Yoga learning Pranayama - Sitali- Cooling Breath - (Or, Taco Breath!) > Yoga

 

- What's up, party people?
Welcome to Yoga with
Adrianne, I'm Adriene.
Today we have a video
for the Pranayama series.
This is a breath
technique called "shitali"
or "sheet-ah-lee," that I
really love, and I think it's
important to put this out into the world
and to practice, especially
because we have this growing
popularity in yoga, which is really great
and there's lots of flow and active,
and yoga's a workout, and we have our yoga
for weight loss series and everything,
but we wanna make sure
we also balance that
with things like Pranayama
practice, breath practice,
and this one in particular,
which is super awesome
after you've maybe done a
sweaty yoga, had a good workout,
or maybe you've come home
from a run and you wanna
connect to your spirit and just
kind of balance things out,
keyword "balance," so that
you're not left feeling
agitated and kind of fiery.
So shitali or "sheet-ah-lee,"
is a cooling breath,
it's also really awesome
'cause I like to refer to it
as "taco breath," and I love tacos.
But this is in all seriousness
just a great way to
cool off the body, also
the mind, reduce stress,
take it a notch down,
really great for the entire
nervous system, really great
if you're kind of pissy
or just feeling like you
need something to connect
you to the greater good of humanity.
Taco breath is for you,
so let's get started.

- Okay, so to begin we're
going to come into a
comfortable seat, I'm coming
in to a little hero variation
with the block underneath me for support,
but you can come into any comfortable seat
where the spine can be
nice and tall and erect.
So that could be in a chair,
it could be cross-legged,
or it could be on the knees like moi.
So very important though, all jokes aside,
that we just find this length in the spine
so that we can lift
and lengthen up through
the crown of the head, the
center channel nice and long.
(snickers)
Okay, and then just take a
second to close your eyes
and notice your breath.
Is it short?
Is it shallow?
Can you deepen it a little bit here?
(exhales)
And then to begin our
cooling breath here today
we're going to bring our
attention, our focus to the tongue
and see if we can curl the
edges of the tongue inward
like a taco.
Now, disclaimer, some people
genetically cannot do this.
I can, I'm a taco tongue
gal, I can roll the tongue.
But if you can't, the
option or the modification,
the variation would be
to just bring the tongue
between the lips like so.
My dog Benji does this
all the time, he's like...
So we're either rolling the
outer edges of the tongue inward
or we're bringing the tongue
modification just between
the lips like so.
Okay, now we're gonna be
inhaling with the tongue as such.
So I inhale through the taco tongue.
(laughing) I had no idea
this video was gonna be so
fun for me, it is okay, already.
So I'm gonna inhale in
through the taco tongue,
get serious Adriene!
(inhales)
Like you're sipping the
air up in through a straw.
(giggling)
Alright, so just try that.
(inhales)
Advanced studies option
here is to really kind of...
pay attention to the shoulders
here, make sure you're not
(inhales) sucking in like so,
play with that abdominal breath
or that belly breath, right?
And actually that goes for everyone,
just keep the shoulders nice
and relaxed, wherever you are.
Okay, so just trying to
inhale again, and we're really
breaking this sucker down.
Inhaling in with the tongue.
(inhales)
And we're either in the taco
tongue, or the modification
here, looks like this.
(inhales)
Okay, we'll seal at the top.
So that means we'll hold the
breath, we'll retain for just
a moment at the top,
holding the breath in,
closing the mouth, drawing the tongue in,
and then exhaling with control
out through the nostrils.
Okay, so we inhale through the tongue,
nice cooling breath, the air
hits the back of the throat,
cools off.
And then we seal, hold, retain
the breath for a moment.
And then exhale out through the nostrils.
So let's just try that on our own.
Okay, coming in with the inhale.
(inhales)
Sealing at the top,
holding, shoulders relaxed.
Exhale with control through the nostrils.
(exhales)
Beautiful, let's try again.
Inhaling.
(inhales)
Pause, hold the top, retain the breath.
Exhale through the nostrils.
(exhales)
Again.
(inhales)
(exhales)
Awesome, so now that you
have a little understanding
about how to do it,
we're going to practice
with a five count to inhale,
a beat of two to hold at the top,
and then we're gonna
aim for five to exhale.
This is just a guide, this
is just something to kind of
give you structure-wise, to play with.
You can extend that, you can shorten that,
you can make it your own, or
if you're the type of person
that prefers not to count,
you can just play with
the inhalation and the exhalation,
nice and long and smooth.
Okay, here we go.
Sit up nice and tall, relax the shoulders.
Maybe close your eyes
for this one. (inhales)
Take a deep inhale in through the nose.
(exhales)
And then out through the nose.
Then we'll inhale and
begin with the tongue.
After five, hold at the top for two.
Exhale for five.
(exhales)
Playing with that structure
of inhaling for five.
One, two, three, four, five.
Retain the breath for two.
Exhale one, two, three,
four, five, keep it going,
count in your head.
(gently breathing)
And as you begin to drop
in with this beautiful
cooling breath, you'll begin
to notice that you can really
find that extension, so
let's just do a couple more
sipping in through that taco
straw for as long as you can,
holding at the top, and then
enjoying the beautiful ride
of the exhale out into your bliss.
In fact there are a lot of...
texts, yoga texts, ancient
texts that speak of this breath
as the bliss breath,
or the giver of bliss.
And you totally feel
blissed out and blessed
at the end, I already feel it now.
Okay, so we're just gonna
practice for a couple more times
together and then I'll let
you off and into the blissful
world of taco breath on your own,
but let's do a couple more together.
(gently breathing)
Let's do one more.
(gently breathing)
Awesome, and then drop
your chin to your chest.
Life the heart, draw the shoulders down
and then begin to open your eyes.
Take the palms together, rub them,
just to transition.
(inhales and exhales)
And then release, awesome.
Alright my friends, awesome work!
So put this breath in your yoga tool belt,
this is one of my favorite Pranayamas,
because I can do it anywhere,
you can do it in traffic,
really great if you're
frustrated in traffic.
This is a really great
breath if you're hungry,
if you're getting those hunger pains,
you're starting to get a little
angry because you're hungry,
we all know that.
Some of us know that more
than others, right honey?
Just kidding, and this is a
great thing to do if you're
really hungry or thirsty
and you need to kind of
slow things down, cool
things off, really great
for stress and just reducing
that fight or flight.
Great work, let me know what you think
of taco breath down below,
share it with your friends.
Again, don't worry, Yoga with
Adriene includes everyone,
if you can't roll your tongue
you can do the modification,
share that with a friend,
and I'll see you next time.
Free yoga videos every
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Take good care, Namaste.