As you read this, start breathing through your nose right now (just trust me).
Have you felt stressed lately? Like you can’t breathe right.
Or you want to improve your health and don’t know what step to take next…
There is a really great technique you can use anytime that will impact you on so many incredible levels.
It’s called Alternate Nostril Breathing!
Alternate Nostril Breathing helps:
- Calm your mind
- Promote overall well-being
- Reduces stress and anxiety
- Promotes relaxation
- Improves cardiovascular function
- Improves lung function
- Supports your immune system
- Promotes brain health / brain chemistry
These benefits all sound great, right? And what makes it even better is how easy the technique is!
To use Alternate Nostril Breathing, simply follow these steps:
- Close your right nostril and inhale
- At the top of that inhale, switch to hold closed your left nostril closed
- Exhale fully and inhale fully through right nostril
- Switch to hold closed your right nostril
- Fully exhale and inhale through left nostril
- Repeat
Do this for as long as you like!
While we’re on the topic of breathing through the nose, you should always breathe through your nose!
Mouth breathing is actually unhealthy for us.
Some of the benefits of breathing through your nose include:
- Increasing how much oxygen is taken up in your bloodstream (every metabolic function in your body requires oxygen, let’s just bare that in mind)
- Increasing your nitric oxide levels!
Actually, nitric oxide deserves it’s very own list to describe its benefits:
- Improves heart function
- Improves blood pressure
- Promotes brain function
- Decreases inflammation
- Immune system support
- Aids in weight loss
- Improves digestion
- Improves performance during workouts
- Reduces anxiety and depression
- the list does go on, but this should be plenty of reasons to start breathing through your nose!
All of these great benefits come about the more often you use the Alternate Nostril Technique.
And don’t forget to keep breathing through your nose in general!
The fight – flight – freeze response is where most of us get stuck. That alters breathing for the worse. Using breath purposefully this way helps counteract that!
You could start the day with this. You could use it after sitting for a long time in front of the computer. On a long drive. When you notice yourself getting anxious…
The more often you use the Alternate Nostril technique, and simply reminding yourself to breathe through your nose throughout the day, the better!
Isn’t it wonderful? So simple, so healthy!
How do you Handle Negative Emotions?
