Air pressure in the nasal cavity

[nyugimugi]

Dear Members,
I have a question and I'm curious to know what you guys think.
Is it possible to increase the air pressure in the nasal cavity without actually releasing the air from it?
If I imitate the valsava maneuver with unpinched nose (pushing air upwards with my abdominals), I can feel some pressure in my septum in the nasal cavity and that is not exhaling as I don't feel any air coming out of my nose... I am not sure what that feeling is. Is it the pressure?
I'm asking because one of my acquaintances told me that this is how he keeps water out of his nasal cavity when he's face-up underwater without a mask or noseclip. I did not believe that it was possible to increase pressure in the nasal cavity without releasing it or pinching the nose, but when he told me to "push it upwards with your stomach" and I tried it, I was very surprised to have that feeling in my septum...

 

[Nathan Vinski]

Unless you have a severely blocked nose, without pinching it you should not be able to pressurise the sinuses.

The only moving part that can block air, other than pinched nostrils, is the soft palate (separates the sinuses from the mouth).

After a few tries I was able to create a 'pressure' in my septum like you described. It might be the sensation of the tongue pressing on the roof of the mouth (under the septum) as tondo this you need to block air from your sinuses (with soft palate) and from escaping your mouth (tongue).

Another thing that could create this feeling in the septum is raised blood pressure, caused by tensing the abdominals to do the valsalva manuvre.

The air pressure is in the mouth, not the sinuses.

PS, I enjoyed that experiment.

 

[nyugimugi]

Unless you have a severely blocked nose, without pinching it you should not be able to pressurise the sinuses.

The only moving part that can block air, other than pinched nostrils, is the soft palate (separates the sinuses from the mouth).

After a few tries I was able to create a 'pressure' in my septum like you described. It might be the sensation of the tongue pressing on the roof of the mouth (under the septum) as tondo this you need to block air from your sinuses (with soft palate) and from escaping your mouth (tongue).

Another thing that could create this feeling in the septum is raised blood pressure, caused by tensing the abdominals to do the valsalva manuvre.

The air pressure is in the mouth, not the sinuses.

PS, I enjoyed that experiment.

Thank you for your response. Yes, I know the soft-palate thing, as well as the pushing the tounge against the palatum durum, as to a lot of people this is enough to keep water out of their nose while doing underwater dolphins on their backs, but unfortunately, this is not enough for me, water floods my nose whatever mechanical pressure I'm trying to apply, which means the only way to learn this for me is by breath control with opened epiglottis and soft palate.