Right now. Just one. Come on. Take a deep breath.
Exhale and gently squeeze a little of that stale air out of your lungs. Make extra room for fresh air deep in your lungs, then fill your lungs all the way up. Inhale into your lower belly, and all the way up to your shoulders. Notice how your body feels. Notice your emotional state. Notice your state of mind. One deep breath can change how you feel.
Personal Reflections on Nadi Shodhanam, Alternate Nostril Breathing
Our breath has many dimensions. From my first yoga class in 1995 I practiced nadi shodhanam, or breathing through alternate nostrils. My first yoga teacher, Yolanthe Smit, who taught in the Hoboken Farm Boy, was the first to teach me to close my right nostril with my right thumb and breathe through my left nostril, then to close my left nostril with the ring finger of my right hand and breathe through my right nostril. I did not see the point. It was part of the class, so I participated, of course.
Later, and still going to yoga classes, Nishit Patel gave the nostril business personal meaning. He explained that there is a cycle to our breathing. For about ninety minutes we breathe predominantly through one nostril, then that dominance shifts to the other side for about ninety minutes, and back and forth. When breath flows through the left nostril, he taught, energy is calm and receptive. It is a good time to read, for example. And when breath flows through the right nostril, that is a good time to exercise. He taught us to change our nostril dominance in Vishnu asana, lying on the side. Then, he delivered the goods: knowledge of nostril dominance can impact insomnia.
Sure enough. When I paid attention to which was my active nostril when I was annoyingly roused at night, it was always the right nostril. When I lay in Vishnu asana on my right side, my nostril dominance shifted to my left nostril, and sooner than later I was calmly sleeping. That is when I became very interested in the nostril business. Very interested in my breath.
Mr. Patel taught us one day, years ago, maybe 2004 or earlier, that we could learn to do alternate nostril breathing without the fingers, without flopping from side to side, just by focusing attention on the right and left nostrils. I just laughed. Belly laughed. I remember exactly where I was at that moment, laying on the floor of the peach room of the 5th Avenue Himalayan Institute with my chin on my arms. It struck me as very hilarious that anyone would be able to do this, or invest the time it would take to learn it, if it was in fact possible.
But it was sure an intriguing challenge. I tried it from time to time just to prove I still couldn't. Until, one day, quite out of the blue, I could. That was during Nishit's class. And for a long time that was the only condition under which I could do it. Then I could do it when I was teaching yoga, and that went on for a long time. But I was really hooked, actively engaged in mastering nadi shodhanam now, and I tried and failed an awful lot at doing this during my personal meditation practice time. And then one day, it just came. And I could do it infrequently. Then more regularly. Then I could do it if I paused to focus my attention at a diner.
But it wasn't until today that I realized that I could do it walking along. Dr Renu Kapoor of the Personality Blog on Facebook posted about the practice this morning as follows:
If the student practices nadi shodanam, or channel purification (one of the finest pranayama excercise) for five to ten minutes, three times a day, his emotional life will become balanced and his nervous system will be purified. It is an excellent exercise for those who have had traumatic experiences or who have misused medications or drugs in the past.
H.H.Swami Rama- Choosing a Path.
So, I was wondering to myself as I was walking through the woods of Forest Park here in Northwest Portland, shall I commit myself to three times a day? And I challenged myself to do the practice walking.
Wow.
I could.
And my perceptual field altered delightfully. Delightfully! Before I started practicing I had been aware that a bird was chirping nearby. Surprisingly, focusing on my nostrils alternately, the humor of which is still not lost on me, I was instantaneously aware of the other bird, the one with whom the nearby bird was communicating, and the third bird, further away still, and the pattern of their talk.
And then, this coincidence occurred. A person came walking his dog and said, "You are looking at my favorite tree."
I wasn't. But I am unlikely to turn down an opportunity to meet a favorite tree. The dog walker said, "You have to look at it from here, and you will see that it looks completely flat." I looked, and sure enough. It looked flat. "Isn't that amazing," he said. "It is like a fairy book. Like a portal to another dimension, like the CS Lewis book with the wardrobe."
So there we were, left and right, sound and vision, flat and multidimensional, referencing fairy realms, then parting ways.
Nadi Shodhanam. That nostril business. They say that when the breath is balanced evenly between the two nostrils we are standing at an opening portal to joy.
Jennifer Rose
jelyrose@gmail.com
Do you want to know the secrets the best teachers wish you knew?
