2 questions from a student: post-class torso trembling, Tibetan practices?

[Guest guest]

> Sat nam, jis,

>

> Again, I have two thought-provoking questions from my student last night:

>

> 1. She said that when she practices Kundalini Yoga, afterwards, she feels a

trembling energy inside her torso region. It's not dangerous or painful, but

she makes sure to " chill out " with some tea after practicing.

>

> Is this the freeing of the energy through the body? Is it harmful? What

other advice can I give her?

>

> 2. She mentioned that some Tibetan exercises were taught in a Kundalini Yoga

class. I did some Internet snooping, and I found the following snippet on

http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~keutzer/kundalini/kundalini-yoga.html

>

> Kundalini Yoga in the Tibetan Tradition

>

> Kundalini yoga is taught in all four (Nyingma, Kargyudpa, Sakya and Gelugpa)

of the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. For this reason this FAQ would be very

incomplete if it failed to mention something about Tibetan schools of kundalini

yoga. On the other hand it would be extremely mis-leading to simply give a list

of Tibetan Buddhist centers in America as though one could walk right in and

sign up for a course on kundalini yoga. Some history may help here.

>

> The tradition of the Indian Mahasiddhas who founded Hatha yoga and the Indian

Mahasiddhas who founded many of the important lineages of Tibetan Buddhism are

intertwined. As a result it is no surprise that these two traditions share many

practices in common. In particular kundalini yoga, known as candali yoga

(Tibetan: gTummo rnal 'byor) in Tantric Buddhism, is taught in the Completion

Stages of a number of Tibetan Buddhist practices. To better understand this it

will be necessary to put the gTummo yoga practice in the broader context of

Tibetan Buddhist practice. Unfortunately, there is only sufficient space here to

barely overview the stages of Tibetan Buddhist Tantric practice. Briefly they

can be organized as follows: First come preliminaries such as taking refuge in

the Buddha and making prostrations and offerings to the Buddha, the teachings

and the assembly. Some teachers will require that preliminary practices, such as

taking refuge, be performed 100,000 times. When a teacher is satisfied with the

students performance of the preliminaries then an initiation into a deity

practice may be conveyed. This entails meditating on a deity and its mandala,

repeating its mantra and performing service to the deity. In Tantric Buddhism a

deity is not viewed as an external god but rather a state of one's own

transformed mind. Deity practice eliminates one's clinging to one's ordinary

appearance. With these practices a student begins the Generation (or

Cultivation) stage of practice.

>

> With the Completion stage come a variety of yogic practices. Of these candali

(or kundalini) yoga forms the core of Completion stage practice in the Six Yogas

of Naropa as well as the Cakrasamvara, Hevajra and Yamantaka tantras. The actual

practice of candali yoga has its own preliminaries. These include physical yogic

practices similar to asanas. Next come a series of imaginations (or

visualizations) and finally breath control practices aimed at awakening the

kundalini. The encouraging news here is that the hatha yoga lineages have been

successfully maintained for over a thousand years within Tibetan Buddhism. The

challenge for the student of kundalini yoga is to find access to them. Following

the path from preliminaries, through Generation Stage practices to Completion

Stage practices requires a great sincerity and commitment to Buddhist practice

and many years of concentrated effort but there are great extremes in the

presentation of these teachings.

>

> For some teachers of Tibetan Buddhism gTummo is only taught within the context

of a three year retreat. At the other extreme there are some teachers of Tibetan

Buddhism who have openly offered detailed instruction in gTummo yoga to anyone

who cared to attend a seminar. In one particular seminar everything from refuge,

to initiation to gTummo instruction was offered within a single weekend. In

summary, kundalini yoga has a pivotal role within the practice of Tibetan

Buddhism but it is deeply embedded within this comprehensive path to spiritual

development. As a result the devoted practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism will

almost certainly be exposed to kundalini yoga at some point in his practice. On

the other hand an individual looking to a Tibetan Buddhist teacher for immediate

instruction in kundalini yoga is almost certain to become frustrated and

disappointed.

>

> Where can I get more information about this gTummo yoga? How does it interact

with the Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan?

>

> Thanks, jis, I appreciate all the help!

>

> Sat nam,

>

> Sat Prem Kaur (Amy)