Jonathan Shao

10/14/2014
Psychology 110
Paper 2: Meditation

The Art of Tummo: Legend or Reality?

The centuries-old, advanced meditative practice of tummo is described by Tibetan

practitioners as one of the most sacred spiritual practices of Vajrayana Buddhism.

Focusing on controlling inner energy to produce psychic heat, this practice is

associated with being able to significantly increase the body temperature in extreme

external conditions. Eyewitness accounts have described tummo practitioners producing

large amounts of steam while drying soaked sheets that are placed on their naked bodies,

while sitting in the subzero Himalayas. In 1982, researchers Herbert Benson and John

Lehmann from Harvard Medical School went to investigate these claims and were able to

confirm such gains in temperature, measuring increases in the fingers and toes as much as

8.3 degrees Celsius in the three Indo-Tibetan yogis they studied.[1] However, Bensons

study was criticized eight years later in 1990 for only measuring the somatic changes and

disregarding the cognitive side of the meditative practice. Furthermore, only the digits of

the body were observed to have significant increase whereas the core body temperature

peaked at a mere 1.9 degrees Celsius rise.

Recently in 2013, a team of international researchers from Germany and

Singapore led by Maria Kozhevnikov did a follow-up study of Bensons.[2]

Kozhevnikovs team observed both the somatic component, which includes two different

types of breathing techniques, various body postures, and movements as well as the

neurocognitive component, which involves mental visualizations and imagery of flames

at certain points in the body, particularly the spinal cord. To test each factor,
Kozhevnikov designed an experiment in which seven expert meditators from remote

Tibetan monasteries practiced tummo while their peripheral body temperature (fifth

finger), core temperature (armpit), and neural activity (via EEG) were monitored. As a

control, they also studied eleven Western practitioners who only used the somatic

components of tummo, leaving out the meditative visualizations. The results were

stunning, as both groups were able to elevate their peripheral and core temperaturesthe

only difference between the two was that the Western practitioners could only raise it to

ranges within the normal body temperature (33.8 degrees Celsius). Combined with the

neurocognitive activity, the expert tummo practitioners could reach feverish temperatures

of up to 38.5 degrees and also maintain that temperature much longer than their Western

counterparts. In sum, the Kozhevnikov team was successful in confirming the knowledge

from Tibetan Buddhist traditions: through the combination of isomeric breathing and

meditative visualizations of tummo, one is able to achieve significant thermogenesis in

extreme cold conditions.

Although Kozhevnikovs study was extremely thorough in its evaluation of

tummos efficacy by setting certain controls for both the somatic and mental components,

one great limitation would be its extremely limited sample size. This could have been due

to the difficulty in accessing tummo participants or the sacredness of the practice causing

a small population to select from to begin with. Another limitation would be its failure to

directly measure breathing patterns between the two groups and only monitoring

electrical brain activity and body temperature. Because of the immense training and years

of personal practice a Tibetan monk must go through to perfect tummo, differences in the
specific breathing technique between the monks and the relatively inexperienced

Westerners could be expected and therefore would have skewed the results.

All things considered, the ability to elevate body temperature in a controlled

manner would have great potential in the field of medicine. Theoretically, one could

mimic the conditions of a fever to fight infections and also boost resistance and

immunity. In addition, if the Tibetan monks are able to thrive in extreme cold

temperatures by practicing tummo, it could also assist others in adapting to and

functioning in other similar hostile environments. Of course, simply being able to engage

in such an advanced form of meditation that requires such rigorous preparation, years of

practice, and proper supervision would surely be a feat in itself!

Works Cited

1. Benson, H., Lehmann, J. W., Malhotra, M. S., Goodman, R. F., Hopkins, J., et al.
(1982) Body temperature changes during the practice of g-tummo yoga. Nature
295: 234236. doi: 10.1038/295234a0.
2. Kozhevnikov, M., Elliott, J., Shephard, J., & Gramann, K. (2013). Neurocognitive
and somatic components of temperature increases during g-Tummo Meditation:
Legend and reality. PLoS ONE 8(3): e58244. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0058244