Bee Breath

Bhramari Pranayama, or Bee Breath, is a humming breath practice. It’s named after the black bumble bee in India. In Sanskrit, Brahmara means “big black bee”. 

The bee breath is a calming practice that helps to reduce stress, stimulates the vagus nerve, activates the parasympathetic nervous system, can help reduce congestion, and the humming sound can induce sleep - great for insomniacs like me.

How to practice:

1. Start by sitting comfortably in a seated position, Lotus or Hero Pose. You can even practice this sitting upright in a chair with your feet firmly planted on the floor.

2. Begin to withdraw your mind from the external world around you by becoming aware of the breath moving in and out of your nostrils, up and down your nasal passageways, filling and emptying your lungs.

3. Raise the hands to the face and the elbows to the level of the shoulders. Place the thumb tips in the ears and press gently on the tragus to keep out the external sounds.

4. You can stay with just your thumbs closing off external sounds, or you can move on to a full expression. Start by placing your index fingers gently over closed eyelids; middle fingers to nostrils to apply gentle pressure (narrowing them to encourage longer slower, deeper breaths); ring fingers placing downward pressure to the upper lip, and pinky fingers applying upward pressure to lower lip to close your mouth.

5. Begin to inhale through the nose and then deeply exhale with a humming sound

6. Practice Bhramari Pranayama for six rounds and then sit quietly in stillness, noticing the effects. You can then repeat for another six rounds. I like to practice three rounds of six before I sit for meditation.

7. You can experiment with low, middle or high tones. Use only one tone per exhale and notice where you feel the vibrations in your body. Hum one long consistent and continuous tone per exhale.

Enjoy your practice everyone!