Alternate Nostril Breathing for Calm & Balance (Nadi Shodan)

Explore Nadi Shodana, a gentle yogic practice that balances the masculine and feminine energies within us.

By harmonizing these two currents through the breath, the nervous system settles, the mind clears, and a natural sense of calm and balance arises.

Transcript

Masculine,

Feminine.

Masculine,

Feminine.

Masculine,

Masculine.

Masculine,

Feminine.

Masculine,

Feminine.

Masculine,

Feminine.

Feminine,

Feminine.

So if you are living in a place like Copenhagen where there is a spiritual community I'm sure that you hear these words on a daily basis.

Things like,

Yeah,

I need to connect more with my masculine and just go for it.

Or I need to be more receptive and more listen to my intuition and connect more with my feminine.

And there is a reason for it.

And it is that both masculine and feminine energies together they form a very core principle of existence which is the principle of gender.

This beautiful dance of polarity between the masculine and the feminine that we see all around us in cosmos either outside of us or inside of us.

So the masculine principle is all about expansion being active,

You know,

Going straight directional,

Linear,

Goal-oriented,

Logic,

Warm.

Whereas the feminine principle is more about going inward being more receptive,

Contraction,

Being passive moving in circular waves,

Cooling connecting with intuition,

With creativity.

Now,

Of course,

It's not like one is better than the other.

You know,

Life is not a rigid either-or either this or that.

No,

Life thrives on polarity.

Active,

Passive.

Expansion,

Contraction.

Warm,

Cool.

Masculine,

Feminine.

And so masculine and feminine are essentially two complementary forces that together they complete each other.

Like two halves that together complete each other.

And what we want is to bring these energies,

Qualities,

Principles into balance,

Into harmony.

Now this is how it plays out in nature,

Right?

We have the day.

Masculine,

We are more active,

We are more outward.

And then there is the night.

Feminine,

We go inward,

We are passive,

We go to sleep.

We have summer,

Which is more masculine,

Right?

We are in activities,

We are doing things,

Expansion.

And then there is winter,

Hibernation,

We are more passive.

Feminine.

Sun,

Masculine.

Moon,

Feminine.

Warm,

Masculine.

Cool,

Feminine.

Also if we look on our body,

When we are inhaling,

There is an expansion.

Masculine,

We activate the sympathetic nervous system.

But then there is the exhalation,

Contraction,

Going inward,

Relaxation.

Feminine,

We activate the parasympathetic nervous system.

Also if we look on our brain,

So the left hemisphere.

Logic,

Right?

Performing activities and very much masculine,

Connected with the sympathetic nervous system.

Whereas the right hemisphere is more about creativity,

Intuition,

Emotions,

Sensitivity.

Feminine,

Parasympathetic nervous system.

So it doesn't matter if we are in a female body or in a male body.

We have both of these principles,

Energies,

Inside of us.

And it's not like one is better than the other.

Again,

It's all about bringing it into balance.

If we are going to operate only from the masculine principle,

Then life would be only about doing,

Doing,

Doing.

Being in activity,

Being active,

Expansion.

But then this solar energy is going to burn us out.

There is not going to be any moments of pausing and just smelling the roses.

Whereas if life is going to be only about lunar energy,

Feminine,

Then maybe we will have amazing ideas because we have creativity and we are connected with intuition,

But we are too sluggish and passive and we are not going to execute any of those.

And then life is just going to be a mess.

So we want to bring these principles into balance and harmony.

And when there is balance and harmony,

It means that we have both.

And then we can choose based on the situation.

We respond according to the situation.

So if I'm driving a car right now,

Being super emotional is probably not the best idea.

I need to focus on the road.

But then if I'm watching a touching scene in a movie,

Then shedding a tear and connecting with my emotions can be absolutely beautiful.

So when Einstein came up with the theory of relativity,

This outburst of genius,

You know,

He had this connection with creativity and intuition,

Feminine,

But he also had the analytical skills to put it into mathematical equations that we are going to understand.

I'm not saying that I understand it,

But some people do.

And it is masculine,

Of course.

So we want to have both.

We want to have this balance and harmony between these two principles.

So maybe you are watching this video and you feel like,

Yeah,

I feel like I'm more connected with my masculine and I wish I would be more connected also with my feminine.

And maybe it's the other way around.

And so,

Of course,

It takes time,

Right?

Like bringing into balance the masculine and feminine when it comes to our behavior and the way that we experience life.

It's a lifelong journey.

It takes time to cultivate it.

And awareness,

Of course,

Is definitely the key.

But in yoga,

There is actually a very beautiful breathing technique where we are going to alternate between our nostrils that can help us experience it on a micro level in our body,

Even if it's only for a few moments,

For a few minutes.

And it leads to much quietening of our mind and experiencing deep relaxation.

So this beautiful technique is called Nadi Shodhana.

