PRANAYAM The basic breathing excercise By Swami Sivananda

Exercise No. 1
Sit on Padmasana. Close your eyes. Concentrate on Trikuti (the space between the two
eye-brows). Close the right nostril with your right thumb. Inhale slowly through the left nostril as
long as you can do it with comfort. Then exhale very very slowly through the same nostril. Do
twelve times. This is one round.
Then inhale through the right nostril by closing the left nostril with your right ring and little
fingers and exhale very slowly through the same nostril. Do twelve times. This is one round.
Do not make any sound during inhalation and exhalation. Repeat your Ishta Mantra during
the practice. In the second week of practice, do two rounds, in the third week, three rounds. Take
rest for two minutes when one round is over. If you take a few normal breaths, when one round is
over, that will give you sufficient rest and you will be fresh for the next round. There is no
Kumbhaka in this exercise. You can increase the number of rounds according to your strength and
capacity.
Exercise No. 2
Inhale through both the nostrils slowly and gently. Do not retain the breath. Then exhale
slowly. Do 12 times. This will constitute one round. You can do 2 or 3 rounds according to your
capacity and strength and time at your disposal.
Exercise No. 3
Sit on your Asana. Close the right nostril with your right thumb. Then inhale slowly through
your left nostril. Close the left nostril with your right ring and little fingers and open the right nostril
by removing the right thumb. Exhale very slowly through the right nostril. Then draw the air
through the right nostril as long as you can do it with comfort and exhale through the left nostril by
removing the right ring and little fingers. There is no Kumbhaka in this Pranayama. Repeat the
process 12 times. This will constitute one round.
Exercise No. 4
Meditate that the single letter, the Supreme light—Pranava or OM—is the origin or source
of the three letters A, U and M. Inhale the air through Ida or left nostril for the space of 16 Matras
(seconds), meditate on the letter ‘A’ during that time; retain the air for the space of 64 Matras,
meditate on the letter ‘U’ during the time; exhale through the right nostril for the space of 32 Matras
and meditate on the letter ‘M’ during that time. Practise this again and again in the above order.
Begin with 2 or 3 times and gradually increase the number to 20 or 30 times according to your
capacity and strength. To begin with, keep the ratio 1:4:2. Gradually increase the ratio to 16:64:32.