Through out India, pranayama has gained tremendous attention and also being revered as a significant Yogic therapy. Amongst innumerable Pranayamic exercises and techniques, Kapalbhati is quite worth to note. Kapalabhati has an etymological importance. The whole term Kapalbhati, if divided, one can get two Sanskrit words, namely Kapala and Bhati.

To be specific, Kapala means the skull, while Bhati has been deduced from the Sanskrit word which means to `shine`. As a whole, Kapalbhati means an exercise that causes the skull to shine brightly. It also has got other significance. Kapalabhati is one of the six of the purifying processes. In the famous `Hatha Yoga`, these processes are mentioned as Shat Kriyas and are meant to acquit the nasal passageways that are found in the human skull, and also in the continuing portions of the human respiratory system. The term Kapalbhati has been called so because this exercise cleanses a part of the skull.

Some sub categories of this Kapalbhati exercise can also be derived. Different Yoga experts have made several distinction of Kapalbhati according to their own perception and knowledge.

In Yoga Sastra, three diverse varieties of Kapalabhati have been duly mentioned. All these varieties are commonly categorized according to their capacity of cleansing the nasal passages that are located in the human skull. Mainly a breathing exercise, most experts came to the conclusion that there are total six varieties of kapalabhati, which are mostly practiced by the people in general. What is truly interesting is that much efforts have been undertaken to provide scientific evidences about this benefit of cleansing human skull that Kapalbhati is capable of .

Till date it has been already proved that the Kapalbhati exercise is competent enough to cleanse not only the human respiratory system but also various parts of the human anatomy that are linked to the skull of a normal human being. Some enthusiasts even went to the extent of saying that kapalabhati can even cleanse the capillaries of the innermost and most delicate parts of the human body.

The Yogi adopts diverse, yet unique techniques, of doing all varieties of Kapalbhati much depending on certain factors like the place , seat, time etc. Elaborate discussions regarding these have been given in certain books of Yoga and the people need to adopt these things accordingly instructed by various experts. Special postures are also enumerated for diverse Kapalabhati exercises. In most cases, sitting is preferred while doing Kapalbhati. Standing has been proved to be not so advantageous. The reason is quite significant. While performing Kapalbhati, the breathing practice that a person needs to do, involves rapid and free movement of the muscles of the abdomen. Now the front abdominal muscles are not completely loosened while one stands and also cannot be generously modulated. However, while sitting these abdominal muscles get completely stretched out with their movement carefully controlled.

The most preferred posture advised for Kapalbhati exercise is to adopt the `lotus pose` as it, has to be practiced vigorously and over a good length of time. A vigorous practice of Kapalabhati, even for a few minutes, makes almost every tissue in the human body vibrate. One can continue this exercise for a long time in this posture and that too quite rapidly. The merit of doing Kapalbhati in this posture even for a few minutes can make almost all the tissues of human body to throb. This vibration accelerates if one continues with the exercise for a long time maintaining same vigor and enthusiasm. However, one should immediately stop it after reaching a point when he feels that it is possible for him to stretch it further. It is to be noted that lotus posture as has been already mentioned, largely comprises of foot locking.

The position of the hands may, as usual, be either on the knees making `Jnana-Mudra`. Sometimes these may even be placed in front of the outer abdomen. Kapalabhati is indeed a breathing exercise where various techniques are molded to soothe the Yoga practitioners.

Generally speaking, Kapalabhati, thus, is a breathing exercise of the `abdominal` or diaphragm in which abrupt ejections of breath, following one another in rapid succession Kapalbhati is also characterized by the lack of any pause in the movement of breath so long as the exercise carries on. In the case of Kapalabhati there is one additional feature, which needs to be kept in mind always. During Kapalabhati one needs to expel breaths of air as many rounds as one desires and also is competent enough to perform.

There are many who can even expel air more than a few hundred expulsions in one single round of Kapalabhati. So far , the measurement of a single round of Kapalbhati is concerned, one needs to determine the number of expulsions that constitutes in a single round. Also the speed of these expulsions during the exercise is to be counted.

The exercise of Kapalabhati leads to the removal of carbon dioxide from the respiratory system on very huge scale. The absorption of oxygen into the system becomes absolutely large. This excessive heavy exchange of gases in the lungs produced by Kapalabhati exercise, jointly with the impact that this practice exercises on specific nerves, soon constitutes such metabolic conditions in the body thus slowing down respiration. In this way, a yogi can get control over his lungs to a great extent.

There is another thing that draws attraction of quite a handful of people. Since Kapalabhati calms the respiratory center, the ardent students of Pranayama are able to perform their pranayamic exercises more efficiently, if they continue few rounds of Kapalabhati beforehand. That is also why student of Yoga to practice Kapalabhati before starting other Pranayamic exercises in his daily course of exercises.

Apart from healing respiratory and breathing ailments, Kapalabhati also soothes nerves. Also the exercise of Kapalbhati has its impact on the circulatory and digestive systems thereby increasing the physiological values. The vigorous Kapalbhati exercise massages all the internal organs of the human abdomen. Also other organs of human anatomy, get warm massage due to positive effects of rigorous Kapalabhati . However the layman cannot feels the effect of it. Even a common healthy man if carries on this Kapalbhati exercise, he will get some advantage as far the physiological benefits are concerned.