Morning Practice: Alternate Nostril Breathing For Balance

Alternate nostril breathing harmonizes the left and right hemispheres of the brain, allowing us to feel both creative and logical and to approach our day with a more balanced mind. This short, guided morning practice leads you through a simple alternate nostril technique to encourage mental clarity as you begin your day. The practice finishes with intention setting and gratitude for the day ahead.

Transcript

Good morning and welcome to your practice. This morning, I'm going to share an alternate nostril breathing meditation with you. And alternate nostril breathing is a breathing technique from yoga where we breathe through each of the nostrils individually. And it is harmonizing for the left and the right hemispheres of the brain and for our masculine and feminine sides. So we have our left brain, Which is more logical. It's the masculine side, Which is more focused on doing and then we have the right brain which is more creative and is our feminine side and is more connected with being. So when we do the alternate nostril breathing, We breathe through the left nostril, Which connects with our right brain, And through the right nostril, Which connects with our left brain. And it harmonizes the two sides together. So we can feel logical and creative. We can feel a lot more balanced. And this is a great practice for the morning because it can help us to feel more clear and more balanced for the day ahead. So we're going to bring our hands into mudras for this practice. So with your left hand bring the thumb and the index finger together so that the three other fingers are coming out and this one's going to rest on your left leg. And then with the right hand we'll take the index and the middle fingers into the palm so we've got the thumb and we've got the two fingers and then the thumb will be for closing the right side and the fingers will be for closing the left side. So we're going to be sitting to begin with. If during this practice your arm gets tired, You can always switch and take the fingers in on the left side and bring the left side. To the nose and have the right hand in the mudra. Another option if your nose is feeling blocked or when you start to do this you feel like it's a bit congested and it's a bit difficult to do is you can use the position of your hands on your legs and just visualize the air moving through the nostrils. So when we're breathing through the left nostril you'll have the left hand facing up and the right hand facing down and then breathing through the right nostril we'll turn the right hand to face up and the left hand down. So you can always go to one of those options if needed. That feels better for you today. So just close your eyes now and just come into your body. Just notice how your body's feeling this morning. Notice how your breath is flowing. Notice if your breath is shallow or deep. If it's flowing more into your chest or more into your abdomen. Maybe it goes somewhere else. Just to begin with, Just observe the breath. Just notice how it's moving naturally. Now take a deep exhalation so that all of the old air clears out of your lungs. And take a long deep inhalation, Breathing into your belly. Into your chest and all the way up to the tops of your collarbones. And a deep exhalation. You're going to bring the right hand up and use the thumb to cover your right nostril. And take a breath in through the left nostril. And then use the fingers to close the left nostril and open the right side and breathe out through the right side. Inhale through the right side. Close the right side and exhale through the left side. Inhale through the left. Close the left and exhale through the right. Inhale through the right. Close the right hand, Exhale through the left. So continue with this breathing through alternate nostrils. We're changing sides after each inhalation. Now that you've got used to this breathing pattern start to follow your breath more closely. So watch the breath as it flows up through the nostril. Watch that breath flowing to the eyebrow centre. At the top of the inhalation, Pause for a moment to observe the eyebrow centre. And then exhale through the opposite side. Watching the breath flowing through the nostril up to the eyebrow centre. Pause for a moment. Exhale through the opposite side. I'm just going to take a few more breaths here. And then finish with an exhalation through the left side. Release the right hand back to your leg. Take some normal breaths here to observe any effects from your alternate muscular breathing. Do you notice what you feel in your body? Continue to observe your mind, Just observe any thoughts. And then take your awareness to the eyebrow centre. Just resting at the eyebrow centre. Make a positive intention for yourself, Your day-to-day. Bring your palms together in front of the heart. Bring the awareness to the heart. And think of three things that you already feel grateful for about today. And when you're ready, Open your eyes. Thank you for practicing with me this morning. I hope you have a beautiful day.