My Experience With Tummo By Tulku Lobsang

[Nuralshamal]

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!

[idiot_stimpy]

Is it worth to dedicate so much time and effort to only be able to stay warm in the cold, or is there something more to it?

[Nuralshamal]

Hey @idiot_stimpy, thanks for your message!

Yes, the idea about tummo is similar to the idea of lower dan tien in qigong and daoism.

The idea is that the bigger and stronger you build your tummo fire or lower dan tien, the better your physical health will be.

Furthermore, the bigger you build it, the more it opens the other channels and dan tiens (chakras in buddhism of course).

If your lower dan tien or tummo fire is at maximum level, everything else on the spiritual path will be quite easy, no matter if it's opening chakras and dan tiens, mastering dream or sleep yoga, bardo yoga, healing yourself or others, acheiving deep meditation etc. This is because all these skills are dependent on chakras and channels (or dan tiens, meridians and 5 organ qi in qigong).

Just take meditation as an example: when your middle channel is open (sushumna or chong mai) deep meditation is effortless. You can feel it physically, as both your nostrils will open completely (normally one nostril is more open, and the other is more closed). Then you feel incredibly refreshed and energized, very harmonious, and your senses effortlessly go inwards. 

A big tummo fire or strong lower dan tien will automatically open and unblock your central channel. So if you've mastered tummo, and you want to meditate, it will be very easy, as your central channel is open.

Similarly dream yoga is dependent on the throat chakra, sleep yoga is dependent on the heart chakra, sex yoga is dependent on the navel chakra and sexual chakra. That's why Tummo is the base of many practices, just like lower dan tien is in qigong.
 

[idiot_stimpy]

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing. 

 

I believe tummo was kept very secret and for westerners to learn this is amazing in itself. 

 

I believe tummo helps purifying the body as you suggested in opening up any bodies energy channels. 

 

I think the biggest barrier to entry is finding someone to teach it, especially for westerners.

[idquest]

Thank you for the report, @Nuralshamal, very interesting. It is interesting that some students did not feel any transmission at all. Transmission is real. What is more interesting, transmission is real even via internet. I was really surprised when I discovered that.

Did you feel heat/warmth as in increase in temperature in your body parts or was it as a generation of energy that would flow inside the body? 

[idiot_stimpy]

Is Tummo equivalent to Kundalini?

[Nuralshamal]

@idquest

Yes, I agree, when you reach a certain level spiritually, time and space are not a barrier anymore, as we're all connected spiritually outside time & space.

"Where there are channels, there is blood. Where there is blood, there is tummo heat. 4 fingers below the navel and deep in your body near your spine is the door of your inner fire, to open and access it. In your sexual chakra or genital organs is the source of your inner fire" - direct quote from Tulku Lobsang continously said during the course during our meditations.

Firstly it is felt in that particular area 4 fingers below the navel and deep in the body. Then you spread it using breath holds, physical exercises and of course visualisation.

I felt it like that too: in the main area, then to each are we spread it to, slowly filling the whole body and finally merging with eternal space and filling that with flames too.

[Nuralshamal]

@idiot_stimpy

That depends on the definition.

Some systems will say yes, some will say no.

I wil personally say no. In Simplified Kundalini Yoga (SKY) kundalini is the life force energy experienced as a vibration. It's of course somewhat related to breath and heat, but it's independent from it. 

Compare this to tummo and lower dan tien, which is related to blood and food qi, cultivated specifically by holding the breath again and again (thereby over time building more red blood cells).

It's much more physical and related to the body.