Kapalabhati between Purification and Pranayama: A Classificatory Divergence and Its Consequences for Breath Regulation Research

Background: Kapalabhati is named in the six purification practices of both the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and the Gheranda Samhita, and it is named as a pranayama in a large body of peer-reviewed physiological and clinical research. Both usages are long established, both are held by informed authorities and the disagreement between them is rarely acknowledged in print.
Objective: This paper establishes where Kapalabhati sits in the classical corpus, in current institutional taxonomies and in the research literature, examines what the divergence between these sources costs evidence synthesis, and proposes a reporting convention that allows either classification to be used without ambiguity.
Approach: A conceptual review of verse-level material from the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and the Gheranda Samhita, of official Indian yoga syllabi and protocols, and of indexed empirical studies, systematic reviews and commentaries that classify Kapalabhati explicitly or by placement.
Findings: The classical texts are consistent and specific. Both name Kapalabhati among the six purificatory actions and both omit it from their lists of kumbhakas. Read together, the passages indicate that breath retention is the operative distinction: the pranayama passages require it and the Gheranda Samhita expressly forbids it for its breathing variant of Kapalabhati. Every Indian institutional syllabus located for this review follows the classical placement. The empirical literature follows the opposite convention, with numerous indexed studies naming Kapalabhati a pranayama in their titles. The cost of the divergence is visible in evidence synthesis: two systematic reviews of pranayama published seven years apart operate on technique sets that do not overlap on this practice, one including it as a matter of category and the other excluding it through a respiratory rate criterion, and neither states the difference as a limitation.
Conclusion: The disagreement is not resolvable by appeal to authority, because the two traditions apply different criteria to different ends. It is resolvable in reporting. An eight-item convention is proposed under which a study states the taxonomy it applies and reports the technique-level parameters that determine physiological effect, so that a reader and a reviewer can reconstruct the intervention regardless of the category name attached to it.

Kapalabhati; shatkarma; pranayama; classification; evidence synthesis

1. Svatmarama. (1915). The Hatha Yoga Pradipika (P. Sinh, Trans.). Panini Office. (Original work composed circa 15th century) [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. Mallinson, J. (Trans.). (2004). The Gheranda Samhita: The original Sanskrit and an English translation. YogaVidya.com. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, Ministry of Ayush, Government of India. (2019). Common Yoga Protocol (4th rev. ed.). Ministry of Ayush. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. Yoga Certification Board, Ministry of Ayush, Government of India. (n.d.). Syllabus for Level 1: Yoga Protocol Instructor. Yoga Certification Board. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. Yoga Certification Board, Ministry of Ayush, Government of India. (n.d.). Syllabus for Level 3: Yoga Teacher and Evaluator. Yoga Certification Board. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

6. Quality Council of India. (n.d.). Syllabus: Yoga Protocol Instructor (Version 0.2). Quality Council of India. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

7. Kaivalyadhama G. S. College of Yoga and Cultural Synthesis. (n.d.). Advanced course in yoga: Syllabus. Kaivalyadhama. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

8. Johnson, D. B., Tierney, M. J., & Sadighi, P. J. (2004). Kapalabhati pranayama: Breath of fire or cause of pneumothorax? A case report. Chest, 125(5), 1951–1952. https://doi.org/10.1378/chest.125.5.1951 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

9. Malhotra, V., Javed, D., Wakode, S., Bharshankar, R., Soni, N., & Porter, P. K. (2022). Study of immediate neurological and autonomic changes during kapalbhati pranayama in yoga practitioners. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 11(2), 720–727. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

10. https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1662_21 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

11. Senthil Kumar, K., Jeneth Berlin Raj, T., Sembulingam, P., & Tripathi, P. C. (2013). Consolidate effect of Vibhagha pranayama, Nadishuddi pranayama, Savithiri pranayama and Kapalabhati pranayama on the pulmonary functional status of young healthy male subjects. International Journal of Medical Research and Health Sciences, 2(3), 502–508. https://doi.org/10.5958/j.2319-5886.2.3.042 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

12. Bal, B. S. (2015). Impact of short-term training of Kapalbhati pranayama on components of health-related fitness. International Journal of Science Culture and Sport, 3(13), 59–68. https://doi.org/10.14486/intjscs437 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

