What this version includes
The practice below alternates the nostrils without retention. One round returns you to the side where the cycle began. Its four-round suggestion belongs to this library’s introductory guide; it is not a quotation from the Common Yoga Protocol, which gives five rounds.
Names and hand positions
The Common Yoga Protocol groups Nadi Shodhana and Anuloma Viloma together. Other teaching traditions distinguish stages and methods under these names. The finger shape used here is called Vishnu mudra in the Sivananda teaching and Nasagra mudra in the 2026 protocol. Learn the hand position and the breath sequence together instead of relying on the name alone.
The complete guidance
Gentle practice
Alternate-Nostril Breathing
anuloma viloma
Alternate airflow between the nostrils with Viṣṇu mudrā and no retention.
Set up
Sit upright and rest the left hand on the thigh. Form Viṣṇu mudrā with the right hand: fold the index and middle fingers inward, keep the ring and little fingers together, and use the thumb and the last two fingers at the nostrils.
How to practice
- Close the right nostril with the right thumb and inhale through the left.
- Close the left nostril with the joined ring and little fingers; release the thumb and exhale through the right.
- Inhale through the right; close it with the thumb, release the ring and little fingers, and exhale through the left.
- This completes one round. Keep the touch light and the breath quiet.
Breath & pace
Begin with 4 rounds at an even, comfortable count.
Understanding the practice
Different teaching lineages use the names Nadi Shodhana and Anuloma Viloma for several sequences that differ from one another. What you have here is the simple form alone: the breath moves from one nostril to the other and back. Do not treat it as a stand-in for the full traditional sequence, with its set ratios, its bandhas or its kumbhaka.
Modern teaching context: Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha, Nadi Shodhana section. This version uses no retention.
Sources and scope
Main edition
Passage for this reading
- Common Yoga Protocol (2026)
Nadishodhana / Anuloma Viloma, printed pp. 41 to 42.
Ministry of Ayush, Government of India. Modern teaching protocol.
- The Sivananda Companion to Yoga
“The Vishnu Mudra,” printed p. 73.
Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre, 1983, “The Vishnu Mudra,” printed p. 73. Edition scan hosted by Friends of Tibet.
- Hatha Yoga Pradipika, chapter 2
Sanskrit verse 2.10; classical method includes retention.
Svātmārāma; Sanskrit with Pancham Sinh’s 1914 translation. Verse numbers follow the Sanskrit.
What this edition covers
A modern introductory adaptation with complete guidance and source comparisons.
Limits and differences
The prose above identifies material differences. Traditional explanations and promised attainments are attributed to their sources; they are not clinical evidence. Review date: September 11, 2026.