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Dear Dao Bums, Here is my experience with Tummo with Tulku Lobsang. I'll share in 2 parts: 1) Background & 2) The Course Itself 1) Background Since I was a child my father told me stories of naked monks in the snow of Himalaya staying warm through yogic siddhi power. How teenage tibetan monks had "exam" at school to see how many wet sheets they could dry with their body heat from sunrise to sunset using tummo. I learned from Tulku Lobsang that the accepted amount for a "good grade" is 21 sheets. In my late twenties I saw Tulku Lobsang on the show "Story of God With Morgan Freeman" where he meditates in a t-shirt in -5 degrees celsius seemingly unbothered by the cold temperature. Morgan Freeman wears cap, gloves and a big jacket. This reminded me of my desire to try out Tummo for myself. 2) Tummo Weekend Course The course was just 2 days. There was a lot of people, maybe 100 or so. I was there with one of my friends, who's also into meditation, energy work, out of body travel etc. The practical part of Tummo consists of physical exercises, breathing exercises and meditation exercises. The meditation method used is visualisation as well as focused awareness in your body. We meditated all together maybe 7 times at the course, and 5 or 6 of the 7 times both me and my friend felt very warm. We felt heat in our bodies due to the transmission from Tulku Lobsang. For me there was only 1 time I didn't feel much, and for my friend it was also only 1 time or so. So overall, we very both very happy with the course. However, I spoke to several other participants at the course. One was a girl sitting next to me, the other was a random woman I spoke with in a break. Neither of them really felt anything during the course. So my conclusion is that: 1) Tulku Lobsang is legit and does transmission for sure, 2) Whether you pick up that transmission is then apparently dependent on several factors. What these factors are, I of course can't say for sure. Both me and my friend have meditated with many masters for many years of our life, and have been exposed to spirituality since childhood. So it makes sense that in accord with previous karma (thought, words and deeds) you have built up a "vessel" in your soul to receive the transmission. The bigger your vessel to receive is, the more of the transmission you receive. I for example felt my friend received it much more than me. Interestingly enough, he's been mainly involved with Buddhist practices in his spiritual life, whereas I've been mainly involved with Hindu practices. Of course they're both branches on the same Dharmic tree, but maybe that's why he picked up more. He already is connected to the Buddhist stream to a much larger degree. The girl and the woman then maybe did receive something, however, their vessel to receive was smaller, hence what of the transmission they could pick up was proportionately smaller. So if you wish to try Tummo out, build your vessel to receive as big as possible through: 1) daily spiritual practice without fail (discipline - you reap what you sow, if you work more, you will in the end receive more), 2) have a big desire for the practice, the bigger the fire of your desire, the bigger your vessel to receive will grow, 3) be on the same "wave-length" as Buddhism, read about it, study, meet & connect with Buddhist people, watch interviews etc 4) when you finally learn Tummo, dedicate X amount of time to it daily for a specified period of time. The transmission is simply the seed, you need to water that seed daily for it to over time grow into a plant, then a bush, then a tree, and finally a mighty tree reaching far into the sky. Depending on your karma, it can take a couple of weeks, a couple of months, a couple of years, or a couple of decades to nurture that seed of Tummo into a mighty tree, allowing you to stay warm naked in the snow. I can say for myself, I think I will need at least 6 months to a couple of years of daily practice to be able to do that. I feel the heat, but there's still long to go to grow it so powerful. I wish you all the best with your practice!

I was looking into Taoist meditations, not the meditations per se, but rather classifications of the meditations, more like an index page to see how they compare to meditative traditions I'm already familiar with. According to Bruce Francis there are Water and Fire meditation methods, he's also written some books on the water methods. He hasn't published anything on the fire methods, so what are they, a Daoist version of Tummo ? energy going up does have a Tummo-like flavor to it. Tummo uses a 5-chakra system, central channel + 2 side channels, at least in its Tibetan version. If Tummo-ish, In Daoist fire methods, I assume this picture is thrown out of the window and instead a TCM model is used ? Are Francis' books on the water methods good? as in are the instructions on the book sufficient to practice the meditations ? Also, are they real/traditional meditations transmitted from a Taoist lineage ( as opposed to being eg inspired by original lineage practices ) ?

