Laura Evangelisti
The general benefits of Yantra Yoga are many, but maybe the most important ones are specific health benefits. There are health benefits described for each exercise, but that aspect is more specific, and they are indicated in the book Yantra Yoga, The Tibetan Yoga of Movement.
The general principle of Yantra Yoga, which is open to the public, is based on the structure of Yantra Yoga. In Yantra Yoga, like yoga in general, we have movements and positions; physical movements. That is one of the important aspects in yoga.
We use our body to assume different forms, different positions; in general in yoga we start mainly from this very physical aspect. What is particular and interesting in Yantra Yoga is that from the beginning of the practice, we focus not only on the movements, but on movement that is guided by breathing.
So the main focus of the practice is on the breathing and the movements are helping us with that focus. So the focus is to become aware of how we breathe. First of all, we breathe throughout our life and, for example, through practices like mindfulness, we learn to pay attention and observe our breathing, in and out.
Through the movement, we slowly become aware of our breathing. The movement and the breathing are totally interconnected. As we become familiar with Yantra Yoga practice, automatically we attain this awareness. We are aware at the same time of our body and of our breathing.
This is very interesting because it’s not a mind focused exercise. Through the body movement, which we are guiding with the breathing, we gain this awareness. And that is very interesting. Also the movement becomes easier because we do movement while we breathe.
Just by being in the movement while we breathe we can notice how our breathing happens in one way or another way. This can be one particular aspect of the practice that is very beneficial because we learn and practice and become more confident.
An awareness develops and we become more aware of how we move and breathe in our daily lives, in our normal lives, not only when we practice. Even though we are not thinking, now I know I’m moving and now I know I’m breathing, the awareness of breath and movement becomes spontaneous.
This can be very useful and interesting. Most of the movements in Yantra Yoga are sequences; designed in a sequence. Each phase of these sequences follow a rhythm. That is also a very peculiar aspect, a very important element that helps us to be very focused and present in what we are doing. All of this is described very precisely in the original text.
The original text is another topic, but in the ancient original text, and then in Chögyal Namkhai Norbu’s commentary to it, all the sequences are very well structured, following a rhythm. That rhythm we learn in the beginning, we should inhale in two counts and exhale in two counts, or inhale in four counts and exhale in four counts, etc.
Once we realize the practice it becomes natural, and that is when the practice becomes interesting. We can, while we follow the movement, the breathing, and the precise rhythm, relax. We are not thinking so much. We are not thinking and we are relaxed; not by following different meditation techniques.
We don’t follow thoughts, the usual distraction of our mind, but we simply follow the rhythm of the movement and the breathing, and through this activity we reach a relaxed condition of our mind. I think that can also be very useful.
For people with limitations:
The practice of Yantra Yoga has some preliminary parts, the main part, and the conclusive part. The original body of Yantra Yoga is not easy; you need to learn, practice and train. And, of course, for some people, some of the positions and movements are not easy for people with physical limitations or as we get older or, for example, pregnant women.
Yantra Yoga for Pregnancy
We have an adapted version of Yantra Yoga for pregnancy which Chögyal Namkhai Norbu helped us with – to build up a sequence that is suitable for pregnant women. We prepared the sequence and we showed it to him and he gave us some advice.
For example, in the usual practice of Yantra Yoga, one aspect that we develop is a holding of the breath; we not only become familiar with the inhalation and exhalation, but also particular holdings.
Especially for some conditions this is not easy and maybe not advisable. For example, for pregnant women, it’s not advisable to hold the breath, but to just inhale and exhale deeply. So we adopted and we created a sequence based in this knowledge. We have a very wonderful video of this called Yantra Yoga for Pregnancy.
These movements and breathing can be very helpful during pregnancy because you need to do some exercise, to move, and the flow of the breath and the movement is very helpful for pregnant women to get a relaxed.
A relaxed condition during pregnancy may sometimes, for some women, not be easy to achieve. Some women are worried or have some fear so the practice of Yantra Yoga can be very helpful to relax and be more confident.
