“I rest well. I sleep peacefully, and I awaken with joy” Louise Hay
Your nose is exceptionally clever. Simply by practising a few rounds of alternate nostril breathing (pranayama) for a few minutes each day, you can help restore any imbalances in your brain. You can improve sleep, encourage a calmer emotional state, boost your thinking power and soothe your nervous system. How impressive is that!
Another interesting fact about your nostrils, is that you don’t breathe through them equally all the time. Right now, you will be favouring either your left nostril or your right nostril.
Left nostril for calming – right nostril for energy:
Your nose is directly linked to your brain and nervous system. The Indian yogis believe that many diseases can be linked to disturbed nasal breathing which, I’m guessing, is why they perfected pranayama breathing thousands of year ago.
Breathing in, only through your left nostril, will access the right “feeling” hemisphere of your brain, and breathing in, only through your right nostril, will access the left “thinking” hemisphere of your brain. Consciously alternating your breath between either nostril will allow you to activate and access your whole brain.
Yogic breathing, the perfect relaxation tool:
Alternate nostril breathing is something I first learnt about through yoga, many years ago, and then from Ayurvedic medicine. It is one of the simplest and most user friendly relaxation techniques that I share at my Rest and Rejuvenation Retreats. It helps greatly to cool a busy mind and calm an overstimulated nervous system.
12 benefits of alternate nostril breathing:
1: Revitalizes you:
A few rounds of alternate nostril breathing is a quick pick me up if you are feeling flat, tired or even stressed. It provides your body with a much needed dose of extra energy.
2: Improves brain function:
When you mind is dull – concentration and clarity is poor. Alternate nostril breathing brings equal amounts of oxygen to both sides of the brain for improved brain function. Five minutes of alternate nostril breathing before an exam or interview is a great way to access your whole brain for improved performance.
3: Cleanses your lungs:
A daily five minute practice morning and night of alternate nostril breathing is great way to remove stale air and impurities from the bottom of your lungs.
It wasn’t until I started reading the The Tao of Natural Breathing by Dennis Lewis that I discovered something I did not know. 70% of our body’s waste products are eliminated via our lungs.
4: Calms an agitated mind:
I’m prone to worrying. A few minutes of focused alternate nostril breathing is helpful (for me) in calming my “over thinking” mind. The ancient yogis believe that if you can regulate your breath, then you can control your mind.
5: Merges the left “thinking” brain and right “feeling brain:
Alternate nostril breathing optimizes both sides of your brain so you can access your whole brain, and all the benefits that go with it.
The flip side of course is, single nostril breathing can be used to activate, just the left”thinking” or just right “feeling” side of your brain for specific situations.
Try it out next time you need to drive your car. Cover your left nostril with your thumb and breathe only through your right nostril for one minute. This should keep you more alert when driving.
6: Encourage a calmer emotional state:
In times of emotional distress and upset, a few rounds of mindful nostril breathing will soften the intensity of over reactive emotional states. The longer you practice, the more stable your thinking, and the calmer your emotions will become.
7: Improves sleep:
If you can’t sleep at night lay on your right hand side, gently close your right nostril with your right thumb and breath through your left nostril. This will activate your parasympathetic nervous system which will calm you down and slow your heart rate.
* Calming yoga pose for insomnia:
8: Great preparation for meditation:
Alternate nostril breathing is a simple little trick that can be practiced for a few minutes before you begin your meditation practice. It’s a very easy way to help you find your meditation groove.
9: Soothes your nervous system:
By focusing on your breath and deepening it, your brain will register this message and trigger the parasympathetic nervous system. You have effectively switched your nervous system from a stressed response, into a relaxation response. Single left nostril breathing (by closing your right nostril) will direct the flow of oxygen and energy to the right hemisphere of your brain, allowing once again, for the parasympathetic nervous system to be switched on. Gosh, your breath and nose is very clever.
10: Regulates the cooling and warming cycles of the body:
Left nostril is feminine, nurturing, calm and cooling. Right nostril is masculine, heat, competitive and force. Favouring one nostril more than the other can effect the heat or coolness of your body.
