Lujong: Yogic Exercises of the Five Limbs
Translator’s note:
Five-limb (head, two arms, and two legs) lujong practices are found across many schools of Tibetan Buddhism, though their forms vary. The condensed five-limb lujong presented here is associated with the Sakya Lamdré tradition. In my future post, I will share a translation of the five-limb lujong practice from the Jonang Kālacakra-tantra tradition.
In this lujong sequence, breathing practice is included; however, the practitioner does not hold the kumbhaka breath. Only the upper air (prāṇa-vāyu) is restrained, while the lower air (apāna-vāyu) is not.
Lujong: Yogic Exercises of the Five Limbs
མགོ་བོ་མཇིང་པ་བསྒྱུར་བྱ་ཞིང༌། །ལག་པ་གཉིས་ནི་སོ་སོར་གཡབ། །རྐང་པ་གཉིས་ནི་དྲག་ཏུ་སྤྲུག །ཡན་ལག་ལྔ་ཡི་སྦྱང་བ་ཡིན།
Training of the five limbs: Head, two arms and two legs.
Preliminary
Rubbing/Massaging (Mardana/མ་ད་ན)
Sit in the vajra cross-legged posture. Extend your arms forward and rub your palms together. First, place the [warmed] palms over the eyes three times. Then, using the hands, massage the whole body—beginning from the head and continuing down so that the entire body is covered.
I. Head
Posture
Sit in the vajra cross-legged posture. Form a vajra-fist by tucking the thumbs inside the fists. Cross the arms over the chest in this position.
Breathing technique
Having expelled the breath once through the left nostril, once through the right, and once through both nostrils together, then gently draw the breath inward. Inhale slowly, and hold.
First Head Movement
Rotate the head three times clockwise, then three times counterclockwise, touching the ears to the tops of the shoulders with each turn.
Second Head Movement
Bend the head forward and backward, touching the chin to the chest each time. Repeat three times.
Third Head Movement
Bend the head to the right and to the left, inclining toward the shoulders. Repeat three times.
Fourth Head Movement
Turn the head from left to right, looking straight ahead aligned with the right shoulder. Then turn from right to left, looking straight ahead aligned with the left shoulder. Repeat three times.
Breathing Out
When you can no longer hold the breath, release it slowly.
II. Arms
Posture
Sit in the vajra cross-legged posture. Form a vajra-fist by tucking the thumbs inside, and cross the arms over the chest.
Breathing Technique
Expel the residual breath once through the left nostril, once through the right, and once through both nostrils together. Then slowly inhale and hold the breath.
First Arm Movement
Circle the right arm clockwise over the head and shake it outward to the right. Repeat three times.
Then circle the left arm counterclockwise over the head and shake it outward to the left. Repeat three times.
Second Arm Movement
Circle both arms individually—one clockwise and the other counterclockwise—over the head, then shake the hands outward to the right and left. Repeat three times.
Third Arm Movement
Form vajra-fists and extend both arms together to the front. Strike the fists simultaneously against the area just below the tops of the shoulders. Repeat three times.
Fourth Arm Movement
With vajra-fists crossed over the chest, extend them outward and strike simultaneously just below the collarbones. Repeat three times.
Breathing Out
When you can no longer hold the breath, release it slowly.
III. Legs
Posture
Sit in the vajra cross-legged posture. Form a vajra-fist by tucking the thumbs inside, and cross the arms over the chest.
Breathing Technique
Expel the residual breath once through the left nostril, once through the right, and once through both nostrils together. Then slowly inhale and hold the breath.
First Leg Movement
Uncross the vajra posture, letting the legs fall to the seat, and rise to stand on your feet. Strike the heel of the right foot against the buttock, then shake the right leg forward. Repeat three times. Next, strike the heel of the left foot against the buttock and shake the left leg backward. Repeat three times.
Second Leg Movement
Strike the heel of the left foot against the buttock, then shake the left leg forward. Repeat three times. Next, strike the heel of the right foot against the buttock and shake the right leg backward. Repeat three times.
Third Leg Movement
Rub or draw the right foot upward along the left leg, from the ankle to the groin. Then shake the right leg outward to the right. Repeat three times.
Fourth Leg Movement
Next, rub or draw the left foot upward along the right leg, from the ankle to the groin. Then shake the left leg outward to the left. Repeat three times.
Breathing Out
At the end, sit again in the vajra cross-legged posture. Cross the vajra-fists against the chest and forcefully expel the breath.
Note: In all the above breathing techniques, only the upper air is restrained. The practitioner does not practice kumbhaka that involves restraining the lower air as well.