Nadi Shodhan pranayama: how to practise alternate-nostril breathing

Nadi Shodhan — also written nadi shodhana and known in English as alternate-nostril breathing — is a pranayama in which you breathe through one nostril at a time in a fixed, repeating cycle. It is slow, quiet, and unusually easy to learn: most people can follow the full sequence within a few minutes of their first attempt.

This guide covers the hand position, the six-step cycle, how to choose a breath ratio, how long to practise, the mistakes that make it uncomfortable, and who should be cautious. If you would rather be guided than count in your head, the free Breathe timer runs the whole cycle for you.

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What Nadi Shodhan means

Nadi refers to the channels through which vital energy is said to move in yogic physiology; shodhana means purification or cleansing. The name translates roughly as "channel-clearing breath". The practice is described in classical hatha yoga texts and is one of the most widely taught pranayamas in modern yoga.

You do not need to hold any particular belief about energy channels for the technique to be worth doing. Stripped to its mechanics, Nadi Shodhan is a structured way of breathing slowly, evenly, and through a deliberately narrowed airway — which is a reliable way to slow the breath down without forcing it.

The six-step cycle

One full round of Nadi Shodhan is six steps. The breath enters and leaves on alternating sides, so each round finishes on the same side it began.

1. Inhale through the left nostril. Close the right nostril with your thumb. Breathe in slowly and smoothly.
2. Hold, both nostrils closed. Bring the ring finger down to close the left as well. Keep the throat and face soft. Skip this step entirely if holds feel strained.
3. Exhale through the right nostril. Release the thumb. Let the breath out at least as slowly as it came in.
4. Inhale through the right nostril. Same side you just exhaled through — do not switch yet.
5. Hold, both nostrils closed. Thumb comes back down.
6. Exhale through the left nostril. Release the ring finger. This completes one round.

Begin the next round by inhaling left again. A 10-minute session at a moderate pace is roughly 20 to 30 rounds.

The hand position

The traditional hand shape is Vishnu mudra, and it is simpler than the name suggests:

• Use the right hand, whichever hand is dominant.
• Fold the index and middle fingers into the palm, or rest them lightly on the brow between the eyebrows.
• The thumb closes the right nostril. The ring finger (with the little finger alongside it) closes the left.
• Press on the soft part of the nostril, just below the bone. You want a light seal, not a squeeze — hard pressure tenses the whole face.
• Keep the right elbow down and the shoulder relaxed. If your arm tires, rest the elbow in your left palm.

If a hand injury, a cold, or simply preference makes this awkward, you can practise mentally: breathe evenly through both nostrils while directing your attention to one side at a time. The calming effect of the slow, even rhythm survives without the hand.

Choosing a breath ratio

A ratio is written as inhale · hold · exhale, in seconds. There is no single correct one. The right ratio is the longest you can sustain without ever gasping at the end of a breath.

Move up a step only when the current ratio feels genuinely easy for a whole session. Straining for a longer count teaches your body that breathing is effortful, which is the opposite of the point.

How long, and how often

• 5 minutes is enough to feel a shift in most people, and short enough to actually do daily.
• 10 to 15 minutes is a typical settled practice.
• Daily and short beats occasional and long. Consistency is what makes the effect familiar and repeatable.
• Timing: early morning and early evening are traditional. Practically, before a demanding task or at the end of the working day are the moments people keep coming back to. Leave two to three hours after a large meal.

Posture

Sit however you can keep a long spine without effort — cross-legged on a cushion, kneeling, or upright in a chair with both feet flat. What matters is that the ribcage is free to move and the shoulders are down. Slumping compresses the diaphragm and makes a slow breath feel harder than it is. Close the eyes, or soften the gaze downward.

Common mistakes

• Pressing too hard on the nose. The most common one. Tension in the hand travels to the jaw and forehead.
• Forgetting to exhale on the same side you will next inhale through. The sequence is inhale left, exhale right, inhale right, exhale left. Step four catches almost everyone at first.
• Chasing a long hold. If the exhale after a retention is rushed or ragged, the hold was too long.
• Breathing into the chest only. The belly and lower ribs should move. Chest-only breathing keeps the stress response switched on.
• Practising through a blocked nose. With a cold or hay fever, the resistance is uneven and the practice becomes a struggle. Do the mental version instead, or skip it.
• Stopping after two days. The technique is mild by design. Its value accumulates.

What to expect

Most people notice a slower heart rate, a quieter mental chatter, and a warm, slightly heavy calm within a few minutes. Some feel mildly light-headed at first — usually a sign of over-breathing or too long a hold, and it resolves by shortening the counts.

Slow, paced breathing at around six breaths per minute is one of the better-studied wellbeing practices, and is generally associated with reduced self-reported stress and increased heart-rate variability. Nadi Shodhan specifically has a smaller evidence base, and claims about clearing energy channels are traditional rather than clinical. It is a genuinely useful calming practice; it is not a treatment.

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading

• Breathing exercises for anxiety — why a longer exhale calms the nervous system, and what to do mid-panic.
• Breathing exercises for sleep — a wind-down routine for falling asleep faster.