Chair Yantra Yoga
So we have an adapted version for pregnancy and then we have more recently worked on the adaptation of Yantra Yoga on the chair. We have found some interesting adaptations so that people who cannot sit on the floor or cannot do more demanding positions, can nevertheless practice and have a lot of benefits.
We have we tried to adapt the positions so that people can feel the effects of the position, the movement, the breathing in the chair, and that people can experience that well and become more aware of their breathing and also how to guide their breathing.
Children’s Yantra Yoga – Kumar Kumari
Chögyal Namkhai Norbu conceived and wrote down the Kumar Kumari text in Tibetan during a personal retreat at Merigar West, the first seat of the Dzogchen Community in Tuscany, Italy, in the 1992. It was then translated into multiple languages.
In Kumar Kumari, 16 vital exercises are presented to children, (ages 5 years to 12 years). The different sequences of movements are combined with quick and slow inhalation and exhalation guided by 10 particular sounds that define the quality and type of breathing. Breathing while making these sounds helps to rebalance the energy, as well as fostering wellbeing and optimum physical and emotional growth.
In 2016 Chögyal Namkhai Norbu strongly suggested that the time had come to develop Kumar Kumari yantra yoga more actively, in particular in primary schools and as part of the summer Yoga Vacation. The development and impact of this form of yoga for children in local communities continues to increase.
The Origins and Development of Yantra Yoga
In the beginning in the 1970’s and 80’s in Naples and Rome, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu taught Yantra Yoga himself. In 1983 Rinpoche went through the root text of this system of Yantra Yoga with his commentary. A group of around 30 or 40 people were there and people were showing the movements and Rinpoche was correcting people.
For many years we only had our notes to help us practice and then some booklets were published. I think around 1984, 85 the translation of the text started, but it took quite a long time to complete. Meanwhile Fabio and I tried to clarify the doubts we had. The text took around ten years to complete.
Formation of New Teachers
In 1994, Rinpoche wrote a letter saying that Fabio Andrico and I would be the two main teachers responsible for the practice of Yantra Yoga and that our primary aim would be to form new teachers and check the old practitioners .
I was very surprised to receive this letter as Rinpoche had never asked or informed us, but in 1995 we decided to do this work. We started to do the teacher trainings; the first teacher training was in America in 1995 for two weeks. Many of our. Yantra Yoga practitioners participated and so we started that process of forming new teachers of Yantra yoga.
Then Rinpoche asked us to do the teacher training ourselves, and after the teacher training the process was to go, one by one, to the place of the various candidates to check how they were leading a class, how they were presenting Yantra Yoga, how they were able to teach, and communicate.
So we started to go around the world to do that. And we did that for many, many years. We were alternating the teacher’s training and supervision courses.
Then in 2002 there were the first authorizations of new Yantra Yoga teachers. We presented the candidates to Rinpoche one by one; he asked them questions and they had to present the movements in front of him and the Dzogchen Community and then they received diplomas signed by Rinpoche.
Chögyal Namkhai Norbu did this, more or less, every two years. So Fabio and I were doing supervisions and teacher trainings during these two years. After some time, we were unable to present the candidates one by one, there were too many, so we were presenting the candidates as a group and they performed a kind of choreography. 2016 was the last time Rinpoche gave the diplomas himself.
Of course, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu gave advice to the new teachers that considered many aspects, not only the performative aspect, but also what it means to be a teacher, especially focusing on the attitude of being a teacher, and always pointing out that we should teach in order to improve. We should teach for the benefit of the students, not for our own interest and not for building up our personal ego. Rinpoche stressed that teachers should be humble and listen to the students’ needs, etc.
Chögyal Namkhai Norbu authorized around 114 teachers from all over the world. The process was very long and time consuming. That’s why now we do it in a different way, From 2018, after Chögyal Namkhai Norbu passed away, to 2023, we didn’t do any teacher training. We had this five year hiatus and then the circumstances matured and we were able to start again to do teacher trainings. We had the first teacher training last year in where 45 people participated. Out of this 45 people, 25 people then presented for supervision. Then we started to do group supervision. Working with the group has been a very nice experience for Fabio and me and I think, also for the people.
