Cooling Breath

In today's session, guided by Larissa Hall Carlson, you'll be practising Cooling Breath. This special breathing technique doesn’t only help you enhance physical coolness when feeling overheated. Cooling breath is also deeply refreshing and energetically calming for your mind and emotions. It has been classically used to reduce frustration, settle anger, reduce ill will and get rid of the inner critic.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to day six of Insight Timer's breath work challenge.

Time for a deep breath.

Inhale deeply and let out a soothing sigh.

Let's dive into today's session.

Hello and welcome to the breath work challenge here on Insight Timer.

I'm Larissa Hall Carlson and I've been practicing and teaching breath work for almost 20 years.

Today I'll share with you two variations of the cooling breath.

Now this cooling breath is a very interesting technique where we'll be inhaling through the mouth and exhaling through the nose and that's pretty unusual in breath work.

But this technique helps to deeply cool the body and so it's a special breathing practice for enhancing physical coolness.

If you're feeling overheated,

Practicing in the summertime,

Practicing in a hot location or even battling hot flashes or acid reflux or burning eyes,

If you're feeling overheated in any way,

This is a beautiful physically cooling breath work practice.

But it's also deeply refreshing and energetically cooling for the mind and the emotions.

So this pranayama,

This breathing practice has been classically used to reduce frustration,

To settle anger,

To reduce ill will,

To get rid of the inner critic,

To help bring more brightness and radiance and calmness and peacefulness to the mind when it feels agitated and frustrated.

So it's a very,

Very effective technique for the body and the mind.

Now for this practice there are two different ways to work the inhalation through the mouth.

In the first technique we'll be inhaling through a curled tongue,

Through a curled tongue.

Now if your tongue doesn't curl,

Don't worry because in the second variation you'll learn a practice that you can do without curling the tongue.

But in this first version we'll work to inhale through a curled tongue much like a straw and that has the ability to cool not only the tongue but also the inside of the mouth,

The cheeks,

The teeth,

The gums,

Down into the throat and into the lungs,

Cooling those physical locations.

Each time we exhale the lips will close and the tip of the tongue will very lightly tickle the roof of the mouth while we exhale through the nose.

So it's an inhalation through a curled tongue and an exhalation through the nose while the tip of the tongue very lightly tickles or touches the roof of the mouth.

And what this does is send the coolness from the tip of the tongue upwards towards the brain and the sense organs,

Directing that coolness up into the head,

Inviting more refreshment.

So let's give it a try.

This is considered to be a very safe technique but if you're working with sensitive teeth sometimes this can feel a little bit too cooling.

Establish a nice comfortable steady seat,

Elongate the spine,

Rest the hands on the lap and turn the palms upward which is a little more cooling for the hands.

And let's begin.

Inhale through the mouth through a curled tongue,

Curling the tongue like a straw.

Close the mouth,

Exhale through the nose.

Start again,

Inhale through the curled tongue,

Long smooth deep inhalation sucking in that cool air.

Close the mouth,

Exhale through the nose as the tip of the tongue lightly tickles the roof of the mouth.

And again,

Inhale through the curled tongue,

Cooling and refreshing the body mind.

Close the mouth,

Exhale through the nose.

Tip of the tongue lightly cools,

Lightly tickles the roof of the mouth.

Continue like this.

You might need to swallow now and then as this is not only cooling but slightly drying to the throat.

Taking in long smooth satisfying inhalations through the mouth,

Long smooth satisfying exhalations through the nose,

The cooling breath.

This is known as shiitali in Sanskrit.

And at the end of this next exhalation,

Release the technique,

Return to normal breathing,

Soften everything,

Scan and feel.

So notice first the effects in the mouth,

Maybe the lips,

The tongue,

The cave of the mouth,

The passageway of the throat,

Maybe there's extra coolness there.

Then start to expand awareness.

Notice if that coolness has spread perhaps down into the lungs,

Down into the chest cavity.

Some people experience coolness in the skin on the arms,

Down into the belly.

And just notice what you're feeling.

And now we'll try the second version.

So this has all the same benefits,

Cooling the body and the mind,

And same basic technique of inhaling through the mouth and exhaling through the nose.

