Left Nostril Breathing

Do you need to calm down? Are you finding it difficult to sleep? Try this simple breathing exercise and notice the difference.  

Have you ever wondered why you have two nostrils instead of one big one? 

Our body is a finely tuned machine operating on positive and negative electrical currents.  In the ancient science of Kundalini Yoga we are taught that there are two energies called Ida and Pingala that intertwine up the sides of the spine and that unite to form the Sushmana, the central channel.

The Ida energy, on the left, is the moon energy:  reflective, calming, cooling, female.  The right is Pingala and has the energy of the sun; bright, fiery, awakening and male.

We compare these systems in our Western terminology as the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The sympathetic system, Pingala, is the fight or flight system and charges you up in times of danger.  The parasympathetic system, Ida, slows you down and helps your body automatically run its day-to-day jobs of digestion, elimination, sleep cycles and more.

When you need to calm down, when your mind is racing very fast, or when you can’t go to sleep, try left nostril (Ida) breathing. 

Simply take your right hand and, with your fingers outstretched, block off your right nostril by putting gentle pressure on it with your right thumb.  Be sure to keep the rest of your fingers straight and pointing up towards the sky; the fingers act like antennas for the “cosmic” energy that surrounds us all. Inhale and exhale deeply through the left nostril.

Visualize the moon and feel the moon energy flowing in your body, cooling you down.

Consciously relax with every new breath. As you exhale breathe out all tension, all stress and all disease. 


Enjoy being calm and relaxed.