NADI CLEANSING
Sit in easy pose or lotus pose with a straight spine. When practicing this pranayam make sure to eat light prior or have an empty stomach.
EYE POSITION: Fix the eye lids 1/10th open and slightly roll the eyes up to enhance your mental focus. Concentrate on the point between your brows and relax your eye lids so that they don't flutter.
MUDRA: Use the right hand to regulate the flow of breath through the nostrils. You will be blocking the right nostril with the thumb tip and the left nostril with the index finger. This way the thumb and the index finger will form the "U". You don't block the nostrils simultaneously but one at a time.
EYE POSITION: Fix the eye lids 1/10th open and slightly roll the eyes up to enhance your mental focus. Concentrate on the point between your brows and relax your eye lids so that they don't flutter.
MUDRA: Use the right hand to regulate the flow of breath through the nostrils. You will be blocking the right nostril with the thumb tip and the left nostril with the index finger. This way the thumb and the index finger will form the "U". You don't block the nostrils simultaneously but one at a time.
BREATH PATTERN: The ratio for the length of breathing is 1 (inhale): 4 (hold): 2 (exhale).
Inhale through the left nostril (1)
Hold the breath in (4)
Exhale through the right nostril (2)
Inhale through the right nostril (1)
Hold the breath in (4)
Exhale through the left nostril (2)
MANTRA: This breath can be done without mantra. But rather just continuing the rhythm or the sound of the breath, mantra helps to maintain the rhythm and also adds subtle benefits. You can use the Sat Nam mantra of Wahe Guru mantra.
For example, on the inhale, repeat Sat Nam 8 times. Hold the breath and repeat the mantra 32 times. And as you exhale repeat Sat Nam 16 times. You can also use Sa Ta Na Ma mantra, by inhaling 1 cycle, holding the breath in for 4 cycles, exhaling for 2 cycles.
VISUALIZATION:
In addition to the breath pattern and the mantra you can visualize pure white light flowing down the spine, the same side of the spine as the breath-in nostril. While holding your breath see the light swirling and growing, creating heat at the base of the spine. As you exhale, see the light travelling up the other side of the spine and out the nostril to merge with the infinite.
TIME: Continue 15-62 minutes.
TO END: Sit in a deep meditation for a few minutes.
COMMENTS:
This technique was given by Yogi Bhajan in and intensive training in 1969. This is a classical technique which is referred to in the Gheranda Samhita as a "perfect cleanser". Yogi Bhajan explained that this is a purifying practice which, if done as a regular Sadhana, "burns the karmas of many lives". The karmas are coded in the structure of the aura, the flow patterns of the subtle nadis, and the deep structure of the mental body. This breath creates a powerful neutral balance of prana and apana in the system and encourages the flow of kundalini into the central channel of the spine, the sushmuna.
Inhale through the left nostril (1)
Hold the breath in (4)
Exhale through the right nostril (2)
Inhale through the right nostril (1)
Hold the breath in (4)
Exhale through the left nostril (2)
MANTRA: This breath can be done without mantra. But rather just continuing the rhythm or the sound of the breath, mantra helps to maintain the rhythm and also adds subtle benefits. You can use the Sat Nam mantra of Wahe Guru mantra.
For example, on the inhale, repeat Sat Nam 8 times. Hold the breath and repeat the mantra 32 times. And as you exhale repeat Sat Nam 16 times. You can also use Sa Ta Na Ma mantra, by inhaling 1 cycle, holding the breath in for 4 cycles, exhaling for 2 cycles.
VISUALIZATION:
In addition to the breath pattern and the mantra you can visualize pure white light flowing down the spine, the same side of the spine as the breath-in nostril. While holding your breath see the light swirling and growing, creating heat at the base of the spine. As you exhale, see the light travelling up the other side of the spine and out the nostril to merge with the infinite.
TIME: Continue 15-62 minutes.
TO END: Sit in a deep meditation for a few minutes.
COMMENTS:
This technique was given by Yogi Bhajan in and intensive training in 1969. This is a classical technique which is referred to in the Gheranda Samhita as a "perfect cleanser". Yogi Bhajan explained that this is a purifying practice which, if done as a regular Sadhana, "burns the karmas of many lives". The karmas are coded in the structure of the aura, the flow patterns of the subtle nadis, and the deep structure of the mental body. This breath creates a powerful neutral balance of prana and apana in the system and encourages the flow of kundalini into the central channel of the spine, the sushmuna.