Knowra Tummo Tummo Tummo is a tantric meditation practice that cultivates inner heat through visualization, breath control, and subtle-body techniques. It is especially associated with Tibetan Buddhist completion-stage yoga.
Vase breathing : A controlled breathing technique that holds air in the lower abdomen, creating a firm, vase-like shape. Tummo uses this breath retention to intensify heat and stabilize attention.
Six Dharmas of Naropa : A group of advanced meditation practices transmitted in Tibetan Buddhist lineages and associated with Naropa. Tummo is the first and best-known practice in this group.
Vajrayana : A form of Buddhism using tantric methods, ritual, and visualization to pursue awakening. Tummo is a Vajrayana practice, not simply a breathing exercise.
Wim Hof Method : A modern training system combining breathing exercises, cold exposure, and mental focus. It resembles tummo in public accounts of breath-driven heat, but has different aims and lineage.
Prāṇāyāma : A range of yogic breathing practices used to regulate breath and vital energy. Tummo includes breath control, but its tantric visualizations and aims distinguish it from general prāṇāyāma.
Inner heat : A yogic experience of warmth cultivated through meditation and breath practices. This is the central experiential effect that tummo seeks to generate.
Naropa : An Indian Buddhist mahāsiddha traditionally dated to the eleventh century and associated with tantric teachings. Tibetan tradition connects the tummo transmission to Naropa's instructions.
Tantra : A body of ritual and contemplative traditions using transformation, initiation, and specialized practice. Tummo's visualizations and subtle-body methods arise within tantric systems.
Human thermoregulation : The physiological processes that keep the body's core temperature within a viable range. Tummo's reported warmth raises questions about voluntary influence over temperature regulation.
Kundalini yoga : A modern yoga approach centered on awakening kundalini through postures, breath, mantra, and meditation. Both use subtle-energy imagery, but their histories, systems, and training differ.
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