11: Clears and boosts your energy channels:
Slightly forced alternate nostril breathing improves and directs the flow of energy throughout your body – preventing sluggishness. It oxygenates your blood and allows the energy (prana) in your body to be strong and flowing.
12: Enhances rest and relaxation:
A restless mind cannot relax. Alternate nostril breathing melts away an imbalances between the right and left hemisphere of your brain and calms your thinking. This is perfect for helping you access rest and relaxation far more efficiently.
An alternate nostril breathing exercise – purifying breath:
Step one: Use right thumb to close off right nostril.
Step two: Inhale slowly through left nostril
Step three: Pause for a second
Step four: Now close left nostril with ring finger and release thumb off right nostril
Step five: Exhale through your right nostril
Step six: Now, inhale through right nostril
Step seven: Pause
Step eight: Use thumb to close of right nostril
Step nine: Breathe out through left nostril
Step ten: This is one round. Start slowly with 1 or 2 rounds and gradually increase.Never force.Sit quietly for a few moments after you have finished.
There are many, many different techniques of pranayama such as inhaling for 4, holding for 4 and exhaling for 4.
Caution:
Do not hold your breath if you have high blood pressure. More advanced methods of pranayama (alternate nostril breathing) need to be practiced with an experienced practitioner. practicing on an empty stomach is preferred.
* 15 clever things to know about your breathing:
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{ 38 comments… read them below or add one }
I do this all the time. It’s called ‘Allergies’.
Good stuff Carole. I’ll be giving this a try before I sit today.
Thanks again.
Jac – But do you truly alternate? Isn’t it more like one side is blocked at a time?
There are many variations. This is called alternate because you alternate. You can do simply IN left. OUT right (calming). Or IN right, OUT left (energizing). Also, as in other practices either you can use your pinky to block off the nostril or the index finger (not just ring finger). Alternate is probably the most powerful off all three versions, as you are balancing the entire brain – but it depends what you need at the time. Also, breath holding patterns for this practice range – but it is said to inhale 4, hold 16, exhale 8. Or a 1:4:2 ratio. Try 3, 11, 15, 22 or 31 minutes of this practice. 31 minutes will help you recover from any shock to the system.
@ Jack love to know how you find it.
I’ve been doing it every day since that day. I find my focus is much better. I use to always do a standard 10 breaths in through the nose out through the mouth before I “really” sit, but this seems to improve my concentration. Good stuff, keep it coming.
Peace.
j
Hi. I learned to do alternate breathing in a meditation class many years ago but have fallen out of the habit of using it. Thanks for the reminder. I will start doing it again as part of my self-healing journey.
@Jack I agree – the mind does seem clearer and more focused with a few rounds of alternate nostril breathing. The best part is it seems to work almost immediately. Nothing like a good dose of oxygen injected into our body and organs.
@Patricia. Thrilled the reminder was great timing for you. I love simple and you certainly can’t get any simpler than alternate nostril breathing. In fact the more I research about our breath the more I find just how vital and life enhancing it is.
Utter rubbish, you will not give more oxygen to a brain hemisphere by favoring one nostril! The air goes to your lungs and then through the bloodstream to your brain the same way no matter what nostril you use!
Actually, that’s not true. You have nadis and nerve ending on either side of the body- as well as the nostrils – which have different purposes and effects. That’s like saying your left pinky is the same as your right pinky. Or the left side of your brain is the same as the right side of your brain. You may not realize it yourself, but yogis over time have discovered much more subtle relationships and differences between the hemispheres of the body, and science today is (behind as usual) backing that up.
lol batman, ur hella nub. The air stimulates the brain regardless and there are receptors in your nose newb.
Heck, I’d be happy to be able to breath through my retinitis nostrils. They are always swolen and I can never breath properly.
It is good to see simple proven things to help us feel and be better, my friend forwarded this to me and I plan to check it out . Thanks
Amazing post! I regularly practice yoga, pranayam and meditation. Alternate Nostril Breathing is an amazing and highly effective technique of “Pranayam” – the science of Breath and Prana. It revitalizes us from deep within and has a host of excellent benefits as you have mentioned. Keep up the great work!
