The practice of generating tumo - the body's latent heat. Tummo – Tibetan yoga of internal heat Tummo technique training

Tummo as a technique aimed at increasing a person’s energy potential is part of the practice of yoga.

Yoga is. Over the long period of its existence, various methods have been developed. There is a more complete description of all exercises and approaches. This belongs to the tantric tradition. It provides recommendations regarding the entire lifestyle and functioning of the physical and subtle body of a person. But this is a very voluminous material.

Therefore, faster methods of self-improvement have been developed, based on the basic principles of the general science of yoga. The masters highlighted the most important points and separated what is of secondary importance. These types of yoga are very effective, but they are considered to require communication with a master or teacher. If a person practicing yoga knows about them, then the likelihood of meeting a teacher and understanding him will be greater. And anyone interested in these practices can learn the basics and begin preparing to perform them. Some teachers say that someone may even be able to achieve success on their own by studying these methods from books. But there is a danger of misunderstanding something and making mistakes.

How a person works according to yoga

Man is not just a biological machine. According to yoga, it consists of consciousness, which is connected into a single whole with the physical body and with subtle energy bodies. When any changes occur in any of the components, then all the others change. By manipulating the energetic or physical body, the state of consciousness changes. This is the goal of any spiritual practice - the development of consciousness, raising it to a qualitatively different level.

The subtle body consists of energy channels and chakras - energy centers. All components of a human being are connected by prana - life energy. There are several types of prana in the human body. Each type of prana is responsible for its own functions.

Tummo: features of internal heat yoga

Yoga of internal heat - tummo - is based on working with prana and chakras. There are recommendations for exercise, but they are given little attention and are not always necessary. The main method is to focus on energy centers and channels, and breathing exercises to control prana, visualization, and raising kundalini energy.

In essence, tummo is kundalini yoga, but with its own characteristics. In the yoga of inner fire, special importance is given to the navel center. In addition, this Tibetan yoga has its own traditions regarding worldview and lifestyle. There are preparatory practices that are very important and necessary. The practice of taking refuge and meditating on the impermanence of this world is very important. Otherwise, even having achieved success in performing energy exercises, a person can plunge even further into ignorance.

Tummo yoga technique

Yoga usually refers to seven main energy centers - chakras. There are others, but they are less important. In heat yoga, work is carried out only with four centers:

• umbilical;
• cordial,
• throat;
• head

The practitioner visualizes the energy centers and main channels: sushumna - the central channel, idu - the left channel and pingala - the right channel. You also need to visualize the fire, which gradually begins to rise from the area just below the navel and reaches the navel center, then flares up stronger, and the flame rises along the central channel, reaching the top of the head. At the same time, breathing exercises are performed. The main method is holding the breath and performing energy locks - bandhas. An upper and lower lock is performed, and the two flows of prana unite in the abdominal area, which promotes the accumulation of energy and the release of heat. One flow of prana is upward, going upward. Another flow of prana is downward, going down. Usually prana leaves the body during such a movement, but here it is preserved.

As a result of these exercises, kundalini, which rests at the base of the body, awakens and reaches the top of the head.

Then a person’s consciousness is transformed. The Yogi achieves the highest bliss and evolves quickly.

At the physical level, a practicing yogi feels warm and does not freeze even in the cold without clothes.

Tummo: afterword

Tummo yoga combines the most important fundamentals of all types of yoga designed to work with energy. This is an abbreviated form of Kundalini Yoga that gives quick results. But it requires a serious approach and knowledge. With the wrong approach, a person can cause harm and suffering to himself. Previously, it was transmitted only from teacher to student.

The extraordinary endurance of Tibetan hermits is explained by their ability to generate internal heat. Mystics know how to fall into what is called “ tumo", but this term is not used to denote the concept of heat in everyday speech. The hermits of Tibet are able to spend the entire winter in a cave at an altitude of up to 5000 meters in light clothing and feel quite comfortable.

The effect of tumo practice is not only aimed at warming the ascetic’s body. Followers of secret Tibetan teachings know various types of tumo. Wrapping himself in the warm “divine cover”, the ascetic can observe. He need not fear catching a cold as long as he is under the protection of the tumo.

