Nadi Shodana: Alternating Nostril Breathing

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Nadi's are the pathways in which prana flows. There are 72,000 nadi's in the body and there are 3 that are most important; the nadi that runs the through the center of your spine called Sushmna Nadi, and there are two nadis flowing on either side of the Sushmna. The one on the left side is called Ida Nadi and the one on the right is called the Pingala Nadi. In simple terms the Ida is the lunar, feminine or intuitive side. The Pingala is the solar, masculine and analytical side. At any given moment one side is more dominant. What that means is that when there is more energy running through the solar side or pingala, the person's focus or awareness is of the earthly life and of the awake life. And when there is more energy flowing in the lunar side nadi or ida nadi then a person's focus is more focused on the astral plane. This may look like meditation, sleep, or some action where your senses have turned in upon themselves and you are deeply focused such as art, playing an instrument, or anything that puts you in the zone. Ultimately what we are trying to do is bring balance into our lives and eventually move into the center Sushmna channel. Hatha Yoga is trying to create the same balance. Ha means solar and Tha means lunar. And Yoga means union. So Hatha Yoga is designed also to bring our solar and lunar sides to balance. What does balance look like: Self-awareness, alertness, patience, relaxation, creativity, santosha and an awareness of our astral bodies.

At any given moment one nostril is more dominant than the other which means that either the right brain or the left brain is more dominant, which in turn means that one side either the lunar side or the solar side of the nadis, is more dominant. The pranayama practice of Nadi Shodana can bring prana into both nadis purifying the nadis and promote purification and energy flow in the central Sushmna Nadi. The mystical methodology to this practice is that every time you move from one nostril to the other side using the breath to move the prana, you are passing through the Sushmna Nadi which is the place of Universal Consciousness or sometimes referred to as Christ Consciousness. Goswami Kriyananda states that Alternating Nostril Breathing is the surest way to samadhi. Although not the fastest.