Did you know that there's a very simple nasal cycle test that can help you understand your
nervous system response, your stress response right now? This allows you to understand if
you're in your sympathetic nervous system state, fight-or-flight, or your parasympathetic state,
rest and digest. And the great thing is it just takes a moment to test. In fact, let's do it right
now together. Close off your right nostril, breathe in and out just through your left.
Now switch. Close off your left nostril, breathe in and out just through your right.
OK, now my question for you is which nostril is more dominant? Meaning which nostril does the
air flow through more freely, your right nostril or your left nostril? You might have to test
again. But your right nostril corresponds with your sympathetic nervous system,
fight-or-flight, energy, cleaning your home, cleaning out your gmail inbox.
Your left nostril corresponds with your parasympathetic nervous system,
rest, digest, relax, peace, love, meditation, problem solving, deep thinking. This allows you
to understand where your body is right now. Let me give you an example. If you're starving right now,
if you're hungry for a snack, check in with your nostrils. When you feel that craving
for food very often you'll find you're in your right nostril. This is because in the olden days
when we were hungry we needed to go hunt or gather our food, fight-or-flight. Now after you eat
your nose would ideally switch to your left nostril, your parasympathetic response,
because you need that same blood that went to your muscles and your heart and your lungs
to move down into your GI tract so you can digest your food. This cycle of fight-or-flight,
rest and digest, of go, go, go, slow, slow, slow, every couple of hours in a healthy individual we
shift throughout the day. This is why throughout the day we tend to shift our activities,
we tend to shift our mood. It's natural, it's healthy, it's something that once you understand,
you can use as a tool in your own life. Here are some other examples that might be interesting
for you. Have you ever had the experience where you're lying in bed and you're exhausted and you
know you should be tired and yet you're not, you can't fall asleep? Check in with your nostrils.
You'll find you're in your right nostril much of the time. That means even though you're
tired you're also wired, because your sympathetic nervous system is stimulated. Maybe another time
you're getting ready to go for a run and you have your shoes on, you have your workout clothes on,
you're ready to go but you're just not feeling it, you can't motivate. Check in with your nostrils.
Very often you'll find your left nostril is dominant, meaning you're in a rest and digest
mode. Your blood quite literally is prioritizing your GI tract, not your heart and your muscles
and your lungs, where you need it to be. It's very, very common, that we have these little
imbalances throughout our day and they can really throw us off track. In the ancient yoga system
this nasal cycle test was referred to as Ida and Pingala, left and right nostril respectively.
These old-time yoga practitioners, through practice and through observational and
experiential learning, they understood that their nose, their breathing, was giving them
insight into their energetic states in their body and these days we call this the nasal cycle
phenomenon. In the medical research they call it the nasal cycle test. It was first documented in
medical literature in 1895 by a German physician named Richard Kayser and it has since been studied
and refuted and argued about for a number of years. There are lots of things we don't know, but
lots of things we do know. What we don't know is exactly why it happens. Some scientists theorize
that this left right switch is to allow the cilia, the little hairs in your nose, to have a break.
We don't know. Some people theorize that this left right phenomenon is to allow for a better
olfactory response, a better ability to smell. Again, we don't really know. What we do know is
the nasal cycle phenomenon is observable in all mammals, including humans, and it very clearly
correlates the mechanisms of action with your autonomic nervous system. What do you do with this
information? So when you can understand are you in fight-or-flight to rest and digest how does that
affect you? Well you have two options. The first option is you can do nothing, but you can at least
be aware. So if you're, for example, tossing and turning in bed at night, you're stuck in
your right nostril. Maybe you get up and read a book until your nervous system switches, that's
one possibility. Maybe you're getting ready to go for a run like we mentioned before and you're
in your wrong nervous system state. Maybe you wait 30 minutes or wait an hour. So option number
one is do nothing, understand your body and work with it. Option number two, which might be more
interesting for you, it certainly is for me, is you can use yoga breathing exercises to override
your nervous system response, to shift that response from left to right or right to left.
