Do’s and dont’s in Pranayama
*Breathe in and out through your nose.
*Clear any blocked nostril. If your left nostril is blocked, lie on your right side for a few minutes. Lie on your left side if your right nostril is blocked.
*Never perform pranayama after asanas.
*If pranayam is to precede your asanas routine, set aside a time when you won’t be interrupted. The idea is to lead yourself to a relaxed state so do not force your breathing and never do it in haste.
Never perform pranayama after asanas? I am under the impression that first asanas should be done followed by pranayamas and thereafter meditation. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Thanks & regards,
Tompasand
what i am told and what i read is that pranayama should be done in this order.
walking /stretching exercise/asanas/pranayama and then meditation.I do all this regularly in that order. if inner athelete gives a reply on this it will be more correct
I suppose there are many different schools of thought on yoga, asana, pranayama et al.
However I would advocate to my students to have pranayama follow a specific asana practice. I would not suggest they do anything overly “active”, including asana, after doing pranayama.
My pranayama session is more powerful after asanas, as nadis are activated and synchronized.
Sometimes one nostril might be blocked but due to pranic reasons, and not physical reasons. Ida and Pingala take about 90 minutes to realign. Don’t despair if you practice neti and one nostril is still blocked. Let some time pass.
om shanti
I’m not sure if this is right place or not. I’ve been doing the alternate nostril breathing and breathing up and down my spine stopping microseconds at each chakra and chanting Om into each going up and down. I hold for about 6-8 seconds when I’ve reached to staring up between eyebrows. I’ve had phenomenal experiences in just a few weeks. I’m just starting asana yoga, as I’m quite overweight I’m going Very Very Slow. I’ve been doing Tai Chi for about 6 months and have lost 6-8 inches from my waist and am much stronger and have good endurance, whereas 6 mos ago I was out of breath going up stairs. Now, I walk 5-8 miles per day and 10-15 on the weekends. I’ve been meditating from 4-7 a.m. and 8-9 p.m or 7-9 p.m. (depending on parental duties of putting daughter to bed). My meditation starts relatively traditional roman catholic, with 1 trip around the rosary, then one trip with the Jesus Prayer, then 2 trips around with om namo bhaghavate vasudevaya, then 1 trip with chidananda roopah shivohum. Whenever sun rises, I stop and watch it, usually listening to Barber’s Adagio for Strings or Beethoven’s No. 5 Emperor in E. When i return home, I do Yoni mudra. Then sit next to piano and try to match internal sound. It’s usually been highest E or second highest A.
I don’t know what it means to have “activated or sycnchronized” nadis and am still learning the lingo related to yoga. So far, the non-physical stuff has been nothing short of amazing. I’m hoping the physcial will deepend the experiences.
I’m open to any suggestions to a meditation/prayer minded love-oriented beginner.
Good to know info
In the Upanishads, pranayama is described as performed after the few important asanas has been mastered. At that point one can’t talk about asana practice anymore, but about a pose with an erect, well aligned spine, and the recommended ones are padamasana or siddhasana.
No wonder as the required amount of pranayama described there is huge, four times a day at midnight, sunrise, noon, and sunset, each time with a great number of breaths and almost inhuman retentions. With such a practice, in three months the main two nadis are purified, and the levitation siddhi is achieved. Too bad that few can complete such an intense pranayama practice. 
Hi DrPurple.
Nice to hear about your practice, it is very inspiring.
PS. Cute kid.
God bless you and your family.
intersection of yoga and non-yoga question –
Has anyone noticed specific prana effects from singing? I mean, full-belly choral or operatic singing? I assume that the brief full inhale and the slow voiced exhale usually required from sustained and challenging works (remembering participating in Handel’s Alleluja chorus as a high soprano when I was a bit younger and my vocal training was more recent) will mirror pranayama a bit.
Of course, the intent of a singer is directed externally – this would be a big difference between them.
Any thoughts?
Ramdev maharaj says that doing Pranayma properly and regularly is good enough
What does he say about resting in between poses which increase the heart beat and counter posing?