🫁 Why we say “take a cleansing breath” ➡️
It’s not just cleansing for the mind but actually detoxifying for the body to breathe deeply.
With every deep breath, oxygen floods our cells and tissues—allowing them to function at a more optimal level and to process and metabolize waste better.
Our lungs are one of our main organs of detoxification, along with the liver, gut, kidneys, lymphatics, and skin.
So consider this your reminder…
To take a deep breath.
Have you heard of left nostril breathing?
🧘♀️ Yogic traditions teach that the left relates to moon energy: cooling, calming, and reflective. The right relates to sun energy: fiery, energizing, and awakening. So, the yogic practice of left nostril breathing is thought to have a calming effect on the body.
🧠 A more science-y way of explaining this is that left nostril breathing puts the body into a parasympathetic state (instead of the “fight or flight” mode of the sympathetic state). Studies have even shown that left nostril breathing changes brainwave activity on EEG. Pretty cool!
Left nostril breathing is simple:
👍 Just press your right thumb against your right nostril, and breathe slowly and deeply through the left nostril.
That’s it!
You can combine it with other breathing practices, like box breathing (inhaling for a count of 4, holding for 4, exhaling for 4, and holding for 4) or just breathe deeply.
Will you try it?
Reference
Niazi IK, Navid MS, Bartley J, et al. EEG signatures change during unilateral Yogi nasal breathing. Sci Rep. 2022;12(1):520. [link]