Sitali, the cooling breath

How to do it

1. Sit with your back long and your shoulders loose. Take a couple of breaths through your nose at your own pace.
2. Stick your tongue out a little and curl the edges up into a tube. If your tongue won't curl, use the sitkari variation below.
3. Breathe in through your mouth for 4 seconds, across the tongue, as if you were sipping air through a straw. Notice the coolness.
4. Draw your tongue back in, close your mouth and hold for 2 seconds, without clamping down.
5. Breathe out through your nose for 6 seconds, slow and even.
6. That's one 12-second cycle. Repeat for 3 minutes, which is 15 cycles.
7. To finish, breathe through your nose at your own pace for half a minute, and swallow if your mouth feels dry.

What sitali is

It's one of the few yoga breathing practices where you breathe in through the mouth. The curled tongue makes a narrow channel: air moves slowly over a wet surface and feels cool. Then you close your mouth, pause for a short 2 seconds and breathe out through your nose for 6.

By the numbers it's slow breathing, five cycles a minute, with an exhale longer than the inhale. What sets it apart from its neighbors is the route: in through the mouth and out through the nose, the reverse of pursed-lip breathing. Its companion is sitkari, which does the same thing without the tongue curl.

Where it comes from

Sitali is in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Sanskrit manual Svatmarama compiled in the 15th century. It's one of the book's eight kumbhakas, and it comes right after sitkari. In the 1914 English translation, the verse says the tongue is pushed a little way out past the lips as the air is drawn in, the air is held, and then it's let out slowly through the nostrils.

That translation says nothing about curling the tongue: the tube is how it's taught today. The same text credits the practice with effects on colic, fever, hunger, thirst and poisons. That's what a manual more than five hundred years old claims, not a medical fact.

Of sitkari, the text says the air is drawn in through the mouth with the tongue between the lips, and shouldn't be let out through the mouth. Today's version, with the teeth together and a hissing sound, is the one modern yoga schools describe.

What people use it for

The most common use is right there in the name: on hot days or after a hard workout, many people do it because the cool feeling in the mouth is pleasant. In yoga classes it tends to come at the end, after poses or more active breathing.

People also use it as a quiet break. Shaping the tongue takes attention, and that leaves little room to think about anything else for a few minutes.

What the studies say

There aren't many, nearly all are from India, and nearly all are about blood pressure. A randomized trial published in 2017 enrolled 60 adults with mildly elevated blood pressure. Half practiced sitali and sitkari, 10 minutes of each a day for 30 days. The other half sat quietly for 20 minutes a day. In the breathing group, systolic pressure fell about 16 mm Hg more than in the comparison group. The difference in diastolic pressure wasn't significant. Nobody was blinded, and the authors call their results preliminary.

Another trial, from 2020, randomly assigned 100 people with hypertension to three months of sitali or to a control group, and reported lower blood pressure and changes in heart rate variability in those who practiced.

These are small, unblinded studies from one country, with sessions much longer than these 3 minutes. They don't replace any treatment. And as for what the name promises, a cooler body, we didn't find a solid study that measured it: what there is, is the cool feeling in the mouth.

What it feels like and what to notice

The first thing you notice is coolness on the tongue, the roof of the mouth and the throat. When you breathe out through your nose the air leaves warm, and that contrast is part of the practice. After several cycles your mouth may get dry: swallowing, or a sip of water at the end, takes care of it.

If the air is cold or very dry, it can irritate your throat or make you cough. If that happens, stop. Same thing if you feel dizzy or short of breath: drop the pattern and breathe normally through your nose.

Variations

• Sitkari (variation if your tongue won't curl): bring your teeth together lightly, part your lips and breathe in through your mouth for 4 seconds, letting the air pass between your teeth with a soft hiss. Close your mouth, hold for 2 and breathe out through your nose for 6. Depending on the source, 65 to 81 percent of people can roll their tongue, so sitkari is no consolation prize.
• Easier (no-pause variation): in for 4 across the tongue and out for 6 through the nose, with no hold.
• Longer (5-minute variation): the same pattern for 25 cycles.
• The way a class does it (variation in blocks): a Yoga International article suggests 2 or 3 minutes of sitali, a few minutes of belly breathing, then another 2 or 3 of sitali.

Common mistakes

• Sucking the air in hard. It comes in slowly, with no slurping sound. Pull hard and your throat dries out.
• Breathing out through your mouth. The way out is always the nose, mouth closed.
• Leaving your tongue out during the pause. It goes back in when the inhale ends.
• Tensing your tongue or jaw. The tube forms gently; if it trembles, stick it out less.
• Practicing in cold, dusty or smoky air. The mouth doesn't filter or warm air the way the nose does.
• Pushing on with an irritated throat. If you're coughing or it tickles, you're done for today.

How often and how long

One 3-minute session, when it's hot out or at the end of an active practice, is a good measure. In the studies people practiced 10 to 20 minutes a day, but that was in a research setting.

You don't need to do it every day. Plenty of people save it for summer or for after exercise, and pick a different breathing practice in the cold months.

Before you start

• If you feel dizzy, short of breath, or your throat gets irritated or you start coughing, stop and breathe normally through your nose.
• Practice in clean, mild air. Skip it in very cold, dusty or smoky air, and when you have a cold or a sore throat.
• If you have asthma or another lung condition, a heart or blood pressure condition, or you're pregnant, check with your care provider first.
• This is a practice for adults. It doesn't replace blood pressure medication or any kind of health care.