This may be of interest to some peeps here...spinal breathing pranayama is a yogic exercise that is meant be to be very powerful. Simple to do and easy going as these things go and not much of a time investment...essentially part pranayama (breathwork), part meditation, part visualisation. Two 5 minute sessions with it are recommended in the morning and evening on an empty stomach and it makes a good prelude to meditation. Worth a look I think for anybody interested.

Apparently this is one of the core techniques taught in Kriya Yoga you have to be initiated into, and they consider it very highly indeed. It is meant to be progressive as well, so the more experience you have with the technique, the better you will be able to feel the energies moving. Does anybody here have any experience with this? Information on technique is attached. The practice of deep meditation (attached in post below) makes for an excellent synergy when following this, or as a stand alone practice.

One could open up the spine before spinal breathing with this particular qi gong exercise for extra spinal win.

For anybody interested have attached a brief guide on deep meditation...based on mantra yoga and very simple to do, could make an interesting alternative to mindfulness breathing meditation for some...here you focus your awareness and keep it in the present via an internal mental mantra as oppose to the breath, meant to be a powerful...I dig the author's approach, he has many decades of experience with yoga but takes a clear, scientific and methodological approach, focusing on practices that yield the most real world benefit and combining yogic practices with this in mind.

Makes a great immediate follow up to the spinal breathing pranayama method which is attached above, and the two of these techniques combined make up the core practice that comes most highly recommended. Definitely worthy of investigation for those interested.

Pranayama can be very powerful if you stick with it, also if you practice it while on psilocybin or LSD it's possible to see what hours/weeks/months of breathwork can achieve, although it can be very powerful so probably best done under the supervision of someone experienced.

The most powerful breathwork i've come across is watching the breath as it is, so not altering it in anyway, just being aware of how its gently going on all the time naturally, effortlessly, i find this more integrative as nobody can keep up alternate nostril breathing forever but our breath will naturally effortlessly be flowing for the rest of our life, nevertheless it can be interesting to play around with the breath and i've had some nice experiences doing so.

The fact we breath for our entire lives speaks for itself, and that we can consciously alter our breathing and observe any changes in consciousness is very interesting, it's kind of like our hearts beating for our entire lives, and if you look at what profound changes in consciousness (not to mention physiological changes) are associated with a rapid or slow heartbeat...

When i sit/meditate it is nice to first of all do some pranayama focusing on breathing into my spine as i find it helps me lock into a good posture for the session, i also find i spontaniously do the 'breath of fire' when holding a yoga pose past a minute or so, it's as if the knowledge is inbuilt and just kicks in at the right time.

I can definitely agree with what Chronic and Bancopuma have said because I also found that from a longterm point of view, knowing how to manipulate my breath patterns have helped me to relax if I had stressfuls situations, since I know from personal experience that if I do Pranayama consistently I will be more relaxed after this breathing exercise.

When in stressful situations, typically my heartbeat feels faster and I find myself breathing more shallow. Knowing how to resolve this stress with just meditation and breathing if felt necessary, definitely improved my ability to cope with stress or to fall asleep faster at some times.

What has proved for me to be even more efficient is to first do a full body Hatha Yoga "workout" to increase blood flow through my body and loosen up tenseness, then do the breath of fire and after that the alternate nostril, spinal breathing.

This routine for me provides a solid base for the then following sitting meditation since I have less desire to move my then untense body, yet I prevent my body from falling asleep.
Pranayama breathing for me is an additional tool to guide me deeper into introspection/meditation.

Kriya Yoga is a joy. I so admire the AYP (Advanced Yoga Practice) teachings. Nice people. I was a moderator in the AYP forum for a while but resigned my status for political reasons. Organizations, sigh... but we have all remained friends and we do sincerely respect one another. And sure, the methods are a repackaging of TM, Kriya Yoga and Raja Yoga but I really like Yogani's style and his honest credo, "The Guru is within you". A lot of good folks are involved with this yogic fellowship.

While the overall opinion amongst the primary movers and shakers within the group is that entheogens are merely a starting point, spiritually speaking, they do methodically provide a clear path and valuable techniques without too much religious embroidery or overt mysticism. I do beg to differ about psychedelics and their role in our growth as spiritual beings but to each their own, right? I do recommend checking out the 2 links that Bancopuma posted. Yoga is wonderful!