Breathing Exercise (Pranayama) - Arrested and Resting Breath

The last Stage of Breathing is the Bahya Kumbhaka (Pause after Exhalation) and the Empty Pause. This stage completes the breathing cycle and gives way to inhalation, which is the start of a new cycle. Breathing pauses have great significance in the practice of Yoga.

What is a Breathing pause?

A pause may be short lasting only for a fraction of a second (e.g. quick puffs) or it may be very long.

Try this:
1. Fill your lungs with air and see how long you can hold it. You will be able to retain the air in your lungs for several seconds or perhaps, for minutes.
2. If you feel drained and if your body needs constant replenishment, you may only be able to hold your breath for a short period.
3. If you feel rested and relaxed, and when your body already has enough supply of oxygen, you may be able to hold your breath much longer.

How do Yogis do the pause?

Yoga practitioners usually extend the duration of a full pause by breathing regularly for some time until the body is supplied with plenty of oxygen and then by taking extended pauses without discomfort. (When you try this, remember to quit the practice when you feel uncomfortable or stressed.)

Advanced Yoga practitioners are said to be able to achieve an Arrested and Resting Breath for an hour or more without discomfort.

Some of them can remain almost completely motionless for days and can even have themselves buried during such periods in order to demonstrate their ability to survive without food, water or very little supply of air.

When buried, the Yogis do not entirely stop breathing, but their inhalations and exhalations become so long and slow and their pauses so prolonged that almost no energy is consumed and very little oxygen is needed.

Heartbeats slows down that only a minimum amount of oxygen is needed by the heart muscles.

Their cerebral activity almost ceases so only a minute amount of energy is needed to support the activities of the Nervous System.

Here are some ways of attaining relatively complete relaxation by the use of Arrested and Resting Breathing.

One cannot retain his breathing for an extended duration when he is nervous, anxious or fatigued.

In the pursuit of extended pauses, Yogis are required to attain a state of rest.

Once the full state of rest is attained, there will be a reduction or elimination of nervousness.

It is an extremely powerful technique to incite relaxation response.


Learning the proper Breathing pause will surely give a lot of benefits to your wellness in mind and body. However, it is also important to seek advice from an expert to make sure that you are doing it properly and effectively.