The Seven Essential Breathing Techniques for Tummo

Introduction

This translation presents the Seven Breathing Yogas—a vital and widely practiced method, particularly within the Sakya tradition. The source text was composed by Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen (12th–13th century) and is based on the teachings of Yogeshwara Virūpa.

The text outlines seven breathing methods, grouped under prāṇāyāma (vajra breathing), exhalation, inhalation, and retention (The four breathing methods):

• One prāṇāyāma or vajra breathing technique (integrating exhalation, inhalation, and retention)

• Three exhalation techniques

• Two inhalation techniques

• One kumbhaka (retention) technique

These seven breathing practices are considered indispensable and are directly applied in the practice of tummo.

Vajra breathing (vajra japa, Tib. རྡོ་རྗེ་བཟླས་པ་) is a central and widely practiced form of breathing yoga found across nearly all Tibetan Buddhist traditions. It is generally classified as a form of prāṇāyāma, involving the coordinated practice of inhalation, retention, and exhalation in connection with the mental recitation of the mantra syllables:

• Om (ཨོཾ) during inhalation,

• Ah (ཨཱ༔) during retention,

• Hum (ཧཱུཾ) during exhalation.

Kumbhaka (Tib. བུམ་པ་ཅན་) is considered the culmination of prāṇāyāma, and many texts indicate that kumbhaka is naturally incorporated within the vajra breathing practice.

The third breathing method described in the text, known in Tibetan as kha sbyor (Skt. saṃpuṭa), is essentially a kumbhaka practice in which the upper air (generally above the navel) and lower air (below the navel) are united at the navel region.

The text specifically instructs inhalation and exhalation through the left nostril, with the right nostril closed, and makes no mention of breathing through the right nostril. This may be because traditional Tibetan yoga texts often advise that trulkhor and kumbhaka practices should begin only when the breath flows through the left nostril. According to Tibetan physiology, the breath does not flow through both nostrils equally at all times, and practicing when the right nostril is dominant is considered potentially harmful or imbalanced.

Some advice on posture during breathing practice

Posture should generally be comfortable, but the text provides the following specific guidance:

• During the three exhalation practices (excluding the prāṇāyāma/vajra breathing practice), adopt a squatting posture.

• During the two inhalation practices and the kumbhaka (kha sbyor) practice, sit with the legs in a cross-legged position (vajra cross-legged).

Squatting posture

Some advice on breathing technique

• In the three exhalation practices (excluding prāṇāyāma), allow the air to come in gradually.
  During the actual exhalation, do not allow any air to come in.

• In the two inhalation practices and kha sbyor (kumbhaka) practice, it is important to let the air out gradually and slowly.
  During the actual inhalation, do not allow any air to escape.

---

Translation of the Breathing Instruction

Importance of Breathing yoga

• The vital air in the body is like a horse on which the mind rides.

• If you are able to gain control over the horse, you can also gain control over the mind.

• When the primary mind is tamed, its accompanying mental factors are also brought under control.

• As a result, conceptual thoughts no longer wander toward their objects, and karma is not created—thus, rebirth does not occur.

• This is why the practice of breathing yoga is considered so crucial.

---

Breathing Yoga

The Buddha taught countless forms of breathing yoga (rlung gi naljor). However, they are summarised as 21,600 distinct techniques.
These are further condensed into 900, then 225, then 10, and ultimately into 4 essential breathing methods.

Four breathing techniques

1. Exhalation

2. Inhalation

3. Retention

4. Integration (combining all of the above)

---

Seven breathing techniques

Yogeshwara Virūpa taught seven breathing techniques as a means to apply these four foundational breaths on the path to Buddhahood.

• Prāṇāyāma (vajra breathing): exhalation, inhalation, and retention.

• Vajra breathing’s exhalation – three techniques.

• Vajra breathing’s inhalation – two techniques.

• Vajra breathing’s retention – kumbhaka (uniting upper and lower air).

---

I. vajra breathing (Vajra Japa)

— First, close the right nostril and allow the breath to flow through the left nostril for a few rounds.
— Then, begin with exhalation.

• When the air is going out, remember: “the air is going out.”

• When the air is coming in, remember: “the air is coming in.”

• When the air rests inside for a brief moment, remember: “the air is staying inside.”

Practise in this way without distraction.

---

— Then, lengthen the exhalation:

• Exhale long: remember “exhaling long.”

• Inhale short: remember “inhaling short.”

• When the air rests inside: remember “the air is resting.”

• Practise this for around three days.

---

— As a result, when samādhi (non-conceptual mind) begins to arise, shift to practising by beginning with inhalation. Practise in the same manner as above.

• When the air is coming in, remember: “the air is coming in.”

• When the air rests inside, remember: “the air is staying inside.”

• When the air is going out, remember: “the air is going out.”

---

— Then, lengthen the inhalation:

• Inhale long: remember “inhaling long.”

• When the air rests inside: remember “the air is resting.”

• Exhale short: remember “exhaling short.”

This practice helps the air remain inside for a longer period (retention), and generates inconceivable samādhi—the non-conceptual wisdom.

---

— Duration of the Vajra breathing:

• Practise this for nine days, five days, or at least three days.

— Yogic experience:

• When this breathing practice is perfected, the practitioner is able to see—directly with their eyes—the location, colour, shape, and length of movement of the air associated with the four elements. The practitioner is also able to shift the movement of air from one nostril to the other, and to release or reverse the flow of air through the openings of other sense organs.

