Welcome to this integration breath,
Alternate nostril.
This is a great breathing technique to balance your nervous system and is best used after intense work or something that is emotional to you,
If you're being activated,
Triggered,
And you need a moment to recenter.
So come to a comfortable seated position.
This practice is best done sitting upright.
And rest your left hand on your knee,
Palms facing open.
And then bring your right hand toward your face.
I like to have my middle finger and ring finger sort of just gently rest on the space between my eyebrows,
So like the third eye,
If you will.
And then use your right thumb to close your right nostril,
And your pinky finger or your ring finger on the right hand side to close your left.
So obviously we'll alternate this,
But I just want to explain that to you.
So you can have your middle finger resting on the forehead between the eyebrows,
And then your thumb will close one side,
And alternating,
We'll close the other side,
Either with the ring finger or the pinky.
So before we start,
Just take a couple of natural breaths here while I'm just explaining a little bit more about this.
So the alternate nostril breathing,
Called Nadi,
Shodhana in Sanskrit,
Is one of the most revered pranayama practices,
So breathwork techniques in yoga.
Its name means channel-clearing breath,
And that's exactly what it's intended to do.
So there's actually a lot of research that shows that this practice balances the activity of the left and right hemispheres of the brain.
And it helps to lower heart rate,
To reduce anxiety,
And supports your nervous system integration.
So that makes it particularly useful after you have done some intense work,
Emotionally or physically even,
And if you're triggered or emotionally activated.
So when you're feeling pulled into different directions or just a bit fragmented.
So the pattern is really simple.
We close one nostril,
Inhale through the other side,
Then we switch,
Closing the other side,
Exhaling,
And then inhaling through that same side before we switch.
So we always sort of start one side by exhaling to make sure we clear it out and there's nothing impeding the inhale.
We'll do it slowly together.
So close your right nostril with your right thumb.
Inhale slowly through your left nostril.
1,
2,
3,
4.
And now close your left nostril with your ring finger or your pinky and release the thumb.
Exhale through the right nostril.
2,
3,
4.
Inhale through that right nostril.
2,
3,
4.
And close your right nostril.
Release your ring or pinky finger.
Exhale through your left nostril.
2,
3,
4.
So that is one complete round.
Let's continue.
Now inhale through that left nostril.
2,
3,
4.
And exhale through the right nostril.
2,
3,
4.
Inhale through the right nostril.
2,
3,
4.
Close the right nostril.
Release your ring finger.
Exhale through the left nostril.
2,
3,
4.
Do that a few more times,
Always closing the side you're not breathing in and out from.
Two more rounds on your own,
Just keep going at the pace that works for you,
Slow and steady.
And then next time that you are exhaling,
Completing the round when you've exhaled to the left nostril,
Just let it go.
Let both nostrils breathe freely and naturally.
And notice the quality of your mind here.
Often there is a particular stillness after this practice,
A sense of having been centered,
If you will.
That is that integration,
Both sides of you breathing together.
Let's just take one breath together just to close it in through the nose.
And out through the mouth.
And know that you can come back to this at any time.
Bye for now.
