The verse and its meaning · Yoga in Practice · Yoga in Practice — Pranayama

Nadi shodhana — the alternate breath

Hatha Yoga Pradipika 2.7

बद्धपद्मासनो योगी प्राणं चन्द्रेण पूरयेत्। धारयित्वा यथाशक्ति भूयः सूर्येण रेचयेत् ॥

Meaning · English

Seated in the bound lotus, the yogi fills the breath through the moon, the left nostril. He holds it as long as his strength allows. Then he lets it out again through the sun, the right nostril.

The verse is a short recipe in three movements, and each word names one part of it. Baddha-padma-asana is the seat: asana means a seat or posture, padma is the lotus, and baddha means bound, so the legs are crossed with each foot resting on the opposite thigh. The yogi is the one who practises. Prana is the breath taken as the tradition's life-force. The Pradipika says he fills it through the moon, and the commentary reads the moon as the left channel, ida, so the in-breath goes by the left nostril. Filling is called puraka. Next comes holding the breath as far as strength allows. This is kumbhaka, which means a pot, the body kept full like a jar. The phrase as far as strength allows is the text's own limit. The commentary adds that one must not go past that strength. Finally the breath is let out through the sun, which the commentary reads as the right channel, pingala. Emptying is rechaka. The commentary adds that the holding is done after certain locks, bandhas, are set. That is its addition, not the verse's. The verse sits among the teachings on cleansing. The Pradipika says the channels of the body are full of impurity and that breath practice is how they are made clear. So the practice asks for a steady seat, a slow and deliberate breath, and a limit set by your own strength.

1. Sit upright on a cushion or chair with your legs comfortable, and close your eyes. 2. Breathe in slowly through the left nostril only, and feel the breath fill you. 3. As a beginner, do not hold. Move straight on. Later, a teacher may show you how to pause as far as your strength allows, and no further. 4. Breathe out slowly through the right nostril. 5. When the mind wanders, return to the path of the breath: in on the left, out on the right. 6. Stop if you feel dizzy or strained, and breathe normally before opening your eyes.

1. Sit on a folded blanket with your legs crossed in a way you can hold comfortably. The text names the bound lotus, but that seat is for a teacher to judge. Keep your spine tall and your shoulders loose. 2. Rest your left hand on your left knee. Lift your right hand to your nose. This hand position is modern teaching, not the Pradipika's: fold the index and middle fingers into the palm, with the thumb beside the right nostril and the ring finger beside the left. 3. Close your eyes softly. Breathe out fully through both nostrils. 4. Close the right nostril with your thumb. Breathe in through the left nostril, slowly and silently, to a count of 4. The count is modern teaching. 5. If you are a beginner, hold no breath. Move on at once to the next step. Holding is for later, and only with a teacher. 6. Release the right nostril and close the left with your ring finger. Breathe out through the right nostril to a count of 4. 7. Breathe in through the right nostril to a count of 4. Close it, open the left, and breathe out through the left. That completes one round. 8. Do five rounds. To come out, lower your hand, breathe normally through both nostrils, and sit for a minute before opening your eyes. Fine points: the verse itself gives only left in and right out. The return stroke comes from the next verse. Keep the face and throat soft and let the chest stay quiet. The breath should never be forced or noisy. A beginner's ratio is equal in and out, and any lengthening comes slowly. If you feel dizzy, tight or strained, stop and breathe normally.

In the body, the practice slows the breath and puts the diaphragm to work. The belly and lower ribs move, while the shoulders, neck and face stay still. Sitting upright with a long spine lets the ribs expand without effort. The crossed legs hold the pelvis steady, so the trunk does not need to wobble to stay up. Closing one nostril at a time makes the breath narrower, so you naturally breathe more slowly and notice each stage of it. For the mind, the shape is simple and has a clear order: left in, right out. Keeping track of that order gives attention a job, and it leaves little room for wandering. The tradition has its own account. It says the left channel, ida, is the moon, and the right, pingala, is the sun. It says the breath carried through them clears the channels of impurity so that prana can move evenly. That is the tradition's account and not physiology. The holding, kumbhaka, is where the tradition places the work of the practice. It is also where the risk lies, which is why the text says to hold only as far as strength allows.

The Pradipika places this breath inside its teaching on cleansing. The verses just before say that when the whole circle of channels is made clear of impurity, the yogi becomes able to gather and hold the breath. It says that regular practice with a calm, clear mind brings the impurities in the central channel to purity. The commentary calls this a cleansing breath, one that removes impurity. Those are the text's claims. This verse names no further reward of its own. Beyond the text, teachers of the practice commonly describe a settled mind and an even breath after a few rounds.

A man waits in a hospital corridor for news, his breath short and high in the chest. Slow, even breathing through the nose is something many people find steadies them in moments like that, and it is well accepted that slowing the breath tends to ease the body's alarm response. That part of the practice fits today's understanding. Keeping the attention on a simple pattern also gives the mind something to do besides worry. Several things have no modern support. Nothing in anatomy matches the nadis, ida or pingala, and there is no good evidence that one nostril is cooling and the other warming, or that the alternation clears impurity. The nostrils do take turns being more open through the day, which is the nasal cycle, but that is ordinary physiology and not the tradition's idea. Long breath holds are not needed for calm and can cause dizziness. The bound lotus is hard on the knees and hips, and an easy cross-legged seat does the same work.

This is not medical advice, and a page cannot correct your breath or your seat. A teacher can, and this breath is learnt with one. Stop at once if you feel dizzy, tight or any pain. Take particular care with heart or lung conditions, high blood pressure, pregnancy, a blocked nose, or anxiety that breath attention makes worse. If any of these applies, check with your doctor first. Breath holding is best left out. The old text's instruction to hold as far as strength allows could harm someone who read it literally. The bound lotus puts heavy strain on the knees and hips, so choose an easier seat if either is sore or has been injured. Never force the breath, the count or the seat.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Why Clogged Channels Block Stillness · Hatha Yoga Pradipika 2.4
• Next: Four times a day; the sweat; slowly, as one tames a lion · Hatha Yoga Pradipika 2.11
• All of Yoga in Practice · Ask Krishna about it

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