Hello, There are already some topics similar to this one, and I have read them, but still I felt that my questions weren't answered, so I decided to register on the forum and ask them myself. Originally I planned to send it as a DM to @steve, but I decided to post it openly, so anyone else that has experience with both systems can contribute if they wish to do so. That being said, I'd really appreciate your input @steve. I'm a Yungdrung Bon practitioner. My practice, at least when it comes to working with channels and energy, consists of tsa lung exercises from Magyud, Zhang Zhung Nyengyud trul khor and tummo from Ku Sum Rang Shar (for now the general and special preliminaries only). Recently I have begun to dabble a bit in qigong, with some local instructor and their teacher that visits us from time to time. We seem to do mostly alignment stuff for now, opening the kua, wall squats and the like, as well as some basic forms. Even at that really basic level my qigong practice really enhanced my body, my energy levels and general well-being, in a way that my Tibetan yoga practice didn't seem to address. I get many benefits from doing yoga of course, but it just has a different feel and effect upon my mind and body. I'd describe it like using different sets of muscles, metaphorically speaking. I want to continue my qigong practice, as I found it rewarding and complementary to my other endeavours, but I'm worried it can cause some problems down the line. I've read the injunctions against mixing systems from both traditions, so understandably that is concerning to me, as of course I will continue on the path of Tibetan yoga. From your point of view - practitioners that have practiced in both traditions - can they be mixed safely or not? (by mixing I don't mean doing them in one session, but for example qigong one day, yoga the other, or qigong in the evening and yoga in the morning etc.) If so - what is the qigong system that you would recommend for someone like me? I was thinking about the Zhineng Qigong (simply because of the availability of online teachings), but I read that the teacher advised against mixing it with other qigong system, not to mention other traditions. Secondly, do you think that the Tibetan approach is lacking in certain respects? I don't mean to offend anyone, or the teachings. I consider myself a dedicated practitioner, I've taken refuge vows, but I can't help but wonder that the Tibetan systems are forceful and fiery to the extreme, pure yang, while the Daoist systems seem more balanced. At least that is my limited, entry-level understanding, as I am an expert in neither. I'd appraciate any guidance I can get, and thanks for getting through this long post _/\_

The Bon Tradition is a very rich tradition who's practices I find great value in, for those of you who practice in the Bon tradition which are your favorite practices and why? I find the following essential and indispensable 1.The nine breaths of purification: This can of course be done for many many rounds and in my experience is very refreshing and does help clear the Lung and the mind and the emotions making them more stable. 2. Tsa Lung: This practice helps circulate the lung in the body and really helps re-energize and clear blockages as well as clear out stagnated lung. This also further clears and calms the mind 3.Guru Yoga: Guru Yoga is such a beautiful loving heart experience and even though I learned of Tapihritsa and Shenla Odkar almost at the same time I favor the connection with Tapihritsa. Tapihritsa resonates best with me as a closely felt heart love connection that brings tears of joy and deep gratitude to my eyes that goes beyond just respect. In this practice Ah, OM, Hung, White, Red & Blue lights connect at Crown, Throat & Heart Chakras. Body, Speech & Mind we connect to the lineage through the guru of the lineage. This to me is very important because the guru introduces us to Buddha so the guru is very important. We connect to the attributes of the guru and not only get purification but our mind via induction aligns and become more like the mind of the guru thereby helping us to perceive the Buddha. I have some experience of tummo described in another thread but find the basic first version I learned to be best as the book learning just added complexity to what I was gifted and without direct teaching not as good. Due to years of Lucid dreaming and it growing ever stronger I have begun learning dream yoga of the Bon Tradition. I welcome a constructive dialogue and am eager to learn from the more experienced in this tradition thank you for taking the time to read these words.

