The Importance of Daily Breathwork — Alternate Nostril Breathing

By Lauren Harkness

My commitment to daily breathwork practice is one way I choose to engage in self-love and nurturance.

It’s an anchor to my embodiment each morning.

It’s one way I engage with both my masculine and feminine.

It helps me change my state of being. As my equilibrium is my greatest resource.

My masculine holds the container, structure, and commitment to my wellbeing. The boundary is: I always start my day with an hour or more of practice.

My feminine gets to flow and expand within the boundary by choosing which practices I want to engage in at the moment.

This morning’s practice...

• Nadi Shodhana: Alternate Nostril Breathing
• Meditation
• Pulled cards from my Serpentfire deck “She Wolfe Tarot”
• Free Dance — Spotify Playlist shuffle and free form movement
• Writing — Aha moments and awareness from Meditation and Cards

I have a running list of consciousness, meditation, and embodiment practices and I let my intuition guide me daily to select which ones my higher self would like to engage.

Nadi Shodhana is also a way to balance the feminine and masculine energies within you by intentionally engaging the Ida and Pingala channels of Kundalini Energy and balancing the hemispheres of the brain.

Ida-Feminine. Lunar. Cooling. Moon. Wisdom. Left.
Pingala-Masculine. Solar. Hot. Sun. Consciousness. Right.

• Place your pointer and middle finger on your third eye with your right hand. Rest your thumb and ring finger on the outside of each nostril.
• Your left hand can rest on your thigh in a Gayana mudra. (Left hand up, with your pointer finger and thumb touching). The Gyana mudra increases concentration, creativity, and is a gesture of knowledge.
• With your right thumb, close your right nostril. Breathe in through your left nostril.
• Hold your breath while closing both nostrils for 5 seconds.
• Pause. Then close your left nostril with your ring finger and inhale through your right nostril.
• Hold your breath while closing both nostrils for 5 seconds.
• Pause. Then close your right nostril again and inhale through your left nostril. Continue the cycle.
• Repeat for several minutes.

This breathwork prepares you for meditation and also helps to balance your nervous system and bring you to center.

Do you have daily practices that you do to engage your self-love and nurturance? If so, what are they?

Lauren Harkness is a trained Tantrika and Advanced Certified Tantra Educator with Charles Muir’s Source School of Tantra, trained in the D/s arts and shamanism with Om Rupani, studied Lafayette Morehouse practices, graduate of Mama Gena’s School of Womanly Arts, Mastery graduate, jewelry designer, seductress, and a stand for everyone ready to heal and further ignite their sexual self, sovereign and free! She teaches Tantra and other modalities of healing and personal growth. She also offers private Tantra Sessions, Coaching Sessions, or Reiki Healing Attunements. She teaches large group classes internationally and has taught at Burning Man, FYN, Dark Odyssey, and is the Co-Founder of The Tantra Institute of NY. Explore more at her website.