Am I not ready for pranayama?

[Chaz]

I've been trying to get to a point with my spinal breathing practice to where it's comfortable, easy, and enjoyable like Yogani said it should be, but so far it's been just the opposite for me. I can't bring myself to drop the practice however, (which includes siddhasana, ujjayi, mulabandha, and sambhavi) because I've been doing them for a while now. I would feel like something huge is missing without them.

There have been a few times where I was just fine doing pranayama, and I can always feel the energy traveling up and down the spine from root to third eye. Sometimes my body would jump and twitch on the exhalation, or my hand would tense up really quickly. Most of the time, I'm struck with mental protest and resistance to doing the practice. I have to push myself to get through it. It's like when you're in a serious workout, near exhaustion, and you're mind is repeatedly telling you to stop and give up. It just feels too mechanical at times if that makes sense, and my breathing feels too forced and unnatural.

I'm trying to ease into the practice as I think maybe I'm putting too much thought into it and that is my main issue. It's currently a work in progress in that department. At first I thought it probably is just my stubborn mind, which doesn't want to let go of it's grips through my practice of yoga. However maybe it's my intuition trying to get me to self pace? Am I overloading at this point on my path? I was told by another member on this forum to stay well away from energy practices at my young age (still not 18... just a month away!) His word of caution was with good intentions but I couldn't bring myself to leave pranayama alone just yet. I've been doing it for a few months now, although rarely longer then 5 minutes, so stopping now seems pointless to me. I might as well continue with it and improve in my practice. At least, that is my perspective on it.

What do some of you think? And how does it compare to your practices? Just wondering in case some of you have went through the same thing. Any tips or suggestions? PLEASE help me save my pranayama practice. For some reason i'm always looking forward to it, then when it comes to actually doing it I get frustrated.

[AumNaturel]

I started with meditation and energy practices around that age as well, and they felt fine. Incorporating breath with visualization or intention did take me a while to work through and still can't say I 'got it.' If I do force the breath in any way, sooner or later it makes me feel depleted and out of breath. What seems to be helping is relaxing into the practices and allowing their momentum to pick up as if riding along on it. My body breathes, and I nudge its natural impulse gently but without placing my attention on breathing directly, but on the point along SBP (or slightly head of the sensation, if any; this is just my slight variation).

Lesson 41 introduces breathing for SBP and recommends to start it gradually. I've not experienced overloading, but if you do, daily life would be a starting place to tell if that is the case. Not sure about looking forward to it and getting frustrated; give it some time so the habit of practice works its way in, and then practice happens on its own and anticipations or reactions end up more on the side of the procedures.

[Victor]

I started pranayama at age 20 and it felt fine though it took some years to feel the refinements of it. Now 31 years later I am very grateful to have had the daily prcatice. If you are only doing 5 minutes a daythen I would suggest that you persevere. 5 minutes is not very much really and it can take soem time to deepen. Just pay attntion to subtlety and be gentle with yourself, with time the practice itself will teach you. Currently I do pranayama 30 mins a day before meditation and the panayama feels pretty effortless. It is not advisable to teach pranayama to children before puberty but at your age I wouldn't worry about it. The only real caution that I would suggest at this point is to practice every single day, never miss a day. At 5 mins that should be no trouble. If you skip a day or two it can be hard to get back to where you left off and consistent practice develops the habit which is essential to practice.

[maheswari]

quote:Currently I do pranayama 30 mins a day before meditation and the panayama feels pretty effortless

what kind of pranayama? before starting ayp SB and DM i have done kapalabathi and analoma veloma for 8 years...also did ishta mantra meditation for 5 years...
but when i started ayp i just do ayp practices[]
it is funny cause in my classes i teach kapalabathi and analoma veloma to students but i dont personally do them anymore[:I]
but again without those years of pranayama i know that i could not have well handled ayp practices like i am now...also i feel that most of my students are not ready for SB they will easily overload cause very few are really commited yogis so to speak...each one according to his own timing!

[kaserdar]

Hello Chaz,

I get the same resistance from my body when I try to practice SBP. But as AumNaturel also mentioned, if I naturally don't have my attention on breath but instead on visualizing sushuma then things are ok.

[Victor]

Maheshwari, I do spinal breathing pranayama with kumbhaka in siddhasana with kechari. I do it in 3 stages 10 minutes each. First stage I do with head back ( I came up with this and it seems to be a positive addition),followed by 10 minutes with head down in jalandhara bandha, followed by 10 minutes with dynamic jalandhara. I don't time the breath but follow what feels like a natural timing and particularly focus on the point where the end of the exhalation blends with the beginning of the inhalation. then do meditation with mantra followed by savasana. I only do one sitting practice per day instead of two since it takes a full hour to complete.