Recently I received a question from a person who is starting
with the exercise that I thought applies quite often:
"What do I do if my nose is blocked? Can I do Strelnikova exercise
by breathing by mouth?".

No, breathing through the mouth would not work because
opening is so big that there is no internal pressure
build up during breath in. Part of reason why exercise works
is that when you forcefully sniff, air has a hard time to enter
through narrow passage of the nose so internal pressure builds
up and gradually increases diameter of the bronchs.

One thing we are doing when my daughters nose is closed is
a nice little acupuncture massage that allows to open it and start the
Strelnikova exercise.
The points that have to be massaged are around the nose.
I made a picture outlining the points:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/strelnikova_exercise/files/accupuncture.jpg

To find the exact location of the point, try to find
a little "deep" in its approximate location. It should hurt
a little when you press on it.
Use both of your index finger to apply firm pressure of
both of the points that are on the same level simultaneously,
doing a rotating moves. Do 40 rotations for each level.
Start from the top point, than go to the level below.

Once you finished all points, you will feel a noticeable
clearing of the nose passages. You might be able to sniff
well enough after than in most cases.

This massage can be also done without relation to
Strelnikova exercise, just to feel much better with severely
congested nose. It is supposed to accelerate getting
better with your running nose condition by improving
circulation and removal of fluids if you do it every
hour or so.
Source of it is lost in our family history (I think it came
from some health magazine that my grandma read).
It was working well for us ever since.

Regards,
Evgenij