Sit erect in habituated posture with your waist and neck in one straight line. Inhale as much as you can by the right nostril slowly and fill the breath in the neck, heart and stomach completely so as to feel that from head to toe the whole body is full of breath. When you begin to feel uneasy, close the right nostril and exhale with the left one. Note that while inhaling, there is a soft and continuous sound and while exhaling, there is similar flow. On this pranayama, the inhaling is done by the right and the exhaling by the left nostril repeatedly. Start with three pranayamas and increase by one or two in a day till you reach twenty-one or even thirty one according to your physical capacity. This practice must be done in winter but those who are of wind and phlegm humour can do it even on summer on hills.

Benefits:

This Pranayama increases bile and destroys phlegm and wind. It promotes digestion and purges the body of all impurities by causing perspiration. The Gherand Samhita  says, “ The Surya Bhedi Kumbhaka delays death and old age. It awakens Kundalini and increases digestion.”

Chandra Bhedana Pranayama

 “Chandra” in “Moon” and Chandra Bhedana Pranayama is a cooling pranayama. The moon corresponds to the introspective, passive and artistic aspects of an individual’s personality..Keep the spinal cord erect and sit in habitual posture. With the thumbs of the right hand, press the right nostril and through the left nostril (Chandranadi) inhale while making sound. Retain the breath contained in throat, lungs and stomach. After as much retention as possible, exhale through right nostril slowly and repeat it for as    many times as you like. This pranayama is also known as left nostril breathing because while doing this pranayama, the breathing is done through the left nostril.

Benefits:

When the inhalation is done through the left nostril, your body gets cooled. It reduces the bile and removes the excess heat of the body. You do not feel tired and belching is stopped. The benefits of this pranayama are quite opposite to those of Suryabhedi. Therefore, a person of the nature of bile should practice it in summer. If the left nostril  due to cold or catarrh be closed, then lie on your right side and  make the left nostril work and then start practice. You will learn how to know whether the right or left nostril is working.