Pranayama Progress: 21 Counts

For the past few weeks I have been at 20 counts in my Samavrtti Pranayama, the even-counted breath. It has gradually gotten more effortless, though some days are better than others. Today I found myself wanting to take longer inhales and exhales, so tomorrow I will increase the count to 21.

During the past few weeks at 20 counts I have learned to focus on the evenness and smoothness of the breath alone. Not to try to spread the breath as long as possible or worry about getting the lungs completely full or empty. Those things end up taking care of themselves. This goes along with what Patanjali says about Pranayama, that the goal is smoothness.