How strictly should you follow Kriya Pranayama instructions?

roopepa
By roopepa,
So I've been doing Kriya Pranayama for a few days now. Basic breathing meditation is too frustrating to me because of a super active and chaotic mind. But Kriya Pranayama seems to be working very well. It's super powerful and more fun to do. In fact, it seems to be so potent that I want to be sure I'm not doing anything potentially harmful. The thing is, I'm not following the instructions very strictly. I'm doing the "classic" version, without the Oms, and I'm doing it for ten minutes rather than a specific number of breaths. Also, I'm letting the energy and visualization go quite intuitively and naturally. For example, sometimes at the root I might feel like letting the energy flow outside the body, rather than staying strictly within the spine. I'm not doing any other yoga or meditation technique along with it. Do you think going offroad following my intuition can be harmful? Do you have any advice regarding potent meditation/energy visualization?