Pranayama for Soaham Sadhana

The procedure of performing the above pranayama is as follows; the sadhaka should sit in a posture of sukhasana keeping his spinal cord erect and maintain a calm mood; he should take a deep breath at a slow and steady pace (the normal duration of this puraka is about four seconds. The inhaled air should be retained (antah kumbhaka) in the lungs for few seconds (about sixteen seconds, if possible without any difficulty). Then the air should be breathed out (recaka) at a slow and steady pace. After this, the breathing should be stopped (bahya kumbhaka) for few seconds. This is complete one cycle. Several such cycles (about four to five in the beginning) are completed in one sitting in the daily practice. The total duration of this practice (of pranayama) may range between five minutes (for the beginners) to thirty minutes (for the trained Sadhakas).
By sincere practice and mental engrossment, the breathing is so controlled that the duration of the antah kumbhaka and those of the Puraka and recaka be equal and the speed of inhalation would be the same as that of exhalation in each cycle. During each cycle of this Pranayama the Sadhaka should attempt (with his natural determination) to feel that in the Puraka phase an illuminating current of Prana enter along with the breath which expands and gets absorbed in the body during the antah kumbhaka. He should also feel that - because of his strong willpower and the stored Pranas, the 'filth' of the kusamskaras (evil tendencies and weaknesses) is being repudiated during a recaka and is firmly prevented from re-entering the body because of the control of the bahya kumbhaka.
In the natural function of breathing, the lungs draw air from the atmosphere to supply energy to the body via the blood. The blood corpuscles take their food - the oxygen content from this supply and by circulation distribute the required quota of energy to the brain and other components of the body. During a Pranayama this activity also gets systematized because of harmonized breathing. More importantly, in this process, the determined will and emotional urge of the Sadhaka also attract the omnipresent power of consciousness - the Prana, subtly indwelling in the atmosphere.
The strength of the Sadhaka's internal will and determination is directly associated with his own consciousness and therefore accounts for the amount and level of Prana drawn by it. The Sadhaka's controlled Samkalpa, attraction and absorption of the Prana all create collective impact during a Pranayama. The physical, subtle as well as the causal body could benefit from the coherent currents of the supreme consciousness. If the Sadhaka steadily realizes the glow and energy of the attracted cosmic, Prana of divine quality as being absorbed by each of his three bodies.
If the Sadhaka's Samkalpa is weak and unstable or his emotional attachment and faith in this activity is superficial then he would only gain the healthy effects of deep and controlled breathing from this Pranayama. The conscious charge and strength of the Samkalpa can be enhanced by sincere faith and dedicated experiments of practicing it at regularly increasing pace. The Sadhaka must concentrate on the feeling - that the divine energy of Prana is reaching him with each breath and is entering his body without any obstacles; that his body is full of this energy and is being electrified from within.
The Pranayama, which is a part of the sat karmas of the daily sandhya-vandan, is essential for every aspirant of spiritual development. Even the mental concentration would not be attained without practicing the Pranayama and the Sadhaka would also find it difficult to perform the successive steps - namely Pratyahara, dharana and dhyana, of the Raja yoga Sadhana