Tummo Breathing (Inner Fire)

How to do it

1. Sit tall on a cushion or a chair, somewhere quiet. Morning or early afternoon suits it best.
2. Breathe out fully to empty your lungs.
3. Breathe in slowly through your nose for 5 seconds, belly first, then chest.
4. Hold for 7 seconds, easy and unclenched. Picture a small, warm flame at your navel.
5. Breathe out slowly for 5 seconds.
6. Repeat for about 7 rounds. Let go of any hold early if you need to breathe.
7. When the holds feel easy, move up to 6-12-6, then 7-15-7.
8. Finish with a minute of normal breathing. Notice any warmth or tingling before you get up.

Benefits

• Steady and focused in a few minutes

  Slow breaths with a held pause give your mind one simple job. Within a few rounds you feel settled and clear.

• Ease with holding your breath

  Holds start at 7 seconds and grow to 15 at Advanced, so stillness becomes comfortable without strain.

• An image that holds your attention

  The tradition pairs the hold with an inner flame. Picturing it keeps your mind from wandering, and Spoon's orb warms through each hold to help.

What the research says

In 1982, Herbert Benson's team measured three Tummo practitioners in Upper Dharamsala, India^[1]. During practice, their finger and toe temperatures rose by as much as 8.3 °C. Benson put this down to widening blood vessels in the hands and feet, not a hotter body core. Retellings often turn it into monks raising their whole body temperature, which is not what was measured^[3].

A 2013 study in PLOS ONE tested ten expert practitioners in rooms near 0 °C, measuring core temperature under the armpit^[2]. Forceful vase breathing alone raised it only slightly, to an average of 36.9 °C. Forceful breathing with visualization raised it to an average of 37.6 °C, and one person reached 38.3 °C. Gentle breathing, with or without visualization, raised nothing. Eleven Western volunteers with yoga or martial arts experience, doing forceful breathing alone, stayed in the normal range.

The authors concluded that the forceful vase breath, with its hold and muscle tension, produces the heat, and that visualization keeps the rise going longer^[2]. Spoon's version is gentle, so do not expect a temperature rise from it. What you get is the steady calm of slow breathing with a held pause.

Traditional Tummo, online Tummo and Spoon's Tummo

• Traditional Tummo is the first of the Six Yogas of Naropa, passed from Tilopa to Naropa, Marpa and Milarepa. It combines vase breathing, a body lock and visualization of the body's subtle channels, and is normally taught after empowerment from a qualified lama^[4].
• Many online Tummo classes teach rounds of fast, forceful breaths followed by a long hold. That looks a lot like Wim Hof breathing, and it carries the same risks.
• Spoon's Tummo is a slow inhale, one comfortable hold and a slow exhale, at three levels. There are no pumping breaths and no lock. Spoon guides this breathing pattern, not the full practice.

Tummo vs Wim Hof breathing

Wim Hof breathing is often linked to Tummo, but the Wim Hof Method's own site keeps them apart: it describes Wim Hof's method as rooted in nature, with no religious components^[5]. Inside the tradition, Tummo serves meditation: its warmth and bliss support insight into the nature of mind^[4].

Tips

• Release the hold at the first strong urge to breathe. A comfortable hold beats a long one.
• Keep the hold soft: relax your jaw, shoulders and hands.
• Practice in the morning or early afternoon. Teachers keep Tummo away from bedtime.
• Start at Beginner. Move up a level only when every hold feels easy.

Related exercises

• Wim Hof BreathingThirty full breaths and one quiet hold leave you wide awake.
• Nine Purification BreathsNine slow breaths in three sets: left, right, then both. A clear mind before you sit.
• BhastrikaForceful breaths in and out, about one a second. It warms you up and wakes you fast.