Yoga Introduction - Udgeeth Pranayam - Part 2_14

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Comment by MEDITATION on July 15, 2008 at 1:58pm

*Now place your hands on your side chest, just under the nipple. Take a few deep breaths through the middle chest.
*Now place your hands on the sides lower chest where the rib cage ends. Take a few deep breaths through the lower chest.
*Place one hand on the navel. Take a few deep abdominal breaths.
*Now try to take a "tidal breath" involving inhalation and exhalation through all these parts.

Practice the above for a few days. Now we proceed to "nadi-shodhana" or purification of the nadis. This is a preliminary process to pranayam, recommended by none other than Shri Sankaracharya over a thousand years ago.

Preparation for Nadi Shodhana!! *Block your right nostril with your thumb. Breathe in and out deeply and silently (but not forcefully) through your left nostril 4-5 times
*Repeat by blocking the left nostril and breathe in and out through the right nostril.
*Now block the right nostril, inhale through left. Now release the right nostril and breathe out through it, while simultaneously blocking the left nostril. Repeat this a few times.
*Repeat the above process reversing the nostrils i.e. block left, inhale through right and then block right, inhale through left

Practice the above for at least a week. Now we can begin the actual nadi-shodhana. Step 1 - Block right nostril, inhale through left. Block left, Release right, exhale through right
Step 2 - Inhale through right while left stays blocked
Step 3 - Release left, block right, exhale through left
It is important there are no gaps between the three steps
Repeat steps 1-3, two to five times ONLY, according to capacity, three times a day at sunrise, noon and sunset. Midnight is also recommended but probably impractical. In a few months, your nadis (psychic channels) will be purified as per the texts.

PLEASE COMMENT !!!

Comment by MEDITATION on July 15, 2008 at 1:57pm

Procedure : Breathe in deeply, and chant 'Om'kar. OOOOOOm ( long O and small m ) Duration : 10 mins or more
Benefits : meditation!!
Details:
"Omkar Japa" (Muttering the mantra "OM")
Concentrate your mind on the respiration and meditate on the sacred mantra "OM". God has fashioned the shape of our brows like OM. This body and the universal cosmic body are filled with this mantra. It is not the figure or expression of any individual thing, but it is divine energy, which regulates the entire functioning of the universe. With every act of breathing in and breathing out, mentally go on repeating the mantra "OM". The speed of respiration should be so slow and subtle that you yourself also may not be aware of its sound, even if a piece of cotton is placed in front of the nostril it should not move by the effect of the air exhaled out. Slowly practice and make the duration of one inhalation and exhalation to one minute. Likewise, try to visualize the breath inside the body. Initially the breath can be felt only in the nostrils but gradually it will be felt deep inside. In this way, visualizing the breath and continuous chanting of 'OM' will lead to Dhyana automatically. Your mind will develop a feeling of concentration and your body will be filled with the feeling of OM. The Gayatri Mantra from the Vedas can also be chanted meaningfully along with Pranayama. This way the Sadhaka can attain the joyful stage of Samadhi by going through the various visualizations of god and supreme powers. Also if this is practiced at bedtime, one will get peaceful sleep without any perverted dreams etc.

GENERAL!!
Pranayam (or Pranayama)!!!
Breathing is life but how little do we know about it! For example, do you know that you use only ONE nostril at a time for our breathing? At any time, either only the right or left nostril will be working. Test it out now. Place a finger half an inch below your left nostril for a few seconds, and then under your right. You will now which is working at the moment. Amazing, isn't it?

And now for more. Do you know the active nostril changes, at regular intervals (approximately one and a half hours) during the day? And that for a short period, both nostrils come into play?

The ancient yogis in India knew all this and much more. They knew the intimate connection between breath and mind. For example, when your mind is angry, watch your breathing. It will be disturbed. And similarly, if you hold your breath for long, your mind will get agitated. The yogis were trying to get some degree of control over the mind. Since the mind is very subtle, impossible to grasp, they figured out how to use this connection between the breath and the mind. By controlling the breath, they were indirectly able to influence the mind. A regular, deep breath enables one to feel calm and an irregular breath can make you feel anxious. Yoga Breathing helps to re- charge the cells in the body and re- energizes the brain cells; thus, the body is rejuvenated.
Meditation is one of the proven alternative therapies. It can be broadly classified under the mind-body medicine.

More and more doctors are prescribing meditation as a way to lower blood pressure, improve exercise performance in people with angina, help people with asthma breathe easier, relieve insomnia and generally relax the everyday stresses of life. Meditation is a safe and simple way to balance a person's physical, emotional, and mental states. It is simple; but can benefit everybody.

The first thing to learn is sectional breathing. We breathe through three parts of the chest upper, middle and lower as well as the abdomen. We have to first learn how to breathe through each part individually before we can breathe through all of them.

Sit in any comfortable pose and then lift both arms up and bend them backwards at the elbow to touch your back below the shoulder blades. Now take a few deep breaths through the upper chest. You can feel this part working in this posture.