Pranayama Trouble, Getting nothing Options

Hello

I've been practicing alternate nostril breathing daily for a few months, and I'm just not getting anything out of it. I don't think I'm doing it incorrectly, it's a simple procedure after all. I don't even get the stress reduction or feeling of clarity that some folks report, never mind the deeper aspects of pranayama which, if I understood correctly, involve gaining experience and mastery of prana. Am I just being way too impatient with this practice? If you practice pranayama regularly, what do you get out of it?

Ahava

We count to regulate the prana, its not a method to keep simple time. It is like a mantra, an internal support for the active (and now pranicaly charged) mind to rest on. When you let something outside yourself count for you you have to split your attention between flow of prana and the metronome. If you make any progress and focus only on the prana the chime will disturb you and make the next round harder than it needs to be.

Ah! It never occurred to me that counting can be a kind of mantra. That makes a lot of sense, thank you.

Try this for one month: Every day, at night and morning too if you can manage it, do 1:1 breathing. Do not bother with complected counting systems or metronomes. Just breath in..... one one-thousand and out.... one one-thousand. Breath form the diaphragm so your belly expands then the side ribs and then the chest followed by a slight elevation of the clavicle. On the out breath everything reverses order from the clavicle to the belly. Pay attention to the form of this. Be as meticulous as you can. Start with three sets of five breaths. Then sit quietly until you feel like getting up. Then It should take about three mins. Keep track of when you started and when you finished for each session for the whole month. I think you will be surprised at the what you find.

Okay. At the moment I also practice dharana and vipassana everyday, so I think I'll add 10 minutes of 1:1 breathing before those, and see how it goes.

Thanks for the book recommendations, I'll check them out.