re: Hobby for Free Time - Advice?

take a yoga class. if you are single, you will meet women in good shape.

after you do the class for a few months, buy a book on pranayama or just get one from the library if you are in a big city where a library would have such a thing. the two work together. most people do not know or do pranayama.

the whole thing is synergistic. hatha yoga and pranayama. the teacher may introduce some pranayama in the class. I have been in classes where they did a bit.

the "official" instruction is to do the hatha yoga in the AM and pranayama in the evening, i.e. not mix them. But the "official" instruction presumes more than a few minutes of instruction.

Do not do more than 5 minutes at a sitting of pranayama to start.
you can gradually add components for up to 30 minutes.
There are actually several pieces to it, not just the one that is made fun of, the one where the person holds their nose and does alternate nostril breathing. You can actually start without that. Just make the inhale and exhale of equal length for a few minutes. Also then, see how long you can hold your breath without aggravation. That will be a piece that matters, once you get into it. So you can practice holding your breath a few times a day. NOT WHILE DRIVING. I read about some dude a few months ago, who got in an accident holding his breath. he lost consciousness. I am guessing he was under the influence of something.