How to do tumo breathing correctly

The exercise includes ten stages, which follow one after another, without interruption. Below is a summary of them:

• In the imagination, a mental image is created in the form of an artery, the thickness of a human hair. It passes through the center of the body and is gradually filled with flame (or a warm air stream).
• The diameter of the artery increases to the thickness of the little finger.
• The artery gradually expands to the size of an arm.
• The artery takes on the appearance of a pipe and fills the entire body.
• An enlarged vein can contain the entire universe. There is no sensation of the body, the practitioner enters a state of ecstasy. He feels like a wind-blown flame in the blazing waves of a fiery ocean. To achieve the fifth stage of tumo, even the most capable student spends at least an hour. After passing this stage, there is a repetition of subjective visions in the reverse order.
• Gradually, the waves of flame decrease and subside, and the storm subsides. Finally, the burning ocean is consumed by the body.
• The vessel narrows to the size of a hand.
• The artery does not exceed the thickness of the little finger.
• The thickness of the artery is equal to the thickness of a hair.
• Vienna disappears. Fire and other images and forms become invisible. Existing ideas about any objects also dissipate. Gradually consciousness dissolves into the “Great Emptiness”.

Morning is considered the ideal time to practice tumo. But in fact, you can practice this exercise at any time of the day.

Tumo exam

The training period, during which the tumo technique is honed, ends with an exam. On a moonlit winter night, students who are completely confident in their skills come with their teacher to the bank of an unfrozen mountain river. If all bodies of water are covered with ice, then a polynya breaks through.

The night should be frosty and windy, which is not uncommon for Tibet. Completely naked candidates for the title of “respa” sit cross-legged on the ground. Sheets immersed in icy water are pulled out of the hole and wrapped around the student. The ascetic's task is to warm a certain number of sheets with his body and dry them. When the cloth dries, it is re-soaked in water, and the whole procedure is repeated until dawn.

The winner is the one who managed to dry the largest number of sheets on himself. Some students dry up to forty sheets in a night in this way. However, the sizes of pieces of fabric are purely symbolic. But, it must be admitted that real “respas” are capable of drying with their bodies pieces of matter the size of a huge shawl.

The sacrament of Tshed

This is another very interesting ritual performed by the anchorites of Tibet. Its meaning is to “donate” your body to ghouls and ghouls for later consumption. Tibetan mystics believe that this technique helps them purify themselves spiritually and move closer to enlightenment. To perform, you need to have nerves of steel!

The ritual is carried out as follows - the magician sends his student to a remote and deserted place. An old abandoned cemetery or a dense forest will do. There, the student must blow a special kangling trumpet and summon demons to a “feast.” Soon, terrible creatures answer the call and begin to devour the student alive.

Of course, all this happens only in the mind of the practitioner. But in the process of performing the sacrament of Tshed, the student is in a hypnotic trance. Therefore, there is every reason to assume that he really feels like he is being eaten by unknown monsters. Tibetan researcher Alexandra David-Neel wrote that among the monks who practice Tshed there are very exhausted people who are in an incredibly depressed mental state.

Many of us have seen photographs and paintings depicting naked yogis sitting in the mountains in the snow. What is this - a trick, the result of hardening or secret knowledge? Is it possible to master this art, and will it provide us with any health benefits?

- What is depicted in the painting by N.K. Roerich "On the Heights"?

In the picture we see a naked hermit monk sitting on the top of a mountain. The snow melted underneath him. In Tibet, this ancient practice is called tummo, or yoga of internal heat (one of the six yogas of Naropa, the great teacher of 10th-century Buddhism). We are also sitting like this in the Himalayas, in the Kullu valley, close to the place where the Roerichs lived. We go there every year to study this phenomenon on site. The yogis, of course, had different goals - spiritual, movement along the path of improvement. But tummo was definitely included there. The basis of internal heat yoga is a special type of breathing.

- What is characteristic of normal breathing?

Usually we call breathing what, strictly speaking, only serves to ensure breathing (inhalation-exhalation). And respiration itself is a process in which food substances are burned in the cells of our body with oxygen. Carbon dioxide, water and energy are released, which are then either used directly in the form of heat or accumulated in ATP molecules, which serve as a source of energy for all biochemical processes in living organisms. All this is very similar to how a car works, but you can’t change the car parts. Our respiratory process is regulated not by the amount of oxygen inhaled, but by the content of carbon dioxide in the blood. As soon as there is a certain excess of carbon dioxide, the respiratory center in the brain forces us to inhale.

- Why is carbon dioxide the regulator of breathing?

