Nauli 101: How To Purify The Body Using This Ancient Yoga Technique

Many yoga classes taught the West focus on the physical postures (also known as the asanas), with a little breathwork (pranayama) thrown in. If you've mastered your crow, feel happy in lotus, and are craving something new, it might be time to explore the kriyas—lesser-known parts of the yogic discipline that focus on ritual purification techniques. These internal cleansing practices have been used for thousands of years, and one of the most popular is Nauli Kriya.

There are five steps of the Nauli Kriya. It's best to practice each one repeatedly before going on to the next if you're a beginner. This ensures you will be able to do the full technique correctly. 

From standing, place your hands on your thighs, bend your knees, and exhale all the air out of the lungs and pause. Relax the belly, but don't inhale. Swallow, and when you feel the throat muscles tighten, hold. With the mouth closed and throat contracted, imagine you're taking a big inhale. No air will come in, but the pressure created by your diaphragm trying to draw air into the lungs will cause your abdominal contents to be hollowed out.

Now you'll create a wavelike motion with the abdominal muscles by engaging and releasing Uddiyana Bandha. Without inhaling or exhaling, slowly release the fake inhalation. And then again, without inhaling/exhaling, reestablish full uddiyana bandha.

Maintain the hollow created with uddiyana bandha in Step 1, and use the pressure of your hands against your thighs to push out the abdominal muscles. The sides of your belly will be sucked back in by the vacuum, and the rectus will protrude. 

This one takes quite a bit of practice: If you've achieved Step 3, you can now work on isolating the left and right sides of the abdominals. From Step 3, release the weight from your right hand so that you are pushing down strongly into only your left thigh. This should make the right side of the abdomen retreat and the left side protrude (a shape known as vama nauli). Then, repeat on the other side: Release the left hand so that weight is only in the right (known as dakshina nauli).

If you need a visual to guide you through these steps, this video is a good introduction to the practice.

In ayurvedic tradition, the kriyas are commonly prescribed1 for various afflictions of the body and mind. Advocates of the practice claim that Nauli has many health benefits, including the following:

Nauli is thought to stimulate the body's digestive fire, also known as agni. By fueling this fire, the practice can be beneficial for digestion. Nauli is essentially an internalized form of an abdominal massage, which is known to stimulate and regulate digestion2 too.

Nauli kriya is a powerful abdominal workout that requires core strength and the ability to isolate the muscles of the rectus abdominis, which make up the "six-pack," or "washboard" region of the abs. Practicing it properly and employing these muscles regularly will strengthen and tone them.

Proponents of the practice believe that the churning effect of Nauli massages the internal organs (such as the stomach, liver, spleen, urinary bladder, pancreas, gallbladder, and large and small intestine) and helps the body eliminate toxins in the digestive tract, though evidence of this is largely anecdotal.

While some of the benefits claimed of Nauli are not yet scientifically proven, many practitioners nonetheless enjoy this challenging and advanced purification technique.