For effective nasal irrigation, there must be room in the nose for the rinse to go in one nostril and out the other. If you are extremely congested, space is limited in the nasal cavity and irrigating will be slow at first. You may need to start and stop a few times to loosen the mucus and break up the congestion. We suggest the following tips: Irrigate for about 10 seconds; Gently blow your nose; Rotate the Nasal Dock 180° to reverse the flow, and irrigate in the opposite direction for about 10 seconds; Gently blow your nose and relax for a couple of minutes; Rotate the Nasal Dock 180° again; Repeat until the rinse begins to flow into the bottom tank. This repeated “back and forth” motion will help reduce congestion and allow the rinse to flow from one nostril to the other.