If we do a lot of work, for example, dragging a piano from the first floor to the fifth, then we begin to breathe more often and deeper - this is how the body reacts to an increase in the total content of carbon dioxide in the blood. And in tissues, blood flow can only be regulated by changing the lumen of the thinnest arterioles, which then turn into capillaries. Arterioles dilate where a lot of oxygen is needed, and remain compressed where it is not needed. Therefore, blood flows to working tissues in a larger volume, and to non-working tissues in a smaller volume. And it is carbon dioxide that dilates blood vessels at the capillary level. When there is a lot of it in the body as a whole, all the capillaries on the periphery open, until redness and a feeling of heat appear. This is exactly how carbon-acid baths worked in physiotherapy. But you can increase carbon dioxide in the body in another way. The simplest thing is holding your breath, the basis of pranayama in yoga.

- Please tell us about pranayama.

Pranayama includes a number of breathing techniques, but the most important part is holding the breath, or kumbhaka. Patanjali (2nd century BC), author of the book “Yoga Sutra,” is considered the creator, or rather the fixer, of the science of yoga. This book provides strict definitions. For example, asana is simply a straight, stable position of the body. Kumbhaka is holding the breath, and yoga itself describes the effects to which it should lead.

- What are these effects?

Since the goal of yoga is the spiritual development of a person, as a result of such development he should at least become smarter than those around him. That is, it is necessary that his brain is well supplied with nutrients and oxygen. How to improve blood supply to the brain? Only by dilating peripheral blood vessels. To do this, you need to increase the concentration of carbon dioxide - by holding your breath.

The opposite situation is also possible: removal of carbon dioxide from the body. This is caused by hyperventilation, that is, excessive breathing.

We usually talk in hyperventilation mode, which is why inexperienced teachers, giving a lecture, after some time become stupid right in front of the students.

- What do you have in mind?

They forget what they said, they don’t know how to finish the sentence. The excess breathing mode allows us to speak, but does not allow us to breathe normally. In any person who begins to breathe like a steam locomotive, after some time the peripheral blood flow is blocked, and the first organ that reacts to this will be the brain. The central nervous system will begin to reduce its function to reduce oxygen consumption. First of all, the brain reduces the higher intellectual function, and the person becomes stupid. Then other functions decrease - up to loss of consciousness, that is, fainting. This is called "hyperventilation syndrome."

- How can you become smart using breathing?

If we hold our breath, we will improve the situation with peripheral blood circulation, and the brain will also be the first to respond to this. As Patanjali clearly states: “Pranayama makes the mind capable of concentration.” A person instinctively holds his breath at the moment of insight, discovery, meditation. This is a physiological stop of breathing - to increase the carbon dioxide content in the blood and ensure the best blood supply to the brain.

Why don't children today learn the school curriculum? Why has education been extended to 11 years and the question of a 12-year course is being raised? Because the intellectual process, including memorization, is poorly supported.

- What is missing?

One of the conditions for effective brain function is a straight, stable position of the body, that is, according to Patanjali’s definition, asana. For more than a hundred years, this position of the student’s body was ensured by an object called a desk. It had a backrest and arm rest, and it snapped the student so that he was trapped there. This pose fully corresponded to the definition of an asana. In fact, excellent students still sit like this. That's why they are excellent students. Incorrect posture interferes with learning.

And the second obstacle is chatter in class. When people chat, they breathe faster and hyperventilate, which is the opposite of what keeps the brain supplied with enough blood. They first abandoned desks, and then discipline, and the absolute authority of the teacher. It’s no wonder that now the program has not been mastered in 10 years! For at least 45 minutes, the student must sit motionless, in a straight, stable position and be silent, only then does he begin to think. And any attempt to violate discipline should be suppressed quite harshly.

- When holding your breath, in addition to excess carbon dioxide, there is also a lack of oxygen. Is it good?

Lack of oxygen, or hypoxia, can be caused by holding your breath, blood loss, being in rarefied air high in the mountains, and cold, when all the blood flow is concentrated in the center and no blood flows to the periphery of the body. The body can be trained to easily tolerate hypoxia, as, for example, we see in divers or climbers. However, hypoxia must have some other effect. It was he who became the subject of our research when we took up tummo, or the yoga of internal heat.

- What is the practical side of tummo yoga?

