Illuminating the Magic Body

Magic or Illusory Body (Skt. māyādeha – Tib. sgyu lus) is one of the “six yogas” of the completion or perfection stage (dzogrim) of unexcelled yoga or anuyoga/atiyoga tantra practice. It is a profound yoga of training in both the pure and the impure “Illusory Body.” “Pure Illusory Body” is the training to transform our bodies into the body of the deity, and “Impure Illusory Body” is the practice of working with our ordinary physical body, our subtle body, our dream body, and our after-death between/bardo thought-body. Following the great Yogi and doctor Yuthok Yontan Gonpo (1126–1202), Dr. Nida considers this practice to be a direct and powerful Vajrayana psychotherapy, designed to authentically free us from all impure and superficial concepts we have about our own selves, teaching us ultimately how to use our wisdom mind to transform our body into that of an enlightened deity form of a buddha. In the Yuthok system, magic body yoga closely follows clearlight yoga, and precedes bardo yoga. Professor Thurman will briefly introduce complementary descriptions of the magic body practice as taught by Nāgarjuna (ca. 50 BCE–550 CE) in his famous Five Stages work, as elucidated by the great renaissance lama, Jey Tsong Khapa (1357–1419).

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Schedule

Friday, November 20th

• 10:30am – 1pm EST Dr. Nida & Robert Thurman
• 3 – 4:30pm EST Christiana Polites Yoga & Meditation
• 4:30 – 5:30pm EST Robert Thurman Q/A

Saturday, November 21st

• 10:30am – 1pm EST Dr. Nida & Robert Thurman
• 3 – 4:30pm EST Christiana Polites Yoga & Meditation
• 4:30 – 5:30pm EST Robert Thurman Q/A

Sunday, November 22nd

• 10:30am – 1pm EST Dr. Nida & Robert Thurman
• 3 – 4:30pm EST Christiana Polites Yoga & Meditation
• 4:30 – 5:30pm EST Robert Thurman Q/A