Three Pranayama (Breathing) Techniques to Calm Your Mind and Body (and How I Survived the Bar Exam)
Draw your attention to your breath and follow your inhalation with your mind. Notice how your in-breath both invigorates you and stills you. Feel your belly inflate and exhale slowly through your nose. If your mind wanders off, it’s okay. Bring your attention back to your exhale. Empty out your belly, slowly and with control. Inhale again, following the in-breath with your mind. You are here, in the present moment.
In Ontario, lawyer candidates must write two bar exams to obtain their license to practice law: The Barrister Licensing Examination and the Solicitor Licensing Examination. Each exam is 7 hours of writing and there is a lunch break in between. Exam takers are instructed to arrive an hour or so early to the examination centre and it takes some time to sign out of the exam and leave. So you are easily looking at a 10+ hour day.
The first time I wrote the Solicitor exam, I didn’t pass. As I was writing, I felt dizzy, frantic and nervous. Hour 6 into writing and I could very much feel myself failing. So when the inevitable results arrived I wasn’t really surprised. The second time I wrote the Solicitor exam, I practiced some pranayama breath work right before I began writing and recited the affirmation, “you can do this.” The breathing helped to calm me down and I was able to take the exam with much more focus and clarity than the first time. I passed the second time.
I want to share three different pranayama techniques with you that have a calming and cooling effect on both the mind and body. I hope these techniques can assist you to feel centred before an exam, interview, court appearance, presentation, or any other important matter that you may be nervous about.
Technique 1: Three-Part Breath (Dirga Pranayama)
Inhale through your nose and fill up your belly first; observe as it expands with breath. Then, inhale into your rib cage. Third, inhale into your chest and notice as your collarbones rise. You can use your palms to guide your breath into any of these three parts. Exhale in reverse. First empty your chest, next your rib cage, and finally your belly, which completes one round of this three-part breath. Take as many rounds as you need.
Technique 2: Cooling Breath (Sitali Pranayama)
Stick your tongue out and curl the sides inwards to create a “straw” or “tube” with your tongue. Inhale through your tongue for about 5-6 seconds and then draw your tongue back in. Retain the in-breath for a couple of seconds and exhale through your nose. Try to exhale for 1-2 seconds longer than your inhale. Once empty, retain for a couple more seconds and begin the next round by inhaling through your tongue once again. As you breathe, you should notice a cooling sensation in your body. Take as many rounds of Sitali Pranayama as you need.
As curling your tongue inward is not genetically possible for everyone, an alternative option is to simply stick your tongue out and inhale through your mouth.
Technique 3: Alternate Nostril Breathing (Nadi Shodhana Pranayama)
Inhale through both nostrils for about 5 seconds. Exhale through both nostrils to cleanse your breath and prepare for alternate nostril breathing.
Take your right hand and close your middle and index finger into your palm. If this does not feel intuitive, then you have an option to close all three—index, middle, and ring—fingers into your palm. Close your right nostril with your right thumb and inhale through your left nostril. After you inhale, retain the breath for a couple of seconds. Close your left nostril with your ring finger (or pinky finger if your ring finger is down) and exhale through the right nostril. Inhale this time through your right nostril and retain the breath for a couple of seconds. Close your right nostril with your thumb, and exhale through the left nostril. Begin the next round by inhaling again through the left nostril. Take as many rounds as you need.