Sign up with your email to get the secrets today. Click Here
Exhale and gently squeeze a little of that stale air out of your lungs. Make extra room for fresh air deep in your lungs, then fill your lungs all the way up. Inhale into your lower belly, and all the way up to your shoulders. Notice how your body feels. Notice your emotional state. Notice your state of mind. One deep breath can change how you feel.
Personal Reflections on Nadi Shodhanam, Alternate Nostril Breathing
Our breath has many dimensions. From my first yoga class in 1995 I practiced nadi shodhanam, or breathing through alternate nostrils. My first yoga teacher, Yolanthe Smit, who taught in the Hoboken Farm Boy, was the first to teach me to close my right nostril with my right thumb and breathe through my left nostril, then to close my left nostril with the ring finger of my right hand and breathe through my right nostril. I did not see the point. It was part of the class, so I participated, of course.
Later, and still going to yoga classes, Nishit Patel gave the nostril business personal meaning. He explained that there is a cycle to our breathing. For about ninety minutes we breathe predominantly through one nostril, then that dominance shifts to the other side for about ninety minutes, and back and forth. When breath flows through the left nostril, he taught, energy is calm and receptive. It is a good time to read, for example. And when breath flows through the right nostril, that is a good time to exercise. He taught us to change our nostril dominance in Vishnu asana, lying on the side. Then, he delivered the goods: knowledge of nostril dominance can impact insomnia.
Sure enough. When I paid attention to which was my active nostril when I was annoyingly roused at night, it was always the right nostril. When I lay in Vishnu asana on my right side, my nostril dominance shifted to my left nostril, and sooner than later I was calmly sleeping. That is when I became very interested in the nostril business. Very interested in my breath.
Mr. Patel taught us one day, years ago, maybe 2004 or earlier, that we could learn to do alternate nostril breathing without the fingers, without flopping from side to side, just by focusing attention on the right and left nostrils. I just laughed. Belly laughed. I remember exactly where I was at that moment, laying on the floor of the peach room of the 5th Avenue Himalayan Institute with my chin on my arms. It struck me as very hilarious that anyone would be able to do this, or invest the time it would take to learn it, if it was in fact possible.
But it was sure an intriguing challenge. I tried it from time to time just to prove I still couldn't. Until, one day, quite out of the blue, I could. That was during Nishit's class. And for a long time that was the only condition under which I could do it. Then I could do it when I was teaching yoga, and that went on for a long time. But I was really hooked, actively engaged in mastering nadi shodhanam now, and I tried and failed an awful lot at doing this during my personal meditation practice time. And then one day, it just came. And I could do it infrequently. Then more regularly. Then I could do it if I paused to focus my attention at a diner.
But it wasn't until today that I realized that I could do it walking along. Dr Renu Kapoor of the Personality Blog on Facebook posted about the practice this morning as follows:
If the student practices nadi shodanam, or channel purification (one of the finest pranayama excercise) for five to ten minutes, three times a day, his emotional life will become balanced and his nervous system will be purified. It is an excellent exercise for those who have had traumatic experiences or who have misused medications or drugs in the past.
H.H.Swami Rama- Choosing a Path.
So, I was wondering to myself as I was walking through the woods of Forest Park here in Northwest Portland, shall I commit myself to three times a day? And I challenged myself to do the practice walking.
Wow.
I could.
And my perceptual field altered delightfully. Delightfully! Before I started practicing I had been aware that a bird was chirping nearby. Surprisingly, focusing on my nostrils alternately, the humor of which is still not lost on me, I was instantaneously aware of the other bird, the one with whom the nearby bird was communicating, and the third bird, further away still, and the pattern of their talk.
And then, this coincidence occurred. A person came walking his dog and said, "You are looking at my favorite tree."
I wasn't. But I am unlikely to turn down an opportunity to meet a favorite tree. The dog walker said, "You have to look at it from here, and you will see that it looks completely flat." I looked, and sure enough. It looked flat. "Isn't that amazing," he said. "It is like a fairy book. Like a portal to another dimension, like the CS Lewis book with the wardrobe."
So there we were, left and right, sound and vision, flat and multidimensional, referencing fairy realms, then parting ways.
Nadi Shodhanam. That nostril business. They say that when the breath is balanced evenly between the two nostrils we are standing at an opening portal to joy.
Jennifer Rose
jelyrose@gmail.com
Do you want to know the secrets the best teachers wish you knew?
Sign up with your email to get the secrets today. Click Here
1 comment:
Wow! Excellent!! Fabulous!!!
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