The First Yoga of Naropa: Yoga of Psycho

The first of the Six Yogas of Naropa is tummo (inner heat); it is the yoga of psycho - physical heat. This practice uses a combination of visualization and breathing techniques that eventually result in the adept being able to survive arctic temperatures with very little clothing. It is said that in 1100 A.D., Milarepa, the most well - known Tibetan to have completed the Six Yogas, was able to spend all winter in the Himalayas in a light cotton garment.

____________________________________________________

TUMMO/INNER HEAT. Tummo is Tibetan for “inner fire” and is one of the Six Yogas of Naropa. It includes regulation of the breath, concentration on the navel center or in the lower abdomen and visualization of sacred syllables.Traditionally in Tibet, a practitioner of tummo would be tested by being put out naked into the snow and then having wet sheets wrapped around their body. Then they would need to generate enough heat within their body to dry multiple sheets.

____________________________________________________

Heat yoga is probably among the oldest practices, dating back to shamanic hunter- gatherer cultures. Like many of the techniques and practices we will be discussing, the original technique led to physiological, transformative results. These results provided a greatly enhanced survival advantage, which was then passed down to descendants, probably both genetically and culturally. Thus, any culture that had to exist in extremely cold climates appears to have linked inner heat with both a survival and a consciousness- illuminating affect.

In China, at the hunter-gatherer level of development, survival was largely based on skill derived from hereditarily transmitted animal martial arts systems. Each village or clan had a specific animal guardian with a system of corresponding martial arts, often based on sword, spear, and a variety of other weapons; these systems were used to protect the tribe from marauders. Very few students of Zen realize that one of the oldest sayings from the Shaolin temple, the legendary source of both Zen and martial arts, is "kill the leader of the bandits and you save the whole village."

The basis for all martial arts systems is chi development; martial arts skills are determined by the amount of heat that the individual has been able to generate through specific breathing, visualization and meditation practices. Energy cultivation is the basis of both the martial arts and medical traditions dating back toprehistoric times in Asia.

Essentially, an individual who mastered these practices could be expected to live to a much greater age than most people as well as maintain a very high level of health. In theory, this would allow the clans that had mastered these techniques to survive and reproduce successfully at a much greater rate than those who were not able to master this yogic skill. Heat yoga can compensate for nutritional inadequacy in winter months, so fasting practices could benefit those in times of extreme cold or famine. Heat yoga and fasting practices are techniques that ultimately became the basis of many Tibetan yogic systems.

Even in modern times, martial arts masters are able to fight successfully past their seventies. There have been many cases in which elderly practitioners successfully defeated challengers or armed opponents. In one story, Wang Pei Sheng, a well-known master, defeated four Japanese soldiers carrying bayonets with his bare hands, using tai chi skills, during the Japanese occupation of Beijing. Similarly, in Japan, the belief was that one true samurai armed with a sword could defeat ten armed opponents. In China, the belief has always been that success in combat is determined by the level of chi development of the practitioner. In modern times, these arts have continued to be transmitted because of their health benefits and their associations with longevity. In ancient times, the medical system, the martial arts system and the system of spiritual cultivation were not separate; you see this in the monastic teaching systems that existed in China, Tibet and India.