Ilya Zhuravlev: Tibetan yoga

Comparing to Indian yoga tradition that is being studied already for more than 100 years and is partly applied in the West, Tibetan yogic practices just started to be slightly revealed. Before the Chinese invasion Tibet was a secluded country, both due to its geographical position and local mentality, foreigners were not welcome here. In 1940s an Indian teacher of Hatha and Kundalini yoga sent his western disciple Theos Bernard to Tibet to perfect his knowledge. It took a lot of efforts for Theos “to gain confidence”. However, probably due to isolation, ancient spiritual practices brought by Indian mahasiddhas - founders of northern Buddhist schools – have been kept for centuries without distortions and “blurrings” here. After the Chinese communists' invasion of Tibet mass executions of lamas and monks began, monasteries were destroyed. Many lamas found a refuge in India and Nepal, where their western disciples and researchers were able to contact them. Some lamas moved to the West being invited by their disciples and they started to write books and give teachings in western languages.

Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana, literally means “A Diamond Vehicle”) uses many methods that are supposed to be tantric. As well as in Indian tantra it means that studying is possible only under a direct supervision of a teacher within a continuous linage. First, he gives an initiation (“connects” a practitioner to a “stream of power” created by masters of the past who have reached realization) and then gives guidelines on different practices. That is why there is not much detailed “technical” information concerning practices: the teacher will teach his disciple personally, there is no reason to share details with a stranger. Such powerful methods (and dangerous if done incorrectly) do not suggest mastering “at home with the book”. However, considering recent big interest to Vajrayana practices in the West and the fact that it is impossible to correctly apply practices without guidelines of the master, many well-known Tibetan lamas publish their translations of ancient texts on Tibetan yoga and make commentaries to them. Some key “working” moments are not mentioned in books on purpose (it is always possible to go for a retreat and get guidelines from a teacher) but general idea about practices is available for everyone interested.

It should be mentioned that as well as in classical Indian yoga, different techniques and practices in Tibetan tradition are inseparable from a Spiritual Path (or you can call it a Religion) as a whole. It always ends with Self-realization, achieving the enlightenment, instead of “improving the quality of life” or just “appropriating super abilities”. That is why application of the given methods separately from the context of Buddhist (or Bon) spiritual practice is not meant. To really comprehend them one should be “within” the tradition.

Vajrayana tradition (especially in the oldest school - Nyingma) and Yundrung Bon have their own methods of asana practice (many of asanas are the same as in Indian hatha yoga) and other kinds of work with the body that sometimes remind qigong or even “jumping” complexes of wushu. A general name for these practices is “Tsa Lung” where “tsa” means subtle channels, and “lung” - energy, prana. The purpose of asana practice and movements here is to clean energetic channels and to gain control over prana, to be able to introduce it into the central channel (a direct analogy with Hatha Yoga Pradipika arises here) that leads to achieving self-realization. A distinctive feature of these practices is that all asanas and complexes are done in dynamics, linked between themselves in certain sequences; asana performance is synchronized with breath and in some cases is accompanied by kumbhaka (a pause in breathing). The most similar to Tibetan style of yoga among Indian styles is Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga systematized by Sri T. Krishnamacharya. There is a curious fact: his guru, Ram Mohan Brahmachari, was living and teaching on the territory of Tibet, in severe cold district near the lake of Manasarovar, a sacred place of pilgrimage both for Indian Shaivists and adherents of Tibetan Buddhism and Bon.

There are two styles of similar practices widely known among the disciples of Tibetan lamas in the west. The first is “Yantra Yoga” given by Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, an outstanding modern teacher of Dzogchen tradition. The second is “Trul Khor” given by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, a master of Bon tradition. We will consider them in details.

