This article was originally adapted from a podcast, which you can check out here.

Back in Episode #538, I kicked off the new year of Five-Minute Fridays by introducing the practice of habit-tracking, including providing you with a template habit-tracking spreadsheet. I followed that up in Episodes #540 and 544 by detailing for you my habits of starting the day with a glass of water and making my bed, respectively.

Continuing on with my morning habits, today’s episode is about alternate-nostril breathing (ANB).

ANB is often associated with yoga classes so if you do a lot of yoga, you may have encountered this technique before. However, there’s no reason why you can’t duck into a quick ANB session for a couple of minutes at any time. I like having it as one of my morning rituals because it makes me feel centered, focused, and present; as a result, I find myself both enjoying being alive and ready to tackle whatever’s going to come at me through the day. That said, if I’m feeling particularly stressed out or out of touch with the present moment, I might quickly squeeze in a few rounds of ANB at any time of day.

ANB appears to be more than just a random technique to use as a comfort blanket. In the show notes, I’ve provided a link to an article with several academic, peer-reviewed studies at the bottom. These studies suggest that ANB:

Slows your heartbeat
Lowers your blood pressure
Improves your breathing
And, ultimately, regulates your stress response thereby diminishing anxiety and feelings of fearfulness

I’m going to lead you through two rounds of ANB now. A quick word of caution before we start: the article I link to in the show notes also provides some risk conditions for ANB, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. If you’re susceptible to these, you might not want to rush too quickly into this. Most people can practice ANB safely and comfortably at home, but if you have any doubts, check out the article for side-effect details or talk to your doctor before trying it out

Warnings aside, I’d also like to add that a text-only format might not be the easiest way to convey how to perform ANB. To illustrate the technique more clearly, if you check out the video version of this episode on YouTube, you can simply mimic me as I go through the practice. These instructions are right handed, because I’m right handed! If you’re left handed, simply reverse the lefts and rights. Ready? Here we go.

Make kind of a fist with your right hand but only have your index finger and your middle finger in that fist. Your thumb, ring finger, and pinkie should be extended, with the latter two held together.
Push your right nostril closed with your right thumb.
Inhale for a 4-count.
Leaving your right nostril closed, put your ring-finger over your left nostril and hold your breath for a 10-count.
Release your left nostril only and exhale out the left nostril for a 4-count.
Leaving your left nostril uncovered, inhale for a 4 count.
Now hold both nostrils shut for a 10-count.
Uncover the right/thumb side nostril and exhale for a four-count.
Leaving the right/thumb side uncovered, inhale for a 4-count.
Pinch both nostrils shut and hold for a 10-count.
Release your left nostril and exhale out the ring-finger side for a 4-count.
Inhale on that same side for a 4-count
Hold both nostrils shut for a 10-count
Exhale out the thumb side, again for a 4-count.

That’s it. You can repeat that as many times as you’d like!

I typically only do two or three rounds of ANB, but you can definitely do it for longer. According to the article I found, studies suggest practicing ANB for about ten minutes brings the most benefits. There’s also nothing particularly special about the four-seconds-in, ten-second-hold, four-seconds-out count that I use; there are variations that are shorter or longer. You can experiment on your own or search around the Internet for other cadences to discover a cadence that feels comfortable and enjoyable to you.

All right, that’s it for today. In a Five-Minute Friday in the not-too-distant future, I’ll be back with another daily habit. In the meantime, keep on rockin’ it out there and I’ll catch you on another round of SuperDataScience very soon.