An experiment: three years ago, I decided to see how low I could get my respiratory rate in one hour. I just counted breaths, so it was obviously just a quick and dirty estimate and the actual rate in the last few minutes would have been much lower than in the beginning.

I don't remember the number, just that the average was between 1 and 2 breaths per minute for the hour.

I used what was basically a modified pranayama technique. I lay in savasana (corpse pose), took slow deep breaths, and gently and comfortably extended the retention after the exhale. Focused on the heartbeat in between breaths, really trying to catch the exact moment when the sensations of the pulsatile wave in the abdominal aorta passed away.

The rationale: increasing the length of time after exhalation increases vagal tone, which decreases the respiratory rate. Parasympathetic nervous system activation also decreases the heart rate, but I didn't have a monitor, sadly.

I will be repeating the experiment in a few weeks if anyone cares to join me. Young, cardiovascularly fit males should in theory have the greatest advantage, as they will have the highest vagal tone. My hypothesis is that my average will increase due to decreased vagal tone because I've been slacking on cardio lately. Or will it decrease because I've got three more years of meditation and pranayama practice? Or stay the same? DIY science will tell us! 

How low can you go?

Seeking young, cardiovascularly fit males ? Madam, these boys are devoted to a path of non-sensuality.

And more's the pity, if you ask me. Personally, I've found life to be infinitely more interesting and spiritually rewarding for having embraced my animal nature and its physicality. But to each his or her own. 

Hah, there are no balls in the Pali canon.

There are many married lay person described in the Pali canon. A few with high attainments.

..but you can't have a goal in mind(if you want to have a breath stoppage with benefits), that means the breath stoppage have to arise and then you do it automatically "with a sense you doing it".

With the same tone, you need preliminaries - the things you do, to have a breathstoppage fruit. You can't randomly or decisivily start doing breath stopping without having a goal in your mind and if you have goal in your mind that means you are creating yourself a karma what you wil pay off later. ..bc you won't see where there idea of stopping the breath really came and respectively you pay(being a p(m)uppet for whoever or whatever being).

To be fair, every book I've ever read on pranayama has had stern warnings about not practicing without a teacher, only doing the techniques exactly as specified, etc. I just ignore all that and experiment freely, using myself as my own personal laboratory. Anything can happen--that's half the fun! 

But I am the type that enjoys living on the edge. So thank you for providing a warning to those who prefer to play it safe.

Its ok i guess..
I do pranayama too, i try to get all there is to attain. But for now it mainly is purification. Im happy to see if i do fail a bit i notice i automatically or spontaniously meditate to get back on track and i could do the things what i do at the same time. Breathing and guiding prana all sorts of ways spontaneously. The crucial part is that i do one thing so many times to that i could reach a new thing and do it for a first time and then again i do it several times in different angles in order to master it and get it. One little thing takes so much time...but so far the results are good that the suffering is like getting me pass boredom, boredom is the worst thing and i recently started to understand it more how to act when these boredom events strikes.
I have a rule that i master whatever is below cognizance to above that level so i don't need to use my body to do things, so my karma unconcious activites are getting more heavenly so for once i can have a really good luck and fortune and by then it feels not so good, new bad is currently good, so the good things i do i do them like last time, saying goodbye. That is the practice i do, in freetime i do wahtever i like, but i will have to make up the consequences so i don't do much so i won't waste time, life is short.

But in next time i think differently, so rules what previously apply now it is alright so i need to take that too into account. So thinking is importantest part to realize that the knowledge is temporary and whatver is below that is wiped out by certain way of thinking only. Prana itself disappears, but still we need it to be alive and in body.