Tibetan Yoga: Principles and Practices

A visual presentation of the origins, principles and practices of Tibetan yoga, the hidden treasure at the heart of the Tibetan Tantric Buddhist tradition.

Tibetan yoga is the hidden treasure at the heart of the Tibetan Tantric Buddhist tradition: a spiritual and physical practice in pursuit of an expanded experience of the human body and its energetic and cognitive potential.

Ian A. Baker progressively introduces the core principles and practices of Tibetan yoga in this pioneering overview. In addition to meditations, visualizations and practices for the breath and body, these include elements rather less familiar to yoga initiates in the West, including sexual yoga; dream yoga or lucid dreaming; and yoga practices enhanced by psychoactive plant or mineral substances. Such techniques facilitate the individual’s journey towards transcendence of the human self and suffering, and ultimately to Buddhist enlightenment.

Baker draws on contemporary scientific research and contemplative and humanitarian traditions to enable the reader to understand these practices. Tibetan Yoga includes contemporary ethnographic photography and works of Himalayan art that have never been published before, as well as illustrations of yogic practice and theory from historical books of instruction. It will appeal to students and practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as anyone interested in mind–body medicine, Tantric art and the ethnography and cultural traditions of the Himalayas.

Review

'A rare glimpse into a world that has traditionally been kept secret in Tibet … beautifully illustrated with colour photographs of yogis, landscapes and Buddhist art' - South China Morning Post

About the Author

Ian A. Baker is a cultural historian and the author of seven books on Tibetan Buddhism and Himalayan art and culture, including The Dalai Lama’s Secret Temple and The Tibetan Art of Healing. He was joint curator of the 2016 exhibition ‘Tibet’s Secret Temple: Body, Mind and Meditation in Tantric Buddhism’ at the Wellcome Collection, London. He leads travel seminars in Tibet and Bhutan and was named by the National Geographic Society as one of the seven ‘Explorers for the Millennium’ for his groundbreaking field research in Tibet’s Tsangpo Gorges.