Sit in a comfortable meditative position:  either with your legs crossed and spine erect on the floor or sitting in a chair with your feet balanced on the floor and your spine erect.

Rest your hands on your knees with your elbows straight and the index finger and thumb touching at their tips, forming a circle (mudra) called Gyan Mudra (the Seal of Wisdom).

Make your eyes 9/10ths closed, looking at a “gray” area near the tip of your nose.   Concentrate at the root of your nose, where it attaches to your face.

Stick your tongue slightly out of your mouth and curl the sides upward, like forming a tube or trough.  Slowly and steadily inhale through the curled tongue, allowing the breath to cool your tongue, mouth and throat.  This inhale should take about 5 seconds and be fast enough so that your lungs fill to their fullest capacity.  Then exhale chanting the Siri Gaitri Mantra:

in an ascending scale (Do Re Me…).

The sounds of the RA MA etc. is the “ah” sound.  HUNG is chanted a little sharper, a little more forcefully with the NG sound vibrating through the back of the throat and in the nose.

For maximum effect continue the breath and chant cycle for 11 to 31 minutes.

In yoga, pranayam is a breathing technique.  An especially powerful breath for enhancing immune function is Sitali, the cooling breath.  When you breathe through your curled tongue, you may experience a bitter taste on your tongue.  This usually indicates that your body is toxic and, with practice, the taste will go away.

Sitali Pranayam is useful for cooling down a fever, calming the mind by removing tension and anxiety, healing the digestive system and for rejuvenating the body.  It is said in mystical terms that this breath will make the heavens serve you.

When you add in the power of the mantra, this meditation becomes a powerful stress reliever.  This meditation is for the busy executive who lives from deadline to deadline, for the person who burns their candles at both ends, for the person whose health is gradually and steadily failing them.

Yogi Bhajan said about this meditation:  “It will give the receptive quality to the flow of the mind.  You can easily step back from the pains and the pleasures to view your actions from the neutral mind.  It can lead you to a greater understanding of your own actions and of their consequences.”

*  “Siri Gaitri Mantra is the best mantra for healing.  Healing within and healing others.”

© The Teachings of Yogi Bhajan