Yogis have known for a long time that hypoxia produces heat during ordinary pranayama. But, once in the Himalayas and Tibet, they noticed that pranayama not only leads to increased heat generation, but sometimes even allows one to survive in extreme freezing situations. For example, the famous Tibetan yogi, Buddhist teacher and poet Milarepa once found himself buried in a cave in the mountains. When a month later the monks dug up a cave to bury him, they found an emaciated but alive Milarepa, who showed them a poem about tummo written in the cave. He warmed himself with special breathing, the essence of which was to bring the process of hypoxia to the maximum. To do this, you need to start holding your breath not while inhaling, as we do when we want to get the maximum carbon dioxide, but while exhaling. It is pranayama on exhalation that ultimately gives what is called tummo practice.

-Where does excess heat come from?

This question was answered by the Soviet biophysicist K.S. Trincher. In 1941, he was repressed and sent to a camp in the Urals, where there was terrible frost. In the camp, Trincher wondered how a person breathes in the cold. It's -40° outside, but in the lungs it's always about +37°. In seconds, the air heats up by almost 80°. Already free, Trincher proved that the air is warmed by fats, which from the blood enter the alveoli of the lungs and are burned there. The lungs are also the body's oven, where a chemical process called pulmonary thermogenesis occurs. Due to it, warm-bloodedness and constant body temperature are maintained. And hypoxia starts this process. The less oxygen inside, the hotter we are. We inhaled, held our breath, did several exercises, then exhaled slowly, trying to exhale completely, take a quick breath and warm up. We continue to do this exercise until we leave the cold. Even in a simplified form, it can help, for example, to keep warm in winter when waiting for a long time for a bus. It’s just better not to sit, but to walk nearby.

- Let's get back to health issues. Can tummo practice really help?

This ancient method can be used to increase the cold resistance of, for example, mountaineers, rescuers, military personnel, etc. And with tummo, changes occur in the composition of fats in the blood. Analyzing them, we found out that tummo not only warms, but also heals. The level of “bad” cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein) decreases, and the level of “good” cholesterol increases. We can already conclude that internal heat yoga will help with atherosclerosis. Even faster than in the cold, “bad” cholesterol decreases when sitting in waterfalls under icy water.

And one more interesting phenomenon. It is known that cold causes stress and, accordingly, the level of cortisol in the blood, the main stress hormone, should increase. However, we have proven that with tummo, cortisol decreases right at the moment of cold testing. This is a unique and most effective method of dealing with stress today. In Tibet, this phenomenon was called “bliss that turns into wisdom.”

Yoga Tummo increases resistance to cold, effectively warms the body in the cold, and lowers cholesterol levels. This is a difficult practice, but having mastered it, a person feels bliss from life.

This teaching refers to the ancient Tibetan practice of changing body temperature. It is called the yoga of inner fire. Tummo yoga is part of the Buddhist tradition of the Six Yogas from Naropa (a famous monk and teacher of Buddhism). The great Milarepa (a Buddhist teacher who achieved Enlightenment) also practiced it. A snowfall blocked the entrance to his cave and Milarepa began to undertake the teachings of tummo. So he was able to live without food, in the cold, until spring.

Not everyone is able to spend the winter in a cold cave, in light clothing, and even at an altitude of 4 thousand meters. But thanks to the ability to awaken inner warmth, called “tummo,” this is possible. The term “tummo” is not used in everyday life. It has a mystical quality. From the sources of the secret teachings, it means “light flame.” Its sound warms the airy primordial fluid and forces its invisible energy to rise along extremely thin ducts through veins, arteries, and nerve endings to the top of the head. Yogis enjoy a state that is stronger than carnal pleasures.

Many followers of this teaching pay great attention to its physiological aspect and practically do not reveal the spiritual side, which is important in yoga.

Physiological side

When practicing tummo, the temperature in the upper part of the body increases. When the weather is frosty, the sheets on practitioners' bodies are wet.

Research into the “tummo” phenomenon at a scientific level was carried out in 1981 under the leadership of Harvard University professor Gerber Benson. For the experiment, they took three Tibetan monks practicing the Six Yogas with the tummo phenomenon. They had their skin temperature measured on various parts of the body. As a result, scientists came to the conclusion that Tibetans can increase the temperature on their fingers and toes by at least 8.3 C°

In the modern world, the tummo effect is interpreted as thermoregulation of the human body’s heat through warming the blood and lungs with special breathing exercises.

