In the Bon tradition, yogis practiced different kinds of meditation and breathings for years before learning the yogic movements. This is why ancient texts, curricula, and meditation manuals first start with calming and focusing one’s mind, training the breath, and learning the subtle body. Then they incorporate the yoga movements, which is the methodology I have utilized in this book.
As I was learning this Tibetan yoga at Menri Monastery, Lopon Trinley Nyima described how the movements were designed by yogis who realized that incorporating such body practices enhanced their already-trained focus and also helped them release obstacles that had prevented them from remaining in their natural, or A, state of mind. They also used them to strengthen and rebalance their health when they were ill. These yogis would sometimes practice in isolation in a cave or in a monastery. They centered their day and life around their spiritual practice, including these yogas.
But what about the normal, everyday person who needs to find time to squeeze some of these practices into their daily routine? Sometimes we don’t have the time we want to dedicate to our formal practice because we overslept, had to work late, needed to take our children to school or afterschool activities, or any number of perfectly normal and unavoidable reasons. To help make Tibetan yoga a realistic part of your daily routine, I will provide a few models of practice that vary according to the amount of time you have available. As for the time of the day to practice, it depends on when you can make the time. Some people prefer early morning before they start their daily activities. I think that is a good time as long as you are not in a hurry to finish and get on with your day but instead feel that you are “charging your batteries” for the day. The end of the day can also be good, but do not wait until you are very tired, otherwise your meditation will not be clear, with a feeling of dullness or a “cloudy mind.” I know many people who prefer to practice at noon or take a break from work in mid-morning or afternoon. All are good times for the modern yogi.
In general, I recommend choosing one principal movement from each of the five sets for each breath. Then you can have a simple practice of five total movements (or six, if we count the foundational movement, or ngondro). Or you can choose the movements you feel you most need at that time. But no matter what movements you choose or the amount of time you are able to practice, it is important to center and connect with yourself every day.
It is also important to always start with your intention for the practice and to conclude it with the dedication or sharing the benefits of your practice, “pouring nectar into the ocean,” so that everyone can benefit, including yourself.
The intention and the sharing of benefits make up the outer frame of a practice session, and there are several options for the inner content of the practice. Beyond the time that you have available, you can also choose to focus on a primarily seated meditative practice or one that includes the yoga movements—some practitioners even include standing and jumping. I will give you options for both.
If you have just 5 to 7 minutes to practice:
OR
If you have around 15 minutes to practice:
OR
If you have 30 minutes to practice:
OR
OR here’s a third option, if you want to include all the magical movements in a short practice.
If you have 45–60 minutes, you could do a full practice.
These are just a few suggestions for bringing a formal time for practice into your life. As it becomes part of your healthy daily routine, you will be able to integrate that A state of mind into your whole day.
And even on those days when you feel you don’t have five minutes to practice, take a moment as you wake up to set your intention for the day and do some simple conscious breathing—inhaling and exhaling a couple of times—reconnecting yourself to your heart or inner home and readying yourself to start your day.
It is important to keep some sense of awareness throughout the day, which we sometimes call informal practice. Bring awareness to your daily activities with meditation moments, or “meditation pills,” by consciously focusing on your breath for a few moments several times during the day.
It may be helpful to use the STOP formula, which I first heard about from Susan Bauer-Wu, who is now the president of Mind & Life Institute:
Stop.
Take a few deep, conscious breaths.
Open your heart and observe how you feel.
Proceed—or, if you are not ready to proceed, continue observing and breathing consciously for a time.
Throughout the day, you can use STOP in different situations.
Acknowledging how hectic our lives are and having tools to assist us in our formal and informal practice is what makes us modern yogis. In one of our recent Tibetan yoga studies, we found that you needed to do formal practice more than twice—at least three times a week—to keep the benefits.1 And, of course, try to keep up with your daily informal practice with the meditation moments, or “meditation pills,” or STOP formula.
You can take these meditation pills as if they were aspirin, when your head hurts or when you feel stress, or, even better, as an antibiotic, four times a day, without needing to wait for that stress to be imminent.
So, just as you engage formally and informally in your practice during the day, at night, or right before you go to sleep, also take a moment to do a few conscious breaths and use them to wash your mind. Then, bring your attention to your heart center and, with an inner smile, fall asleep. In this way, you can keep your practice during the cycle of day and night.
