Balancing ida and pingala is one of the most important part of YOGA. But there are people like me who suffers - ida being most dominating; and knowing how to make pingala active will be of grate help. I know - Surya Deva, back-bend, headstand helps to activate pingla. Also concentrating on right nostril makes it active. [I tried all this technique for 1 year but didn’t help]
In yoga it is more of a question to balance energies, as you acknowledge in the beginning of your post as well. I would recommend that you seek a teacher who can properly direct you at balancing the two opposing energies, by increasing or guiding you in asanas and pranayama that will increase pingala in order to balance it with the dominating ida. And it is not just through asana that you will bring about that balance, but extend this to all aspects of your life such as sleep patterns, how you breath, diet, what you read and watch on television, what you think about and how you express your emotions, it is a holistic approach rather that just concentrating on activating one particular energy.
dear S,
Please practice Aloma Viloma. perform kumbhaka for the same period in both cases, also period of inhaling and exhaling.
Please also ensure that you are inhaling from pringala at sun set and ida at sunrise, if not than correct it. Also watch the duration of breathing from these two during the day.
Aloma Viloma will make the period of inhalation from both the nadies equal.
Thanks a lot. You have given good pointers which I’ll definitely try. Actually I tried my best to achieve balance but have failed so far. Hope your suggestion will help me. I do watch my breath at least 5-8 hours and can feel the dominating nadi; but it does not help me as I can not control or change the flow between ida & pingala. I feel so helpless.
Thank you once again.
Om
Dear Sasankas,
You are not helpless!
Please tell us a little more about yourself, so that we can anwer your questions at the appropriate level. What is your age, gender, fitness and health condition? And how long have you been practicing yoga? What style? How often? What is your motivation for wanting to balance the breath (swara)? How do you know that you are suffering from an imbalance other than by watching the breath?
Thanks for replying and helping me!
[B]Age[/B]: 29
[B]Gender[/B]:Male
[B]Health and fitness[/B]: When I stared one year ago I was suffering in –depression, sleeping disorder, constipation, sever acidity, breathing problem, pimple, hairloss. But now I am much better; though some of them still exist and I am still struggling.
[B]How long?[/B] - More than year [13/14 months].
[B]Style?[/B] - I don’t know. I’ve learned yoga mainly from books[swami rama], different articles from net and youtube. I do following yoga asana
[B]Morning[/B] - Chakrasana[back-bend] – 1 min, Halasana [Plough posture] -1 min, Sarvangasana[Shoulderstand] – 4 min ,Matsasana[Fish yoga pose] 1 min, Mayurasana[Peacock] – 2 min, Sabasana[Corp pose] – 3 min, Alternate nostril breathing -4 min, Surya veda-4 min
[B]Evening[/B]: Paschimottasana 4-min, angusta-asana[hand-foot-big toe] -1 min, Bagrasana – 30secs, Headstand -10 min, sasangasana[rabbit] -3 min, sabasana[corp pose] -4 min, Alternate nostril breathing -4 min, Surya veda-4 min.
[B]Before sleep[/B]: 20-60 min sit in shidhasana for meditation.
[B]How Often?[/B] - I practice yoga both in the Morning and Evening without missing even any single day for last 1 year.
[B]How did I know that I am suffering from an imbalance?[/B] Actually if I look closely my face in mirror I can identify the difference –left and right side are not symmetrical. My right eye is weaker than left, hair pattern is different. Moreover I’ve been observing my breath for last 8/9 months and I feel 80% time my left nostril remains active. Sometime my right nostril blocks completely and I start feeling bad -irritation and uneasy. But when right nostril becomes active [very few time though ] I feel so good and all uneasy goes away.
[B]Motivation?[/B] – I am desperate to become a normal healthy man. I think I am improving slowly and have a feeling that only yoga can help me. I also have firm believe that - what yoga promises –is true; and it has been kind of inspiration for me.
I know my english is not good - sorry for that. Thanks for reading.