— Supreme yogic experience:
Without altering your body posture and without closing your eyes, focus your gaze—unmoving—into the open sky (space), and let your mind settle in a state that is luminous, empty, and beyond all grasping. Practising this again and again will give rise to a supreme yogic experience.

---

II. Exhalation (Recaka)– three techniques

1. Exhaling through the left nostril

— Method:

• Close the right nostril with your middle finger and inhale.

• Focus your mind on the left nostril and exhale the air.

• In all exhalation techniques, do not allow air to come in during the process. When exhaling, it is vitally important to let the air out gradually.
  → This helps to generate non-conceptual samādhi.

— Sign of perfection:
As you exhale, the longer you keep the air outside without letting it back in, you will feel no discomfort, and the breath will naturally empty out on its own.

— Benefits:
This helps to clear pain in the upper body and ease unease in the heart. Bliss will fill the body and give rise to non-conceptual samādhi.

---

2. Forcefully exhaling through both nostrils

— Method:
Focus your mind on the spot between the eyebrows, then exhale by forcefully blowing the air out through both nostrils. Press the air out to your full capacity (not letting the air in). Practise this for about three days.

— Benefits:
It clears pain in the head and eyes, and relieves general discomfort in the body.

---

3. Exhaling through the mouth with sound

— Method:
Let the air pass through the gap between the teeth while making the sound “si.”
Expel the air out through the mouth, and keep your mind focused on the sound “si.” Then press the air out to your full capacity.

— Benefits:
It clears blood disturbances, fever, and helps dispel sudden infectious diseases. The body becomes refreshed, light, and gains a healthy complexion.

---

III. Inhalation (pūraka)— filling in the air (two techniques)

1. Filling in the air through the left nostril

— Method:

• Inhale through the left nostril while closing the right nostril.

• Visualise the dharmodaya (source of existence) at the navel, known as the sleeping place of the fire of tummo. It appears like an egg—white on the outside, yellow on the inside. Visualise the air slowly entering into it.

• Close the right nostril with your middle finger. After inhaling fully through the left nostril, slowly swallow the saliva and press the air downward to your full capacity.
  When you can no longer press it down, release the breath slowly.

• After practising this breathing for several rounds, visualise—at the end—a white orb of light inside the dharmodaya. Within that orb, imagine a red “A” syllable, appearing as a vermilion vertical stroke.

• As a result of pressing the air down, visualise the dharmodaya growing larger and larger—as vast as the earth, as deep as the ocean, and as expansive as space.
  Imagine all the air slowly entering into it, and then merge your mind with the space inside the dharmodaya, settling in that unified state. When you can not hold the air any long, release the air out slowly.

---

— Benefits:

This practice clears the problems of bodily coldness, abdominal excrescences (gulma), and indigestion. It generates inner heat and bliss.
It is said that all the yogic experiences of Yogeshwara Virūpa arose from this very practice.

---

2. Filling in the air through mouth without making sound

— Method:

• In this practice, visualise all the inhaled air entering slowly into the triangular-shaped dharmodaya at the navel, which appears blue on the outside and yellow or red on the inside.

• Fill the air slowly through the mouth without making any sound. Then, swallow the saliva to help draw the air downward, and press the air down to your full capacity.

• The air should be pressed down silently—even the slightest sound will weaken the generation of inner heat.

• Then, when you can no longer hold the air, gradually release it out.

• Practise this for several rounds.

• At the end of practising this for several rounds, visualise the syllable “A”—a vermilion vertical stroke—inside the triangular dharmodaya at the navel.
  As the inhaled gently incoming air enters the dharmodaya and touches it, visualise it blazing upward, extending two to four finger-widths in height. Then focus your mind on the fire (Tummo).

---

— Benefits:

This clears abdominal ailments such as dropsy. If you direct the air as though it pierces the area of affliction, it can clear away all disorders caused by imbalances in the four elements.

---

IV. Kumbhaka — the king of breathing yoga

This sampuṭaḥ—the union of upper and lower air at the navel—is the root of the entire path and the basis for all higher attainments and qualities.

— Method:

• Sit in a cross-legged posture with your hands placed on your knees.

• With your mind at ease within, visualise at the navel a red-colored “A” stroke, four finger-widths long and as fine as a strand of a horse’s tail. Focus your attention on it, and imagine the entire upper and lower airs dissolving into it.

• Draw the lower air upward slowly. Then, inhale the upper air smoothly through the left nostril in a continuous flow. Once the inhalation is complete, swallow the saliva without making any sound, and press the air downward at the same time.

• Next, draw a small amount of lower air forcefully upward, and bring the upper air between the two lower airs. Bend your neck slightly, pressing the larynx with your chin, and visualise all the airs dissolving into the “A” stroke at the navel, with your mind completely focused on it.

• If you can no longer hold the air, first release the upper air slowly, and then let the lower air go.

• For beginners, practise this in a squatting posture, with the legs crossed at the ankles and the knees upright. Later, you can continue the practice whether walking, sitting, or lying down.

• If you are able to hold both the upper and lower airs at the navel simultaneously without any dissipation, then the technique is considered flawless.

• When you draw the lower air upward but cannot control the upper air, or when you press the upper air downward but cannot control the lower air, then the technique is flawed.

• The unification of upper and lower airs is considered a central technique—the very heart of the yogic path.

---

— Benefits:

This practice clears all bodily ailments caused by disturbances in the four elements.
It gives rise to the samādhi of bliss and emptiness, and brings forth both mundane and supramundane siddhis.

---

---