Bhramari Prāṇāyāma - Bee breath

Bhramari prāṇāyāma takes its name from an Indian bee. This prāṇāyāma is so named because of the bee-like sound it produces. It is very simple. You just stop the ears and hum.

Sounds like childs play, yet this is a very powerful practice you might want to do every day. The list of benefits includes:

• lowers blood pressure and generally regulates and improves vascular health
• calms a busy mind
• calms an irritated throat and improves the tone of the voice
• increases the ability to focus and concentrate
• soothes headaches and migraine
• helps insomnia
• has a generally healing effect throughout the body
• increases bliss and joy

If that sounds a bit far fetched, please read on to discover how it works.

How does it work?

Slow the exhale and de-stress

Well, from the outset, humming requires us to slow our exhale breath. It is a bit too complicated to fully describe here, but our inhale is neurologically tied to the stress response in the body, because the body is called upon to work to pump more blood out, increasing the blood pressure slightly. The exhale is on the other hand neurologically tied to the relaxation response. so when we extend the exhale breath we manage to short circuit all the body's stress responses and we calm down. The more you advance in pranayama techniques the more we manipulate the breath and lengthen the exhale. That can be hard in some techniques, but somehow in humming it is easy.

Increases production of nitric oxide, and that works magic

The slow movement of air through the nasal passages stimulates the production of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is produced in the nasal passages and serves quite a few healthy purposes in the body. It has now been hugely studied and in 1998 a Nobel Prize was given to three scientists who revealed the role it has in neurotransmission.

Nitric oxide transmits information between nerve cells and the brain.

So, increasing the production of nitric oxide by your bee breath:

• helps memory and behaviour
• may improve sensory perception (tasting, hearing, smelling, seeing, touch) depending on the cause of dulling of that sense.

It also interacts with and promotes production of other important neurotransmitters such as the "happy hormones" seratonin, dopamine, epenephrine and norepenephrine. So your bee breath also

• makes you happy!

Nitric oxide is a vascular dilator

It has been known for a long time that a nitroglycerin pill would help people's heart conditions. It works by releasing nitric oxide into the blood and that increases blood flow and oxygenation of all the tissues. Besides the nasal passages, nitric oxide is also produced in the lining of the blood vessels but when the blood vessels are clogging up with plaques, it reduces the production of nitric oxide. It is a two way thing. Healthy blood vessels produce nitric oxide which help them stay healthy. Less healthy blood vessels produce less nitric oxide, so they are going downhill faster.

So, increasing the production of nitric oxide by your bee breath:

• lowers elevated blood pressure
• improves the tone of your blood vessels
• sends more oxygen to your tissues to help them heal
• can be beneficial in erectile dysfunction (depending on cause)
• increases endurance and strength
• reduces inflammation

Nitric oxide is important in fighting disease

The body produces nitric oxide as part of its immune response. But studies have also shown that increasing nitric oxide through supplements also enhances the immune response. Your bee breath can too!

Nitric oxide is important for sleep

Again we have one of those catch 22 situations here. Less nitric oxide in your system and the harder it is to sleep (insomnia). But the body also produces nitric oxide in deep REM sleep. But if you can't sleep you will never get the REM to produce more.

So hum!

How to do Bhramari Prāṇāyāma the bee breath

Different teachers show different ways to hold your hands for this. The important things are:

• Sit up straight - if that means sit in a chair, sit in a chair. Don't slouch or it will make your breath constrained and ineffective. Bhramari does not work lying down.
• Block the ears by folding the little cartilage flap between the ear and cheek over the ear hole. Be gentle. You can use your thumbs to do this and place the fingers gently over the eyes.
• Hum and notice the movement of sound in your cranium.
• Best done in the morning on an empty stomach but not dangerous to do at any time.

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