Doing Pranayama Safely
Even though pranayama looks simple and you may be tempted to try it on your own, ancient yogic texts stress that you need to be very careful. Do too much and you risk agitating your nervous system and there are reports of people developing heart arrhythmias and even psychological decompensation from doing the practices incorrectly. Particularly worrisome are long retentions of the breath.
For these reasons, it is generally recommended that you only engage in anything other than the simplest breathing exercises under the guidance of an experienced teacher. It's also key to build up your practice slowly and regularly over months and even years before engaging in more demanding exercises.
For those of us involved in the Iyengar Intensive at Estes Park, the altitude brings added concerns for pranayama. At 9000 feet, many of us are huffing and puffing just dragging our suitcases up the hill to our rooms and carting our blankets and other props to the workshops. A major focus of what they have been teaching us in our daily pranayama sessions is how to do the practices safely.
Sri Iyengar stresses that the temples should be relaxed at all times during pranayama. Any tension or heat in this area is a sign you've gone too far. You should also always be able to take a slow inhalation and exhalation on the subsequent breath after any exercise.
Iyengar says that many people have the wrong attitude about pranayama, favoring fancy breath ratios with long inhalations and exhalations as well as retentions of the breath. This sort of gymnastic approach may only serve to pump up your ego. Instead he stresses developing subtlety. Even very simple practices such as basic ujjayi breathing, done is a refined way can let you taste the nectar of pranayama--but you may miss it entirely if you jump ahead to advanced pranayamas before you're ready.
