Hello and welcome to this video session.
I'm Zoe and today we are going to be practicing psychic alternate nostril breathing or otherwise known as Nadi Shodhana.
This is a purification practice and what happens is we are balancing the body and the mind with our breath.
So usually you might,
If you have practiced this before,
You may have used a mudra.
So perhaps you've used your index finger and middle finger placed at the point between your eyebrows and used your ring finger and thumb as something to cover your nostrils as you breathe in and out through either side of the nostrils.
Today we're going to do this with the power of our mind.
So I'll be guiding you to breathe naturally and normally.
Then we will discover which nostril is more dominant.
So which nostril you feel the air traveling through most predominantly or most obviously.
And then we're going to start doing alternate nostril breathing by breathing in through the left nostril and out through the right.
Then we breathe in through the right and out through the left.
Now as we do this we become more balanced in the hemispheres of our brain and you also get an increased sense of energy which is really great to do often in the afternoon,
Even first thing in the morning.
I do it always before my morning practice begins which really helps me to ground and center and have more clarity of mind.
So you might be wondering how we can direct the breath or the concentration of the breath without using a mudra or hand gesture.
Our brain is really,
Our mind is really powerful and so just by paying attention to the flow of breath we can direct which nostril we are breathing or concentrating the breath through more predominantly.
So it's going to look like this and it might not look like anything at all but I will be closing my eyes.
You can close your eyes or soften your gaze and literally breathing in and out.
In through the right,
Out through the left.
Just by focusing the mind.
So it's really an exercise also in concentration and attention which is something I think we need a lot more of in today's world of distraction.
So let's give it a go.
Get comfortable.
Sitting up straight you might want some back support and so find a comfortable seat and then go ahead and close down your eyes or soften your gaze and take a couple of deep slow breaths to settle into the shape,
The posture that you're taking for this practice today.
And we'll begin just by noticing the breath,
The natural breath flowing in and out of your nostrils.
And as you do so just adjust your posture so that you're super comfortable drawing the shoulders away from your ears and perhaps pointing the crown of your head up towards the sky and then sensing and feeling the base of the spine and your sit bones drawing down towards the earth.
Resting your hands in your lap,
Letting your fingers naturally curl in and then once you've established a comfortable position come back to the flow of your breath.
Now you might notice that one nostril is more dominant meaning you can feel the air and the breath flowing through one nostril more than the other.
It could be the right nostril or perhaps the left or maybe you can't decide maybe they both feel the same and in that case just start to focus your attention on one nostril and start to breathe through that nostril in and out through that one nostril.
And you'll do this just by simply focusing all your attention at the nostril you've chosen and feeling the flow of breath moving in and out.
On the inhale you'll notice it feels a little cooler and on the air exhale a little warmer.
Okay good now swap to the other side the less dominant nostril and just gently pay attention to the flow of air coming through that nostril.
It might feel a bit weird or a bit out of balance and that's good to know because we're about to balance both hemispheres,
Both sides.
So just stay with the awkwardness and just continue to focus your attention on that other side breathing in and out.
Now take a breath in through both nostrils and exhale through both and now place your attention on the left nostril and breathe in through the left side and then exhale through the right side.
Breathe in through the right and out through the left.
Breathe in through the left,
That was one round,
And out through the right.
Breathe in through the right and out through the left,
That's two rounds.
Again breathe in through the left and out through the right,
In through the right and out through the left.
Do two more rounds on your own,
In through the left,
Out through the right,
In through the right,
Out through the left.
Keep going,
It might be helpful to imagine as you breathe in the stream of breath is a soft white light.
Okay do one more round and when you finish that round exhaling on the left side.
Just breathe in and out naturally through both nostrils and then come back blink open your eyes.
Okay that was our practice run,
How was that?
I'm going to explain it to you one more time and then we're going to do eight rounds together.
So we breathe in and out through both nostrils and then after the exhale you switch your attention to the left nostril.
You breathe in through the left nostril and then out through the right.
You breathe in through the right and out through the left,
That's one round.
We're going to do eight together.
Okay I'm going to guide you into the first four and then you can continue on your own.
I'll give you a couple of little prompts and then we'll finish together.
Okay let's do it.
Closing down the eyes,
Breathe in through both nostrils,
Exhale through both nostrils,
Guide your attention to your left nostril and breathe in,
Out through the right,
In through the right,
Out through the left,
That's one round.
In through the left,
Out through the right,
In through the right,
Out through the left,
Out right.
Four more rounds on your own,
Keep going.
In through the left,
If it's helpful imagine a white light as you breathe in and out,
Streaming through the nostrils.
When you finish your right last round,
Breathing out through the left nostril,
Just breathe through both nostrils.
Release the technique and just breathe naturally in and out through both nostrils and then gently blink,
Open your eyes and come back.
How do you feel?
I feel pretty good,
I feel quite clear and both my nostrils are clear.
So you can do this on your own,
Maybe just try eight rounds at a time and then just sit quietly in silence and notice how your body and mind feels.
I hope this was helpful and I look forward to seeing you again in another video and I've been saying in my lives if there's anything that you think would be helpful on video let me know,
Send me a message.
I hope you have a great rest of your day and thank you for being here.
Bye.
