Kapalabhati

Rise and shine ~ with a shiny skull!  NY pharmacist sharing her love for yoga here at 4:30am pacific standard time. 

Doing my kapalabhati, I wonder why it's called shining skull.... 

Inhale through the nose for a full deep breath. 
Pumping out on the exhale through the nose for 50 fast, furious breaths from the lower belly. 
Short abdominal contractions to exhale out a gnat in one's nostrils. 
50 short ones for one minute. 

Of course the pharmacist in me had to understand the mechanism of action in which this pranayama causes skull brightening.  Turns out, it shines the skull because cranial sinuses are facilitated during the exercise.  These canals that run through the dura transport blood and the CSF (cerebrospinal fluid)
away from the brain. 

Daily toxins leave the nooks and crannies of our noggins.  Leaving us with whiter, brighter skulls.

Namaste