Greetings everyone, In honor of Chogyal Namkhai Norbu's upcoming retreat on the pranayamas of Yantra Yoga, I want to say something about this marvelous system, which has benefited me a great deal. In contrast to Indian Yoga, where there is an abundance of information on postures and pranayama exercises available, Tibetan pranayama exercises are not given out to the general public, and to a large extent even the systems of systems of yoga postures are secret. One of the exceptions to this secrecy is Yantra Yoga taught by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu. Yantra Yoga is a Sanskritization of Trul Khor, a "yantra" being a series of movements linked with breathing. In the practice, movement is done on inhales and exhales, and breath retention is done holding a posture. Those who have researched Tibetan breathing practices such as tummo have probably seen that they use a type of breath retention called vase breath. But what exactly is vase breath - how does one do it? Getting clarity on this is not easy. This is where Yantra Yoga comes in: in Yantra a proper vase breath is divided into four steps: open hold, directed hold, closed hold, and contracted hold, which in turn are done on the basis of correct inhalation and exhalation. The mechanics of the movements and poses make your body do these elements correctly (provided you are doing practice with awareness). So you get a very precise felt sensation of what a proper quick inhale, slow inhale, quick exhale, slow exhale, open hold, directed hold, closed hold, contracted hold, and empty hold feel like. You then take this knowledge and apply it to your pranayama practice, so there is no doubt that you are doing it correctly. Brilliant! Different holds are trained by different yoga postures. Backbends such as cobra, locust and bow train open hold; twists train directed hold; inversions such as sholderstand and headstand are poses that train closed hold; and downward dog, fish, and frog are poses that train contracted hold (I am using the standard Hatha Yoga names for the poses here, although they are often similar or the same in the Tibetan system). There is more to the system than that such as various preliminary and closing exercises, but training the different holds using postures is the gist of it. There are many books and DVDs available to learn the system. In my case, I went to yoga classes in my area with good lineage (Iyengar and Ashtanga) in order to learn the poses correctly, and then learned the Yantra Yoga way of linking the poses together with breath from the books and DVDs. So that is the physical aspect of the system. It is very good even if you are just interested in Hatha Yoga because you understand what correct breathing is like, rather than just correct physical alignment, and this plus the dynamics of the different holds opens up a deeper understanding of subtle inner alignments. A lot of things about yoga postures make a lot more sense to me having studied this. Now, about pranayama. There are two preliminary pranayamas which are forms of alternate nostril breathing, and then five main pranayamas of which use vase breath in a major way. The first two of these are more physical and the last three incorporate visualizations of channels and chakras. Chogyal Namkhai Norbu is going to be teaching these pranayamas in his next retreat which will be webcasted (!) for free (!!). He typically spends one or two session of every retreat teaching about Dzogchen generally, and then teaches the practices specific to that retreat, with one session at some point explaining and then giving direct introduction (!!!). These pranayamas are not associated with the cycle of a deity like other Tibetan tsa lung systems, but are directly related with Dzogchen. So if you get the direct introduction and oral explanation, you have permission to practice. And he doesn't teach these particular practices very often. What's more, the books that serve as references for the practices he teaches are only available to members of his organization, the one exception being the book on the complete system of Yantra Yoga, which is publicly available. http://www.amazon.com/Yantra-Yoga-Tibetan-Movement/dp/1559393084/ In other words, this retreat, in addition to the publicly available book, is giving unprecedented access to authentic Tibetan pranayamas connected with Dzogchen. The retreat will be June 3-7, from Tenerife, Spain. The official schedule is not up yet, but typically the session are two hours each, with a 10 am morning session and an afternoon session starting a 3 or 4 pm. http://melong.com/events_listing/spain-tenerife-dzamling-gar-june-3-7-2016/ http://webcast.dzogchen.net/

