Most yoga students never learn Kapalabhati Pranayama unless they're in a yoga teacher training course.

But this breathing technique is easy and has some huge benefits.

So you should try it if you haven't!

This breathwork builds a ton of heat, sharpens your focus, and strengthens your core in just a couple of minutes.

Here's how it works:

You kinda breathe backwards.

Instead of actively inhaling and exhaling, you forcefully push breath out through your nose using your abdominal muscles, then let your lungs naturally vacuum air back in without any effort.

The trick I like to cue my students is to imagine that you're holding a little tea light candle a few inches away from your nose, and you're trying to blow out the flame by pushing air strongly out of your nose.

And then let your lungs fill back up without breathing in. It sounds a little scarier than it is.

This is called a passive inhale and it can be a bit confusing at first.

The trick is to not breathe in. You simply release the abdominal contraction and let air rush back into the space you've created without doing much.

What happens immediately:

• Heat floods your belly and solar plexus from the rapid pumping

• Your metabolic rate increases 12-50% compared to quiet sitting

• Mental clarity sharpens as oxygen levels rise in the front part of your brain (hence the nick name "shining skull breath")

• Core muscles get a genuine workout

Important safety note: Step out immediately if you feel lightheaded or dizzy. These sensations mean you're at your edge and need a break, not that you're doing it wrong.

I recommend that you start with 20-30 breaths and gradually build to 50 as your strength develops. Do 3 rounds of breaths and take a couple of natural breaths in-between before starting the next round, until you have done 3. Practice three times weekly and I'm sure you'll notice changes within a month.