Nadi Shodhana: A Breathing Technique to Help Calm Anxiety

Want to learn a breathing technique for anxiety?

Breathing techniques may not always work to ease anxiety, but that doesn’t mean that breathing never works. Different tools work in different ways for different people. What’s important is that you have options in your toolbox and identify what works for you.

Today I want to share with you a simple technique that is safe for beginners and a wonderful tool to facilitate ground in the fall season.

Nāḍī shodhana prāṇāyāma or “alternate nostril breathing” is a breathing technique I often teach my students.

On the days that I’m not a congested puffball, this practice brings me into a profound sense of ease and awareness. It can really be a powerful tool for a lot of people.

I’ll walk you through this as a breathing technique for anxiety you can do at home, as well as when you’re out in the world,.

First, I’d like to explain nāḍī shodhana and its benefits a little further.

Nāḍī Shodhana: A Breathing Technique for Anxiety

The word nāḍī can be translated from Sanskrit to mean “channel” and shodhana signifies “cleansing” or “purifying”. Nāḍī shodhana is the practice of cleansing or clearing the subtle pathways of your system so that your prāṇa or “life force” can move through you with greater ease. In essence, the practice helps restore balance in your mind and body and supports overall well-being.

This simple technique can be practiced before or after physical postures (āsana). If you choose to do it at the end, practice it after śavāsana. You may also use this breathing technique as a stand-alone practice.

Benefits of Nāḍī Shodhana

Here are some of the potential benefits of nāḍī shodhana according to the yogic tradition:

Centers the mind in the present.
Supports mental function and concentration.
Lowers the heart rate and releases tension.
Improves respiratory function and sends more oxygen to the blood.
Helps balance the left and right nostrils and hemispheres of the brain.

How to Practice This Breathing Technique for Anxiety

For this practice, you can breathe with a gentle and easy rhythm without needing to make your breath particularly long or deep.

1) Sit in a comfortable position on a chair or on the ground with some cushioning under your sit bones so that your hip and spinal muscles are as relaxed as possible.

2) Bring your index and middle fingers of your dominant hand to the point on your forehead just above the center of your eyebrows. You’ll use your thumb and ring and/or pinky fingers to alternately close your nostrils. Your other hand may rest in your lap with your palm facing up. Start by taking an easy inhale and exhale through both nostrils.

3) At the end of your exhale, close your right nostril and inhale through the left. At the end of your inhale, close left and exhale through your right nostril. Inhale through the right. Then close right and exhale left. Repeat inhaling left, exhaling right, inhaling right, exhaling left. Continue through 6-8 rounds and you will finish exhaling through your left nostril to complete the round.

4) Once you complete the rounds and exhale on your left side, place both hands in your lap and return to natural breathing as you sit in the effects of your practice. While your breathing will be natural, you can invite a sense of subtle expansion and movement into your belly as you breathe, which will also have a calming effect on your nervous system.

5) As your practice progresses, you may begin adding a pause after each inhalation and exhalation. Allow the pause to be brief, so you’re not holding your breathe but simply pausing for a moment in the space between as you transition your breaths.

So how might you bring this technique out in the world when you feel anxiety?

With a steady practice at home, you’ll begin to heighten your awareness of your breath moving in and out of your nostrils. Without using your fingers to close your nostrils, you can bring your awareness to breath moving in the left, out the right, in the right, and out the left. In this way, it becomes a grounding focal point for your attention as you slow your breath and facilitate calm in your system.

If you’d like to learn more breathing techniques and practices, consider joining me for an online yoga class one of these days. All classes are open to all levels of experience, slow-paced, and accessible to all bodies.