Nasal Erectile Tissue and Relationship to Left/Right Nostril Dominance
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
Erectile tissue is only found in a few areas of the body, the genitals, breasts and the lining of the nose. This tissue receives extra blood through microscopic passageways, causing the tissue to expand and harden. It is not uncommon when a person has over stimulation of sexuality for the nose lining to swell as well. It is called honeymoon nose, for newlyweds are often engaged in a lot of sexual activities.
The swelling of the nasal erectile tissue, independent of sexual activities, has a distinct, regular pattern of swelling and shrinkage, causing one nostril to be more open than the other at various times through the day. This creates a right/left variation in breath flow. This alternates in a very predictable fashion, every 45 minutes to two hours depending on the individual, and each nostril takes its turn at being predominant in the breathing pattern. It reaches a peak, and then decreases.
This is a natural pattern, but it can be interrupted by emotional disturbance, irregular mealtimes, sleep problems, pollution, infection and other forces that affect the bio-organism. This is why calm emotions, regular routines, and a sensible lifestyle are so important. This left/right breathing pattern affects brain activity, and certain kinds of brain activity are more conducive to particular activities than others.
This rhythm between the nostrils is called “infradian rhythm,” a recently coined term for an ancient understanding by yogis who spent great amounts of time in self-observation cataloguing these patterns of the human body. Yogis who focused on this study of the breath were called swara yogis. They also documented the psychological and physiological states that correlated to different nostril dominations in the breath. For instance, the right nostril dominance matched more active, alert states (outer world activities), while the left side dominance promotes quiet, passive and meditative states, (inner world activities). This is very precisely the same as right and left side brain activity. Right nostril breathing is conducive to digestion, and swara yogis were prone to open the right nostril before eating. Before taking fluids and meditation, the swara yogis were inclined to open the left nostril.
The erectile tissue of the honeymoon nose may have a left dominance or right dominance depending on the meditative state of which brain hemisphere the prana flow is stimulating through the breathing pattern of pranayama yoga. A clogged nostril can be the cause of alternate nostril breathing otherwise swara yoga pranayama breathing may be practiced as a breathing meditation to increase prana flow through the nadis. To synchronise with the infradian rhythm, or the bio rhythm, of the earth, the swara yogi practices yoga breathing, a form of deep breathing meditation.