Preface
1. M. Alejandro Chaoul, “Magical Movements (‘phrul ‘khor): Ancient Yogic Practices in the Bon Religion and Contemporary Medical Perspectives,” Ph.D. dissertation, Rice University, Houston, TX, May 2006.
Introduction
1. Chaoul, “Magical Movements,” pp. 16–17. I want to particularly thank Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak and Lopon Trinely Nyima for the numerous discussions about the significance of the Tibetan meaning of trul and khor in the context of these trul khor yogic practices.
2. Chaoul, “Magical Movements,” p. 17. I want to thank Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung for our conversations and his clarification on trul as magic in this context.
3. Michael Murphy, The Future of the Body, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, 1992.
4. These studies were conducted at MD Anderson’s Integrative Medicine Program, where the aim, following Engel’s seminal paper in Science in 1977, is to provide healing focused not just on the physical (i.e., biomedicine), but also on the psychosocial-spiritual aspects of the person, which sometimes seem to be forgotten in conventional allopathic medicine (Engel 1977, where he proposes the need for a bio-psycho-social-spiritual model to supplement the current biomedical model). George L. Engel, “The Need for a New Medical Model: A Challenge for Biomedicine,” Science, 1977 Apr 8;196(4286):129–36.
5. Lorenzo Cohen, et al., “Psychological adjustment and sleep quality in a randomized trial of the effects of a Tibetan yoga intervention in patients with lymphoma,” Cancer, 2004 May 15;100(10):2253–60, https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.20236.
6. Alejandro Chaoul, et al., “Mind-body practices in cancer care,” Current Oncology Reports, 2014 Dec, 16(12):417, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11912-014-0417-x.
7. Kathrin Milbury, et al., “Couple-based Tibetan yoga program for lung cancer patients and their caregivers,” Psycho-Oncology, 2015 Jan;24(1):117–20, https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.3588.
8. Alejandro Chaoul, et al., “An Exploration of the Effects of Tibetan Yoga on Patient’s Quality of Life and Experience of Lymphoma: An Experimental Embedded Mixed Methods Study,” Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 2014 May 7, 20(5):A133.
9. Suzanne C. Danhauer, et al., “Evidence Supports Incorporating Yoga Alongside Conventional Cancer Treatment for Women with Breast Cancer,” Breast Diseases, 2015 Jan 1, 26(3):189–193, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.breast-dis.2015.07.036.
10. Isabel Leal, et al., “An Exploration of the Effects of Tibetan Yoga on Patients’ Psychological Well-Being and Experience of Lymphoma: An Experimental Embedded Mixed Methods Study,” Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 2016 May 2, 12(1):31–54, https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689816645005.
11. Alejandro Chaoul et al., “Randomized trial of Tibetan yoga in patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy.” Cancer, 2018 Jan 1, 124(1):36–45, https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.30938.
12. In this setting, “mind-body” refers to the experience of our existence as a whole and to not having our mind isolated from our body. The Tibetan traditions also explain what I like to call the missing link between “mind” and “body”—“energy” (rtsal), which is mostly expressed as speech and breath. In the Western clinical research setting, an intervention refers to a particular program’s design (in this case, Tibetan yoga) for use with a particular population (in this case, cancer patients) to help improve an aspect of their health.
13. Bruce Lawrence, “Transformation,” Critical Terms for Religious Studies, ed. Mark Taylor, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1998, p. 335.
Chapter 1
1. Herbert Benson and Miriam Z. Klipper, The Relaxation Response, New York: HarperCollins, 2000.
2. This is a simplified version of the Internal Tsa lung of the Mother Tantra, inspired in the oral teachings of Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. For the internal Tsa lung see Rinpoche’s Awakening the Sacred Body, New York and Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 2011, pp. 78–80.
Chapter 2
1. The text we used was Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen (rShar rdza bkhra shis rgyal mtshan), “The Enhancing Magical Movements of the Play of the Illusory Body” (Bogs ‘don ‘phrul ‘khor sgyu ma’i rol mo), from The Complete Perfection’s Self-Arising of the three Enlightened Bodies, (rDzogs pa Chen po Sku gsum rang shar), ed. Khedup Gyatso, Delhi: Tibetan Bonpo Monastic Centre, 1974.
Chapter 3
1. Bru-sgom rGyal-ba gyung-drung, The Stages of A-Khrid Meditation: Dzogchen Practice of the Bon Tradition, trans. Per Kvaerne and Thubten Rikey, New Delhi: Paljor, 2002. The A-Khrid teachings regarding the Ultimate Origin-(A) is believed to have a historical source in the great lama rMe’u dGongs-mdzod (1038–1096). This translation presents a condensed version of his original composition, written by Bru-sgom rGyal-ba gyung-drung (1242–1296).
Chapter 4
1. Chaoul et al., “Randomized trial of Tibetan yoga.” (short title) Cancer, 2018 Jan 1, 124(1):36–45, https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.30938.