Stress Mastery: The Art of Coping Gracefully

Breathing and Ultradian Rhythms

You may be wondering, what possible relevance could breathing in and out of different nostrils have in terms of affecting your ability to relax or concentrate? Well, believe it or not, there is a growing body of research verifying the existence of ultradian rhythms. Ultradian rhythms are shifts in various body processes that occur approximately every ninety minutes. For our purposes, we are interested in how brain functioning is affected. As it turns out, our brain shifts from being dominated by left-hemispheric activity to right-hemispheric activity every ninety minutes. That is, we shift from a very logical, deductive, sequential, focused, externally oriented (left brain) way of being in the world, to a more ...