But it should be noted that studies with monks using tummo at a scientific level have no longer been conducted.

Spiritual side

Tummo yoga is a preparatory stage for the next tantric practice “Six Yogas”. As a result, a person reaches the highest state of Buddhism - Enlightenment. The purpose of the Six Yogas of Naropa teaching is to control the energy flows of the body and maintain clarity of consciousness at the moment of death.

Types of tummo

Tibetan yogis know several types of tummo:

1. Esoteric tummo manifests itself spontaneously, in a state of ecstasy. This allows the yogi to feel normal in extreme conditions.
2. Mystical tummo does not belong to the word “heat”. But it allows the practitioner to feel bliss from practice, from the existing world.

How the training works

They teach the art of tummo - lamas. They keep their methods secret, explaining that information from books or hearsay will not bring results. To master the practice, only the guidance of an experienced mentor is important. To achieve a positive result, special preparation with the following conditions is important:

• Ability to perform various breathing exercises.
• Strongly concentrate thoughts, going into a trance, which leads to objectivity of images.
• Receive the tummo initiation from the lama.

Probation

Adepts undergo a long probationary period, which helps determine how hardy the student is and what his health is. The practice of tummo is contraindicated for people with weak lungs.

During the probationary period there may be different tasks. So, the lama ordered one of his students to swim in an icy mountain stream. It was not allowed to dry off or get dressed, or to meditate all night without moving.

When joining this teaching, a person does not wear warm clothes and do not be near fire.

After training with a mentor, the student goes to a deserted, elevated place. In Tibet, an elevated place is a place located at an altitude of at least 4000 m.

Experts in the teachings of tummo are called “resps”. They wear cotton clothes and insist that training in obtaining tummo takes place only in the fresh air and in a deserted place. A variety of odors and smoke may be felt in the air of any room or populated area, which can be harmful to health. Also, occult influences negatively affect the achievements of students.

Having found a deserted place, the adept has no right to meet with anyone other than his own rep.

Periodically, the teacher visits his student, inquiring about his results. During the guru's secluded hours, the disciple may also visit him. Training begins long before dawn.

Practical tasks

Regardless of the weather, he leaves the cave without clothes or in light clothing. Beginners are allowed to sit on the board, more experienced adepts - on the ground, and the most advanced sit on the snow and ice. Exercise on an empty stomach; you are not allowed to drink any drinks.

Yogis and practitioners are sitting in a meditation pose:

• Legs crossed.
• Palms on knees, bending the middle and ring phalanges, extend the rest.

First, do breathing exercises:

1. While exhaling, imagine how pride, hatred, anger, laziness, etc. are expelled.
2. Inhaling - attract the blessing of the saints, the spirit of Buddha, everything noble and lofty.

Having done the breathing practice, concentrate, do not be distracted by problems, thoughts, go deeper into contemplation and calmness. Imagine a golden lotus in the navel area. In the middle of the flower, in the form of the sun, the syllable “ram” shines, above it is “ma”, from which the goddess Dorji Naljroma arises.

The described syllables have a mystical meaning. They are called "seeds". They are not considered as letters, but as living entities.

“Ram” is the word-germ (seed of fire).

The articulation of such words is of great importance for Hindus. From their point of view, the creative power of a word depends on the pronunciation of sounds.

But according to theory, it is important to use an individual image of the word. Since “ram” is the germ of fire, an experienced magician, using the individuality of the image of a given syllable, is able to create a fiery flame without fuel.

The imaginary image of the goddess Dorji Naljroma must be identified with the syllable “ma”. Then look closely at the letter “a” (navel), the letter “ha” (top of the head). The breaths are slow and deep, as if a fire is fanning, decaying under the ashes.

The flame is in the letter "a" like a small ball. With each inhalation, you feel like a stream of air penetrates the stomach, descends to the navel and fans the fire. Each full breath ends with a breath hold. The pause gradually increases, but everything happens in a certain rhythm. With the help of concentration of thought, control the occurrence of the flame.

The flame rises through a vein of the “mind”, as thick as a hair, running through the center of the body.

Attention is completely focused on the fire and the perception of heat.

Tummo according to the Naropa method

The great teacher Buddha Naropa describes three tummo yoga exercises. They are performed in one position - squatting, legs crossed, hands joined:

• Gastric rotation from side to side (three times in each direction).
• Vigorous stomach beating.
• Rocking and shaking like a horse with a temper, jump a little, leaving your legs crossed.

