by David Shannahoff-Khalsa
If you have interests in breathing exercises for psychiatric disorders or general stress and well-being you can try the following:
Sample Kundalini Yoga Meditation Technique:
When You Do Not Know What To Do
(originally taught by Yogi Bhajan on March 2, 1979)
Description of Technique: Sit straight, rest the back of one hand in the palm of the other with the thumbs crossing each other in one palm. If the right hand rests in the palm of the left hand, the left thumb rests in the right palm and the right thumb then crosses over the back of the left thumb. The hands are placed at heart center level a few inches in front of the chest, but the hands do not touch the chest, and the elbows are resting down against the rib cage. The eyes are open but focused on the tip of the nose (the tip/end you cannot see). The sides of the nose will look blurry but the nose looks to be of normal size. The breathing pattern has 4 parts that repeat in sequence, first inhale and exhale slowly through the nose only, then inhale through the mouth with the lips puckered as if to kiss or making a whistle, after the inhalation relax the lips and exhale through the mouth slowly, then inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth, then the last breath pattern is inhaling through the puckered lips and exhaling through the nose. Continue this cycle of 4 for 11 to 31 min. Slow the breath and make the breath very deep. This is a simple technique that can have profound results for beginners and takes the practitioner into a state of extreme well-being and deep inner peace.
This technique is a freebe off my web site at – http://www.theinternetyogi.com/html/disorders.html
I also have the following paper with about 15 useful techniques in it for OCD, OC spectrum disorders, depression, etc.:
http://www.theinternetyogi.com/html/video.html
Shannahoff-Khalsa, D.S., Kundalini Yoga meditation techniques in the treatment of obsessive compulsive and OC spectrum disorders, Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention, 3:369-382 (2003) (by invitation).