Whether you are an adult or a teenager, a calm mind is a prerequisite for a healthy lifestyle. Imagine returning home after a long and tiring workday and being thrown into disarray caused by the huge bills you’ve got to pay in a day or two or a long-drawn petty tussle in your family.
It is indispensable to bring in composure and calmness to have a firm grip over such situations. Given our bustling and stressful work lives, keeping our minds off from all the buzz is a catch-22.
However, we’ll get you covered with an asana that has the power to declutter your thoughts to help you imbibe concentration and mindfulness.
Bhramari Pranayama (also known as Bee Breathing Technique) is a yogic asana that gets its name from the humming sound (bee-like) produced while practicing this asana.
Leading a peaceful life has more to do with warding off anxiety and frustration than just having a calm approach towards life. This is when Bhramari Pranayama comes to the rescue.
The humming sound produced while exhaling induces a natural calming effect down our spine. Not only does it help to circumvent anger and frustration, but also provides relief from several medical conditions.
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And the best thing? This asana can be performed anywhere!
Fact: The black Indian bee is also called Bhramari (in Sanskrit)!
Without further ado, let us kickstart our mental detox session with Bhramari Pranayama.
How To Perform Bhramari Pranayama
Designate a well-ventilated corner in your house to practice Bhramari Pranayama and follow these instructions:
- Sit in Padmasana posture and close your eyes.
- With both your thumbs, fold your ear flaps/pinna. Be gentle and refrain from putting too much pressure.
- Place your index finger over your eyebrows and rest of them over your eyes.
- Close your mouth and produce a humming sound.
- Breathe in and out gently and focus on the humein sound.
Repeat this process five times and get an inch closer to calmness each time!
Note: Make sure to wash your hands before and after touching your face.
When to perform Bhramari Pranayama
It is ideal to perform Bhramari Pranayama on an empty stomach or three to four hours after consuming food. Riveting calmness becomes easier to achievement early in the morning when distractions are the least.
It is also widely believed that early mornings are just the right time for introspecting one’s inner self.
Besides, practicing our very own mental detox session with Bhramari Pranayama during the silent and tranquil nights can also turn out to be greatly rewarding.
Benefits of Bhramari Pranayama
Besides serving as a mental detox, Bhramari Pranayama is also beneficial in warding off medical complications. From keeping checks on blood pressure to easing headaches, this asana has worked wonders for many.
Now let us dive deep into the ocean of incredible benefits offered by Bhramari Pranayama:
- It helps significantly reduce tension, anger, and anxiety and leads to mindfulness.
- It also aids in developing concentration and focus.
- It stimulates hormonal balance by acting on the pituitary gland in the brain.
- It acts as a significant tool for building confidence.
- Humming sound producef while performing this asana facilitates better voice coordination.
- It offers relief from headaches and migraines.
- It enhances memory function.
- It soothes the nerves and induces tissue repair.
- It is also essential for mitigating risks involved with high blood pressure.
- It helps calm the mind and pura you in the best mental state to practice meditation.
- It also helps ward off insomnia and induces sound sleep.
The science behind Bhramari Pranayama
Bhramari Pranayama stimulates the release of a biological messenger – nitric oxide – which plays a significant role in dilation of blood vessels, which ultimately regulates blood pressure.
Besides, nitric oxide also facilitates better neural transmission and enhanced memory function.
Hormonal imbalance is also checked by Agent Nitric Oxide with its action on inhibiting the secretion of prolactin, catecholamine, and cortisol.
Precautions:
- While folding your ear/pinna, stay wary of accidentally putting your fingers inside your eardrum.
- Refrain from closing your mouth shut while humming.
- Do not repeat the asana more than five times in a day.
- Individuals who remain subject to extremely high blood pressure levels, heart problems, or suffer from epileptic seizures and an active ear infection should not perform this asana.
- It is advised to perform Bhramari Pranayama on an empty stomach.
- Pregnant and menstruating women should opt out of this exercise. .
- Performing this asana early in the morning helps reap the best benefits it has to offer.
How incredible it would be if we could bid farewell to truckloads of anxiety and give a welcoming hug to a happy, and healthy life? At times when millennials struggle to adopt the meditation as a daily ritual, Bhramari Pranayama acts as just the right way to head start one’s journey towards spirituality.
With just a few seconds devoted to this asana, achieving mindfulness does not seem as unachievable as it did earlier.
Remember, only a happy and refreshed mind can become a cradle of ideas and prosperity.
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