Sudarshan Kriya is a unique rhythmical breathing process that is said to have been revealed to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar during a spell of silent meditation that he had gone into for 10 days in 1982. The theory is that the kriya allows a healthy and pleasant mind to produce chemical messengers, which travel from the nervous system to the immune system, resulting in the overall betterment of both body and mind.
Process:
This kriya, as done at the Art of Living workshops, involves regulating one's breath to the sounds of So-hum ('So' for inhale and 'hum' for exhale)coming from the tape recorder in Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's voice. The entire kriya involves multiple rounds with each round having long, medium and short inhalation and exhaltions with varying rhythms and intensities.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has described the working of the Sudarshan Kriya thus:
"There is a rhythm in nature. Seasons come and go. In your own body also, there is a rhythm. Life has a particular rhythm. Similarly, your breath also goes in a pattern. Your emotions move in a particular rhythm, as well as your thoughts. All these rhythms arise from your being, which has its own rhythm.
"In Sudarshan Kriya, we get into the rhythm of our being and see how our being is permeating our emotions, our thoughts, our breath and our bodies. Soon, every cell of our body becomes alive and releases all the toxins and negative emotions it has stored from times past. Once again, we are able to smile from our hearts."
Sudarshan Kriya is accompanied by certain other pranayama techniques like Ujjayi Pranayama and the Bhastrika Pranayama, which supposedly help in quelling the turmoil of the mind. According to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, through this kriya the mind experiences deep rest. He states that the process also involves the infusion of a maximum amount of oxygen to the cells, which helps in the release of neuropeptides that regularize Abnormal Brain Wave patterns in patients suffering from neural disorders.
It depends upon the doctor.