Kaki mudra pranayama (crow beak breath): steps, benefits and precautions

How to do Kaki Pranayama

1. Sit comfortably with a straight spine in Sukhasana, Vajrasana or on a chair. Rest your hands on your knees, palms up.
2. Relax your face. Shape your lips into a small, narrow beak, like a crow’s beak or as if you were about to drink through a straw.
3. Optionally, rest your gaze softly on the tip of your nose; close your eyes instead if this strains them.
4. Breathe in slowly through the beak for 4 counts, sipping the air. Feel the cool air on your tongue and throat.
5. Close your lips and breathe out gently through the nose for 6 counts.
6. Repeat for the 9 rounds on the timer (1.5 minutes). Then relax your mouth and eyes and breathe normally.

Kaki mudra pranayama, the crow beak breath, is a simple cooling breathing practice. You shape your lips like a crow’s beak, sip the air in through the mouth and breathe out through the nose. It is gentle, has no breath hold and takes only a minute or two, so it suits beginners on hot days. This page explains the meaning, how to use the timer, the traditional benefits, who should skip it, and how it compares with other pranayamas and mudras.

What is Kaki mudra? Meaning of the crow beak breath

Kaka means "crow" in Sanskrit, and kaki is the female crow. A mudra is a seal or gesture. So Kaki mudra is the "crow gesture": the lips are pursed into a narrow beak. The crow was traditionally seen as a bird that rarely falls ill and lives long, and the old texts promise the practitioner similar health.

The Gheranda Samhita, a classical Hatha yoga text, lists Kaki mudra among its mudras and describes drinking air slowly through the beak-shaped mouth. Many teachers today add nasikagra drishti, a soft gaze at the tip of the nose, to steady the mind.

Kaki is also a name for the persimmon fruit. If you were looking for the benefits of kaki fruit, this page is about the breathing practice, not the fruit.

How to use the crow beak breath timer

The timer uses a 4:6 pattern: 4 seconds breathing in through the beak, 6 seconds breathing out through the nose, with no hold. The default 9 rounds take 90 seconds. The ring grows as you sip the air in and shrinks as you breathe out.

• Make the beak small enough that the air makes a soft, cool stream, not a loud rush.
• If 4 seconds of sipping leaves you short of air, open the lips a little wider.
• For a longer practice, set 18 rounds (3 minutes). There is no need to go beyond 5 minutes.

Kaki mudra pranayama benefits

There is almost no modern research on Kaki pranayama by itself, so the benefits below are traditional or based on how slow breathing works in general:

• Cooling. Air drawn over the moist tongue and mouth feels cool. Yoga tradition groups Kaki mudra with Sheetali and Sheetkari as cooling breaths for summer, heat and irritability.
• Calm. The narrow lips slow the inhale, and the exhale is longer than the inhale, a pattern that tends to relax the body.
• Focus. Holding the beak shape and the nose-tip gaze needs attention, so the mind has less room to wander.
• Digestion (traditional). Traditional texts say Kaki mudra helps digestion. There is no clinical evidence for this.

Claims that Kaki mudra cures disease, clears the skin or slows ageing are not supported by research.

Kaki mudra precautions: who should skip it

Breathing in through the mouth skips the filtering and warming that the nose provides. That is why this practice is best in clean, warm air. Skip it:

• in cold weather or air-conditioned rooms that feel chilly;
• in dusty, smoky or polluted air, or during high pollen days if you have allergies;
• with low blood pressure, because cooling breaths are traditionally avoided when BP is low (see yoga for low blood pressure);
• with a cold, a cough, a sore throat, or asthma that cold air can trigger.

Which mudra is used in pranayama?

Two kinds of mudra appear in breathing practice. Hand mudras rest the hands and set the mood: Chin or Gyan mudra (thumb and index finger touching) is the most common; Vishnu mudra is used to close the nostrils in alternate nostril breathing. Face and mouth mudras, like Kaki mudra, change how the air enters. Each mudra and its benefits are described on the mudras page.

What is Prana mudra and how does it compare?

Prana mudra is a hand gesture: the tips of the ring and little fingers touch the thumb. To do Prana mudra, keep the other two fingers straight and rest the hands on the knees. Traditionally, the benefits of Prana mudra are linked with energy and vitality; see Prana mudra. You can hold it during Kaki pranayama if you like. The benefits of Vayu mudra (traditionally used for gas and restlessness) and the benefits of Yoni mudra (used for turning inward before meditation) are also traditional, not proven.

Kaki pranayama vs other breathing practices

What is pranayama and its benefits in general? Pranayama means guiding the breath on purpose; slow techniques calm, fast ones energise. Here is how the crow beak breath compares:

The benefits of Bhramari pranayama are mainly calm and better sleep; the benefits of Ujjayi pranayama are focus and a steady rhythm in yoga practice. The benefits of Bhastrika pranayama are about energy, but it is not suitable for high blood pressure or heart disease. The benefits of kumbhaka pranayama (breath holding) and of Bahya pranayama (holding the breath out with locks) are traditional and need careful teaching; Kaki mudra needs no hold at all.

Kaki mudra in Hindi (काकी मुद्रा)

More breathing techniques

Breathing practices are safe for most people when done gently. Stop if you feel dizzy, anxious or short of breath, and ask your doctor first if you have heart or lung disease, high blood pressure, epilepsy or are pregnant.