Typically, the air pressure will feel more obvious coming from one nostril than the other. If you were to try this right when you wake up, for instance, you’d likely find the left nostril open and the right nostril clogged.

Interestingly enough, this actually tells you something about the current state of your nervous system.

For instance, if you feel more of a puff from your right nostril than your left, it indicates a sympathetic nervous system state activation — aka you have more energy for activities that require movement, focus and creativity.

If, on the other hand, you feel more air from your left nostril, it indicates that you are in a parasympathetic state — aka your body is refueling for another bout of work.

A nice way to remember this is righty-tighty, lefty-loosey:

Right-tighty = active = sympathetic.

Lefty-loosey = passive = parasympathetic.

The difficult part isn’t necessarily determining what state you’re in. It’s in determining what to do with the information you receive.

If you’re feeling amped, for instance, should you ride that momentum and exercise, or should you manually come back down with some meditation?

It’s a damn fine question.

IMO, your answer should depend on where you are in your circadian rhythm. That is, if it’s 9pm and you’re feeling extra anxious, now’s probably not the time to go outside for an all-out sprint.

But then again, maybe it is! Under these circumstances, my body does better with slow breathing techniques, but you have to be the scientist here. You are the only one who can trial and error different methodologies to determine what genuinely works best for you.

It’s also important to note that ‘Nasal Cycle Test’ doesn’t work ~10% of the time. In those cases, your nostrils will not accurately reflect the state of your nervous system.

Because of this, I again encourage you to get to know your nervous system more deeply through meditation and other self-awareness practices. At the end of the day, you want to trust your own Knowing and guidance, not my Knowing and guidance.

That was it for this technique, but keep in mind this was the short version. If you want more scientific details and guidance, check out the full Deeper. Slower. Easier. Level 4 training. It provides all of the details you could possibly want.

Otherwise, I’ll see you in the next tip.
– Ethan ॐ

P.S. If you aren’t quite sensitive enough yet to feel which nostril is more dilated, no worries! Just wet your index finger before placing it up to your nose, then puff. This will help you feel the air much more clearly.