Alternate Nostril Breathing - A Technique Found in all the Classic Scriptures
There are several techniques one can use to train the brain and balance the nervous system. Alternate Nostril Breathing (Nadi Shodhana) is one of my favorites and one of the easiest to learn.
Step one: Form a mudra with your right hand, placing the tips of the first two fingers on the base of the thumb. The thumb rests lightly above the right nostril, the ring finger rests lightly above the left nostril.
Step two: Use right thumb to very gently close off your right nostril. Inhale slowly and deeply through left nostril.
Step three: Retain the breath very briefly at the top of the inhale (if you do not have high blood pressure) before exhaling slowly and completely out of the right nostril.
Step four: Retain the breath very briefly as you gently close the left nostril with your ring finger, releasing the thumb off the right nostril.
Step five: Exhale slowly and completely through your right nostril.
Step six: After a brief pause, Inhale fully and slowly through your right nostril.
Step seven: Pause again at the top of
the inhale, closing the right nostril gently and then Exhale slowly and completely through the left nostril. This is one round.
Repeat again several times. Only continue as long as you remain relaxed and fully present.
*Start slowly with a few rounds, ending by exhaling out the left nostril and then sitting quietly to absorb the benefits.
*Gradually, over time, you may wish to increase the practice to several minutes. Never force the practice.
*Sit quietly for a few moments after you have finished, focusing on your body and how it feels after this conscious breathing practice. You have begun to balance the right and left hemispheres of the brain, both sides of the body, and the nervous system, as well. A great step toward wholeness and health.
Salute the supreme teacher, the truth, whose nature is bliss; who is the giver of the highest happiness; who is pure wisdom; who is beyond all qualities and infinite like the sky; who is beyond worlds; who is one and eternal, pure and still; who is beyond all change and phenomena and who is the silent witness to all our thoughts and emotions – Salute truth, the supreme teacher. –Ancient Vedic Hymn-
There are several techniques one can use to train the brain and balance the nervous system. Alternate Nostril Breathing (Nadi Shodhana) is one of my favorites and one of the easiest to learn.
Step one: Form a mudra with your right hand, placing the tips of the first two fingers on the base of the thumb. The thumb rests lightly above the right nostril, the ring finger rests lightly above the left nostril.
Step two: Use right thumb to very gently close off your right nostril. Inhale slowly and deeply through left nostril.
Step three: Retain the breath very briefly at the top of the inhale (if you do not have high blood pressure) before exhaling slowly and completely out of the right nostril.
Step four: Retain the breath very briefly as you gently close the left nostril with your ring finger, releasing the thumb off the right nostril.
Step five: Exhale slowly and completely through your right nostril.
Step six: After a brief pause, Inhale fully and slowly through your right nostril.
Step seven: Pause again at the top of
the inhale, closing the right nostril gently and then Exhale slowly and completely through the left nostril. This is one round.
Repeat again several times. Only continue as long as you remain relaxed and fully present.
*Start slowly with a few rounds, ending by exhaling out the left nostril and then sitting quietly to absorb the benefits.
*Gradually, over time, you may wish to increase the practice to several minutes. Never force the practice.
*Sit quietly for a few moments after you have finished, focusing on your body and how it feels after this conscious breathing practice. You have begun to balance the right and left hemispheres of the brain, both sides of the body, and the nervous system, as well. A great step toward wholeness and health.
Salute the supreme teacher, the truth, whose nature is bliss; who is the giver of the highest happiness; who is pure wisdom; who is beyond all qualities and infinite like the sky; who is beyond worlds; who is one and eternal, pure and still; who is beyond all change and phenomena and who is the silent witness to all our thoughts and emotions – Salute truth, the supreme teacher. –Ancient Vedic Hymn-