Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 1.21
॥
Devanāgarī
सूर्योज्जायी शीतली च भस्त्री चैव चतुर्थिका । भेदैरेव समं कुम्भो यः स्यात्सहितकुम्भकः
Transliteration (IAST)
sūryojjāyī śītalī ca bhastrī caiva caturthikā | bhedaireva samaṃ kumbho yaḥ syātsahitakumbhakaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सूर्य-उज्जायी शीतली चsūrya-ujjāyī śītalī ca"solar", "victorious", "cooling"
भस्त्री च एव चतुर्थिकाbhastrī ca eva caturthikāand "bellows" — the fourth
भेदैः एव समं कुम्भःbhedaiḥ eva samaṃ kumbhaḥwith these divisions together, the pot
यः स्यात् सहित-कुम्भकःyaḥ syāt sahita-kumbhakaḥwhich is, is the holding with accompaniment
Translation
""Solar", "victorious", "cooling", and the fourth — "bellows"; the pot together with these divisions is the holding with accompaniment".
Version
3b6608ad9645 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Four kinds of breathing are named, and their names are physical, not abstract. Surya-bheda, "solar rending" — inhalation through the right nostril. Ujjayi, "victorious" — with a narrowing of the throat, whence the breath sounds. Shitali, "cooling" — inhalation through the tongue rolled into a tube, whence the air is cooled. Bhastrika, "bellows-like" — from bhastra, "blacksmith's bellows": rapid, forceful exhalations, as with bellows.
The last name deserves special note, because it is good. A blacksmith's bellows works by exhalation: it does not take in air for the sake of taking it in, but drives it into the fire. And the technique is aptly named after it: what matters in it is not the inhalation, but the swift expulsion.
These four techniques are all this book gives; later manuals count eight or more. The Vaishnava side builds no doctrine on these techniques and will not repeat their descriptions; but one merit must be granted them. All of this is verifiable: do it and feel it. Where a treatise speaks of what can be checked, one can trust it less on its word and more on the deed — for it is easy to check.