Nadi shodhana

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Hello,

I recently spoke to a yoag teacher who was telling me about nadi shodhana. She said that alternate nostril breathing helped to balance both sides of the brain. She said that blockages were indicative of an imbalance that might need addressing.

I wondered if that was true (I had a blocked right nostril this morning), or if it simply means that I have a cold and need to blow my nose!?

I guess the reason I am asking is because I have a lot of emotional stress at the moment, and I wondered if this was one way my body was trying to tell me to sort it out. I have had the cold for a month now. :frowning:

Thanks!

#2

Keep doing it for a month twice a day.
The trick here is to learn to do it with your mind whenever you realise you are stuck in ida or pingala ( left & right nostril reaspectively) balnce will come over time and the two brain hemispheres will re-balance. They will actually start talking to each other more because one will not play the dominant role and the other dormant or latentt. Intelligence and creativity will increase dramatically ,as well as health.

So if your ida is dominant ,your left, then bring just a little more focus to pingala, the right nostril, and over time the neurological circuitry will reconfigure itself to more optimal and healthier level of functioning. Also energetically , your subtle nervous system,you will have more energy and feel more balanced.

It really does work. It is just a matter of re-training. Like anything in life if you work patiently on it-revising for exams ,working out at the gym ,starting up a business etc.

Eventually the more blocked nostril will open ina few months or less. It could have been this way for decades, & years and years. All you are doing is re-training your nervous system and some of the underlying physiological and seemingly autonomic processes that govern it. This is why pranayam is so powerful and more deserving of being taught.Nadi shodhan is one of the kings of pranayama i think.It is a real key. Just like sirsasana is to asana for instance. A bit like that.

#3

It sounds to me like your teacher was right on. I can tell you from personal experience that the body often responds to stress with various kinds of aches and pains. So it is entirely possible that your emotional stress is manifesting through this month-long cold. I would approach this as one possiblilty, which you can deal with through pranayama, and continue to treat other possibilities as well, i.e. cold virus or allergy.

#4

Great above advice! One thing I would add is that it is important to be aware that the breath naturally cycles from one nostril to the other throughout the day, so it is normal for one nostril to be more open than the other, and it should switch approximately every 90 minutes. If you find that throughout the day you are predominantly breathing through one nostril, then there is probably an imbalance.

You can open up the blocked nostril by applying pressure under the opposite armpit (right armpit to open left nostril & vice versa) or you can lay down on the opposite side of the nostril which is blocked (lay on your left side to open your right nostril & vice versa).

Also using a neti pot before practicing nadi shodhana can help to remove any mucous blockages.

#5

Thank you, everyone. I’m still very icky with a cough and cold at the moment, but hopefully I can breathe it out!

Hanu

#6

Hanu,

You may have a nasal polyp. These are not so simple to fix. I have been trying for years to fix mine.

#7

My right nostril is always blocked in the morning. Somebody told me that it is due to lack of sleep. Is it correct?

#8

I am not trying to hijack if I should go someplace else with the question let me know. I thought it might add ot the discussion. I have always had sinus issues through my life. Yoga seems to help it a lot. I tried nasal irrigation at the suggestion of my doctor but it only helps when its not too bad but does not help it to not get bad if it is going to get bad. Doctors say I have allergies and they cant figure out what I am allergic to (allergy tests are always negative) and I tried ellimination diet with no success.

Yoga in general seems to help. My nose runs like a faucet after the first couple asanas up to half way through my practice and then it is cleared out so to speak. This happens even if I do not feel stuffy before practice. It is wonderful. But alternate nostril breathing makes it worse, whether done before or after an asana practice. I have not been taught a lot about it other than how to do it during meditation. I always opt out because it makes my nose stuffy everytime. one side is not more stuffy than the other, it just switches a lot.

Am I doing something wrong? Can it actually make a problem more noticeable?

To the OP. I know stress can crash my immune system and then my slightly stuffy alergy can be attacked by bacteria or viruses who stick around until I can fix the stress. Not sure if that is a general rule or just me.