A Morning Breath Practice To Clear, Balance & Energize

Start your day by clearing morning congestion and inviting more prana, or life force, into your body with this left-nostril-focused pranayama practice. You'll begin with a few rounds of alternate nostril breathing to settle and center, then move into rapid, energizing breaths through the left nostril alone — a technique the yogic tradition associates with awakening the right hemisphere of the brain, the seat of creativity and imagination.

This practice is especially supportive if you tend to wake up congested or foggy, helping open the breath and balance prana and apana before your day begins. It closes with a few deep, grounding breaths through both nostrils, easing you gently into stillness and preparing your mind and body for seated meditation.

Transcript

Good morning. And. . . Salvatimes. Especially certain times of the year in the mornings, We feel a little congested. And I know for myself, I lay on one side. And all the mucus and stuff goes into one nostril and I find it hard to breathe, Especially in the morning. And in the yoga tradition, You might be familiar. That when you breathe in, You breathe in prana, Life force, And that helps. And just. . . Making your life a little bit more quality a little bit more vibrant a little bit more balance as well. We know that prana isn't all about And. . . Just excited energy. There's the balance of prana and apana that keeps you in balance. So, This morning I'm going to be doing a type of reading that is a mix of had of two types of breathing that I've taught before. So it involves closing off the right nostril. So if your left nostril is completely congested, It's completely blocked off, Maybe put this and for another day, Because. . . We are going to be breathing almost exclusively through the left nostril throughout this practice. The yoga tradition, Whether you want to believe it or not, That's fine. But the yoga tradition believes that by breathing into the left nostril, You're actually feeding the right channels, The right brain, The right part of the body. Obviously, You know that right brain is typically associated with creativity and imagination. But whether or not you believe that or not doesn't really matter. What I like to do is just breathing this in. Just to uh. . . Just allow myself to breathe a little bit better and open myself up to the possibilities of the day. So let's just kind of take a check on our breath. So let's breathe in together. So roll your shoulders back. And see if you can Open your chest a little bit. So that posture in itself helps you breathe a little bit better. You know, Singers sometimes will have their hands here. But let's just kind of breathe in. And just feel all the muscles in your chest expand and open. Maybe even roll your elbows back. And then relax your shoulders down. So breathing in through the nose. Open your shoulders. Pull your elbows back. And then relax. One more time, Inhale, Breathe in. Just feel the. . . Collarbones lift, The sternum lifts, The shoulders relax down away from your ears. And then relax. And let's also do a little bit of nadi shodhana. And that's requires your ring and your thumb. Ring finger on the thumb. And so draw your thumb to your right nostril and just breathe in through the left nostril. So breathe in. Use your ring finger to close off the left nostril and breathe out through the right. Now breathe in through the right nostril. And breathe out through the right. And let's repeat that. So breathe in through the left. Breathe out through the right. And to the right. Out through the left. So you're still breathing in really, Really deep, But just notice just that little bit of a strain. Because you're just breathing through one nostril. One more time. Help, Right? And do the right. Out through the lats. So you're still focusing on the quality of breath. But you just know that it's just going to be a little bit of a strain. That's what they call pranayama, A little restriction. Okay, So for the main practice. You're going to put your right thumb onto your right nostril. And you're going to be breathing in short breaths. So it's going to sound like this. So try that first with your, Just feeling your belly snapping in. So it's really short breaths in and out, In, Out, In, In, Out, In, Out. Okay, So as you know, That's a very energizing breath. So we're gonna be doing that with the left nostril. So closing off your right nostril, And let's practice. So let's try it. So breathe in. About halfway. And exhale. Now short breaths. Thank you. Thank you. Let go of the right, And breathe out. So if you notice that. . . The quickness of the breath really just depends on you. So you can do it very, Very short. Where you can do it a little bit more rhythmically. So you decide what pace that you want to go. Let's try this again. A little bit longer. So you determine the pace. Again, The pace doesn't have to be consistent throughout. You can go at your own pace. Just think about that breath just enlivening you and energizing you. You're also keeping the torso tall. So let's begin. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Let's start. Thanks for watching. Just feel your entire body energizing. You You can even put your hand on your belly. Just feel that snapping. Few more breaths. Deep inhale. Exhale. Inhale through both nostrils. Exhaling through the mouth. One more time, Inhale through both nostrils. Exhaling. It's always good to kind of tune in and just notice. Your energetic state right now. Maybe you have a little bit more energy to face the day. Or maybe it's a little bit more balanced. So that you can gently go into a Gentle seated meditation following. It's always good to practice a little bit of pranayama. Before you start any sort of quiet contemplative meditative practices. So wherever you are in the world, Have a good day.