1. Each exercise is repeated three times. When finishing the complex, jump higher (naljorpa).
2. It gets hot after gymnastics. The training is similar to hatha yoga.
3. After this, imagine the sun on each palm, under each foot, under the navel.
4. The friction of the suns occurs on the palms and under the feet, forming fire.
5. The tongues of fire become higher and higher and reach the sun under the navel.
6. The flame from the flash fills His flash fills the whole body.
7. When you exhale, you feel as if the entire planet is on fire.

Nowadays, tummo yoga is isolated as a kind of tantric movement.

Having mastered the practice of the Six Yogas with the tummo phenomenon, the yogi can control the flow of energy.

This is necessary not only for personal liberation, but with the goal of achieving Buddhahood for the benefit of all life on Earth. But it is the chosen people who achieve this.

Published in book PSYCHOTECHNIQUES AND ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS.Sat. materials of the Third International Conference ( March 19 - 21, 2015, St. Petersburg)/ Rep. editor and compiler S.V. Pakhomov. - St. Petersburg: Publishing house RKhGA, 2016. - p. 124-135.

TUMMO: physiological technology of cold resistance

Minvaleev R.S., Timofeev V.I., *Tanaka A.
St. Petersburg State University
* Koyasan University (Japan)

Tibetan Tummo yoga, the basic practice of the six yogas of Naropa, on the one hand, is one of the most closed psychotechniques of Tibetan Buddhism, and on the other hand, it is a kind of “calling card” of Tibetan tantrism. The ability of tummo adherents to withstand cold for a long time without signs of cold stress has always attracted the attention of outside observers [David-Neel, Eliade]). The famous painting by N.K. Roerich “On the Heights,” which depicts a naked yogi sitting in the lotus position among snow-capped mountain peaks, seems to have also been sketched from life.

Objective Research

A natural question arises about the mechanisms of this kind of increase in cold resistance. Within the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, increasing cold resistance when performing tummo practice is presented, on the one hand, as a side effect of tantric practices, and on the other hand, is widely used as a criterion for successful implementation [Thubten Yeshe 2010, Muzrukov 2010].

At the same time, the cold resistance of Tibetan tummo practitioners declared in the literature has not been confirmed in objective studies to date. So in 1981, Associate Professor at Harvard University Herbert Benson and his colleagues got the opportunity to study three Buddhist monks directly in their places of permanent residence (North India, Dharamsala) in February 1981. These are quite harsh conditions for this time of year, but judging by the results published in the journal Nature, the monks refused to subject themselves to the actual cold tests. Namely, the temperature of the room where the research was carried out did not drop below the standard comfortable range throughout the experiments (from 16 to 20 ⁰C), which follows from all three temperature graphs presented in the work (most clearly in Fig. 1)

Rice. 1. Changes in skin and ambient temperature, as well as heart rate in subject J. T. (by )

Actually, based on the piecewise linear graphical interpretation of the temperature leads from the fingers and toes of the tested monk J. T. (who, according to an oral statement, spent about 6 years studying the practice of tummo), we can conclude that Benson G. and his colleagues recorded the known results of warming the periphery in subjects who came with frost into a warm room (see Fig. 2).

Rice. 2. Isotherms of a naked person in cold (a) and hot (b) conditions [Barton and Edholm 1957]

The second published study was carried out by Maria Kozhevnikova and colleagues at a remote nunnery in the Amdo region of the Tibetan Plateau. However, according to the description of the experimental conditions, M. Kozhevnikova and her colleagues were not allowed into the room where the tests were carried out, which generally invalidates the published results about a single increase in body temperature in one of the subjects to 38⁰ C [Kozhevnikova 2013].

Reconstruction

Our own research allowed us to reconstruct the tummo technology and test the method in various conditions (air cooling, waterfalls, cold water) [Minvaleev 2008-2014].

We proceeded from the fact that all bodies (living or nonliving, those who have achieved tantric realization or simply naked in the cold) must obey the known laws of physics of heat transfer, and if we are talking about living bodies, then also the known laws of thermoregulation physiology [Minvaleev 2008a, b] . Tantric texts are very far from the modern natural science paradigm (pranas, chakras, boddhichitas, transference of consciousness, transformation of the body into rainbow light, etc.). Therefore, we leave religious and philosophical concepts outside the discussion, and further consider only what can be accomplished and verified by instrumental means (including introspection) - in this case, it will be heat/heat in different forms. And the resulting increased resistance to cooling (maintaining a relatively constant body temperature), which was provided as a well-known test of competence in tummo (drying wet sheets with a naked body in the cold).

