The verse and its meaning · Yoga in Practice · Yoga in Practice — Pranayama

Sitali — the cooling breath

Hatha Yoga Pradipika 2.57

अथ शीतली जिह्वया वायुं आकृष्य पूर्ववत्कुम्भसाधनम्। शनकैर्घ्राणरन्ध्राभ्यां रेचयेत्पवनं सुधीः ॥

Meaning · English

Now sitali. Draw the air in over the tongue, then hold the breath as was taught before. Let the wise one send the air out slowly, through both nostrils.

The name comes from sita, cool. Sitali is the cooling breath, and the Pradipika treats it as a breath practice in its own right. Its first instruction is about the way in. The air is drawn in over the tongue, not through the nose. Most breath practices in this chapter breathe in through the nose, so this one stands apart. The second instruction is the hold. Kumbhaka means the pot, the breath held full inside the body as water is held in a jar. The text says to hold it as before, which points back to an earlier method in the chapter. The commentary reads that earlier method as the sun-piercing breath, so the hold follows the same manner. The third instruction is the way out. The air goes out slowly, through both nostrils, with no hurry and no sound. The text calls the one who does this sudhi, a person of good mind, which is a quiet reminder that the slowness is what marks a careful practitioner. The commentary adds a detail the verse itself does not state: the tongue comes out past the lips, shaped like a bird's beak, and the air is drawn in slowly along it. The text gives no reason in this line. The reason comes in the next verse, where the benefits are listed.

1. Sit upright with the spine tall and the face relaxed. 2. Draw the air in slowly over the tongue and notice the cool of it. 3. Close the mouth. A beginner lets go of the hold and goes straight to the out-breath. 4. Let the air go out slowly through both nostrils. 5. When the mind wanders, return to the cool on the tongue and the slow breath out. 6. Stop if you feel dizzy or strained, and let the breath return to normal.

1. Sit upright on the floor or a firm chair, spine tall, hands resting on the knees. Close your eyes softly or rest your gaze on the floor a short way ahead. 2. Breathe out through the nose once, gently, to empty the chest. 3. Put the tip of the tongue just past the lips. The commentary describes it shaped like a bird's beak. Many teachers today curl the sides into a tube. Not everyone can curl the tongue, and a flat tongue with the lips lightly pursed is also taught. 4. Breathe in slowly through the tongue. You may hear a soft hiss. Feel the cool air cross the tongue and fill the chest. Count four. 5. Draw the tongue in and close the lips. 6. A beginner holds no breath. The text speaks of a hold, but that is for later and only under a teacher. 7. Breathe out slowly through both nostrils, counting six. The out-breath is longer than the in-breath. 8. This is one round. Do five rounds as a beginner. 9. To come out, let the breath return to normal through the nose, keep the lips closed and sit quietly for a minute. The counts of four and six are modern teaching, not the text's. Keep the neck soft and the shoulders down, and keep the chest from heaving. Never force the inhale to be longer or louder. Stop at once if you feel dizzy, tight in the chest or strained.

Start with the body. Air drawn over a wet tongue and the lining of the mouth feels cooler than air drawn through the nose, which is probably why the practice has the name it has. The ribs widen and the belly softens on the way in. The slow out-breath through the nose lets the ribs and the diaphragm settle back gently. The neck, jaw and face stay relaxed, because a clenched jaw spoils the practice. Now the breath. Pulling air through a narrow gap in the tongue makes the in-breath slow by itself, since a rushed breath turns noisy and harsh. Breathing out through the nose then rounds off the cycle. A longer out-breath than in-breath is a plain way to slow the pace of breathing. Now the mind. The tongue and the cool of the air give attention one small, definite place to rest. The cool sensation is easy to feel, so the mind has less room to wander. When it wanders, the sensation brings it back. The tradition has its own account as well. In that account the breath is prana, and sitali cools the heat the body carries. That is the tradition's way of speaking, not a description of anatomy.

The verse itself names no benefit. The Pradipika gives the claims in the very next verse, and they are the text's own, not this page's. It says sitali takes away swellings of the belly and spleen, fever, excess pitta, hunger, thirst and the effects of poisons. Pitta is the tradition's name for the heat and sharpness in the body. These are old claims, offered here as the text states them, and not as promises. The name itself carries the plainest claim: cooling.

A farmer rests under a tree at noon in the hot season, mouth dry, shirt wet. He draws a few slow breaths through a narrow opening of the tongue and feels the throat cool. That small relief is real, and it has a simple cause. Air passing over a moist tongue feels cooler than air through the nose. Today's mainstream understanding agrees that slow breathing with a long out-breath tends to calm the body and settle attention. A good family doctor would say that about slow breathing in general, whatever the exact method. There is no good evidence that sitali lowers body temperature in any lasting way, so the cooling is a sensation more than a change. The verse after this one claims help with belly swellings, fever, hunger, thirst and poisons. Modern medicine does not support those claims. A fever or a poisoning needs a doctor, not a breath. Pitta has no exact modern match. It points loosely to heat and digestion. The idea of a held breath cooling the body from inside has no counterpart in physiology.

This page is not medical advice, and a teacher corrects what a page cannot. Sitali is learnt with a teacher, especially the hold the text mentions, since long breath holds can harm. Stop if you feel pain, dizziness, tightness or strain. Take particular care with asthma or other lung conditions, high or low blood pressure, heart trouble, pregnancy and any recent surgery, and leave out the hold entirely. Cold air, dusty air and smoky air are poor choices to draw over the tongue, as are a cold, a sore throat or a cough. Sensitive teeth may ache from the cool air. A tongue that will not curl should never be forced.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Sitkari — the hissing breath · Hatha Yoga Pradipika 2.54
• Next: Bhastrika — the bellows · Hatha Yoga Pradipika 2.59
• All of Yoga in Practice · Ask Krishna about it

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