Left Nostril Breathing Exercise

This is a guided breathwork practice. This breathing technique ( Left Nostril Breathing) activates our parasympathetic nervous system and helps ground and center us. It is safe and easy to follow an exercise with many benefits.

Transcript

Hello, My name is Dana and welcome to this guided pranayama or breathing technique. We're going to be practicing together left nostril breathing. Left nostril breathing is a calming breathwork that helps activate the right hemisphere of the brain and shifts us to the parasympathetic nervous system, The rest and digest mode. It helps bring us to the present moment by grounding us and allows us to access compassion, Kindness and appreciation and equanimity. It's a very simple breathwork that is safe and can be practiced at all times. To begin this breathwork, Like all breathing practices, Allow your spine to be straight, Relaxing the shoulders and if it works for you, Gently close the eyes. Start to bring your awareness to your breath. And now very gently bring your right hand and with the right thumb or right fingers, Gently close the right nostril. We're going to be breathing only through the left nostril. Keep your shoulders relaxed so not to add any tension. And start to breathe and inhale a very long, Slow and deep breath through your left nostril, All the way up to your lung capacity and then gently start to exhale a long and slow and complete breath, Again through the left nostril. Follow your own pace and listen to your body and keep breathing in this manner and approach this practice with gentleness and care. We never force with breathwork. We never force in meditation. We just surrender, Feel, Connect and allow. So as you're practicing, Set the intention of surrendering to the breath, Allowing every inhale to be a relaxing, Refreshing and healing breath and allow the exhale to be releasing and soothing, Letting go with the breath, With the exhale. So for the next two to three minutes, Continue breathing in this manner. Make your breath slow and deep, Get gentle and soft. Don't push the breath. Don't force it. Listen to your body. And if you feel like your shoulder is getting tensed or your arm is, You can switch hands, But keep breathing only from the left nostril. Always listen to your body. Allow the breath to calm you down. Allow the breath to ground you in the present moment. Breathe. The softer, The gentler, The slower the breath, The calmer the nervous system. And if you feel like your mind is wondering, As it might, It's all right. Just take a deeper breath in. Feel the breath in your body and exhale and return to natural breathing. Allow the mind to stay on the sensation of the breath and bring it back with a deeper inhale whenever it drifts away. Every inhale, You're bringing life into your body. You're relaxing every cell, Every muscle, Every tissue, Every organ. This is the power of the breath. This is the power of gentle nostril breathing. Unwinding with every inhale and every exhale a little bit more and deepening the connection to yourself. Soften the breath. Go gentler. Stay with the practice. Invite healing energy into your body with every inhale. Enjoy the connection to your breath and the sensation of the breath within you. And breathe. Left nostril breathing increases our feminine energy, Allowing more creativity to flow into our lives, Allows us to be more grounded, More nurturing, More loving. Breathe into your body. Breathe with softness and ease. You can continue in this manner for as long as you need, As long as your body feels like. Just remember when you're done. Slowly release the hand down. Take a minute of reflection to notice the effect of this pranayama on your body, On your mind and on your heart. And you can go to this practice whenever you need to. And you can include it as part of your daily self-care practices. May it be of benefit. Namaste.