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HERE'S A TECHNIQUE for getting into a relaxed,
sometimes even blissful state quickly. I found it in the book,
Richard Hittleman's Yoga: 28 Day Exercise Plan.
He calls the technique Alternate Nostril Breathing. Here's how
you do it:
1. Put your right hand up to your nose.
Hold your index and middle fingers on your forehead to hold your
hand stable. You'll notice your thumb is on the right side of
your nose and your ring and little fingers are on the left side.
2. Now use your thumb to plug your right
nostril. Take a slow, deep breath in through your left nostril,
counting to eight. Slow down your in-breath so it takes eight
seconds to fill your lungs.
3. Plug your left nostril (so both sides
are now blocked) and hold your breath to a count of eight.
4. Now lift your thumb off your right nostril
(keeping your left nostril plugged) and breathe out steadily,
through your right nostril only, for a count of eight.
5. Do not pause at the end of the breath.
Immediately start breathing in and breathe in through the right
nostril to a count of eight.
6. Plug both sides and hold your breathe
for a count of eight.
7. Now breathe out through your left nostril
for a count of eight.
8. Start all over again, breathing in through
your left nostril.
Breathe in and out as quietly as you can.
This makes your breath slow and even.
This seems a lot more complicated than
it is. It's very simple once you've done it a couple times.
This technique occupies your mind. All
the holding and counting is absorbing. This simple activity successfully
keeps out other thoughts, allowing you to get lost in it. It
is easier to concentrate on alternate nostril breathing than
on a mantra. And it is very relaxing.
It is a scientific fact that your nostrils
normally change dominance. Throughout the day, without using
any technique, the blood flow alternates every couple hours between
the left and right sides of the nose, causing first one and then
the other nostril to become more congested, allowing air to flow
more easily into and out of the uncongested nostril.
Apparently this shift back and forth every
90 to 120 minutes is associated with brain hemisphere dominance.
When the left nostril is more open, people test better on right
hemisphere tasks like spatial relations. When the right nostril
is more open, people do better at left-brain tasks like verbal
expression.
I'm speculating now, but it's possible
that alternate breathing balances the activity of the two hemispheres
of your brain so that neither is dominating the other. What ultimate
difference this makes, I don't know, but it sure feels good and
is very relaxing.
Doing it for a few minutes is a great preparation for mantra
meditation too.
To make it easier to do this exercise,
here is the technique in condensed form:
IN THROUGH THE LEFT
HOLD
OUT THROUGH THE RIGHT
IN THROUGH THE RIGHT
HOLD
OUT THROUGH THE LEFT
IN THROUGH THE LEFT
ETC.
Each in, out, and hold is done to a count
of eight (approximately one second per count).
You can do a less complex version of this.
Just plug your nose on one side, breath out, breath in, switch
plugs, breathe out, breathe in, etc. Count to three on each side,
or four or five. That is from the excellent book, Conscious Breathing: Breathwork for Health, Stress
Release, and Personal Mastery. |
