Teaching is not just about putting on leggings and…

For me, teaching is above all about transmission. It is about conveying an understanding of the practice which, when we speak of yoga—and especially Tibetan yogas—inevitably includes instructions on how to perform a movement, how to hold the breath, but also, and above all, how to place the mind.

Placing the mind is the most subtle and most effective essence of the practice, and it is toward this that all of our bodily practices should ultimately be directed.

Let us never forget that yogas are not simply sequences of asanas, but practices of the body that must be inseparably linked to the mind.

It is also interesting to note that when yogas first arrived in the West, it was easier to transmit only the physical practices, and so, for the most part, they were separated from theoretical teachings—or these teachings were drastically reduced.

In parallel, when Buddhism spread to the West, it too became separated from the practices of the body. Far too many practitioners study but do not truly meditate, or they fail to experience directly because they lack bodily practices. And so, on one side we have practitioners of the body, and on the other, practitioners of the mind.

Yet the texts constantly remind us that body and mind must be explored alternately and together. One cannot go without the other. It is essential to work on the physical body in order to stimulate the subtle body channels—since the body is the horse of consciousness—just as it is essential to work on the mind, to dissect its mechanisms, to free its potential, and thereby also stimulate the channels of the subtle body. Am I repeating myself? In a sense, yes, because in truth, one cannot go without the other, for one is the other. One is the other, even as one is neither the other nor itself, and yet the other is also one. No, I am not playing with words… If you do not yet understand what I mean, then come join me, because transmission is both my driving force and my joy. It is what I am passionate about, and what, no matter the obstacles of life, I never give up.

As my personal mantra says: “I transmit what does me good.” And when it does good, when it transforms, then there is no longer doubt—only a certainty that I discover at the same time as you, as the words flow out of my mouth… I listen as much as you do, for very often I do not know what I am going to speak about… and yet the words flow on their own, with fluidity, and that current nourishes me, quenches me, makes me grow, and teaches me.

That’s all I have to say for today. I leave you with this image of an online teaching given to a future Tog Chöd teacher, practicing the magnificent and profoundly deep Sword of Wisdom. A teaching with no leggings and no studio—delivered on a suitcase, on the corner of a terrace, on a rainy summer’s day in the suburbs of Lyon, assisted by my faithful little yogi, Rangwang, and Froggy Yogi, our mascot.