But instead of curling the tongue,

We'll inhale through the teeth.

So for this technique you'll want to loosen up the jaw and separate the teeth just a little bit.

During the inhalation through the mouth or through the teeth,

The tongue will float just behind the teeth.

So it's important that the tongue is not plastered up against the roof of the mouth and that the tongue is not plastered down to the base of the mouth.

That the tongue is kind of floating in the middle of the mouth.

This will allow the air to circulate easily around the tongue,

Cooling that sense organ.

And then for the exhalation,

The mouth will close,

The tip of the tongue will tickle the roof of the mouth,

And we'll exhale through the nose.

So same technique there.

So let's begin.

Reestablish a nice,

Comfortable,

Elongated seated position.

Let the eyes soften or close.

Loosen up the jaw.

Part the teeth slightly.

Open up the lips.

Inhale through the teeth,

Letting the tongue be caressed by that cooling inhalation.

Close the mouth.

Exhale through the nose.

And again,

Inhale through the mouth,

Through the teeth,

Tip of the tongue is floating.

Close the mouth,

Flip the tip of the tongue up to the roof.

Exhale through the nose.

Keep going.

Inhaling through the teeth,

Cooling the tongue with that inhalation.

And exhaling through the nose as the tip of the tongue directs that coolness up towards the brain.

Again you might need to swallow here and there.

It can be a little drying,

And that's normal.

Find a rhythm that feels good.

You can slow it down or speed it up as you like.

Cooling the body,

Refreshing the mind.

And the next time you exhale,

Release the cooling breath.

This one is known as sitkari.

And pause,

Feel,

Notice.

Can you sense the physical and the mental or emotional effects of the cooling breath?

I sometimes like this technique when stuck in traffic or after a difficult conversation or before meditation if I'm feeling restless or agitated.

Try it whenever you're feeling overheated or frustrated or whenever you want to cool down the body and refresh the mind.

Try it on your own for one to three minutes at a time.

For more breathwork tools to support your breathwork challenge,

Go to my Inside Timer profile page,

Larissa Hall Carlson,

And access my free Pranayama audio tracks and my 10 day Pranayama for Restoring Vitality audio course.

Stay cool.

Reviews

In this humidity I can barely do my walk. Instead I chose this and it hit the spot. I don't tolerate heat or humidity I love the cold and this was really effective. Thank you so much. 🙏🏻😊

I was so frustrated before I started this, and by the end I felt my brain shift and feel tingly with a great release. This was wonderful! I will definitely do this again and recommend to friends and family. Thank you!

Felt cooling. Thank you. I enjoy learning new pranayama techniques and will explore the course and tracks you mentioned. Much love and gratitude!

This felt perfect after a hot summer day bike ride!

Wonderful, and the effects are so clear. Thank you!

Very relaxing and it was cooling. I like focus on inward breath through mouth and outward breath then nose.

An eyeopener to what wonderful things I can do with my breath.
It was like finding the switch to the refrigerator.
Thanks for the insight.

Powerfully transformational inner resources—grateful for this platform and accessibility to techniques that can cultivate a healthier life!

This pranayama has quickly become on of my very favorites. It’s so soothing. Thank you so much!

Trying to manage hot flashes after going off estradiol and will continue with this breathing.🙏😊

feels refreshing !! i still not angry or frustrated but i will try it , thank you!!

This is a very helpful breathing technique, much needed for me. Namaste. 🌺🌸

Amazing! This technique is so helpful. Thank you

I’m really surprised how effective this is for cooling the body. Not that I should be surprised, breathwork is a tool I find to be very effective for many things. I’m excited to use this in my heated classes. Thank you!

Very cooling ✨ is the intro & music yours? I’m searching for the owner & music score at the intro 🎶 🙏🏻

Thank you Larissa for these 2 new techniques, that are new to me. I feel refreshed and lighter 🙏

Absolutely love these cooling breath techniques! Very relaxing 😊🙏

A great practice. My favorite was the curve tongue technique. It was great

Great 👍

Excellent
Excellent
🙏💝

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