Change your breathing by trying the sun and moon breathing method

Next, try alternate breathing, also known as sun and moon breath.

Don’t be afraid of funny words, ‘Prana’ is simply the life force around us, which is divided into ‘Pingala’, its positive side, and ‘Ida’, its negative side. One of the goals of Yoga is to balance its opposing currents in the body, which then produces a state of perfect spiritual and mental balance. When you breathe through the right side of the nose it is called solar respiration, if it is through the left side it is called moon breath.

Alternate breathing is the steady hold of the breath through each nostril, turn by turn. Sit cross-legged on a seat or on the floor with your back straight and your head level. Close your eyes, then close your left nostril with your left thumb as you inhale deeply and slowly through your right nostril. Take a deep breath and hold it for two seconds. Place the last two fingers of your left hand, and then breathe out slowly through your left nostril. Part of this exercise involves taking a natural break in breathing, and when the urge to inhale arises, keep the right nostril closed and breathe only through the left nostril. Take a deep breath and hold it for two seconds.

Close the left nostril and then slowly release your breath through the right. Now a cycle is completed. Those new to Pranayama should start slowly with two rounds and build up to 6 rounds a day by adding one per week. When doing this exercise at different times of the day, always try to adjust your posture to face the sun. This routine should be done early in the morning facing east, then at noon facing the median, when the sun sets facing west, and then at night facing north.

Begin with SUN AND MOON BREATHING and then go for three or four full breaths to create the space that will give you peace and quiet in both mind and body.

Although I have mentioned the physical aspects of yoga here, you must remember that all yoga exercises will always affect all parts: physical, spiritual and mental.

Once you’ve done the sun and moon breathing and have some rhythm and balance, move on to the next step, which is to increase the exhalations to double the duration of your inhalations. If you breathe in for a count of four, then breathe out for a count of eight. Four is just one example of your inhalation count, as your inhalation count should be based on your own individual needs, ability, and comfort level. If you feel the tension receding, you are trying hard. Do not push yourself when doing this or other Yoga exercises. It’s useless at best, but also possibly harmful. After a few days of practice, the next phase of breath control is to constantly extend the breath hold until it reaches the level of panting. You should inhale for four, hold for four, and then exhale for a count of eight.

Again, you must calibrate this count according to your own abilities.

It is the breathing of the Sun and the Moon in its simplest form with which we bring calm to both the mind and the body. An almost superhuman discipline is required for the advanced forms of this particular exercise, which is practiced in connection with the awakening of a strange bodily force called Kundalini, the Power of the Serpent. This can be briefly described as the Divine Power of Knowledge and Wisdom from which, through civilization, Man has separated.

Every man has the potential of divinity within him, no matter how far he has deviated from the Divine path because the Kundalini lies coiled at the base of the spine, asleep but not dead.