Om.
Dear Sasankas,
Thank you for sharing your personal details with us. Congratulations for learning yoga by yourself and being so disciplined to have a twice-daily program for over one year. This is great!
You mention quite a few imbalances, both of the digestive and the nervous systems. It is impossible to give proper advice on these via the web. I think it would be good for you to visit an ayurvedic doctor with knowledge of asana and pranayama or a yoga therapist or a very experienced yoga teacher. My reason for recommending this is that it is very difficult to perform an accurate diagnosis and proper recommendations on yourself. For example, the diagnosis of left/right breathing imbalance is rather crude. It would be easier to have some knowledge of your vata/pitta/kapha imbalances before recommending a yoga program.
Nevertheless, allow me to make a few suggestions, which you could follow up with a yoga therapist.
- Mayurasana puts pressure on your stomach and may not be good for the acidity you mention. Consider leaving it out of your program.
- Your morning program seems to be activating (backbends) and your evening program calming (headstand, forward bends). Consider leaving out surya bedha in the evening, since this is an activating pranayama.
- Your meditation times are quite long. About 25 - 30 min could be enough. If you want to do a longer session, consider doing two periods of 25 min. with about 5 min walking meditation in between.
- Some clients with depression and sleep disorders do not respond well to meditation late at night. It can stir up the unconscious and lead to over-dreaming. You could try to meditate before your evening meal, so that you have some light activity between meditation and sleeping. If you really need a relaxing activity just before sleep, consider a guided yoga nidra meditation (available on cd).
- Have you tried jala neti (saline water nose cleansing) in the morning? Along with alternate nostril breathing, this will address your left/right breathing imbalances.
Sorry, but this is all I can do without seeing you in person. You are devoting so much time to yoga that it would be well worth seeing a specialist in a private session. In this way you are likely to get an optimised individual program for your particular imbalances and possibly make a more rapid recovery.
All the best to you. I have great respect for your dedication to your personal practice.
Many many thanks!
I’ll definitely try jala neti. Actually I tried to do it some time back but did not continue for long. Now I am trying to replace mayurasana with Nauli kriya and Agni sara. Let me know what you think. [I am also looking for good yoga teacher. Hope I’ll find him soon]
Om
You are welcome. Look and you shall find. http://www.yogatherapycenter.org/Certified_Structural_Yoga_Therapists.html
Sasanka,
Try not to concern yourself with a diagnosis and treatment approach, emphasizing one aspect over the other. You’re seeking equilibrium, and not strengthening the weaker aspect to match the stronger. This will certainly only lead to further imbalance. Rather be consistent. Practice a well-rounded and balanced series of asana and pranayama lead by a teacher. Proper sequence is everything.
Also, the asymmetries you describe in your face, while they are meaningful, you can’t determine their source. It could be spinal misalignments, the position of your head, etc., many things that may take some years to change, if ever. Perhaps even weakness in the side you actually think is the stronger. Very hard to know.
Find a teacher. Practice. Be careful not to over-intellectualize. Give everything the time it takes.
peace,
siva
Namaste! 
i see the posts are old one but i just wanted to add that u should involve in ur practise Pawanmuktasana series:
Balancing Ida i Pingala needs balance in all 72 000 nadies. Pawanmuktasana series will help u in this.
And Shatkarmas - with asana we help the body to develope strenght and cure all its disorders but to improve the process we have to clean our body from inside.
If information is useless anymore sorry for the spam!
I’ll definitely try jala neti. Actually I tried to do it some time back but did not continue for long. Now I am trying to replace mayurasana with Nauli kriya and Agni sara. Let me know what you think.
[QUOTE=prasad;22906]dear S,
Please practice Aloma Viloma. perform kumbhaka for the same period in both cases, also period of inhaling and exhaling.
Please also ensure that you are inhaling from pringala at sun set and ida at sunrise, if not than correct it. Also watch the duration of breathing from these two during the day.