Going Forward
After Chögyal Namkhai Norbu passed away in 2018 it was not clear how to continue. We need new people, especially young people, to take over the responsibility. We were sure we wanted to continue but we were not sure how. I took this responsibility of training new teachers very seriously and tried to do my best. The first couple of years after Rinpoche passed away were really tough for me, but at a certain point I gained energy and confidence. I found the strength and I strongly felt we needed to continue.
Then about two years ago Yeshi Namkhai (Chögyal Namkhai Norbu’s son and successor) agreed that we could to continue training new teachers. Yeshi told us that Rinpoche authorized us, so it is our responsibility and we could do what we think is best. And that was wonderful.
Then Fabio and I developed the new program and started to work together training new teachers. It is important we work together because people appreciate our different styles and energy; somehow we are complimentary and people appreciate that very much. That was one very important aspect and the other aspect was the group. I think the group of people who participated was fantastic. They are really special and very committed. They are very nice and supportive with each other. It was really a very nice experience.
This sense of the group collaboration in both the teacher training and the supervision course is very important. We appreciated very much the support of some of the teachers of Yantra, like Maxim Leschenko, Jan Dolensky and Marco Baseggio.
The Future
That is important also because we are looking forward to start to train or supervise teachers that will take our our place. We hope at some point they will be able to also guide the teachers’ trainings, maybe in the beginning with our supervision, but we are also impermanent, and we need younger people to take over. And so we, I think we will start this next year with a second level teacher training. We will try to start this process.
I think we cannot have only two people. It will probably be better to have two people for one continent doing teacher training, maybe there will be six people in total – two main teachers for each continent and some assistants. It would also be good to have regular meetings of the teachers every one or two years to share experiences and correct tendencies of modifying and changing things.
So future generations will be able to study and practice Yantra Yoga. It’s important that Yantra Yoga teachers are connected with the lineage, but also Yantra Yoga can be taught to the general public and be very beneficial.
I think it is fundamental for teachers to have a connection to the transmission and the Dzogchen Community. That is my point of view, not because of a rule, but because I think it’s fundamental to be able to convey the knowledge that is somehow intrinsic in the Yantra Yoga practice.
I’m very happy to have new teachers who are young and dedicated and very enthusiastic. I’m very, very happy about that.
Fabio Andrico
I met Chögyal Namkhai Norbu in Prata, Italy, in 1977. I arrived in Prata and Rinpoche gave many teachings, and at the end of the retreat I decided that I really wanted to follow Rinpoche’s Dzogchen Teachings. So, instead of going to study medicine, I followed the teachings. In the end, I decided to go to Naples to the Oriental University and study with Rinpoche. So I studied Tibetan, Eastern religions and these kind of things.
I started learning Yantra Yoga from Rinpoche at a retreat in Austria in 1977 and then he authorized me to teach. I was already practicing and teaching yoga, so maybe for this reason he gave me permission to teach, so I started to teach Yantra Yoga at the place of the Dzogchen Community called Parco Margarita in Naples.
The characteristic of Yantra Yoga which is quite particular is, as far as I know, and I don’t really know all the systems of yoga in the world, is that Yantra Yoga is basically designed around the breathing. The aspect of the breathing is very central in the practice of Yantra Yoga, together with the movement and the rhythm.
Once when I was teaching in Berkeley, California, at a very big yoga center, many of the yoga teachers present were so amazed about how the central core of Yantra Yoga is centered around the breath.These yoga teachers were very interested, and I thought if some of them might become practitioners of Yantra Yoga, and might be interested in teaching Yantra Yoga, and that it might put Yantra Yoga ‘on the map’.
The benefit of Yantra Yoga derives from the control of the breathing. There are three aspects of Yantra Yoga: body, breath, and mind. The breathing is the theme that connects the body and the mind. There is a specific aspect of the quality of the breath and a specific characteristic of the way of holding. In Yantra Yoga there are five different kinds of holdings.
The entire system of Yantra Yoga is designed around the breathing and holdings. In order to have the space happen in a specific way, there is movement and the movement shapes the body. The shape of body determines, influences, and shapes the breath that leads to the hold that is shaped also by the form of the body.
