Hello and welcome to this grounding and calming breath practice.
My name is Doris and I'll be guiding you through this practice today where we are going to practice alternate nostril breathing also known as Nadi Shodhana.
We are going to practice in the seat so feel free to find any comfortable seat for you whether that's on the ground,
On a chair,
On the sofa even,
But perhaps keeping your spine upright so maybe not leaning against something for the next few minutes.
And a really important note that I would like to give you for really any breath work is to not breathe to an extend or exhale or anything where you feel tension.
So for example when we breathe in and really go as far as we can then this can create a lot of tension in the body and the same goes for when we exhale or hold the breath.
This can create tension and what that signals to your body and to your nervous system in particular is that you're not safe and that there's some kind of trigger,
Some kind of form of anxiety or fear near.
So that can lead to quite the opposite from being balanced and grounded.
So that's just a little note before we practice and there won't be any music for this practice but feel free to put something on in the background if you prefer and you can practice this by counting.
So a traditional counting would be 8-4-8-4 so this means inhale holding exhale and holding your empty lungs or empty breath.
But I'm not going to use counting because I think that sometimes can lead into that tension as I mentioned in the beginning but feel free to do what works for you.
If your nose is blocked you can do this simply by mentally breathing in through the nostrils.
You don't actually have to breathe through one nostril and then out the other.
And then bring your dominant hand towards your nose.
The ring finger comes onto one nostril and the thumb onto the other.
So for right hand that's ring finger left nostril,
For the left hand that's ring finger to the right nostril.
And you can then extend your index and middle finger towards your third eye or you can bend them in towards your palm.
And then let's just place the fingers against the nostrils without closing them yet as you take a few full rounds of conscious breathing.
Relaxing shoulders,
Face the jaw.
You can just relax the other hand against your thigh.
Relaxing the shoulder of the hand that's by your nose.
And the way the practice works is that you inhale through one nostril,
Hold your inhale by closing both nostrils,
Exhale through the other and then close again by holding your exhale.
And you're just going to follow your own breath here,
Taking your own boundaries very seriously.
So to get started let's take a last full breath in and out.
Inhale again through both nostrils and then close your right nostril,
Exhale through the left.
Immediately inhale through the left.
Close both nostrils,
Hold for a moment and then exhale through the right nostril.
Hold your exhale,
Close both nostrils and then inhale through the right nostril.
Hold your inhale,
Close and exhale through the left.
Open the left nostril.
Hold your exhale and then inhale through the left again as you continue with this practice.
Not going to your maximum.
It's about being balanced,
Being rounded and that doesn't come from really going beyond boundaries.
If you'd like to count you can use any number that is 2121 so it could be 6363,
42428484 so we always hold half the time that we breathe in and out.
Making sure the shoulders are relaxed.
And if the arm becomes heavy at some point then you can simply release it and continue this mentally.
Rooting down the sit bones,
Growing tall yet allowing the upper body to be soft and receptive.
Softening the body wherever you can.
As you continue breathing.
I will leave you to yourself now for a few moments to stay with your breath,
Stay with nadi shodhana.
Thank you.
You you you you you And then whenever you've exhaled through your left nostril again just where we started I invite you to release your arm towards your legs and simply notice how it feels to breathe through both nostrils now.
Feeling the inhale into the body,
Feeling how this new fresh round of oxygen is nourishing the body.
And then exhale anything that the body no longer needs.
And then gently allowing the breath to do its own thing,
To flow naturally.
Maybe you'd like to bat the eyes open if they were closed.
And perhaps it feels good to stretch a little bit or move the body.
Maybe you'd like to finish this with a little shavasana or perhaps you're ready to go about your day.
Simply listening to your body is going to be the right choice for you.
Thank you for taking this time to breathe,
To work with your breath and to nourish your body.
Namaste.
