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Like an illuminated manuscript, this extraordinarily beautiful book is both an exquisite art-work in itself and an object of profound meditation. It is based on a revered collection, long considered lost, of three-hundred-year-old Tibetan thangkas: elaborate paintings that portray a philosophy of healing based on Buddhist beliefs, Ayurvedic practices, and ancient shamanic traditions - works that still have much to teach us today. Rendered by Nepal's foremost traditional artist, Romio Shrestha, using the age-old technique of painting with rich minerals such as gold, lapis, and garnet, these breathtakingly complex and brilliant works reward the minutest contemplation. This important book is also a practical guide to our search for physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Tibetan scholar Ian Baker guides us through the paintings, unfolding their invaluable secrets about the remedy and prevention of myriad illnesses. With insights into such "contemporary" ailments as stress, allergies, and heart disease, and illuminated chapters on sexual alchemy, rejuvenation, and Tantric yoga, this book offers an inspirational revisioning of conventional attitudes toward health care, disease, and healing. The Tibetan Art of Healing is an unprecedented journey into health and transformation, an astonishing volume as timely and revolutionary as it is sumptuous and exuberant.
This book is based on a revered collection, long ago considered lost, of three-hundred-year-old Tibetan thangkas - elaborate paintings that portray a philosophy of healing based on Buddhist beliefs, Ayurvedic practices and ancient shamanic traditions. Rendered by Tibet's foremost traditional artist, Romio Shrestha, using the age-old techniques of painting with rich materials such as gold and lapis lazuli, these breathtaking works reward the minutest contemplation. It ́s is also a practical guide to our search for physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. With insights into such 'contemporary' ailments as stress, allergies and heart disease, and chapters devoted to aspects of sexual alchemy, rejuvenation and Tantric yoga, this wide-ranging study is an unprecendented journey into health and transformation.
Like an illuminated manuscript, this extraordinarily beautiful book is both an exquisite art-work in itself and an object of profound meditation. It is based on a revered collection, long considered lost, of three-hundred-year-old Tibetan thangkas: elaborate paintings that portray a philosophy of healing based on Buddhist beliefs, Ayurvedic practices, and ancient shamanic traditions - works that still have much to teach us today. Rendered by Nepal's foremost traditional artist, Romio Shrestha, using the age-old technique of painting with rich minerals such as gold, lapis, and garnet, these breathtakingly complex and brilliant works reward the minutest contemplation.This important book is also a practical guide to our search for physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Tibetan scholar Ian Baker guides us through the paintings, unfolding their invaluable secrets about the remedy and prevention of myriad illnesses. With insights into such "contemporary" ailments as stress, allergies, and heart disease, and illuminated chapters on sexual alchemy, rejuvenation, and Tantric yoga, this book offers an inspirational revisioning of conventional attitudes toward health care, disease, and healing.The Tibetan Art of Healing is an unprecedented journey into health and transformation, an astonishing volume as timely and revolutionary as it is sumptuous and exuberant.
A visual presentation of Tibetan yoga, the hidden treasure at the heart of the Tibetan Tantric Buddhist tradition • Explains the core principles and practices of Tibetan yoga with illustrated instructions • Explores esoteric practices less familiar in the West, including sexual yoga, lucid dream yoga, and yoga enhanced by psychoactive substances • Draws on scientific research and contemplative traditions to explain Tibetan yoga from a historical, anthropological, and biological perspective • Includes full-color reproductions of previously unpublished works of Himalayan art Tibetan yoga is the hidden treasure at the heart of the Tibetan Tantric Buddhist tradition: a spiritual and physical practice that seeks an expanded experience of the human body and its energetic and cognitive potential. In this pioneering and highly illustrated overview, Ian A. Baker introduces the core principles and practices of Tibetan yoga alongside historical illustrations of the movements and beautiful, full-color works of Himalayan art, never before published. Drawing on Tibetan cultural history and scientific research, the author explores Tibetan yogic practices from historical, anthropological, and biological perspectives, providing a rich background to enable the reader to understand this ancient tradition with both the head and the heart. He provides complete, illustrated instructions for meditations, visualizations, and sequences of practices for the breath and body, as well as esoteric practices including sexual yoga, lucid dream yoga, and yoga enhanced by psychoactive plants. He explains how, while Tibetan yoga absorbed aspects of Indian hatha yoga and Taoist energy cultivation, this ancient practice largely begins where physically-oriented yoga and chi-gong end, by directing prana, or vital energy, toward the awakening of latent human abilities and cognitive states. He shows how Tibetan yoga techniques facilitate transcendence of the self and suffering and ultimately lead to Buddhist enlightenment through transformative processes of body, breath, and consciousness. Richly illustrated with contemporary ethnographic photography of Tibetan yoga practitioners and rare works of Himalayan art, including Tibetan thangka paintings, murals from the Dalai Lama’s once-secret meditation chamber in Lhasa, and images of yogic practice from historical practice manuals and medical treatises, this groundbreaking book reveals Tibetan yoga’s ultimate expression of the interconnectedness of all existence.