In Yantra Yoga, the body is used as an assistant to the breath and is not the main aspect, but because the body is shaping the breathing, if the body doesn’t have that particular shape, it doesn’t move in the particular way, what is supposed to happen won’t happen. So that is so important in Yantra Yoga, to understand this aspect of the breathing, the quality of the breathing and how the internal function of the prana [energy] is shaped by breath and especially by holding the breath in specific ways. All of this movement is integrated in a sequence of seven phases based on rhythm, which is another very important aspect.
The benefit of Yantra Yoga is for the body, the breathing, and the mind. Because these three aspects are totally interconnected, you cannot separate one from the other. So for the body there will be benefit for muscles, ligaments, and joints. For the breath, the function of the brain that is related to different aspects of the state of the mind. It’s all interconnected, so if you practice Yantra Yoga, it should bring benefit to all of these three aspects, the body, the breath, that is considered the level of the energy (prana), and the mind.
Yantra Yoga has a function to harmonize the body and mind because one fundamental principle is to be present and aware of your capacity and circumstances. So if we are present and aware during the practice of Yantra Yoga, by its own nature, it should help us coordinate our energy and then loosens and shapes the breath.
When this happens, the body has a shower of benefits created by the fact that in Yantra Yoga you can get to the point where you are moving the body with your breathing. The breathing and the movement are integrated. And when you stop and you apply one of the five different holdings, that actually is the most important aspect of the practice because it’s where the deepest influences are exerted.
When you get to that level of the practice, and you can really apply presence and awareness in the movement, then the practice can be an example of how we try to apply it in our daily life. Through the practice, coordinating the function of the prana, we relax the mind, the mind remains more relaxed, and present and clear. And so it becomes a way to be able to translate this state of the practice into normal movement, the situation of life. So that is the real effect, apart from the fact that you can become healthier in several different areas. I always say, Yantra Yoga is beautiful, fantastic practice, but if you don’t practice it, it doesn’t work.
Chair Yantra Yoga
After asking the permission from Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, I adapted the Eight Movements of Yantra Yoga to the chair. The Eight Movements are the third of the three preliminary series of Yantra Yoga. There is a precise way to do the movements to be sure that when we breathe, we breathe in a way that is fluid. We want to move the air inside in a way that, together with the position of the body, is really the closest possible reproduction of how it is supposed to be on the floor, and so that the Yantra Yoga in the chair functions in the closest way possible regarding the aspect of the breathing and the holding. It is important that we shape the body, even on the chair, in a way that mimics what is supposed to happen on the floor in the correct way. So it’s not that we jump on the chair to do whatever is easier to do, because if it was only the body, maybe it would work, but doesn’t work in Yantra Yoga, because the body is a servant of the breath. So the main focus should be, when we do these movements, what is happening to the breathing and therefore also a strong focus on alignment.
So adapting Yantra Yoga is not necessarily easy, because most of the people consider adapting by just making the physical movement easier for their limitation. It can be the shape of the body, the joints, whatever, it is important to be able to apply the movement as close to how it is explained in the text. It is very important to consider how the breath is formed when the positions are modified or adapted.That understanding of adaptation should be the work of the teacher until people have their own capacity of learning through experience.
Breath, Fluid Breathing and Respira
In Yantra Yoga, all of this wouldn’t work if it’s not correlated to how it’s influencing the breath, because in Yantra Yoga the core is the breath. And there is such an interdependence between the position and the breath, how the position influences the breath, but also how the breath influences the position. The way you breathe, this now is absolutely clear, that the base of Yantra Yoga is called the fluid breathing.
The fluid breathing has precise characteristics. And that should be the base of everything. Then to enhance the function of that, there are the holdings. They should apply, in a specific way, focusing on the internal function of the prana, in different parts of the body. So the focus on one kind of holding should be in one part of the body, and the focus and the action of another holding might be different.
These days everyone has understood how important it is to breathe so there is a lot of breath work of every kind. We have a free app that’s called Evolve: Body, Breath and Mind, where there are many interesting things about Yantra Yoga.
