Agni Sara

Fire Essence

Swami Rama said, “ If you can’t do any other asana, just do Agni Sara and it will improve your health.” Fire is the element of the navel center, which is the pivotal point in pranic energy linking the body and the mind.

Agni Sara is an asana and a pranayama. The focus of our breath is on active exhalation.

Physical Benefits:

1. Tones, activates and cleans all aspects of the digestive system

2. Improves the functioning of the bladder

3. Stimulates the nervous and circulatory systems

4. Improves circulation to the reproductive organs

5. Stimulates the healthy functioning of the immune system through its effects on lymph fluid, which tends to pool in the abdomen

6. Strengthens pelvic floor and abdomen cavity for proper placement of the abdominal organs and counters the downward draw of gravity that weakens connective tissue in the pelvis.

    

   Emotional Benefits:

1. Increases your capacity to manage emotional distress

2. Prevents the downward collapse of mental and emotional energy.

    

   Spiritual Benefits:

1. Steadiness in the face of life’s challenges

2. Enthusiasm and spiritual confidence

Training:

Step 1 Posture:

1. Stand with your feet slightly wider than your hips

2. Bend you knees and bend forward

3. Rest your hands on your thighs bringing the weight of your torso over the arms (this helps relax the deep muscles of the abdomen)

4. Lengthen the back of your neck and tuck your chin by looking down at the lower belly.

    

   Step 1 Practice:

1. Exhale as you contract the pelvic floor, drawing in and up as you hollow out the belly.

2. Tuck the tailbone and gently round the lower back

3. Inhale and release the abdominal contraction and the pelvic floor as you lift the tailbone. The pelvis rotates slightly over the heads of the femurs.

    

   Repeat this cycle several times keeping the movement isolated in the pelvis. The rest of the back is completely still.

    

    

   Akunchana Prasarana (squeezing and releasing) aka A&P

   Step 2 Posture:

               The posture is the same as in step one, but concentrate more on the belly and pelvic floor, without moving the pelvis.

   Step 2 Practice:

               Exhale and draw the belly back toward the spine while squeezing the pelvic floor, buttocks and inner thighs.

               Inhale, soften and completely relax, letting the belly balloon out. The inhale is passive.

   Repeat 5-10 times. Practice this for a couple of week or longer before moving on to the next step.

    

   A and P breathing can be done by anyone, but Agni sara and its more complex variations are intense practices that require training and conditioning. A and P utilizes a mass contraction of the abdominal muscles, where as agni sara, requires a step-by-step muscular effort.

    

Agni Sara

Contraindications

High blood pressure, ulcers, hiatal hernia, hernias, pregnancy

It is important that you practice Agni Sara with an empty stomach and after empting your bowels.

The practice:

Stand as in step one.

Exhale and focus your attention on the area just above the pubis, and press the abdomen in at that site before pressing in with the middle region of the abdomen. (mula bandha is not applied.)

Continue to exhale, gradually recruiting muscles higher in the abdominal wall and ending with the internal intercostals muscles of the rib cage-all the time holding tension below.

Exhale as much as possible.

Inhale and reverse the process, relaxing the chest and upper abdomen first and lower abdomen last.

With practice you will feel a deep wave rolling up and down your abdominal wall as you coordinate the muscular action with your breath.

If you watch yourself from the pubis to the sternum when you have nothing on, it will be easier to learn, but even then it may take several weeks of daily practice to learn.

We are not looking for speed in agni sara, but for control. Try to make the rate of exhale equal throughout so that you still have a third of your agni sara tidal volume left when you have a third of your time to go. Approach the end of exhalation by recruiting the highest of the abdominal muscles, and keep pressing.

Your time for exhalation and inhalation will lengthen with practice, working up quickly to 6-10 seconds for exhalation and 3-5 seconds for inhalation. (Breathing ratio: exhale twice as long as inhale.) A meaningful practice of agni sara will require at least 10 minutes at the rate of 3-4 breaths per minute.