Calm A Racing Mind With Alternate Nostril Breathing

Quiet your mind with **Nadi Shodhana**, also known as **Alternate Nostril Breathing**, one of yoga's most balancing and cleansing breathing practices. In this guided session, you'll learn what Nadi Shodhana means, explore **three simple ways** to practice it, and discover how it can help settle mental chatter, prepare you for meditation, or support a peaceful night's sleep. This easy-to-learn technique is a wonderful addition to your daily wellness routine, helping you reconnect with your breath, body, and inner calm. Please listen to your body and return to your natural breath if you experience any discomfort. As this practice promotes deep relaxation and sleep, please do not listen while driving or operating heavy machinery.

Transcript

Hi, My name is Priscilla Yeager and today I want to walk you through alternate nostril breathing. The technical name for this is Nadi Shodhana Pranayama. Let's break that down. We'll do a little call and response since this one isn't so easy to roll off the tongue. So I'm going to do a call and response where I say one part and then you'll say it with me. So let's try it on. Nah. Na Di Di Sho So, DA, DA, NA. Nah. Nadi Shodhana. Easy, Right? So Nadi Shodhana Pranayama, This is known as alternate nostril breathing, And it's a really great breath for it's very simple yet powerful. And it's phenomenal for calming racing thoughts, Especially right before you go to sleep. Maybe give this one a try. If you tend to have a lot of thoughts swirling through your mind or if you catch yourself in a lot of anxiety in general, This is a great way to calm the system. And it also is a really way of just getting you back into your body, Calming the mind and coming back home into the body. And the breakdown of this, Nadi actually stands for a channel. It is a channel within us. And Shodhana is a cleansing or purification. So we are cleansing and purifying our channel, Our central channel to be specific. And the central channel goes up through the chakras, The seven main chakras. If you are not familiar with the chakra system, No worries. You do not need to know anything further than just following along. As I guide you through this breath. But if you are interested in knowing a little bit more about the history of this, I really love that we are bringing the wisdom for the left side of our body, Which relates to the Ida Nadi. Some may call it Ida Nadi. You'll hear this interchangeable. So Ida or Ida, Either way, That's reflecting our left side of the body, Which is represented by the feminine energy that lives within us. We all have a feminine and masculine side to us. So the left is our receptive side. It's connected to the moon. It's more of this cooling and calming energy. Whereas we have the right side, Also known as the pingala nadi, And the pingala nadi is that right aspect, Which is also our masculine side. And the masculine can relate to that taking action, Some heat, And it relates to the sun. So these two energies are going to weave together up and down through the chakra system, All the way up our central channel known as the Sushumna channel. And they're going to weave up and down, Creating this beautiful figure eight dance. So if you are a visual person and you like to imagine figure of energy flowing up and down through the body. Feel free to imagine that as we breathe. Or just simply bring your focus to your third eye. There's a variety of ways to do this with our hand gestures. Find what's comfortable for you and try on different ways of doing it so you really get some feeling within yourself of what feels best in your body. Some people will go ahead and give this a try. Some people do a hang loose symbol first. So thumb outreached, Pinky outreached, And the three fingers pulled in towards the palm. You could bring the right thumb to the right nostril, The pinky to the left nostril. See how that feels. If that's a little uncomfortable, Maybe see what it's like to bring your ring finger extended. So pinky and ring finger extended along with the thumb and your middle and index finger pulled in towards the center. And then we'll bring the thumb to the right nostril, The ring finger will then go to the left nostril. So we're going to be doing a lot of touching of our nostrils. This is alternate nostril breathing. And another option just to try, You know, Come along with me, See how that feels, Might give you a little bit more space. Some people like to bring their index and middle finger to the third eye and use the thumb on the right nostril and the ring finger or pinky to the left nostril. So if you're bringing your attention, Your energy to the third eye, This one might feel really nice for you. Me personally, I really love to do the hang loose and then extend my ring finger and bring my thumb to my right nostril, My ring finger to the left. So this is what I will be demonstrating today. But again, Play around with this, See what works for you. And every day is different. So to begin this practice, We're going to start by sitting nice and tall, Finding a comfortable seat, Checking in with your body. And as you sit tall, Imagine the top of your head being pulled up towards the heavens. Buttocks rooting down into the seat beneath you as if you could connect all the way down to the core of the earth. And for this purpose, You may want to watch this video a few times just to get the hang of it and see what I'm doing. And then when you feel comfortable, Close your eyes, Turn your focus inward and just focus on your breath, Going your own rhythm, Your own pace. I also enjoy bringing a four count into this so I will offer a counting at the beginning of our practice and then I will have some silent times so you can just try the practice on without my counting. And with the counting we usually do four count in whole for two seconds. And then an exhale for a four count. And then we start again. Okay, We're going to try this together with a count. And then I'm going to leave you to just explore at your own pace and your own rhythm. Right thumb, Right nostril, Ring finger, Left nostril. We're going to start with closing off the right. Leaving the left open, Inhale. For a count of four. Through the left. Let's begin. In. 2. Three. Four, Close both nostrils. Exhale through the right two three four inhale through the right two, Three, Four, Pinch and hold. Exhale through the left three four inhale through the left cold. Exhale through the right Inhale through the right. Hold. Exhale through the left. Inhale through the left and continue your own pace, Holding the top. Exhaling to the right Inhaling through the right. Just keep that breath going, Your own pace, Your own rhythm. Closing the eyes and just exploring. Feeling the dance. Between the. . . Ira Nadi, The feminine energies and the Pingala Nadi, The masculine energies weaving together up and down the Sushumna central channel, Our greatest energy, Feeling this breath cleansing and purifying the entire system. And if you would like to explore with bringing the index and the middle finger to the third eye, Just to see what that feels like, Give it a try. I'm going to do one more round. The next time you exhale out the right nostril. You can release your hands down and just take a moment with eyes remaining closed, Keeping your focus inward. Who body scans, Noticing. What is the quality of the mind? Quality of your life. Sensations all throughout the body. If you'd like to state an affirmation, You can. State one to yourself now. Or just simply thanking yourself for your practice today. Invite you to bring your palms together, Heart center, Thumbs pressing in towards the sternum, Sternum pressing back, Lifting the heart slightly. Feeling yourself cleansed and purified. Thanking your breath. For being such a powerful force within you. That can change your state at any moment. Again, My name is Priscilla. I hope you have found this as a helpful tool that you can keep with you at any moment. And try it on before sleep. Can be a really great way of getting a good night's rest. And with that, The light within me recognizes and honors the light within you. Namaste.