August 2026 · At-Home Wellbeing · by Tiffany Bergin, C-IAYT, CIYT
This summer has brought some real heat across the country — heavy, persistent, the kind that sits in the body long after you've come inside. In classes this month, both in person and online, we've been practicing Sitali, a cooling breath. It draws air in through the tongue rather than the nose, cooling it on the way down. Beyond the heat produced by the weather, it has a real effect on the nervous system — it settles the kind of heat that shows up as irritability and frustration.
1. Find your seat. Take a comfortable seated position — simple cross-legs, Virasana (hero pose), or seated on a chair. Rest your hands in your lap. Align the base of the spine with the base of the skull. Move the corners of the shoulders back. Soften your face. Close your eyes.
2. Empty the breath. Take a long, smooth, steady exhalation to release any tidal air from the lungs.
3. Draw in the cool. Curl the tongue and draw the cool air in and down upon inhalation. If you cannot curl the tongue, press it against your teeth instead — this also allows cool air to enter through the mouth.
4. Release the warm. Relax the mouth and the shape of the tongue, then exhale the warm air from bottom to top, out through the nose.
5. Settle and check in. Take two or three rounds of normal breathing, checking in with the face and releasing any tension, making sure the body is still holding the shape of the pose. Then repeat.
6. Close the practice. After five to ten rounds of Sitali, take one normal inhalation through the nose, return to normal breathing, and gently open your eyes.
Companion piece: Returning to Simplicity. All issues: Wisdom Library archive.
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