Aloma Viloma will make the period of inhalation from both the nadies equal.[/QUOTE]
ida left when moon is active , pingala right when sun is active.
SASANKAS IF you want to activate the prana? begin with / during days from right to left and during evenings from left to right.
Inhale from left exhale from right and start over again. Then you can start the alternate nostril breathing after a week ,with is anulom vilom. i dont know why in west it is needed to put an A after everything i think anulom vilom sounds better than anuloma viloma it makes the word so much longer like too extracted but thats just my opinion.
Is there any type of specific yoga that can help me with my scoliosis? 
I feel like as if that blocks some things sometimes.
[QUOTE=TeRenCeMaRTIn;70793]I’ll definitely try jala neti. Actually I tried to do it some time back but did not continue for long. Now I am trying to replace mayurasana with Nauli kriya and Agni sara. Let me know what you think.[/QUOTE]
Jala Neti is my coffee! Almost everyday i do it! Sometimes i do also Sutra Neti which is little unpleasant at the beginning but after i did it first time my breathing was totally different. Nauli and Agni sara really tones and massages the abdomen but also u can add Kunjal kriya to cleans the mucus and gall from stomach. Kunjal also affects the flow of prana. Works on emotional level too! But u should find and experienced teacher to show u the Shatkarmas.
Namaste!
[QUOTE=sasankas;22869]Balancing ida and pingala is one of the most important part of YOGA. But there are people like me who suffers - ida being most dominating; and knowing how to make pingala active will be of grate help. I know - Surya Deva, back-bend, headstand helps to activate pingla. Also concentrating on right nostril makes it active. [I tried all this technique for 1 year but didn’t help][/QUOTE]
You will find the answers here. It is a book dedicated only to very
serious practitioneers.
Dear Sasankas
Even though this thread may be old but just in case if some one has got to this page in search of related keyword I am sharing my experience in these matters.
I have experienced that Pingala is so much linked with Agni (Pitta) in our body and those who have strong digestive fire or pitta wil experience strong Pingala or dominance.
Also I do share a similar concern with you having the pingala blocked all the time and ida is generally dominating and free flowing in left nostril. Accordingly the facial changes in the right side is different from left, also right ear and eye are less sensitive than the left. I can say my whole body when observed can clearly indicate the organs are morre correctly formed on the left side compared to right due to Ida domination.
I found various references with regard to the same in Swara Yoga too.
What I have observed is that by using various method to activate Pingala is shortlived and it appears that the domination of Ida and Pinga are just indicative and only when the body is corrected then the flow automatically balances.
Now how to correct the body issues, that’s whole together a different subject and what I have seen is it is directly linked to Agni or Jataragni or digestive fire, you will see so many ayurvedic articles on the same.
So I have found the best way to cure digestive deceases is to eat only when hungry and pinga is open.
If it is blocked for some reason then we would fast until it opens and then have the food.
This has worked like charm to treat so many digestive problems, headaches, joint pains etc.
Have published a blog on the same if you would like to know more on that ancienthealingsecrets.tumblr.com
Dear Sasanka,
I have exactly the same problem as you are facing and I am witnessing the impacts of inactive pingla in my daily life. Would be glad if you can share if you have overcome the problem and if so how?
As far as my quest for an answer says....blocked pingla may be due to either blocked nasal passage or at other energy centers (chakras) or its blockage at its very origin ie. Mooladhara chakra which results in less fire (pitta) in the stomach. If Mooladhara is weak, it results in constipation, depression, joint pains etc. So in order to balance ida and pingla, one need to work on strengthening Mooladhara
Since my nasal passage is quite clean (i do jala and sutra neti regularly). I have tried kapal bhaati, Agnisara. They does help me to ignite the fire within but it doesnot solve all my problems related to weak pingla. I have also tried Moolabandha which is quite effective but I am finding it difficult to pursue as it is opening another set of problems for me. I am looking for someone who can help me to understand Moolabandha. Please share your findings on this.