AUM Shree Ganeshay Namah. I prostrate unto lord Ganesha with devotion and sense of surrender in order to overcome obstacles to meditation posed by the impure mind. Shree Gurubhyo NamaH. I pay my obiesance to the saints and sages of the world, for they blessed the mankind with the system of yoga. Sthira sukhamasanam. Look at the posture, make it firm, don't keep it lose, stretch the back well and lock it, keep the hands close to the body and of course the hands are held in mahamudra. The asanam is firm but yet it is not gripping , don't grip anything, all the muscles of the body are let loose, relaxed. Try to know your own body by feeling it, generally we think about the body. The right thing to do is to feel the body, not to think about the body. Sport a smile on the lips, mudita vadanam dakshinamurti mide. Dakshinamurti   is in my heart and so a smile on the lips. Watch the eyes briefly, keeping them lightly closed. Eyes are one of the centers in which the cosmic life reflects very gloriously. This is how we have to cultivate the feeling in the place of thinking. Now watch the breath, it is same as feeling the breath, all watching is feeling only. True, the subtle sense of touch. What is the benefit of watching the breath ? What is the reward ? That is all mind, just leave it alone and just watch the breath. It is a reward in itself. Digression of the mind when you watch the breath is very common, don't be annoyed by that. Watching of the breath really needs very long practice. Breath holds the secret of life, just watch the breath. Now slowly make the breath very deliberate and hence slow. Make yourself familiar with the slow breathing. Slow, deliberate and deep breathing in and breathing out. You briefly notice that when you breath in, the stomach, chest and the shoulders lightly expand in that order. When you breath out, they very lightly contract beginning with shoulders, chest and the stomach muscles. It is fun watching this machine of breathing. This is pranayama, one kind of pranayama,   the beginning. The aayama   meaning elaborate, prolonged breathing in and out. Of course, it is conscious breathing. Briefly notice the distinction, in our worldly life, the breathing is subservient to the movement of consciouness, whereas now consciousness is subservient to the breathing. That is why it is conscious breathing. You are breating in and not holding the breath within similarly you are breathing out and at the end of the breathing out you are not holding the breath outside. There is no holding of breath anywhere. But there is a brief gap at the end of breathing in, one-half second of a gap and you breath out. Similarly at the end of breathing out, there is a very brief gap before you reverse the process by breathing in. Now you become conscious of that very brief gap. It's a very absorbing exercise, you consciously breath in deeply, a brief gap and again you breath out concluding in that brief gap. What is the gap ? It is the silence of Being. It is not only the silence between breaths but also the silence between thoughts. That silence of Being is you, it is the origin of breath and thought. Generally the process becomes speedy after a few minutes, so be alert about it and keep it slow. Check whether the back remains straight, just one time (25.30 ?), such a check is very useful. The last round of breathing in and out. Slowly disassociate from the breathing, but keep the back straight only and just Be. Drop the mental preoccupations and just Be. Reality cannot be found in the preoccupations of the mind, drop it and just Be. Aum ShantiH ShantiH ShantiH. Relax, sit at ease. Slowly open the eyes.