Alternate Nostril Breathing

Hi everyone, welcome back to Yoga & You. My name is Joshna Ramakrishnan. Today we're going to learn Pranayama for Beginner Level 2. In this video we're going to learn another important practice that you can do as a beginner to increase your Prana.

Like I said in the last video, we have so much of life energy within us. From the time of birth until death we have this energy to do all our physiological functions. If this energy is not free flowing, that's when we develop a lot of ailments, a lot of diseases. So how do I regulate this Prana within me? How can I make my lung capacity more, and how can I increase this life energy inside me?

So in today's practice we're going to learn something called Nāḍī Śodhana Pranayama. It is to cleanse your nostrils and the tubes which help you to breathe in. And we're going to start with any cross leg position. You can either start with Padmasana. If you're absolutely not comfortable with Padmasana you can start either with Siddhasana or any comfortable cross leg position, or sit on a chair. The only condition here is your seated upright, your back is straight, your shoulders rotated back, it's nice and open, chin is slightly tucked down, keep your hands on your knees.

For this Pranayama practice we're going to fold the first two fingers of your right hand. So the last two fingers will help to close the left nostril. The thumb will help you close the right nostril. So now we're going to take the breath in through one nostril. We hold the breath in for a few seconds and we'll take the breath out to the opposite nostril. And then we take the breath from that opposite nostril, hold the breath in, and to the other nostril.

So let's try and see how we can do this. Close your right nostril first. You can do this with your eyes closed. Inhale slowly, take the breath through your left. Hold the breath in, close both your nostrils. As you exhale you're going to take the breath out through your right. Right inhale, hold, left exhale. Make this inhale and exhale three seconds long minimum.

Inhale for three seconds. Hold the breath for three. Exhale for three. Inhale for three, right side. Hold the breath in and exhale for three, left side. One more round, left inhale. Hold the breath and right exhale. Last time, right inhale. Hold and left exhale.

You release your hands. You do this Pranayama with your eyes closed. You can immediately feel that your mind calms down. So this Pranayama practice not only helps to cleanse your nostril but also helps to calm your mind. It works both with our body and mind, and Prana is the key between this body and our mind.

So every time you take a breath, you try to lengthen your breath for three seconds. Even if you're walking, you're talking, you're moving, try and make your breath slow and steady, that'll help you to gain more energy to do a very full-fledged Pranayama practice. Let's say twenty minutes of Pranayama practice, an advanced level practice. You need to have at least three seconds long inhale, three seconds long exhale, and this Nāḍī Śodhana Pranayama will help you to prepare your body and mind to sit for a Pranayama practice.

Thank you very much for watching.