The making of a Sarvodaya Sannyasin

General Rules for breathing exercise (pranayama) practice:

1. There should be no violent respirations, no extended breath-retention beyond a comfortable measure, no forcing of breath, body or mind.
2. Practise in a clean environment with fresh air. Never perform it in a foul-smelling, smoky or dusty room.
3. Try to practice at the same time each day and in the same place. This builds up a positive vibration and the regularity creates inner strength and willpower.
4. It should be practiced on an empty stomach.
5. One should practice at least 1 hour before meals and at least 3 hours after taking meals.
6. Follow all precautions for breath-retention given below in case you want to practice breath-retention (breath-retention is used in all Locks or Bandhas).
7. It should be commenced after 8 years age (not before that).

Precautions for breath-retention:

1. One should not hold breath to the point of pain or suffocation otherwise it may harm lungs. One should hold breath only till one feels comfortable.
2. One should practice at least 30 min before meals and at least 1 hours after taking meals.
3. One should take a bath after at least 1/2 hour of practice (because lots of heat is generated in the body during breath-retention, so body should be allowed time to get normalized before taking bath).
4. Only after the age of 12, it should be practiced. This is because the chest, heart and lungs are not strong enough before 12 for the practice of breath-retention.
5. One should have healthy lungs, heart and normal pressure.
6. Our mind becomes very concentrated during internal breath-retention. So,whatever thoughts one has in mind while holding breath that becomes very strong and has very powerful influence over the mind. It implies that one must have only positive thoughts during breath-retention (if negative thoughts come, quickly replace that with positive thoughts). Due to the same reason, one should give auto-suggestion while holding breath.