Bhramari, the bee breath

How to do it

1. Sit with your back long and comfortable, on a chair or on the floor. Bring your lips together without clenching your teeth, and let your face and shoulders soften.
2. Let your breath out through your nose, without pushing, so you start from the bottom.
3. Breathe in through your nose for 4 seconds, silently, letting your belly move first.
4. Breathe out through your nose for 8 seconds with a soft, steady hum, mmmm, lips together. Use whatever pitch comes easily.
5. While you hum, rest your attention on the vibration in your lips, nose and forehead. That's all there is to do.
6. Repeat for 3 minutes, which is 15 cycles of 12 seconds.
7. To finish, sit for half a minute breathing silently and notice how your body feels before you get up.

What bhramari is

It's slow nasal breathing with an exhale you can hear. You breathe in for 4 seconds, breathe out for 8 with a closed-mouth hum, and there are no pauses. Each cycle lasts 12 seconds, so you take five breaths a minute.

On paper it looks like the 4-8 long exhale. The sound is the difference: to keep a hum going, the air has to leave slowly and evenly, which is why 8 seconds usually feels easier with a hum than in silence. The vibration also gives your attention an obvious place to land.

Where it comes from

The name refers to the buzzing of an insect. The practice appears in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Sanskrit manual that Svatmarama compiled in the 15th century from earlier texts. It's on that book's list of eight kumbhakas, alongside ujjayi, sitali and bhastrika.

The text gives it a single verse. In the 1914 English translation, you fill the air in forcefully while making a noise like a wasp, then let it out slowly while making the same noise. It adds that the practice brings a kind of ecstasy to the minds of yogis.

The version taught today is simpler: the inhale is silent and only the exhale hums. B. K. S. Iyengar gave it a chapter in Light on Pranayama, published in 1981. When the verse's version was simplified, and by whom, isn't clear, and we won't make up a date.

What people use it for

Many people practice it at the end of the day or before bed, because the long exhale and the sound tend to feel settling. Others use it as a break when their mind is noisy: it's hard to keep an inner conversation going while you listen to your own hum.

It also suits anyone who struggles to lengthen the exhale by counting. The sound does that job for you. You'll want a spot where humming won't make you self-conscious or bother anyone.

What the studies say

In 2002, Eddie Weitzberg and Jon Lundberg measured nitric oxide in the nasal air of ten healthy people. During humming, the level was fifteen times higher than during a quiet exhale. Their explanation is that the vibration moves air through the sinuses, and they suggested the measurement could serve as a test of how well the sinuses ventilate. That's a finding about the air in the nose, not a proven health benefit.

As for bhramari as a practice, a systematic review published in 2018 found only six studies, with groups of 8 to 84 people. They measured different things: blood pressure, pulse, brain activity, reaction time and tinnitus distress. The authors call the results encouraging but rate the quality of the studies as very low: none was a randomized trial, and follow-up was very short.

For now, the evidence is limited. What can be said is that this is slow, gentle breathing, and that people who practice it tend to describe it as pleasant.

What it feels like and what to notice

In the first few cycles the hum often comes out choppy, or you run out of air before 8 seconds. Turn the volume down: a quieter sound uses less air. By the fourth or fifth cycle the tone usually steadies without any help.

A tickle in the lips and a buzz in the nose, cheekbones or forehead are normal. If you feel dizzy, short of breath or uncomfortable in your ears, stop and breathe normally. Coming back another day with a shorter hum is a good call.

Variations

• Easier (free variation): hum for as long as your air lasts, even if that's 5 or 6 seconds, and let the time grow by itself.
• Ears closed (traditional variation): close your ears by pressing gently on the cartilage with your fingers. You hear the hum from the inside and it feels more enveloping. Several studies in the 2018 review practiced it this way.
• Longer (5-minute variation): the same 4 and 8, for 25 cycles.
• As in the verse (classical variation): the Hatha Yoga Pradipika describes a sound on the inhale too. Hardly anyone teaches it that way now, because humming while you breathe in is rough on the throat.

Common mistakes

• Humming loudly. A sound you can barely hear across the room is enough, and it lasts longer.
• Clenching your jaw. Lips touch; teeth don't.
• Going high. A high pitch tightens the throat. Look for a middle or low one.
• Emptying all the way. If every hum ends with no air left, the next inhale comes out rushed.
• Breathing in through your mouth between hums. The inhale goes through the nose, silently, for its full 4 seconds.
• Pressing inside the ear. In the ears-closed variation, the finger rests on the cartilage, never inside.

How often and how long

One 3-minute session a day is enough to get to know it. If you like it, add another at night. In the studies reviewed, sessions ran about 5 to 10 minutes, but no amount has been shown to be best.

It also works small: five or six hums during a break in your day. Regularity helps more than length.

Before you start

• If you feel dizzy or short of breath, stop and breathe normally.
• If you have an ear or nose infection or pain, wait until it passes. Don't put your fingers inside your ears or press hard.
• If you're pregnant or have a lung, heart or blood pressure condition, check with your care provider first.
• This is a practice for adults, and it doesn't replace any kind of health care.