|| Pranayama ||
I am attracted towards yoga because of its magical benefits as told by many books on yoga and Baba Ramdev. But at the same time I have heard yoga is a ” Do Dhari Talwar”. If done wrong it can harm you. I love to do pranayam and I do the 8 pranayam sequence told by RamDev Ji. I have got some benefits from it but at the same time I doubt because on internet there are many people including you who says that this is not the right way of doing pranayam. It needs some preparation and asanas should be done first and like doing lots of Kapalbhati can harm. So from you MY QUESTION is very simple. As a lower middle class man who cant afford a yoga teacher and a proper place for doing asanas (just a little bit place to sit and do pranayam) should I continue doing yoga or stop it. And if I continue what yoga should I do as a beginner and according to my health problems mentioned above.
Thankyou in advance, looking forward for your answer.
– Obhishek Das
Shivoham!
Beloved Obhishek,
Before everything I must say that… There is no need for me to comment what others are teaching but to promote what authentic scriptures talk about and what I have learnt through my Gurus. Every teacher has right to teach and propagate what he/she feels right and every practitioner has freedom to choose any teacher of his/her like.
I have written enough about this subject but still people continue to ask the same questions (or at least similar questions) repeatedly. One last time I wish to answer and clarify on this subject. There are two types of people following Yoga –
- Those who learn it from a Teacher/Master/Guru
- Those who try learning it by themselves by reading, watching and listening
If you are in the first category, facing any issues the most suitable advice to you is that go back to your teacher or Guru. Place your query and get answered.
For all those who fall in second category – Stop practicing breathing practices.. focus on Asanas, that too simple asanas. Please read more and more authentic books. Refer to Vedic literature which is the foundation of Yoga. And I am sure that after reading many books you shall get some confusions. Now is the time to search for a teacher in person. Use all means to find one good teacher who follows an authentic system (not self-invented). Thing to keep in mind is that a popular teacher may not be a perfect teacher and your knowledge acquired through self-study shall come handy.
Whether you are in first category of second, define your objective of getting into Yoga and in my opinion you should always refrain from fast-breathing pranayams and kriyas without completing preparatory steps.. As such 80% of population of world is suffering from breathing the wrong (polluted) air why become victim of breathing in wrong ways. I repeat fast breathing pranayams are not safe.
Happy breathing..
– Acharya Agyaatadarshan Anand Nath
Its all about you! 