It was this approach that allowed the famous researcher of yogic practices, Mircea Eliade, to combine various methods of initiating “internal heat” (shamanic heat, Vedic tapas, yogic kundalini and Tibetan tummo) in the natural evolution of sequential borrowing: “... Tum-mo is a yoga-tantric exercise , well known to the ascetic tradition of India. We have already mentioned the intense heat that occurs when kundalini awakens. The texts report that psychic heat is generated by holding the breath and transforming sexual energy...” [Eliade, p.317]. It should be noted that this conclusion of Mircea Eliade is based not only on comparative analogies, but also on personal experience of mastering a number of yogic practices, including pranayama, in the ashrams of Rishikesh in Northern India.

Gleb Nikolaevich Muzrukov, who published detailed instructions on the practice of tummo after studying in one of the Tibetan monasteries in the Tibetan region of Amdo, came to a similar conclusion [Muzrukov 2010]. In our opinion, it was the personal experience of G.N. Muzrukov gave grounds to designate the practice of raising kundalini “as the progenitor of tummo” [Muzrukov 2010, p.24], which allowed us to use well-known yogic technologies to reproduce the tummo technique outside of tantric religious ideas.

The hypoxic stimulus of intrapulmonary thermogenesis according to [Trincher 1960] turned out to be a completely adequate explanation of the warming (tapas) effect of breath holdings (pranayama) and propulsive movements of the anterior abdominal wall (agnisara/nauli), which found their place among the “eighteen wheels of tummo” that generate heat [ Marpa].

Rice. 3. Diagram of visualized channels when raising kundalini

In the practice of the so-called “raising of kundalini” (Fig. 3), sequential triple bandha (mula-uddiyana-jalandhara) was used in different versions. Sometimes all the bandhas were performed together, sometimes each bandha separately in combination with asanas and/or pranayama (maha-bandha, bhujangasana, maha-mudra, maha-vetha). All these technical techniques are described in detail in authoritative literature [Upanishads, The Path of Shiva 1994], according to which we reproduced it, based on the published methodology of G.N. Muzrukov [Muzrukov 2010], a number of published texts on the practice of tummo [Tsongkhapa, Mullin 1998, Thubten Yeshe 2010], as well as the collection [Marpa] in an unpublished translation by Alexey Vasiliev.

A technique for urgently increasing heat production based on the adapted practice of internal heat yoga “tummo”

Conditions of use:

A secluded location to minimize distraction. External cold is desirable to provide feedback for effective development of practice and to remove excess heat (protection from overheating), for example:

1) sitting in the cold at sub-zero temperatures (park, balcony);
2) sitting in cold water, leaving your head above the water (you can also take a bath with ice);
3) sitting under a waterfall without exposing your head to the falling water.

A sequence of actions and visualizations, the purpose of which is to ensure correct muscle tension (ideomotor):

Preparatory exercises(can be done in clothes for pre-warming):

1. We take asana in the sense of Patanjali [The Path of Shiva 1994] (comfortable and stable seat - lotus, half-lotus, Turkish, if necessary, put something soft under the seat to ensure lumbar lordosis and to minimize distractions)
2. We perform trunkor exercises (lion stretching, bow pulling (Fig. 4), twisting, stretching upward, self-massage from the torso to the limbs and other Tibetan fitness, for example, according to G.N. Muzrukov [Muzrukov 2010])
3. Straighten your back, resting the backs of your hands on your hips while squeezing your shoulder blades together.
4. Blow your nose sequentially through each nostril, pinching the other.
5. Agnisara (nauli)
6. Vase breathing: slow and calm inhalations and exhalations, tracking the flow sensations in the nostrils (observing coolness as you inhale, warmth as you exhale), with an emphasis on abdominal breathing (as you inhale, we protrude the lower abdomen, as you exhale, we draw in). Perform until calmness, general muscle relaxation and the ability to sustain attention appear.

Rice. 4. Preliminary trunkor exercises in the upper reaches of the Beas River (Northern India). Performed by Timofeev V.I.

