Basic Guidelines for Doing Yoga and Pranayama

The present era of stress and tension has caused lot of severe diseases to all the human beings. The allopathic medicines consumed to cure all these diseases in turn can cause many other diseases due to their side effects. The original health of the human being is lost somewhere in today's fast and artificial life. The only way to reestablish the natural healthy life is to resort to Yoga and Pranayama. The way in which we breathe controls all the critical functions of our body as the proper breathing can increase the Oxygen content of your blood, which makes all the body organs fit and healthy. The few simple breathing techniques can cure or prevent almost all the major diseases without any side effects permanently. I have myself mastered these pranayama techniques and hence, would like to share them with all my AC friends so as to live perfectly healthy life.

I would cover the basic rules and guidelines that are required to follow while performing these simple breathing exercises in this first article. First of all, select a clean and peaceful place, preferably in the open air and sunlight. These exercises are strictly to be performed with empty stomach. Hence, the early morning and evening hours can be the best. Keep your mind cool and composed without any sort of external disturbances while performing these exercises. The amounts of the exercises vary based on the seasons and your own body structure. There cannot be any specific laid out rules on this. Make sure to resort only to nasal respiration unless the breathing through the mouth is specifically told. Try to isolate yourself completely from the computer, TV, or the telephones while doing these exercises.

You may need around half an hour daily to perform these exercises. Think that you are not available to the physical world for at least this half an hour. Sit in Padmasana or in cross legged position on the ground with some cotton cloth or mat on the floor. Pranayama must be performed after all the morning cleaning rituals. If bowel movement is not achieved in the morning, please take light laxatives for initial few days to clean your stomach. After around 10 to 15 days of the practice of these Pranayama techniques, you will not be required to take the laxative as the morning rhythm would be established by then. It is advisable to start these exercises for around 5 to 10 minutes initially and then, increase it gradually to around half an hour maximum per sitting. It is advisable to constantly chant mantra of Aum continuously in your mind while performing these exercises. In the beginning, loudly chant Aum for about 10 times to get desired concentration. The playing of sacred songs with a low volume in the background on any CD player can also help considerably. The most vital aspect is to constantly believe that all your diseases are going away from you and your body is becoming pure and clear by doing these exercises. Make sure not to over exert yourself at any time while performing these exercises. When you start feeling tired, immediately relax by taking very deep and slow breaths living the exercise you were doing for few minutes. You will have to keep your eyes closed during the performance. Do not allow any thoughts in your mind. This shall prove very difficult in the beginning but its practice would slowly but surely lead you towards totally empty and peaceful mind. You must wear very few and comfortable clothes while doing these exercises. Make sure to remove your wrist watch, spectacles, and any other tight gadget you are wearing on your body.

Once you are familiar with these prerequisites of Pranayama, you are now ready to start pranayama.

I have myself been extremely healthy at the age of 57 years today, just due to these simple pranayama exercises being performed regularly without even a break of a single day for last six years. It is certainly a very profitable deal to get full healthiness by just investing your few minutes daily in performing pranayama. I would start with each simple breathing exercise from my next article. May I kindly urge you all my AC friends to be with me in following these simple Pranayama techniques?