‘Kapal’ means forehead and ‘Bhati’ means light. Hence, Kapal-Bhati refers to that exercise which makes the forehead luminous and lustrous. Kapal-Bhati Pranayama makes its Sadhak’s head luminous. This Pranayama is a little different from Bhastrika Pranayama. In Bhastrika Pranayama, Puraka and Recak are done with the same amount of force, where as in Kapal-Bhati more attention is to be given to the act of forceful Rechak. In Kapal-Bhati, the Puraka is to be done with normal, usual force but the Recak has to be done with as much of force as is at your command. In doing so, the abdominal area, also makes inward and outward movements and considerable force is applied to the Manipura,Svadhisthana and Muladhara Chakra. This Pranayama should easily be done for five minutes. In short, breathe in normally and breathe out forcefully, so as to influence the organs of the abdominal area. Persons suffering from acute and chronic diseases must practice if for 15 minutes or more as per the capability.

Shiva Sankalpa (Vow) at the time of performing Kapal-Bhati

 While doing this Pranayama think that while exhaling you are throwing all the diseases out of your body. Individuals with mental aberrations like anger, greed, self-ego attachment etc.should develop a feeling of throwing out all the negative and injurious elements along with the air exhaled. In this way the feeling of getting rid of diseases while exhaling imparts a special benefit to the individual

Duration:

 The breath should be exhaled in a rhythmic flow once in a second and should be held up effortlessly. If done non-stop kapalabhati pranayama is done 60 times in one minute or 300 times in 5 minutes. Very sick and weak persons get tired in 2-3 minutes in the beginning, but in 10-15 days every person becomes capable of doing kapalabhati non- stop for 5 minutes.