Table 2.

Pranyama (breathing) protocol for the evening session (15 min).

S. no	Name of practice	Rounds	Duration (in minutes)
1	Shavasana (corpse pose) (with palm upwards) Pristhabhumi Tadasana		1
2	Abdominal breathing	15 Roundsa	3
3	Thoracic breathing	15 Roundsa	3
4	Clavicular breathing	15 Roundsa	3
5	Deep breathing (lying down position)	15 Roundsa	3
6	Relaxation in Shavasana with awareness on abdominal breathing		2
Total duration			15

Each breathing comprises 6 s inhalation and 6 s exhalation.

There is no retention of breathing in the evening session. For the breathing practices in the evening yoga sessions were designed as follows.

Day 1& 2: subjects were practiced Inhalation (4 s): exhalation ratio (4 s).

Day 3& 4: inhalation (5 s): exhalation ratio (5 s).

Day 5 & 6: inhalation (6 s): exhalation ratio (6 s).

Rest/gap has been given between each pranayama.

^aInitially the practice of all 4 breathing practices started with 10 rounds each and gradually over a period of 5–7 days increased to 15 rounds each.