Sahita Kumbhaka Pranayama, the first pranayama in the Gheranda Samhita. Sahita pranayama is of two types: sagarbha and nigarbha. Sagarbha type is done chanting a beej mantra* and nigarbha is practiced without it. According to Swami Rama ji, this technique has three different levels: 1) Adhama (for very beginners), 2) Madhyama (intermediate), and 3) Uttama (for advanced practitioners).

Sahita-kumbhaka-pranayama is performed in the same way as anuloma-viloma, but with breath-holding. The inhalation-holding-exhalation ratio is 1:4:2, that is, holding the breath four times longer and exhaling twice as long as the inhale. For example, 4:16:8, 5:20:10, 6:24:12, 8:32:16, 10:40:80 and so on.

For beginners:

First, practice Anuloma-Viloma before practicing Sahita Kumbhaka.

If it is difficult to start with 4:16:8, start with 4:8:8; after some time, check if you can do 4:16:8.

Technique:

  1. Sit in the seven-limbed pose (padmasana, siddhasana). Place your right hand’s middle and index fingers between your eyebrows and close your right nostril with your thumb.
  2. Inhale entirely through your left nostril, counting slowly to yourself. At the same time, imagine how pure prana in the form of silvery-white light enters and fills the entire body.
  3. When the inhalation is complete, close the left nostril with the ring and little fingers and hold the breath with three bandhas in the following sequence: jalandhara bandha, mula bandha, and uddiyana bandha. Throughout the entire kumbhaka, maintain contemplation of the empty, luminous body with concentration on the ajna chakra, realizing how the light dissolves all impurity in the channels, chakras, and consciousness. Hold kumbhaka for four times longer than the inhalation.
  4. When holding your breath comes to an end, release the bandhas in reverse order: uddiyana, mula, and jalandhara. Then, releasing the right nostril, exhale slowly, twice as long as the inhalation. Imagine how contaminated prana comes out with the air in the form of black and gray puffs of smoke, cleansing the body, energy, and consciousness.
  5. Inhale slowly through the right nostril, repeating steps 2, 3, and 4, but this time from the right nostril.
  6. After this, everything is repeated – inhale through the left, hold, exhale through the right. Inhale through the right, hold, exhale through the left.

One cycle involves inhalation and exhalation through the right and left nostrils. Perform 6-12 such cycles. With regular practice, slowly increase the number of cycles to 30-80.

When performing sahita-kumbhaka, it is necessary to choose such a proportion so that breathing does not become interrupted. When counting, try to tell yourself not the numbers but the mantra “OM”. This can be achieved by getting used to a certain rhythm and counting, for example, in fours: “OM, OM, OM, four, OM, OM, OM, eight,” etc., using a metronome or heart pulse.