Have you ever tried to stop your breath completely — not by force, but naturally — and still feel totally alive?
Yogis call this rare state Keval Kumbhak — where breath stops automatically, and yet you’re fully conscious, alert, peaceful.
Let’s understand how this magic works using the simplest, most natural way.
🧃 Imagine Your Breath as Two Opposite Forces
In your body, two invisible energies help your breath go in and out:
- 🟦 Prana → Moves upward (helps you breathe in)
- 🟥 Apana → Moves downward (helps you breathe out)
Usually, they don’t pull equally. When Prana is stronger, you breathe in. When Apana is stronger, you breathe out.
But here’s the trick:
When both Prana and Apana pull equally in opposite directions, the breath doesn’t move at all. It becomes still — like magic!
This is the beginning of Keval Kumbhak.
⚖️ Let’s Use a Simple Scale to Understand This
Picture a two-pan weighing scale:
- One pan is Prana going up.
- The other pan is Apana going down.
If one pan is heavier, the scale tilts. Your breath moves.
But if both pans carry equal weight at the same time?
The scale stands perfectly still — just like your breath becomes still when Prana = Apana.
So even though both energies are working, they cancel each other out. That’s how your body becomes breathless, yet alive.
🌀 Now, Meet Ida and Pingala – The Two Side Channels
In your body, there are two more energy paths:
- 🌙 Ida: The left-side channel – cool, calming, linked to the moon
- 🔥 Pingala: The right-side channel – warm, active, linked to the sun
They spiral around your spine like two snakes dancing around a stick, crossing at each chakra point.
- When Ida is stronger, your body feels lazy or sleepy.
- When Pingala is stronger, your body feels hyper or restless.
But when Ida and Pingala become equal, your body becomes silent, balanced, and peaceful.
And what happens next?
Your central energy channel (called Sushumna) becomes active — and Prana and Apana get a chance to meet and balance. It’s so because prana and apana meet together only with spinal breathing, not with ordinary physical breathing. And spinal breathing is only possible when central sushumna channel is active and receptive otherwise breathing slip towards left Ida or right pingla channel that’s usual worldly breathing where prana and apna can’t meet together. This is the main relationship between ida pingla and prana apna duos.
⚖️ Think of Ida and Pingala as Two Side Pans on a Scale
Now imagine:
- The left pan is Ida
- The right pan is Pingala
If one side is heavier, the scale shakes. You feel imbalance.
But when both are exactly equal, the scale or sushumna or spine becomes calm. Then inside that calmness, Prana and Apana can also balance like two secret workers becoming friends.
So, Ida–Pingala (left–right) balance is needed for Prana–Apana (up–down) balance.
And that leads to breath stillness — Keval Kumbhak.
🧘♂️ So What Do Yogis Actually Do?
Yogis don’t reach this breathless state by thinking. They practice:
- Yoga
- Pranayama (controlled breathing)
- Meditation
These make your system so trained that Ida, Pingala, Prana, and Apana slowly start balancing themselves like a habit. Like walking, cycling, or swimming — once you learn, the body remembers.
And when your breath naturally stops in balance, you feel the deepest peace and alert stillness.
🧁 In Simple Words…
- You don’t stop breath by force.
- You balance opposite energies so well that breath has no need to move.
- And in that stillness, you are fully awake and alive.
This is Keval Kumbhak — the yogic miracle of living breathlessness.
Yes, in this whole journey, nonduality has the main and central pivotal role. Journey starts and ends here. That’s why advait vedanta is the ultimate thought of school. However it leads to further yogic progress itself if sustained continuously for lifelong. Sharirvigyan darshan, a hologram based scientific philosophy appears a boon for nonduality seekers in this regard.
Demystifying Kundalini 