Pranayam is fundamentally classified into panch vayus namely

1. Prana Vayu
2. Samana Vayu
3. Udana Vayu
4. Apana Vayu
5. Vyana Vayu

These five types of pranas direct five different aspects of the human mechanism. I have explained all the types of Pranayam if you are interested you can check them out.

Pranayam allows you to take charge of these five fundamental life energies. In this article, I’m taking you through the benefits of Pranayam and kriyas associated with them. 

Top 5 Benefits of Pranayam

Weight loss therapy

Pranayam aims to regulate your digestive health in many ways. It allows the abdominal muscles to get toned and flexible at the same time. One can clearly see the improvement in their digestive health by practicing a few pranayama techniques in just three to four days. The most effective techniques to lose stubborn belly fat are:

• Kapalbhati ( skull purifications )

Benefits: Kapalbhati withdraws carbon dioxide from the lungs completely and helps to burn fat in the belly. It helps you to reduce obesity problems, lowers blood pressure, and sugar levels in the body.

How to do: Sit on the floor with cross leg posture. Keep your palms on your knees facing downwards, and breathe slowly for a few times to relax. Now exhale forcefully and let your stomach go inside as much as you could. Consciously exhale with a slightly quicker pace and repeat the cycle starting from 30 times to 3 minutes in one go.

Enhance lung capacity

Practicing Pranayam daily strengthens the muscles in your respiratory tract. Since we breathe 24 hours a day, it is a must to have healthy lungs to keep us going for long. 

• Bhastrika Pranayam ( breath on fire )

Benefits: Bhastrika Pranayam drains excess mucus from lung track. It calms the mind and energizes the entire body. Practicing Bhastrika Pranayam increase the oxygen level in the blood and vitality of the system. This technique helps the asthma patient by strengthening the lungs. As the name signifies, Bhastrika Pranayam generates heat in the system and promotes energy flow.

How to do: Sit in a comfortable cross-legged position, keeping your head straight and spine erect. Keep your mouth closed and breathe fast such that you hear your sound of breathing. You can repeat it for 10times x 2rounds.

Cure sinus 

Sinus is a condition in which nasal passage gets inflamed. Sinus can be triggered by some allergy or cold. Pranayama helps to clear nostrils and the regular practice of Pranayam strengthens the nasal cavity.

Anulom vilom (Alternate nostril breathing) 

Benefits: Alternate nostril breathing allows the nostrils to become free from hypersensitivity. It intensifies the filtering capacity of the nostril and protects it forms regular allergies.

How to do: keep your left hands on the knees sitting in a crossed leg posture. Take your right hand to your nose and close your right nostril and exhale. Now inhale from the left nostril and close the left nostril with your little finger and exhale from the right nostril. Now inhale from the right and close the nostril with your thumb. Exhale from the left nostril. This completes one cycle. You can start by practicing  5 to 7 minutes at one time and go up to 20 minutes in one sitting.

Detox the body

Yogic practices clean your body from inside and the process of inhalation and exhalation proves to be helpful in remove toxins from the body in the form of air. Detoxifying the body benefits the mind and allows the vital force of life to expand.

• Vibhaga Pranayam ( sectional breathing )

Benefits: Have you ever observed your breathing patterns? you unconsciously breathe with very high speed when you are in anger or anxiety extremely slow when you are at peace. This practice corrects the breathing patterns of the body and develops consciousness towards your breath. The practice also improves your lung capacity as it involves an intense expansion of the lung muscles.

How to do: Sit in the hero pose and place your hands on your knees. Now inhale such that your abdominal, chest, and clavicular part expands in the same order as mentioned. This Pranayam involves the expansion of various parts like abdominal, thoracic, and upper lobar breathing, in a specified manner.

Boost cardiovascular health

Rehearsing Pranayam modifies the heart rate by restoring the oxygen levels in the system. Study shows that  Pranayam immediately effects on the hypersensitive zones of the body such as brain, heart, lungs, etc. if you are someone seeking for a healthy heart you must include Pranayam in your daily routine.

• Pranav pranayam ( AUM meditation )

Benefits: Pranav Pranayam is the best-known technique to calms your mind and body. This Pranayam involves the chanting of the sound AUM ie: aa, oo, and mm focusing on different sections of the body. The sound aa works to unlock the energies in your pelvic region while sounding oo effects your chest, heart, and throat region. Sound mm works on your brain, the combine chanting of the sound AUM helps the practitioner to instantly cause vibration in these sensitive areas of the body and hence improves their strength.

How to do: sit with your spine erect and face slightly turned upwards. Place your palms on your thighs making a Dhyan mudra. Close your eyes and simply focus on your breaths. Now draw an aum symbol between your eyebrows, as you inhale imagine that aum symbol intensely glowing between your eyebrows and as you exhale imagine it shrinking little by little. You can chant the three sounds in your head during the process focusing on the respective parts of the body.

So, here we conclude our benefits of Pranayam. It is recommended that you should connect with a verified yoga teacher before practicing any type of Pranayam on your own, as Pranayam contains a huge potential to alter the way you live therefore it is important to perform it right. The above-mentioned Pranayam are true to my knowledge, and the sole purpose is to motivate you to incorporate Pranayam in your daily life.

{ This article is intended to promote understanding of and knowledge about general oral health topics. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment. }