It is interesting that well-known exercises “Five Tibetan Pearls” mentioned in Christopher Kelhem's book, as well as complex from the book by Peter Kelder (called “Five Tibetans”), that also claims to Tibetan roots, are not recognized by Buddhist lamas as authentic styles of Tibetan yoga. Origin of these data belongs to some theosophists of the first half of the 20th century. They do not mention anything distinct about the linage of these practices. Probably, it’s just a fragment taken out of a complex seen somewhere in the East.

Fabio Andrico, a leading teacher of Yantra Yoga in a linage of Namkhai Norbu, says: “it is strange that some of these five movements, especially one, is similar to one of the eight movements in Yantra Yoga, but they are done without any knowledge about the integration of breath and movement, which is a fundamental point in yantra practice”.

Fabio Andrico became a disciple of Namkhai Norbu in 1977. Before that time he was studying Hatha Yoga in India under the guidance of B.K.S Iyengar. When he was asked to compare Yantra and Hatha Yoga, Andrico said that Tibetan yoga can be different: there are different lineages in Tibet as well as different schools and traditions of Hatha Yoga. “But generally speaking the main difference is that Yantra Yoga is characterized by a continuous sequence of movements while Hatha Yoga puts a big accent on static forms. In Yantra Yoga you do not fix asana for a long time – asana is just a moment in a sequence of movements operated by respiratory rhythm and application of one of five types of breath holding”.

In Indian tradition this word usually refers to a practice of contemplating mystical drawings – yantras, but in the given context the body of a practitioner becomes a yantra, it changes positions during practice.

Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche gives Yantra Yoga that was taught by mahasiddha Vairochana, a Buddhist master and disciple of Guru Padmasambhava (8th century) who judging from his name had Indian origin. The purpose of the practice is to achieve unity of the body, energy and mind. Vairochana described this training system in “Union of the Sun and the Moon Tantra” (tantra from a cycle of Anuttara tantras , “Nyida Khajor” in Tibetan). In Sanskrit language: unity is yoga, the sun is ha and the moon is tha. Then the name of the text sounds like “Hatha Yoga Tantra” that suggests a deep interlink between Indian and Tibetan traditions.

Great accent is made on breathing. There are nine types of breathing (including analogues to “full yogic” breathing, ujjayi, etc.) and five types of breath holding. They are studied very carefully and gradually. At first breathing is counted with fingers clicks, then it is based on internal sensations. Practice begins with auxiliary exercises for warming up the joints, they remind some sukshma vyayamas from Indian school of Dhirendra Brahmachari, and then goes the performance of asana sequences in a flow or ”yantras”.

Each yantra is a short sequence consisting of seven asanas done in a flow and strictly co-ordinated with a certain rhythm of breath. Yantra starts with an inhale and usually has a kumbhaka in the middle of a complex. There are five groups of yantras that correspond to the level of practice, and each group has five core yantras inside (twenty five core yantras in total). Each core yantra has two more variations with increasing difficulty of performance. So, in total it makes 75 yantras. There are also seven final practices - special yantras, fulfilled in padmasna (by the way, there are also some special exercises for padmasana that train the ability to make “lotus” without the aid of hands).

In 1982 in Italy Namkhai Norbu has published the book about Yantra Yoga in the tradition of Vairochana in Tibetan language (“Yantra Yoga: The Tibetan Yoga of Movement”). It includes original text by Vairochana and commentary by the author. Tibetan text contains 108 exercises of Yantra Yoga. In 1988 Oliver Leick, a disciple of Namkhai Norbu from Austria, published the book “Yantra Yoga: The Tibetan Yoga of Movement” in English which is based on his teacher´s comments. The book includes the first part of Yantra Yoga - a introduction consisting of 24 exercises and various types of breathing techniques. According to Tibetan tradition of transferring knowledge, both books are available only for disciples who have received initiation from Namkhai Norbu. From time to time he comes to Europe and US to organize retreats, and usually within these retreats there are classes on Yantra Yoga for beginners and experts conducted by Fabio Andrico.

