One Surprising Way to Relax
Alternate Nostril breathing
It is called Nadi Shodhana Pranayama.It is a yogic technique for relaxation and mindfulness that helps you to tap into your parasympathetic system.
Scientists call it alternate-nostril-breathing in their studies of this exercise on mental health or ANB for short.
How do you do it? Follow these easy steps.
1.Sit quietly somewhere.
- Bring your right hand up to your nose and place your thumb on your right nostril.
- With this nostril covered, close your eyes if you choose and exhale slowly through your left nostril.
- Breathe in deeply and slowly from the left nostril. Make sure your breath is smooth and continuous.
- Once you’ve inhaled completely, remove your thumb from your right nostril and close your left nostril with the thumb of your left hand
- Exhale through your right nostril.
- Once you have exhaled fully through your right nostril inhale again through your right nostril.
- Then unplug your left nostril and plug the right nostril with your right hand and exhale through your left nostril.
- Repeat this sequence for 3–5 minutes.
And that is all there is to this simple exercise.
What are the 5 benefits of this exercise?
- It relaxes you and helps you to refocus your mind. https://bmcresnotes.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13104-017-2625-6
- Doing this exercise aids in cardiovascular maintenance. It can lower your heart rate and blood pressure. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3276936/
- Helps to balance both hemispheres of the brain. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4728953/
- Promotes well being of the practicing individual. https://academicjournals.org/article/article1379415694_Singh%20et%20al.pdf https://academicjournals.org/article/article1379415694_Singh%20et%20al.pdf
- And positive effects on your parasympathetic nervous system. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3681046/
I would note further that as far as calming anxiety studies have shown that just occasional use of ANB has shown no appreciable effects on individuals experiencing a stressful situation. The longer-term practice has shown benefits for individuals from many walks of life.
This is an exercise I often do when I want to shift focus from say social media to reading a book or studying languages. I find without this exercise I am not able to refocus my attention to the new less dopamine-rich activity of reading.
If you have practiced this feel free to post a comment. I would love to hear how this practice has improved your mental and physical health.
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