Beginner’s Guide to Yoga Pranayama Practice
Clothing: Clothing should be loose, specially around the abdomen. This will ensure that the natural movement of the diaphragm is not impeded when doing the breathing exercises.
Diet: You should not have eaten any heavy meal at least 2-3 hours prior to practicing pranayama. The stomach should be empty. It is fine to sip some water though during the practice to stay hydrated, specially when doing heat generating vigorous exercises. If your diet can consist of light, fresh food that will help the cleansing process as well.
Time: Dawn is a terrific time to practice yoga and meditation, but this is more so for pranayama practice. This is because the early morning air is fresh and at this time the air contains the most amount of prana. Practicing at this time, will bestow benefits faster. Of course, if this is not feasible, no worries, practice when you can. Here is an article on How to Help You Become an Early Riser.
Posture: Always sit with your back as straight if possible. In addition, keep the chin slightly tucked in so that the back of the neck is aligned with the spine. This will help the flow of energy up and down the spine and up into the brain region. In addition, this will prevent you from getting dizzy during vigorous exercises.
Illness: Whether you are a beginner or an advanced practitioner, do not practice any advanced pranayamas while you are unwell. Do the beginner versions of the breathing exercises or choose easy pranayamas to do instead. It is also fine to stop entirely until you have recovered fully.
Effort: Again, regardless of if you are a beginner or advanced yogi you should never strain when practicing yoga. This is especially true when doing the breathing exercises. As indicated above, pranayama, which means the expansion and control of prana, deals with the nuclear energy of atoms and progress should be made gently and systematically.
This is even more applicable for any pranayama that requires you to hold your breath in or out for prolonged periods of time. If at all you feel uncomfortable while practicing a pranayama, stop, take a break and restart again when you feel ready.
Cautions: Don’t practice any heat generating pranayamas while sitting directly under the hot sun. This can aggravate the heat in the system (pitta). Similarly, choose pranayamas according to conditions and state of your health. In other words, don’t practice Sheetali Pranayama if you are suffering from a cold or chest congestion, etc. The following Overview of Ayurveda can be a helpful guide to you on this topic as well.
Location: Try to practice is a well ventilated room with plenty of fresh air.


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What Is The Breath of Fire Kundalini Yoga Pranayama:

The first Yoga breathing exercise we will explore lies at the heart of Kundalini Yoga practice, it is the legendary Breath of Fire Yoga Pranayama.
As mentioned above this breathing exercise is absolutely essential to the practice of Kundalini Yoga. The roots of this pranayama are impossible to trace but I would like to thank my teacher Ravi Singh under whose expert guidance I learned this technique.
Tools Required for Breath of Fire Kundalini Yoga Pranayama:
Just your nose :-D.
Benefits of Breath of Fire Kundalini Yoga Pranayama:
Primary:
Quickly oxygenates your blood, thus helping the body detoxify itself and remove waste more effectively.
Builds lung capacity and helps purify the respiratory system.
Generates heat and increases your level of energy by activating the energy flows in your body.
Syncronizes your entire system under one rhythm, thus promoting greater internal harmony and health.
Secondary:
Balances and strengthens the Nervous System.
Magnifies the benefits of exercises done in conjunction with this breath.
When done forcefully, the pulsating of the diaphragm massages the internal organs, thus improving the digestive system.
Cautions for Practicing Breath of Fire Kundalini Yoga Pranayama:
If you feel dizzy when practicing Breath of Fire, you should stop and substitute normal breathing. If you suffer from vertigo, you should use caution in practicing this breathing exercise.
If you are menstruating you should not practice Breath of Fire, use Long Deep Breathing instead.
You should be careful practicing Breath of Fire if you have high blood pressure, heart disease or suffer from stroke or epilepsy. Also, if you have acid or heat related gastric issues such as ulcers you should use caution.
How To Do Basic Breath of Fire Kundalini Yoga Pranayama:
To practice this breathing exercise sit up in a comfortable position.
Elongate your spine upwards, lengthen your neck and subtly bring your chin back and in like a soldier at attention. This will align the spine with the back of your head.
Close your eyes.
Rest your hands in any comfortable position.
Relax your stomach muscles.
Now begin to breathe rapidly through the nose with equal emphasis on the inhalation and exhalation. It will be like very fast sniffing. Keep the breath shallow, just at the tip of the nose. Proceed at a comfortable pace and establish a steady rhythm. Pay no special attention to the chest or diaphragm other that staying relaxed. You will find the stomach pulses on its own in rhythm to the breath. That’s it, continue for 1 minute.
How To Do Intermediate Breath of Fire Kundalini Yoga Pranayama:
Perform the breathing at a faster pace.
Increase the duration of the exercise to 3 minutes
How To Do Advanced Breath of Fire Kundalini Yoga Pranayama:
Build up the pace and power with which you do the breathing.
Build up the time for this pranayama to 11 minutes.
Secret of Breath of Fire Kundalini Yoga Pranayama:
So the trick question is, "How many breaths are you taking when doing the breath of fire yoga pranayama"? This will be of some special concern to those who believe in the idea that each of us is born with a preset number of breaths and once we finish our quota - the fat lady sings. So for those folks it would be rather alarming to practice this exercise regularly, as they would be drastically reducing their life span - but, thankfully they need not worry. The beauty of this breathing exercise, aside from its lengthy list of benefits, is that it registers to the brain as only 1 breath. So put your worries aside and enjoy the practice of this pranayama which I have found to be one of the real gems of Kundalini Yoga.