Just Breathe

[zats_clear]

I wanted to share a technique that works wonders in calming my state of mind, letting go of pain, and reorienting my day on a more even keel. If you have done yoga for any length of time, you have heard the term "pranayama." Until a few months ago, that was pretty much all I knew of yogic breathing. On a Shiva Rea dvd, I saw what I now know as Nadi Shodhana and it was a whole new animal. There are numerous sources for Nadi Shodhana on the internet (go figure!), but I found this to be one of the more interesting, talking about an experiment done to determine the effects of this type of breathing.

Take a moment, try it out, and let me know what you think! Those of you who have already done it or other breathing techniques, please chime in as well.

I have copied the following from here:

Nadi Shodhana Nadi Shodhana, or the sweet breath, is simple form of alternate nostril breathing suitable for beginning and advanced students. Nadi means channel and refers to the energy pathways through which prana flows. Shodhana means cleansing -- so Nadi Shodhana means channel cleaning.

Benefits
Calms the mind, soothes anxiety and stress, balances left and right hemispheres, promotes clear thinking

How to do it

• Hold your right hand up and curl your index and middle fingers toward your palm. Place your thumb next to your right nostril and your ring finger and pinky by your left. Close the left nostril by pressing gently against it with your ring finger and pinky, and inhale through the right nostril. The breath should be slow, steady and full.
• Now close the right nostril by pressing gently against it with your thumb, and open your left nostril by relaxing your ring finger and pinky and exhale fully with a slow and steady breath.
• Inhale through the left nostril, close it, and then exhale through the right nostril.

That's one complete round of Nadi Shodhana --

• Inhale through the right nostril
• Exhale through the left
• Inhale through the left
• Exhale through the right.

Begin with 5-10 rounds and add more as you feel ready. Remember to keep your breathing slow, easy and full.

When to do it

Just about any time and any where. Try it as a mental warm-up before meditation to help calm the mind and put you in the mood. You can also do it as part of your centering before beginning an asana or posture routine. Also try it at times throughout the day. Nadi Shodhana helps control stress and anxiety. If you start to feel stressed out, 10 or so rounds will help calm you down. It also helps soothe anxiety caused by flying and other fearful or stressful situations.

Comments

[resa]

Hey, that's cool! I've been taking kundalini yoga classes for one and a half year now and we've done this several times in different sets of poses. I've never learned a name for it so far, but now I know. *g*

If I remember correctly, this kind of breathing often features in yoga sets for balance, especially for the different parts of the brain. The only thing we've done differently is that we simply use the thumb and the index finger of our right hand to close our nostrils. I don't think it matters much, though.

I've experienced that once I've really myself fall into this pattern of breathing (because taking long and deep breaths is still one of the hardest things for me), it calms me a lot and makes me, well, very happy, too. :-)

[sashajwolf]

I've done this in Sivananda beginners' classes. It is indeed very calming. Another similar technique, with the same benefits but slightly more intense, is Anuloma Viloma. It's essentially the same process, but you count 4 on your inbreath, retain the breath for 16, then count 8 on your outbreath. In class, where the teacher counts for you, you can silently say your mantra while you're retaining (or just Om.) That obviously doesn't work so well if you're counting yourself. It's quite powerful. You can vary the counts, provided you keep the proportions the same (i.e. the exhale is twice as long as the inhale, and the retention is twice as long as the exhale.)