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THE SNOW LION NEWSLETTER
Tibetan Yoga from the Bon Tradition
by Alejandro Chaoul-Reich
| Two years ago I wrote an article for Snow Lion about the
growing interest in the Tibetan physical yoga (Trul khor
or "magical wheel") in the West. At that time
I announced our first Trul khor training at Ligmincha Institute, under the
supervision of Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. Now, sixteen people have completed the intensive
year-and-a-half training. The members of this first class continue to deepen their
practice and, with supervision, can begin to share some of the
practices they |
The shaking
of all the limbs that is done at the conclusion of each Trul khor
exercise
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have mastered with others.
This September (18th-22nd) we will begin a new cycle of four
retreats at Ligmincha Institute, ending in early 2004 (see information
below).
What is Trul khor or
Tibetan yoga?
You may have read or seen The Dalai Lama's
Secret Temple, the book that
describes the wall paintings of this special temple in Lhasa, Tibet, behind the
famous Potala palace. Or you may have actually been there. Many of these
paintings depict Trul khor postures. There we can see some of the external
aspects of Trul khor: the physical postures. However, when we study Trul khor,
we first need to understand the right context. Trul khor is not just the poses-
and thus learning how to calm one's mind, how to train the breath, how to feel
the subtle channels become crucial pre-requisites to the incorporation of the
body movements. In Trul khor, the physical postures are in movement while the
breath is still. This allows the body movement to guide the vital breath- which
in turn is carrying the mind, reaching towards the places that need more
nurturing and vitalizing them. Shardza Rinpoche, a great Bon meditator and
scholar who attained the rainbow body, emphasized the importance of keeping
one's body, breath, and mind (or visualization) together.
Our physical body, speech (or energy), and mind are said
to be the three doors through which one can practice and eventually realize
enlightenment. The energetic body consists of subtle channels (tsa) that are the
roadways through which the vital breath (lung, prana, qi) carries the essential
spheres (thigle). This is explained in careful detail in the Mother Tantra of
the Bon tradition, particularly in the chapter called "the sphere of the
elements" (jung we thigle). Many Bonpo masters have followed this text and based
their commentaries on it. Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's Healing with Form, Energy
and Light, recently published by Snow Lion, gives a clear and accessible English
explanation on the elements, and the role that body, breath, and mind play in
the application of them to one's practice. These practices are those of subtle
channels and vital breath or Tsa lung, and some emphasize more the external or
form aspect, others the internal or energetic aspect, and yet others the secret
or luminous aspect. In order to understand the relationship of body, speech and
mind, the Mother Tantra uses the metaphor of a wild horse for the vital breath
and a rider for the mind. The wild horse is blind so it needs a guide, and the
rider is lame so it needs help to be carried. They need each other in order to
flow together through the paths of the subtle channels. Thus, the Tsa lung
practices are strong methods that help maintain the mind on the breath, guiding
it through the different channels so that the practitioner can open and develop
the qualities that are beneficial and supportive of one's practice.
The Tsa lung practices make the practitioner familiar
with one's subtle channels and with the five kinds of breath that are correlated
to the five elements. Through simple body movements the vital breath guides the
mind into particular locations or chakras opening and harmonizing those
locations to experiences that can support one's meditative practice.
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Trul khor, or the Magical Wheel Yogic Exercises, involves
a more intense coordination of physical movement than Tsa lung, with
the aim of directing the vital breath and the mind, without
losing, and even enhancing one's meditative state of mind. Therefore Tsa
lung is the basis |
A Trul khor excersize called
"Extending the four continents."
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probably similar manner to the way that pranayama is crucial for the practice of
the different kinds of hatha yoga. In fact, the Trul khor practices assume,
explicitly or implicitly depending on the text, that the practitioner is
familiar with Tsa lung practice, in particular with making the subtle channels
flexible and with the training of the vital breath.
Ligmincha Trul khor training course
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche is quite aware of the problem of
lack of context and continuity that sometimes we westerners undergo when
learning meditative practices, plus our lack of willingness to get involved in
foundational practices and looking instead for "higher" practices. Thus, in
Ligmincha Institute he is designing ways to transmit his tradition to the
western practitioners taking into account our conditions of body, speech and
mind, and creating training courses accordingly.
The purpose of this course is primarily to offer an
opportunity to those who are seriously interested in beginning or deepening
their understanding of Trul khor to have a training program of learning and
practice. The time between retreats will allow the participants to practice and
study what was learnt and then apply it in the next level. A secondary purpose
is to train future instructors that will be able to share with others the
benefits of this practice, and this training course is one of the prerequisites
to be a Trul khor instructor in this tradition.
In each of the retreats, additional cycles of Trul khor
will be taught and we will deepen the understanding and practice of those
previously taught. We will also have time to share experiences of our own
practice and discuss skillful ways of learning and instructing.
The second retreat will be March, 2003, the third in the
Fall of 2003 and the fourth in early 2004. If you are interested in joining us
or receiving more information, please contact:
Ligmincha Institute
P O Box 1892
Charlottesville, VA 22903
Tel: 804-977-6161
Fax: 804-977-7020
Ligmincha@aol.com
www.Ligmincha.org
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