It doesn't work all the time, but it works very often and the more you do it the more
it triggers a shift in your body. Let's go back to the same example. Let's imagine that you're
lying in bed, you know you should be asleep but you're wired but tired. You check your nostrils,
you're in your right nostril, your sympathetic response. Here's a practice you can try. Sit up
in bed, cross your legs, place your hands on your knees, relax and close your eyes. We'll breathe
in through both nostrils to the count of four. We'll close our nose and breathe out through our
left nostril to the count of eight. We'll do ten rounds and we'll see if we can help make our body
shift from fight-or-flight to rest and digest. Here we go. Inhale through both nostrils for one,
two, three, four. Close your nose, exhale left nostril only, eight, seven, six, five, four,
three, two, one. Right hand down, inhale both nostrils, one, two, three, four. Close your nose,
exhale left nostril only for eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Right hand down,
inhale both nostrils, one, two, three, four. Close your nose, exhale left nostril only, eight, seven,
six, five, four, three, two, one. Right hand down, inhale both nostrils, one,
two, three, four. Close your nose, exhale left nostril only, eight, seven, six, five, four,
three, two, one. Right hand down, inhale both nostrils, one, two, three, four. Close your nose,
exhale left nostril only, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Right hand down, inhale
both nostrils, one, two, three, four. Close your nose, exhale left nostril only, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one. Right hand down, inhale both nostrils, one, two, three, four. Close
your nose, exhale left nostril, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Right hand down,
inhale both nostrils, one, two, three, four. Close your nose, exhale left nostril, eight, seven,
six, five, four, three, two, one. Right hand down, inhale both nostrils, one, two,
three, four. Close your nose, exhale left nostril only, eight, seven, six, five, four, three,
two, one. Final round. Inhale both nostrils, one, two, three, four. Close your nose
and exhale left nostril, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Release your hands,
lie down in bed and turn onto your right side. Attempt to sleep on your right side. Sleeping
on your right side can also promote left nostril dominance and might also help you make that shift
from fight-or-flight to rest and digest. See if that helps. Let's take a look at another example.
Let's imagine, like we mentioned before, you're trying to go to the gym, or do some exercise,
go do an athletic yoga class, and you're just not feeling it. You check in with your nostrils
and your left nostril's dominant, you're in a rest and digest state. Let's do a practice to
stimulate your sympathetic nervous system to get you in a ready state for activity. This practice
is called kapalabhati breathing or breath of fire and we'll breathe as if we're stimulated. So we'll
breathe fast and sharp and short. It feels like a sneeze. Imagine your face is relaxed,
your shoulders, your chest are relaxed, and the breath is getting pumped from your belly out, and
then you relax. You pump the breath out and then you relax. Here's what it looks and sounds like.
It's like a short sharp sneeze. Let's try together. Face is relaxed, eyes are closed,
shoulders are relaxed, three, two, one, and we exhale, exhale, exhale.
And ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two,
one. Eyes closed, body relaxed, breath is normal. Sharp shooting
breathing exhales gives our body that stimulation to get in a ready state for practice.
Let's do another round. Your chin is parallel to the floor, face is relaxed, shoulders are relaxed.
Sharp shooting exhales through your nose, three, two, one, and we exhale, exhale, exhale.
And ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Eyes closed, body relaxed,
breath is normal. One more round. So it's three rounds of 20 in total.
Let's give it a try. Three, two, one, and we exhale, exhale, exhale.
And ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Eyes closed, body relaxed, breath
is normal. We did three rounds of 20. See how you feel, usually the shift won't be instantaneous but
often within 10 or 15 minutes your body will shift from rest and digest to fight-or-flight and you'll
be ready for your run, for your yoga class, for your gym workout, whatever it might be. So that's
the nasal cycle test. Hopefully this gives you some great insight into your stress response,
into your nervous system. A couple of important disclaimers. Firstly, this test doesn't work for
about 10 to 20 percent of people. Very often it's because of a deviated septum, chronic sinusitis,
blockages, mucus, allergies, anything that might disrupt your normal breathing unfortunately can
make this test not work. The other thing is to remember that there's lots of very minor
nervous system disturbances that happen in our lives, such as too much sugar, too much caffeine,
too much watching of the news, or binge watching series' in the evenings. Those things can throw
us off kilter. And then there's major nervous system disturbances like drugs and alcohol,
like crisis or conflict, death or loss. With the minor life disturbances these breathing practices
will have a much bigger impact. With the major life stuff, for sure this breathing can help,
but you need to be a little realistic in terms of how much it can help.
If you enjoyed this video and you found it useful please subscribe for more science-based yoga
research. I would also love to hear your questions and comments about the nasal cycle test down below
in the comments. Thanks so much for joining me and I hope to see you in class very soon.