If you really want to have the benefit of breathing, it should be applied in the correct way. You need to start breathing from below, from the abdomen and you should know how to exhale well. The quality of the breathing, the structure of the breathing, is the building block of what will happen after you have inhaled or exhaled, and inhaled again, what is happening with the holdings, and how you hold. There are different ways of holding, very forceful, very relaxed, so it’s different. Every one of these characteristics influences the breath, and therefore influences the mind, the nervous system, and so on. So in Yantra Yoga, all of this is explored, applied, taught, and you can have experience.
I developed Respira (breath training) when I saw that sometimes, just as people are not really prepared with the body and need physical warm ups, they also need warm ups for the breath. The breath should start from below, move upward with the inhalation, and should start from the top and move downward with the exhalation.
From lower, where you feel the expansion of the breath, you move to the navel – just a little below the navel, not all the way down. Also the breath moves upward and to the side. So that’s the way it should be. It should be fluid, not contracted, not blocked, not be rasping or blocking in the throat. The breath should be totally free. That is the fluid breathing. There is also sometimes peaceful breathing, smooth breathing, calm breathing.
The breathing doesn’t work magically. We have to train and to understand; understanding is important. explaining how it should be done, and then through the exercises of Respira, it’s easier to have an experience, a concrete experience.
When you have that concrete experience you cannot make up ideas of how it could be or should be – now you know. If you experience it then you know how the structure of the fluid breathing might be. And then it’s all a matter of deepening this knowledge, create a more stable memory of that, and that is called training.
And then slowly it will become more natural to breathe in this more natural way, because in reality, that is more natural way of breathing. Then we integrate that in the movement. So understanding and applying are also important and that is why I tell people to firstly observe the movement of the breath.
This kind of breath is actually considered by many different cultures and systems to be fundamental for a good quality of our life. Through this coordination of the breath, we can really be more relaxed, and the mind is also more relaxed and focused because breath is a direct path to the brain and to everything that controls our existence. Some studies define the breath as the remote control of the mind.
So breath is important. The breath and the fluid breathing are important for everyone and are the base of the practice of Yantra Yoga because the core of Yantra Yoga is the breathing leading to the holdings.
Formation of New Teachers and The Future
Laura and I were trying to understand what was the best way to go forward with Yantra Yoga after Rinpoche’s passing. Then at a certain point, we understood that it was possible to go on. And so we started to do what were doing before, training people, and if they demonstrated that they understood the basic aspect of Yantra Yoga, we could authorize them to teach.
We had to devise a new structure that would allow us to teach the first level, and that would leave time for people to practice in between. If they really want to be supervised they must be prepared. That’s what they have to do. Everybody should know about her or his own condition of their life.
People have to decide if they have the time and if they have the intention – that is up to them, it cannot be up to us. Also if people want to practice with other people to prepare and train, maybe they know some Yantra Yoga teacher who can help them clarify something, that is always possible.
The point is if they want to put in the work or not, it depends on the individual. So we try to give this information, this possibility, and then after a few months, they can supervised for the second level. They come to be supervised, and have to show that they have not necessarily mastered at the highest level, but that there is a solid base and also the capacity to teach and train other people in a way that corresponds to the desire also of Rinpoche, which was that Yantra Yoga would be taught maintaining the purity of the origin of the transmission.
The candidate can have some limitation, but then we should understand if that person, not necessarily perfect, has understood how to adapt this limitation without changing the purpose, the final goal and the characteristic of what they are doing.
So it should be understood, it is not simply to copy something because it doesn’t work, to copy something. Photocopies don’t work. You have to assimilate the experience. And through their experience, and eventually without going out from are the parameters established in the book and how they were taught, hopefully the candidates understand how they can help other people tin the best way.
So, if we understand how Yantra Yoga works and the dynamic between the body, breath, mind, then we can teach well, and then if there are people who need it, we would be able to adapt without changing the core aspect of the Yantra Yoga.
For me what is important is the quality of a teacher. Then if you want to use your own words and your own example, it’s normal. But the core should be there, the core should not be changed; not be transformed with ignorance, with easiness or changed because it looks better like this, or in this moment I feel to do it like this. No, there should be a basic knowledge of what it is, and so you can inform people and guide people to do it correctly.
Transcribed and edited from interviews done by Mikyö Logan Clark for The Mirror