Core practice

1. Mandatory blowing of the nose sequentially through each nostril (see preliminary exercises) to cleanse the respiratory tract.
2. We accept the asana. Mentally imagine (visualize) a straight tube (sushumna/avadhuta) inside the body - an ideomotor technique for maintaining a straight back (sitting as if “swallowed a yard”). The tube is open at the top through the crown.
3. We exhale the air and, drawing in the stomach, perform agnisara (nauli) until we feel warmth in the chest or back, opposite the sternum (starting emergency heat production).
4. We fold our hands into a bowl, placing the fingers of the right palms on the left, four fingers below the navel, connecting the pads of the thumbs above the folded palms. We press the connected thumbs to the area under the navel (ideomotor indication of the area of ​​kindling internal heat - see below)
5. We exhale in three slow and calm exhalations, each of which is longer than the previous one, until the alveolar air is removed, then we inhale in three steps, so that each subsequent inhalation is longer than the previous one.
6. We inhale slowly and deeply, keeping the back straight, bringing the shoulder blades together, and holding the jalandhara bandha so that we can see the place where the thumbs join.
7. Mentally imagine two streams of air through the right and left nostrils separately and direct the visualized air (“wind”) to the right and left of the already visualized tube down (to the level of about four fingers below the navel, where the palms are cupped - an ideomotor obstacle to the loss of “wind” " down).
8. We strengthen the barrier to prevent the “wind” (visualized air flow) from falling down by performing a light mula bandha (the degree of tension is sufficient to routinely prevent the removal of accumulated gases (the same “winds” from the intestines).
9. We lower the diaphragm down, slightly sticking out the stomach (vase breathing)
10. Mentally imagine a balloon in the lower abdomen with an outlet tube at the top (sushumna/avadhuta). The tube is blocked by maintaining the jalandhara bandha (sealed vase, or kumbhaka).
11. We squeeze the balloon from the bottom right and left, pulling the perineum up (in fact, we strengthen mula bandha).
12. Mentally imagine bending the right and left streams of the visualized “wind”, following the muscular tightening of the perineum (mula bandha), as if introducing both streams into the central visualized tube from the right and left below, with mental support for contact with the area just below the navel of the thumbs above the palms , folded into a bowl (see point 4) (Fig. 5)
13. We exhale slowly through the central tube, as if bleeding air from the visualized ball in the lower abdomen, squeezing to the right and left.
14. A fireball flares up in the stomach, warming the whole body, which is sometimes felt after practice (the feeling of heat should arise on its own, without ideas about fire, smoldering coals, etc.).
15. We sit for a while and enjoy the heat generated. Next, we repeat steps from steps 5 to 13, but if necessary, add agnisara (step 3)
16. We stop the practice sequentially, for example, we get out of the water, and in the air for some time we continue the practice of warming breathing to maintain thermal balance.

Rice. 5. Practice of tummo in the upper reaches of the Beas River (North India). Performed by Minvaleev R.S.

Safety precautions:

1. Start practicing against the background of relative physical health
2. If cold shivering appears, stop the practice.

conclusions

1. The physiological component of tummo practice comes down to methods of increasing heat production, which is verified by cold tests.
2. Two technologies are reconstructed, which are derived from the well-known practices of hatha yoga: 1) agnisara/nauli, 2) a sequence of muscle locks (bandhas) for the so-called. "rise of kundalini"
3. Visualizations come down to ideo-motor instructions to ensure correct (in the sense of tummo yoga) tonic or dynamic tension of the corresponding muscle groups.

Acknowledgments

The authors express their deep gratitude to the director of the film studio of the historical film “Pharaoh” Irina Vladimirovna Arkhipova, the organizer and inspirer of international research expeditions to the Himalayas as part of her author’s project “In Search of Lost Knowledge” (c), aimed at supporting domestic science. Annual expeditions under her leadership to Elbrus in 2007 and to the Himalayas in 2008-2014 allowed us to accumulate sufficient empirical material for researching tummo yoga in an auto-experiment mode and reaching out to monks practicing tummo in remote monasteries of the Himalayas.

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Minvaleev Rinad Sultanovich, St. Petersburg State University (Russia), prof., Ph.D., [email protected]
Timofeev Vladimir Igorevich. St. Petersburg State University (Russia), [email protected]
Tanaka Akemi, Koyasan University (Japan),