by Gurani Anjali
This is a classical exercise. It will equalize the pranic currents which flow through the entire body.
Finger position: place index and middle fingers on forehead, between the eyebrows. Make sure you are sitting comfortably and erect, not stiff. Place left hand in your lap with palm up, or place on your left knee with thumb and index finger touching to form a circle with remaining three fingers pointing down.
Begin exhaling completely. Close off the right nostril and inhale through the left nostril, slowly and completely. Make sure to fill up the lower lobes of the lungs when completely full.
Close the left nostril and exhale through the right, slowly and completely, making sure that the lower lobes of the lungs have emptied. Pull your stomach in and up into the rib cage when lungs are completely empty.
Keep the stomach contracted until you have filled the upper and middle of the lungs. Now slowly release the contraction while inhaling through the right nostril. Continue as you are exhaling through the left. Then inhale through the left, and exhale through the right, etc. Repeat for six rounds.
Keep centered on the breath and concentrate on the air moving through the nostrils.