And yogis have been practicing it for thousands of years.

And originally,

It is designed for yogis to practice before sitting for meditation.

So to already come to meditation with this quietening and stillness of the mind.

But,

Of course,

You can practice it whenever you wish to experience this balance of masculine and feminine inside of you,

Quietening of the mind and deep relaxation and balancing of your nervous system.

So the origin of the name,

The meaning of the name,

More accurately,

Nadi Shodhana is purification of our energy channels.

So Nadi in Sanskrit means energy channels.

And according to yoga,

We have more than 72,

000 Nadis in our body,

Which is pretty similar to the meridians in the Chinese tradition.

So in Nadi Shodhana,

When we talk about our Nadis,

Our energy channels,

The main energy channel runs along our spine.

So it goes from the base of our spines,

And it goes all the way up to the crown of our head.

And it is called Shushun.

Now to the left of it,

We have the feminine energy channel,

Which is called Ida.

And to the right,

We have the masculine,

Which is called Pingala.

Both of these energy channels meet at our nostrils.

And it is said in yoga that when both of these energy channels are in perfect balance,

Then energy can pour into the Shushun.

And this is when we experience very deep relaxation and quietening of the mind.

So if you are going to observe your nostrils right now,

You are going to come across an interesting phenomenon.

You are going to see that one nostril is more open and dominant than the other.

And you can just check.

You can inhale from a nostril just to see.

And then with the other one.

So for me right now,

The left nostril is more open,

More dominant.

And it is Ida,

The feminine,

The lunar energy,

Which means that right now there is a tendency in my body to be more connected with lunar energy,

With feminine qualities,

And that the parasympathetic nervous system is more active.

And I say tendency because it is not absolute.

When it comes to our nervous system,

There are other factors at play.

Maybe I'm feeling stressed because something happened a few minutes ago.

Maybe I'm in the middle of very strict exercise,

Which activates the sympathetic nervous system.

But there is a tendency.

So usually it means that if my left nostril is more open,

Then I experience more relaxation.

Maybe being passive,

Contraction,

Going inward.

Maybe I'm more connected with creativity and with my intuition.

Maybe for you it's the opposite.

Maybe your right nostril is more active right now,

Which means that the sympathetic nervous system is probably more active.

And maybe you are more outward going,

More active,

More logic right now.

So the beautiful thing is that our body has a mechanism of alternating between those two nostrils every few hours.

It can be every one hour,

Every two hours,

Every three hours.

It varies between people.

So in Nadi Shodhana,

We aim to bring into balance both of our nostrils actively.

Because in the moment of transition,

Where the body is naturally transitioning between one nostril to the other,

There are a few moments of this deep relaxation that we experience.

And in Nadi Shodhana,

We aim to actively bring this balance ourselves by alternating between our nostrils as we inhale and exhale.

So how exactly does it look like?

So Nadi Shodhana is very similar to the box breathing technique that we had before,

In the sense that we are going to inhale all the air in,

Exhale and all the air out to the count of four.

The difference is that we are going to inhale and exhale only from one nostril at a time,

And the other nostril is going to be closed.

When we are going to hold the air in or out,

Both of our nostrils are going to be closed.

Now,

In order to switch between our nostrils,

We are going to use our right hand.

I like to use my three fingers.

So I put my index finger on my third eye,

And then I switch.

I play with my thumb and my index finger,

And this is how I alternate between my nostrils.

Another way of doing it is the Vishnu Mudra,

If you are familiar with it.

So we take the index finger and the middle finger inward,

And then we just play like this.

So when it comes to Nadi Shodhana,

Usually we are going to start with the left nostril,

And we are going to end with the left nostril.

Now,

Essentially it looks something like this.

So we are going to inhale from the left nostril,

Then we are going to hold the air in,

Then we are going to exhale from the right nostril,

Then we are going to hold the air out,

Then we are going to inhale from the right nostril,

Hold the air in,

And then exhale from the left nostril,

Hold the air out.

Now,

It may seem a bit confusing or complicated,

But the truth is that it's very,

Very simple,

And I want to give you a demonstration,

And I definitely invite you to join me.

So as always,

Make sure that you sit in a comfortable position,

That you feel comfortable in your body,

And put your left hand on your knee,

Or wherever it is comfortable for you,

And with your right hand,

Put the index finger on your third eye.

Now take the thumb,

And put it on your right nostril,

And exhale all of the air from your left nostril.

And inhale from left.

Hold the air in,

Close the nostrils.

Exhale from right.

Hold in the air out.

Inhale right.

Hold in the air in.

Exhale left.

Hold in the air out.

Inhaling left.

Holding the air in,

Closing the nostrils.

Exhaling right.

Holding the air out.

Inhaling right.

Holding the air in.

Exhaling left.

And let's go back to normal breathing.