Preparatory Practices for Nadishodhana Kriya

Observing Pattern of Breathing

Many people believe that we always breath equally by both the nostrils together. However, this is not entirely correct. We predominantly breath only via one of the nostrils at a time. The predominance of the nostrils change after every one and half hours (the exact duration may slightly vary in individuals). Ancient Yogis developed a science around this pattern of breathing known as "Shiva Swaradoya".  It would be interesting to find out your own pattern of breathing. Whenever you get a time record this pattern for a span of 24 hrs. Keep record in your notepad after every hour. Note down which nostril is more active than the other. A simple technique to find this out is as follows:

• Sit in a calm and isolated place free from any disturbances
• Dip one of your finger in water
• Hold the wet finger in front of one of the nostrils such that air expelled during exhalation strikes directly against the finger
• Feel the intensity of the air
• Now repeat the same procedure for the other nostril and feel the intensity of the air
• The nostril that expels the air more intensely is active at that point in time

Also note down your mental state at that point of time. An advanced Yogi can change the predominance of nostrils by mere mental instructions.

Rhythmic Breathing

Nadishodhana Kriya calls for inhalation and exhalation in a specific ratio. Many students complain that they can control the inhalation for specific duration but exhalation occurs too quickly. It is important that your do not exhale quickly to avoid pranic loss. In this preliminary practice you will learn to adjust the ratio of inhalation and exhalation.

• Sit in any comfortable meditative posture
• Place your hands in your lap and be relaxed
• Slowly inhale up to your normal capacity
• As you inhale count the inhalation time in terms of numbers (e.g. 4,10,12 etc.)
• Now hold the breath for a second and start exhaling slowly
• As you exhale pay attention not to exhale quickly
• Time for inhalation and exhalation should be the same (e.g. if inhalation took 4 counts then exhalation should also take 4 counts)
• Keep repeating such cycles for 5-10 minutes

After practicing the above technique for few days extend the exhalation time such that it becomes double than inhalation time (e.g. if inhalation took 4 counts then exhalation should take 8 counts). Note that in the above practice we are not performing alternate nostril breathing as in the actual Nadishodhana Kriya.

Bipin Joshi is an independent software consultant and trainer by profession specializing in Microsoft web development technologies. Having embraced the Yoga way of life he is also a yoga mentor, meditation teacher, and spiritual guide to his students. He is a prolific author and writes regularly about software development and yoga on his websites. He is programming, meditating, writing, and teaching for over 27 years. To read more about him go here. More details about his Kriya and Meditation online course are available here.