My first toke. Ever.

Meditation and or Yoga will help with relieving sttress and retaining focus. And while
Most of these include a focus on breathing exercises, it's very good for your lungs. I like to relax and take deep long breathes before I hit the piiece especially, I personally find it helps to warm up your lungs.

 

There's no words that can accuratly describe what ones high really feels like.
For me, I act very normal, sometimes smoking with friends they even question my feeling the effects. I get very relaxed and chilled out, sometimes I get a hazy feeling, but that's only if I'm really high or just very tired. I do it mainly to relax, I face daily stress and cannabis is my only medicine, I don't think I would be where I am today without it.


Edit: this is what I do while getting ready to get high via smoking-
Put on some relaxing chill music, then prepare the bong/bowl watever, get all my supplies I might need while smoking, get a cold bottle or glass of water, then I sit back and try to relax my muscles while thinking about what I plan to do afterwards, which is usually listen to music or go online, solve a puzzle, ect
Then I carefully select a song i'm in the mood for, drink some water and start breathing in slowly and deeply through my nose, holding the breathe in for a second, then exhaling through my mouth.
I do this breathing for a moment, then I exhale just about until my lungs are empty, then put my mouth to the piece and take a hit. I aim to focus on the music and it sounds so amazing.
Woah sorryfor writing so much!

 

I like to toke on my own as well, I find that even with my experience I can get nervous around otheres while smoking and sometimes I panic and can't enjoy it.
A few reasons that I like to toke alone, IMO:
you can do what you want to do, go where you want to go, listen/watch what you like without debating it, ect.
You can relax and look at the big picture without others there to influence your experience or opinions.
No pressure to do anything, like I said no outside influence.

Everyones different on this preference though, some like to get too fucked up and do stupid shit with friends.

 

The very first time I smoked, I didn't get high either. Even though I'm almost positive I inhaled right since I had smoked cigs prior to that.

No worry, I wasn't dissapointed and you shouldn't be either. It will happen, just remember you can smoke more but you can never smoke less. Take it slow and don't think about the 'high coming on, just think good relaxed thoughts and wait it out.
That's what I did and I never had bad experience for a while until I smoked too much one time, that's when I learned from the mistake of continuing to smoke without realizing it.

 

Man I will warn you right now, be careful with The Munchies!
A lot of people change their eating habits and become out of shape because they end up smoking often(like everyday) and indulging themselves every time with junk food. You will find it helpful to eventually start planning out what you eat after smoking. Sugar and junk food may taste good, just keep it to a limit and keep some real food around.
Another thing that works for some is to eat a light or healthy meal/snack before smoking. Drink a lot of water as well with it, some get dehydrated easily while smoking. Water helps cottonmouth and red eyes.

You shouldn't really hold smoke in for more then 5 seconds.