Bhastrika Kriya

The stage stands for everything the lungs can hold. A dashed mark at the top is labelled capacity and another near the bottom marks the fifth of it that can never be breathed out. Between them, a little below the middle, a band of light ripples quickly: one ordinary breath, about a twelfth of the whole, bracketed at the right. A counter at the top right reads fifteen breaths a minute. Over about twenty-five seconds, with nothing asked of the viewer, the ripple slows and widens and warms from cold grey to gold, and the counter falls to nine. Dragging upward on the stage pulls the breath higher than it has grown, at which point it strains, breaks, drops back and the count climbs again, with the words "Not by force." appearing briefly.

Your lungs are never empty. After an ordinary breath out they still hold about half of what they can, and a fifth of that can never be pushed out at all. Ordinary breathing is a small ripple in the middle of all that room — a twelfth of the whole, twelve to fifteen times a minute. Bhastrika opens the rest, and then something quiet happens: a system that is relaxed asks for less air, so the same day is carried on fewer, deeper breaths. You do not slow the breath — the breath slows. Nothing to do here but watch the count come down. Try to force it, and see what happens.