Listened to the Tim Ferriss podcast yesterday, and came across an interview with Wim Hof; who through yogic breathing and cold exposure has been scientifically measured to regulate his body temperature at will and manipulate his immune system. All this by simple pranayama/tummo-ish breathing and cold exposure. What is even better is that he has climbed Everest in shorts and ran a marathon in the Namib desert without any water and holds some pretty gnarly records in ice bathing. Pretty cool dude too, and overcame some tough hardships. Anyways, pretty inspiring and made me all happy to see that this is finally hitting the scientific mainstream and could potentially disrupt both the pharmaceutical industry and more importantly the biomedical paradigm of reductionism and decartianism that we have been suffering under throught the Dark ages after the Enlightenment. Check out the Vice doc: http://www.vice.com/en_uk/video/iceman

Abstract- My MCO runs Reverse: Up the Conception and down the Governor's Channel. Some theories suggest females have a reverse MCO, by nature. I am male, but mine runs in reverse. I do not produce heat- even when my Kundalini erupted, it was not the melting heat variety. Unlike g'Tummo where I can stay warm in cold climate, mine is opposite. I can sit in a very hot sauna, well over 280 degrees (F) for over 20 minutes with no problems, not even rehydrating while doing it. I do this a couple of times a week. Other gym members come in there after me, but leave long before me I sweat a lot, and rehydrate afterwards. I also use a lot of steam, and not the infrared variety. So in my estimation, if g'Tummo uses Yang, then mine is using Yin. I use a grounding wire when I meditate in doors. Simple copper tubing running into the ground outside my temple window, about 6 feet down. Flattened iron container on the other end, which I placed inside a double terminal Quartz crystal. (which can be used as a stand in for a Yin field, to get Yang out of the body) Quartz oscillates, and contains Piezoelectric properties. Quartz crystal watches, etc I also use a Yang cushion I made- which is Orgone/Yang/Blue energy. I sit on this small orgone cushion, placed directly under my tailbone, raises me off the floor about 2 inches, while seated in full lotus. The grounding wire is raised slightly, and touches my Perineum/bare skin. This is used, with several varieties of seated meditation, for 2 hours daily.

I've been exposed to tummo in a few arts. On the low level there is a basic 3 part breathing that seems common to all the practices I was shown. Breath in staying relaxed, hold staying tight, then relax breath out staying tight. Often done to a 7-7-7 or 10-10-10 rythym. Often there'll be a visualization of a fire nature. These days during the hold portion I'll imagine white/blue hot heat in my belly spreading through my bones system. On the breathe out staying tight, I'll imagine flame red and yellow coming from my core. After a while it'll start feeling my solar plexus as another heat center. On the relaxed breath out I'll think of the flame more yellow and external on my skin. Caveats are not to tighten too much. The 'secret ingredient' is chi, those who've got it will get hot, so beware of cooking yourself. This is a practice that can be definitely be over done. Personally I just get warm. I think there's healing and practical uses for tummo. It can make you more comfortable during the winter and possibly save your life in extreme situations. It can also be done and somewhat amplified by standing in a higher horse stance. This is still the lower level of the spectrum. There are much higher levels ala tibetan monks as well those that have specific mudras, standing positions and mantras.

During my meditative training, I have uncontrollably been heating up and getting those "cool" rushes of heat through my body. I've decided to start learning how to gain better control of my energy rather than letting it run wild and leaving cold when I want to be warm and hot when I want to be cool. I've found some info on tummo and how to heat up your body but I haven't found anything on how to reduce body temperature to cool down. Anyone know of anything that might help me with this?

An excellent documentary I found explaining the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism is considered by many to be the most authentic form of Buddhism still in existence today. Included in this documentary is video footage of Yoga practices called Tummo and Trulkor- [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOk0tZHwCs4[/media ]