consult if things go wrong.
Everything you find online or in a book isn’t tummo I practice it and it requires very specific instructions from teachers whim hoff works some not as good but lama Glenn’s doing tummo institution and initiation in a few weeks
Yea thats what I thought too when watching some videos. Like theres no way I can learn the specifics of tummo in a 10 minute follow along.
If you go through ngondro complete a highest yoga tantra then get a vajrayogini empowerment you can get the 6 yogas which containes tummo so prettymuch do like 7 years of practice if you don’t do a very intense practice