Tibetan word “phrul khor” literally means “movement”. It is the general name of all dynamic complexes of work with the body, but we will use this term to name the style of yoga taught by Tenzin Wangyal, a master of Bon tradition.

“Phrul khor” means “a magic wheel”, says Alehandro Cheol-Raich, a teacher of this yoga style in the West. He was studying the sequence of seven “circles” containing 38 movements in Triten Norbutse Bon monastery in Katmandu (Nepal), and later he could verify all movements comparing them with original Tibetan text together with his teacher, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. This practice contains vigorous movements (and even jumps) in asanas, often accompanied by kumbhaka. There is also a complex that is done in sitting position, it includes “rotary” movements of hands and feet fulfilled along with breath holding and accompanied by visualization of five basic charkas, colors and corresponding elements (wind, fire, water, earth, ether). It is done to clarify and fill these energetic centers with prana. Some exercises in Bon phrul khor remind techniques of Indian Kundalini yoga (for example, there is a complex almost identical to maha-vedha, and lots of exercises in padmasana).

There is no any special book devoted to this topic which is known to the author of this article (except for original tantras in Tibetan languages that cannot be adequately “deciphered” without traditional training). Tenzin Wangyal visited Europe several times conducting retreats. He lives in US and teaches at his Ligmincha Bon Institute. A complex for clarifying five centers, one of phrul khor practices, was taught during his retreats. Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche, a master of Bon living in Tibet, who also teaches Phrul khor, visited Russia for several times.

In the first turn, Tibetan yoga is associated with tantric practices (that would most likely belong to “Raja yoga” in Indian tradition) that are called “Six Yogas of Naropa” named after a well-known teacher of 10th century, a professor of Buddhist Nalanda University in the north of India (territory of the modern state of Bihar). Tilopa, his guru, was an Indian siddha who lived and practiced on smashan (a place of cremation) in a community of Dakinis (female embodiments of enlightened energy that often have angry forms) who transferred him teachings. Naropa’s biography colorfully narrates about how he has changed from a scholastic scientist into a practicing yogi on his way to enlightenment.

The most known practices of this cycle are phowa (the yoga of the transference of consciousness) and tummo (the yoga of inner heat). The whole cycle of given practices demands a considerable preparation of a disciple and special conditions as errors and hindrances during practice can have fatal consequences. Therefore, the six yogas are studied during the traditional three-year solitary retreat under the guidance of lama, but some kinds of phowa and yogas of the dream state can be given to ordinary disciples laymen, and practiced separately from the full cycle. We will consider the Six Yogas of Naropa one after another:

1) yoga of inner heat

2) yoga of the illusory body

3) yoga of the dream state

4) yoga of the clear light

5) yoga of bardo

6) yoga of the transference of consciousness

Yoga of inner heat (chunda yoga, in Sanskrit, or tummo, in Tibetan) was widely applied in Kagyu tradition, especially in Drukpa Kagyu lineage and in school of Nyingma. Contrary to popular opinion, the purpose of tummo practice is not increasing the body´s temperature to such a degree when it becomes possible to sit naked on the snow or to dry bed-sheets with your body (heat generating though is rather useful in cold mountain caves but it is just a side effect of the practice and an external sign indicating success in mastering of tummo practice). The real purpose of the yoga of tummo is prana´s introduction into the central channel that causes the transformation of consciousness described in texts as “a direct comprehension of unity of Bliss and Emptiness”.

Technically, the practice includes preparatory dynamic exercises “tsa lung” for clearing and activating energetic channels and the practice itself done in padmasana. It includes visualization of own form as the yidam, a tantric deity (the one which is defined by the teacher who gives you corresponding initiation and mantra), and visualisation of the central channel and certain elements inside it (including “inner fire” and Tibetan syllables, analogues of one-syllable sanscrit bija mantras). During the practice bandhas and kumbhaka are carried out, the last one should be done for quite a long time.