Strengthen your diaphragm.
This Pranayama technique is called Pratiloma. This will be stage one of two stages of this particular Pranayama practice and diaphragmatic breathing technique. So if you aren’t already I highly recommend that when you are riding your bike, walking uphill, breathe out of your nose. It actually starts to strengthen the diaphragm. There have been studies that look at elite athletes and only 50% of elite athletes have the ideal capacity and strength in the diaphragm. As a result, we’re seeing more diaphragmatic fatigue.
This is a breathing technique with partially closed nostrils. The idea is to restrict the flow of breath through the nasal passage to half or even three quarters. Forcing the inhale with resistance and then exhaling with complete passageways. So it’s really about training and strengthening the diaphragm over time.
Use your ring finger and your thumb as the mechanism that closes the valve of your nasal passage. And you’re going to place the tips of your fingers just below the notch of your nose, where it transitions from bone to cartilage.
Take your right hand up to your nose and you’re going to take a full cycle of breath through each nostril and then you’re going to partially close your nostril passages with your thumb and your ring finger and inhale until you feel your diaphragm. Take a complete inhalation and then remove your fingers, take a moment of pause and then exhale through your nose at the same rate.
And you’re going to do that again (up to 10x)
The idea is that you’re going to do that 10x leading up to 5 sets twice a day in the morning and in the evening to start to train your diaphragm to strengthen and relax.