13. Chidambaram, Y., Balasubramaniam, S., John Xavier, A., Ajay Kumar, I., Subramaniyam, S., & Venkateswaran, S. T. (2026). Impact of fast pranayama (Bhastrika and Kapalabhati) on metabolic parameters in a patient with metabolic syndrome: A case report. International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences, 14(5), 2098–2101. https://doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20261355 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

14. Sharma, V. K., Trakroo, M., Subramaniam, V., Rajajeyakumar, M., Bhavanani, A. B., & Sahai, A. (2013). Effect of fast and slow pranayama on perceived stress and cardiovascular parameters in young health-care students. International Journal of Yoga, 6(2), 104–110. https://doi.org/10.4103/0973-6131.113400 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

15. Mütze, C., Mitzinger, D., & Haller, H. (2025). Effectiveness of pranayama for mental disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 16, 1616996. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1616996 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

16. Budhi, R. B., Singh, D., Goswami, J., Manjunath, N. K., & Vinchurkar, S. (2024). Influence of high-frequency yoga breathing (Kapalabhati) on states changes in gamma oscillation. International Journal of Yoga, 17(2), 106–115. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijoy.ijoy_5_24 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

17. Lalitha, S., Maheshkumar, K., Shobana, R., & Deepika, C. (2021). Immediate effect of Kapalbhathi pranayama on short term heart rate variability (HRV) in healthy volunteers. Journal of Complementary and Integrative Medicine, 18(1), 155–158. https://doi.org/10.1515/jcim-2019-0331 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

18. Epe, J., Stark, R., & Ott, U. (2021). Different effects of four yogic breathing techniques on mindfulness, stress and well-being. OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine, 6(3), 031. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

19. https://doi.org/10.21926/obm.icm.2103031 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

20. Yadav, G., & Sony, S. (2024). Effect of Bhastrika pranayama and Kapalbhati kriya on vital capacity of junior cricket players. International Journal of Physical Education, Sports and Health, 11(2), 249–252. https://doi.org/10.22271/kheljournal.2024.v11.i2d.3292 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

21. Ravi, P., Venugopal, V., Boopalan, D., Anandhan, A., Chidambaram, Y., & Kuppusamy, M. (2023). Effect of Vatakarma Kapalbhati on sinus headache. Journal of Primary Care Specialties, 4(1), 32–34. https://doi.org/10.4103/jopcs.jopcs_15_22 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

22. Nivethitha, L., Mooventhan, A., Manjunath, N. K., Bathala, L., & Sharma, V. K. (2018). Cerebrovascular hemodynamics during the practice of Bhramari pranayama, Kapalbhati and Bahir-Kumbhaka: An exploratory study. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 43(1), 87–92. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-017-9387-8 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

23. Patidar, M., Vishwakarma, D. K., Shukla, M., & Nathani, N. (2023). Unveiling the concepts of Kapalbhati – Shatkarma and Bhastrika – Pranayama. International Journal of Yogic, Human Movement and Sports Sciences, 8(2), 479–482. https://doi.org/10.22271/yogic.2023.v8.i2g.1506 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

24. Prashanth, S., Priyanka, S., & Maheshkumar, K. (2026). Kapalabhati in classical Hatha Yoga: A critical reappraisal of its classification. Yoga Mimamsa, 58(1), 4–8. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

25. https://doi.org/10.4103/ymjscy.ymjscy_15_26 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

26. Zaccaro, A., Piarulli, A., Laurino, M., Garbella, E., Menicucci, D., Neri, B., & Gemignani, A. (2018). How breath-control can change your life: A systematic review on psycho-physiological correlates of slow breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 353. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

27. Malhotra, V., Gumashta, J., Bhagat, O. L., Dhakar, M. J., Sofia, M., & Patel, M. H. (2025). Comparative effects of Kapalbhati and slow deep breathing on heart rate variability: Mechanistic insights into sympathetic and parasympathetic dominance. Mymensingh Medical Journal, 34(1), 256–264. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

28. Laborde, S., Allen, M. S., Borges, U., Dosseville, F., Hosang, T. J., Iskra, M., Mosley, E., Salvotti, C., Spolverato, L., Zammit, N., & Javelle, F. (2022). Effects of voluntary slow breathing on heart rate and heart rate variability: A systematic review and a meta-analysis. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 138, 104711. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104711 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

• Flowing in the Path of Flourishing: Implementing a PERMA-Vinyasa Yoga Wellness Program
• Selecting and Sequencing Pranayama Techniques for Adolescent Practice: A Narrative Review of Protocol Design, Dosage and Safety