Breathe of Fire

Breathe of Fire represents a technique performed within meditation to sustain, and in some cases, increase your natural body temperature keeping you immune to the effects of cold climate. This technique is ancient, going back nearly 900 years in Tibet. There are monks sitting outside in very cold conditions, often with snow on the ground, be shirtless and stay within a harmonized state of meditation. I would also see people dumping freezing cold water inside a bucket on them and they would remain in meditation completely unharmed by it.

Below are a few Youtube videos which teach you how to do it. These are simply videos which the author of this article happens to find on the Internet. The makers or presenters of these videos have no affiliations with the author.

Carolyn Cowan

GuruPrem Khalsa

Simrit Kaur

Anne Novak

In case if the videos cannot be played, here is a summary of how it may be done:

1. Sit up straight. For newcomers, you may put your hands behind your head to ensure that you are sitting straight.

2. Practice abdominal breathing. Your belly shall expand when you inhale. You may put your hand on your abdomen to feel your belly.

3. Inhale and exhale rapidly. Make sure the time of inhaling is equal to that to exhaling. As you get more experienced, you shall target doing more than one inhaling and exhaling in a second.

4. You may feel an increase in your body temperature as soon as three minutes into this.

If you are interested in Kundalini Yoga, one recommended resource is Kundalini and the Chakras by Genevieve Lewis Paulson (1994).

REFERENCE: Paulson, G. L. (1994). Kundalini and the Chakras: A practical manual - evolution in this lifetime. Melbourne, AR: Llewellyn Publications.