Join ClassUnlike most new age breathwork practices, this tummo breathing tutorial is derived from a qualified spiritual guide (Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, founder of Modern Buddhism). Although these instructions are more advanced, they can help one attain full enlightenment.
Before you practice Tummo breathing, you should practice the four great preliminary guides to prepare your mind for meditation. They can be found in the Tantric Meditation Guide.
After practicing the four great preliminary guides we can begin our practice of inner fire by reciting the following prayer three times and concentrating on the meaning:
“I prostrate and go for refuge to my Spiritual Guide and the sublimely precious Three Jewels. Through the force of your blessings, may I meet with success in my practice of inner fire, and through the force of completing the practice of inner fire, may I quickly attain the Union of bliss and emptiness. Please make my channels both flexible and smooth, and make my winds and drops supple. Through your blessing may I quickly accomplish the attainments without the slightest difficulty or discomfort… For the sake of all living beings I must become a perfect Buddha in this life. Therefore I will now practice the yoga of inner fire to attain my goal as swiftly as possible.”
Inhale through the nose as you throw your hands into the sky and feel your diaphragm expand. Imagine pulling contracted energy from the roots of the earth all the way up your central channel to the top of your head. As you exhale relax and pull your elbows down, causing them to hit the sides of your body. Imagine the energy dissolves into infinite bliss and emptiness. You instantly become an Enlightened Deity and your body, speech and mind become pure. (Repeat 8x, 16x, 32x, etc.)
Fully exhale through the nose rapidly and let the inhale come naturally without effort. Visualize a flame at the the precise center of your navel channel wheel (behind belly button). The flame grows larger and hotter with each exhale, purifying our channels, winds, and drops. This flame consumes our negativities of body, speech, and mind. Our impure winds are expelled from the body in the form of inky-black smoke. (Repeat 8x, 16x, 32x, etc.)
Expressively exhale all the air out of your body and imagine that all the contents of your body melt into light and disappear into emptiness. This experience becomes visceral as you squeeze every muscle in the body to wring out any remaining air. Then relax your body. Only a clear and transparent shell of your skin remains with no physical resistance—just like a rainbow. Keep your tongue pressed against the roof of your mouth and your pelvic floor slightly activated. You may optionally perform a stomach vacuum and massage your organs.
Correct your posture and imagine the central channel running from the crown of our head straight to our secret place like a thin shaft of bamboo. Next, visualize the right and left channels and see how they join at the navel. Take a tour of each of each channel wheel and carefully shine the light of awareness down each one. We begin inside the indestructible drop at the heart (8 petals, white HAM), then travel up to the throat channel wheel (16 petals, red OM), then travel up to the crown channel (32 petals, blue HUM), and finally we travel down to the navel channel wheel (64 petals, red short-AH). We conclude, ‘now I have clearly seen all the petals of each channel wheel’ and imagine that the various knots at the central channel loosen and remove. Imagine that the third eye opens and from this point between our eyebrows we radiate a five colored light that purifies everything inside and outside of our body.
Once you feel the strong urge to inhale, take a massive inhale through your nose and fill your lungs to 100%. Let the inhale expand your body upwards and allow your shoulders and head to stretch backwards. As we inhale we feel all our winds from the upper body, lower body, and side channels dissolving into the central channel. We visualize the inspiring strength of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas entering through our nostrils in the form of of radiant white light, which dissolves into the indestructible wind and mind at the precise centre of our heart channel wheel.
While holding your breath, gently swallow and fully contract pelvic floor to move the energy winds from above and below into the precise navel point. Imagine that this energy dissolves into the needle of fire at our navel causing it to grow even hotter than before and generating great bliss. The thread of fire slowly ascends, heating up all four places of central channel to melting point (navel, heart, throat, and crown). When the thread of flame reaches the center of crown it touches the HAM and a white drop drips down the central channel like small hole hole punctured from a tin of honey. As it drips down the central channel it touches the same areas in reverse order and finally reaches the tip of our sex organ. This intensifies our experience of spontaneous great bliss.
Exhale super slowly through the mouth with pursed lips. The same thread of fire now reaches the third eye and shines a light that instantly reaches the ends of space and purifies all world and their realms. All the Buddhas of the ten directions appearing in single pointed embrace experience this bliss. They dissolve into white and red drops which then dissolves into the small blue light between me eyebrows. This unified drop enters my central channel and dissolves into the HAM at my crown. This blesses the HAM at my crown and unifies it with all the Buddhas. The blessed HAM at my crown melts, causing white drops to flow down the central channel, blessing and transforming each letter into the synthesis of all the enlightened beings. We meditate on this for a while.