I just read about this and decided to do a little more research before trying it (I err on the side of neurotic). Your article is helpful, but I’m excited about all the other content I found here as well, like the journal writing essay. Thank you for the work here. XOXO Nickie
Breathing is so essential! I think people are living at about 10% at best of their capacity. Thank you for your info and study
Brian
Good stuff. this is why i love reading blogs other than my full time career as a dentist.
I used to do this regularly, and I got out of practice. I was writing a blog post about breathing exercises, and did a search on alternate nostril breathing benefits and found this site. What a find! Not only did you give me a lot of great reasons for starting this technique again, I now have a great new blog to follow. I just subscribed.
For those of you who would like to see this in action, we’ve created an Alternate Nostril Breath video. You can find it here: http://www.doyogawithme.com/content/alternate-nostril-breath
Namaste
Great info!!
Perform it every day and feel like I have much more energy. Thanks.
Hi! This is wonderfully clear and well explained. Thank you for the reminder to take time for alternate nostril breathing. It is so calming, yet I rarely do it. I am subscribing
I often use alternate nostril breathing to wake me up when I’m feeling drowsy and it helps. That’s my own experience. Being a singer I also like to use it and teach it to some students as it can help breathing for singing.
Realy it is good for beginners, but what about nauli practitioners.thanks to you for guidence.
Thanks for the easy to follow guide. I knew how to do it… but not exactly why
I teach this method to my high school students. They said it feels like when they get high. Maybe someday they will look to this natural high before reaching for illegal or harmful substances.
I find that alternate nostril breathing has a wonderfully calming effect, I practice it for a whole 5 minutes, an hour in advance of events that may otherwise make me feel nervous – such as doing a presentation, a test or exam. It definately reduces stress levels for me as a mature student.
Does anyone do alternate nostril breath as part of an asana practice? I like to do this pranayama right before savasana. However, I was told that it should come after savasana because savasana is part of the third limb (asana) and alternate nostril breath is part of the fourth limb (pranayama). I’d be interested in hearing from other yogis about this practice.
You can do it at any time. I usually do pranayam, asana, then sivasana, and then meditation. Prana gives you the energy to do Asana. Resting after Asana integrates the effects. And once the body is tired out and rested, time for Meditation (which can totally include pranayam!).
I have been doing this breathing more than once a day for nine months. Plus I do a great deal of of other pranayama. I am off anxiety medication ( 6 months) that I was on for fifteen years. This is powerful information when used daily. Make it what you do, svadhyaya.
Two Questions – one for Pyeng. I’m a singer and also have asthma – I’m wondering how alternate nostril breathing would help.
Two – I have high blood pressure – welol controlled – I hold my breath between breaths – why not?
Thanks
John Hansen
Simple straw breathing is fantastic for singers…….inhale thru nostrils, put straw in lips and exhale out the straw. Touch tongue to the roof of your mouth to ensure you inhale through the nostrils again (or remove the straw) and exhale thru the straw again. Just close the eyes and if they become agitated, you’re working a bit too hard. Pay attention to what you are feeling as your guide and take breaks if needed. Start with a short practice and lengthen as you improve and it stays with a sense of cultivating ease.
Namaste.
Interesting. Have any scientific studies been done on this effect?
An 18 year old just walked into my office in a strange mode.
It occured to me that he should do this breathing.
He resisted so I asked him if I could provide him with 12 reasons to do
the excercise would he do it.
He said yes.
So I typed into the google oracle – benefits of alternate nostril breathing and came upon you here.
We only did it for five minutes and as we walked towards the kitchen, he said actually I do feel different. Clearer and calmer.
Would it not be a wonderful world where instead of television blasting adverts us all day, there would be reminders to breath consciously, to take a little stretch, to drink some water.
This is so powerful, why is it not known by every human?
Anything to help clear my head. Thanks for this!
Breath is the only connection between your body and brain so how you breath it effects your moods and health.Live healthy and happy.
My septum was crooked and I could barely breathe from left nostril. Even after the operation I breatehe mostly from right nostril.
May be that is the reason for my insomnia? I tried it gently today and I do feel substantially calmer.
Thanks for great post.
Hoping all this excellent information will help me get to sleep more quickly and calm my mind.
Fingers crossed for you Mary Jane. I know it helps me enormously. xxx Carole
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