 Re: Blocked nostrils, natural/body's pranayam?
My understanding is that hatha yoga is a detailed and systematic
(intentional) application of what the body is designed to do naturally.
It is the science of understanding and exercising the natural functions
of the body. This would explain why yogis who do not practice hatha may
still accrue the benefits of doing so by using other yogic methods
wherein they allow the body to "naturally" marshal and express
it's innate health and considerable powers.
Here are a couple of citations which suggest there is a distinct
correlation between alternate nasal breathing which occurs naturally
and the higher functions of the brain and social function. I did a
google search on "ultradian rhythm+nasal" and found lots of stuff
to read on this subject.
Breathing, Ultradian Rhythms, and Headaches
(http://www.authentic-breathing.com/..s.htm#ultradian)
Those readers who have observed their breathing for any length of time
have probably noticed that, in general, air does not move through the
nasal passages equally at the same time. Usually when the left nostril
is more open, the right one is more congested and vice versa. This
occurs because the flow of blood shifts back and forth between the
nostrils in a rhythm that takes approximately one and a half to two
hours. This "ultradian rhythm," long observed by medical science, is
related to the functioning of the brain hemispheres and can play an
important role in healing. When the left nostril is more open, the
right hemisphere of the brain is generally more dominant; when the
right nostril is more open, the left hemisphere is generally more
dominant.
(http://www.23nlpeople.com/Rhythm.htm)
Another ultradian rhythm, and noted by Rossi, is that of nasal chamber
dilation. Like many bodily functions, nasal chamber dilation
corresponds to contralateral activity in the brain. When the left nasal
chamber is most dilated (the right chamber partially blocked) then the
right hemisphere is most active, and vice versa. During my yoga
training in India, an advanced yoga practice is the control of nasal
breathing and chamber dilation. This is said to bring about great
psychological and physiological control. There are several variations
of the exercise using the hands to alternate manually blocking of the
nasal airways. Adepts appear able to do this at will without using
their hands
(Brown, 1991; Rossi, 1991b)
One of the most intriguing areas of recent research exploring the
ultradian interface between the mind-brain level, stress,
psychosomatics and personality is the so-called nasal rhythm.
The German rhinologist, Kayser (1895) is credited with recognizing and
measuring the widely varying ultradian shifts in "nasal dominance" in
humans whereby the left and right chambers of the nose alternate in
their size and shape to change the degree of air flow through each
every few hours. Table one outlines some of the major studies in a
century of research in this still highly controversial area. The most
significant of these studies for understanding mind-body communication
are those of Debra Werntz (1981) who reported a contralateral
relationship between cerebral hemispheric activity (EEG) and the
ultradian rhythm of the nasal cycle. They found that relatively greater
integrated EEG values in the right hemisphere are positively correlated
with a predominant airflow in the left nostril and visa versa.
Table 1 A century of research on the duration of the nasal cycle.
In a wide ranging series of studies Werntz et al (1982a & b) found that
subjects could voluntary shift their nasal dominance by forced
uni-nostril breathing through the closed nostril. Further, this shift
in nasal dominance was associated with an accompanying shift in
cerebral dominance to the contralateral hemisphere and autonomic
nervous system balance throughout the body (Klein et al. 1986). The
ultradian nasal cycle is not only a marker for cerebral hemispheric
activity, but it also could be used to voluntarily change the loci of
activity in the highest centers of the brain and autonomic system that
are involved in cybrenetic loops of communication with most organ
systems, tissues and cells of the body. Some of these investigators
hypothesize that this nasal-brain-mind link may be the essential path
by which the ancient practice of breath regulation in yoga led to the
the voluntary control of many autonomic nervous system functions for
which the Eastern adeps are noted.
These relationships inspired a recent Ph.D dissertation by Darlene
Osowiec (1991) who assessed hypothesized associations between the nasal
ultradian rhythm, anxiety, symptoms of stress and the personality
process of self-actualization. She found that: "(1) there is a
significant positive correlation between self-actualizing individuals
having low trait anxiety and stress related symptoms and a regular
nasal cycle.. and (2) non-self-actualizing individuals with high
levels of trait anxiety and stress-related symptoms exhibit
significantly greater irregularity in the nasal cycle.." These results
are reminiscent of the ancient texts that emphasize that an irregular
nasal cycle, particularly one in which the person remains dominant in
one nostril or the other for an excessively long period of time are
associated with illness and mental disorder (Rama, Ballentine and
Ajaya, 1976)
Osowiec's findings with the ultradian nasal rhythm are similar to the
types of associations that are found between stress, symptoms,
personality and responsiveness to therapeutic hypnosis. Since hypnosis,
like chronobiology, was a historically significant turning point in the
study of these cybrenetic pathways of mind-body communication and
healing, it will be used here as a paradigm of how psychology and
biology may find a common denominator in ultradian time, rhythm and
information transduction (Rapp, 1987)
( http://ernestrossi.com/wave_nature_of_being.htm)
Namaste
| 
Last Thread
Next Thread
03-19-05 11:09 PM
