A guided SOMA Breath session by Niraj Naik teaching rhythmic breathing plus breath-retention (kumbhaka) to induce intermittent hypoxia. He presents two primary breath rhythms (in 2 / out 4 and in 4 / out 4), demonstrates a round (belly-first inhale, extended exhale, then breath-hold with soft head drop and pelvic-floor engagement), and explains that brief controlled oxygen drops (intermittent hypoxia) are the proposed mechanism for benefits such as improved oxygen efficiency, energy/stamina, stress reduction and presence. The track uses music/drum beats to time breaths and fade out during retention; facilitators may add suggestions/affirmations during the practice.
Questions this video answers
Two patterns: inhale 2 / exhale 4, and inhale 4 / exhale 4.
Up to two times.
March 4, 2023
Chapters
Now here are the various components of the technique. Rhythmic breathing followed by different breath retention techniques called kumbhaka. So rhythmic breathing. There's two patterns of the breathing. In for two beats and out for four beats, or breathing in for four and out for four. Okay. Breathing in for two and breathing out for four is the extended exhalation, which will switch on the parasympathetic and switch off stress. The four in, four out brings you into flow states and coherence. So we usually end on a 4 in, 4 out breathing pattern for this sequence. This, this practice has been shown to be very powerful at switching off the stress and making you more present. Okay, so what we do is first correct the breathing. Put your left hand on your belly, right hand on your chest, and you're going to breathe in through your nostrils. Make sure your belly rises first.
So left hand rises first, then right hand and then breathe out slowly.
Breathe in through the belly.
And out through like a straw, like breath. Slow, continuous, and connected with no pause between your inhale and your exhale. So it's completely circular and rhythmic. All right, so that will then be followed by a breath retention. With breath retention on the exhale and breath retention on the inhale. We're going to talk about that in more depth where actually you're going to trigger a state called intermittent hypoxia. And that's what is the mechanism for bringing all these benefits. So you're holding a breath beyond the comfort zone. Okay. And the rhythmic breathing helps you get to that state in the most effective way. So let's do one round together now. So.
Sit comfortably with your back straight. Make sure breathing into your belly. And we begin by exhaling first. So exhale out two. Now in, two, out, two, three, four. In, two, out, two, 3, 4. In, two, out, 2, 3, 4. In, 2, out, 2, 3, four. Now fully in. Take a deep breath, fully in.
And fully out.
Hold your breath and relax and let your head drop forward, creating an energy lock with your neck shut, not allowing any more air to come back in, keeping the air energy locked in the body. You're just going to completely relax every single muscle in your body, becoming extremely relaxed.
This is when you go into the no mind state, where the thinking mind quietens down.
And then there'll be a moment where you start to get an urgency to breathe. See if you can override the first urge to breathe.
But when you get that little urge to breathe, take a sip in and blow the air back out.
This allows you to stay in that no mind state for longer. And it also allows the oxygen levels to drop and drop, triggering this intermittent hypoxic state which leads to all these wonderful health benefits where your body adapts to having less than normal oxygen by producing things that allows you to be more efficient at using oxygen, giving you more energy and stamina and stronger sense of well being. Now you can take a sip in and sip out up to two times. And then when you get that really big urge to breathe, that really strong uncontrollable urge to breathe, you're going to breathe in, fully in.
And you're going to pull up the pelvic floor muscles, hold your breath and pull up the pelvic floor, pull them up the muscles around your sphincters and you're going to contract up as though you're holding onto your rin or really need to go to the toilet you're holding on. Then you're going to scrub your forehead a little bit and you're going to imagine you're sending energy up through your spine, through your third eye, your crown, sending energy out from the bottom through the top of your head. You're going to hold this as long as comfortable. And then when you can't hold it any longer, you're going to let it go with a to.
And then.
Going back to normal breathing.
Looking to your third eye with your eyes closed, you can maybe start to see colors, feeling more present. Then you'd go into the next round, which is four in, four out, and you repeat the same process for breath retention. And the music guides this all along. So the music is a journey and it helps you effortlessly count along with the breath in and out and when to hold your breath. And generally the music is constructed with beats, drum beats for counting the rhythm, which then cut out and fade away for the breath retention parts which takes you into that meditative state. And as a facilitator, you would be able to plant suggestions and affirmations whilst they're going through this process to help reprogram rewire the state of well being into a more positive, uplifted state.
