Sitali Pranayama ALSO visualising alternate nostril breathing

Bit rushed for time this week so pretty much just cut and pasting this one from comments to yesterday's post.

Micqui said...

'Well done on your first official lessons Grim!!! I really need to get back onto the Vk stuff. I'm studying pranayama now as part of my course and would really like to get into it a bit more. I've tried some practices with retentions and I'm liking the retentions a lot, really calming and meditative. Something I've never done before. Can you recommend any of Ramaswami's for beginners? I don't like the single nostril ones, create a bit of anxiety :)'

Grimmly said...

'Thank you Micqui, they (the lessons) seem to be going well, I'm enjoying it. That said I'm starting to feel the responsibility of it all of a sudden, I'm trying to pass on this stuff just as Ramaswami taught me which of course was just as Krishnamacharya taught him, can still hear Ramaswami saying "My teacher showed me this way..." really makes you want to get it right and do better with each lesson. Tough this teaching lark somehow different from the other kinds of teaching I've done.

re pranayama. (There are some video's on my Pranayama page above)

The alternate nostril (Nadi Shodhana) one is pretty important and standard and goes back to vedic times so something to come back to later perhaps, but I know what you mean, it can feel somehow claustrophobic, though I find it passes.

Actually the guy I'm teaching said he had problems with nadi shodana because his right nostril tends to get blocked (it helped having him move his fingers higher, to block the passage just before the bone) he said he would visualise the air coming up one nostril and out the other, that's an interesting idea wonder if it does have an effect on the brain similar to actually switching nostrils (which supposedly balances the right and left hemispheres, there's been studies but hasn't there always. I just like it, feel good afterwards and it's classical/traditional).

Anyway there's straight ujaii pranayama where you can breath in for 5 hold for 10-20 exhale for 10 and hold for 5 (or 10) with bandhas, no switching of nostrils there. Try it with the visualisation above so breath in both nostrils but imagining your only breathing in through the right. hold then imagine your breathing out through the left etc...

Sitali is another nice one.

1. Sit in a comfortable asana.

2. Curl the tongue into a roll, protrude it and inhale through the wet tongue.

3. At the end of the inhalation, release the curl, fold the tongue, and touch the top of the upper palate, even the uvula if possible, This is called jivha bandha.

4. Then stretch the back of the neck, drop the chin to around three inches below the neck pit, forming kantha bandha.

5. After Kumbhaka (retention) exhale through alternate nostrils (or both and visualise alternating).

6. Repeat wetting the tongue (before inhalation) -the air conditioning pranayama

Srivatsa Ramaswami : Yoga for the Three Stages of Life p209

The bit about the visualisation isn't from Ramaswami'.

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Here's a video of sitali, it's not one of the ones I pratice that often, more on my day off when I have more time so am less comfortable with it but you should get the idea.

I'm switching nostrils in the video but of course you can just rest a finger lightly on the side of the nose and visualise breathing through just that one while actually breathing through both to avoid the anxiety you mention.

I'm holding my breath after the exhale while chanting the pranayama mantra in my head ( around 20 seconds) but of course you can hold it for less time, 10 seconds say.

Video's a little rough and I remember Ramaswami as demonstrating this much more softly, will try to add a better one later.

NB. Should point out my udiyana bandha tends to be a bit extreme, leaning towards a kriya than pranayama, it's just how I got used to practicing. Ramaswami teaches pranayama more gently than this perhaps suggests.