In these images, the sword sometimes points to madness... However, it is not outside of oneself that one must look for it...
From a Buddhist perspective, insanity is related to our habitual psychological tendencies of attachment, anger, rejection, desire, expectation, grasping.
In short, we are all crazy.
Tog Chöd practice is a meditation with 2 very specific orientations to this practice:
the practice allows us to cut off the head which is the translation of Tog ChÖd in Tibetan. By head we mean our thoughts. Our thoughts are a source of energy that on the one hand makes us tired, decreases the resistance of our immune system, but also prevents us from directing our lives with awareness. Our decisions are made in a tumultuous flow of ideas and thoughts and this prevents us from moving forward. This is madness. The madness of living 100% of our time in the tumult of the mind. Going beyond this madness is a step towards freedom.
The practice is dedicated to people who can't sit down to meditate because, quite frankly, "it bugs them". For these people, sitting still, observing the breath, feeling the body, observing the mind, nothing is more boring. A real ordeal. It's just unthinkable. And in this 21st century, more and more people think like this, which is normal because we are all ultra-stimulated all the time from morning to night and therefore we need action to establish inner calm. Through the practice of Tog Chöd, we discover meditation in action.
Tog Chöd is therefore a very dynamic practice which allows us to :
strengthen the physical body and therefore its health thanks to the deep movements derived from Tibetan practices acting on all the muscles of the body in a work of flexibility and strength,
to reinforce endurance through the development of the cardiovascular system,
to stimulate our memory capacities through the memorization of the sequences of movements.
develop self-confidence and self-esteem
develop relaxation and inner calm and thus eliminate the stress generated by confused and non-functional minds, in which thoughts run faster than the speed of light, colliding, leaving no room for self-awareness.
developing the power of decision through presence in the moment, concentration and focus
A Tog Chöd workshop will be held in Chamonix from October 1st to 6th 2021!
There is still time to join us!
And if you like the practice, you can even decide to enter the teacher training (certified by Nangten Menlang International) at the end of these 6 days which will count in the training and whose price will thus be deducted from the training.
The course will be supervised by Valerie Lobsang Gattini, Tog Chöd Educator and Teacher, and Urgyen Tenzin, Tog Chöd Teacher.
