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Breath Retention (Kumbhaka)

The sealed pause between in-breath and out-breath — where haṭha-yoga gathers its power.

Kumbhaka is the holding of the breath — the still pause in which inhalation and exhalation are suspended, the 'pot' filled and sealed. In haṭha-yoga it is the heart of breath-control: the texts catalogue many varieties and prize the moment of retention as the point at which the vital energy is gathered and the central channel opened. A distinction is drawn between retention reached by deliberate effort and a spontaneous, effortless suspension that arises of itself in deep absorption.