What is the cure for a sick soul? Yoga, of course. But this time practised in unusual conditions—in the snow or in a bathtub filled with ice.

The snow, the winter hurricane, on one side, and my light clothing, on the other, fought on the White Mountain. As it fell, the snow melted on me, changed into a stream. The roaring storm broke against the thin cotton robe that enclosed a fiery heat. The wrestler’s life-and-death fight can be seen in this place. And, having won the victory, I left there, for the hermits, An example demonstrating the great virtue of tummo.

These are the words of Milarepa, the famous Tibetan master of Diamond Way Buddhism, who lived at the turn of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The ‘great virtue of tummo’ (tummo , g-tummo ) he talks of is a famous Buddhist practice, also known as Inner Fire Yoga. Tummo in Tibetan literally means ‘wild, angry’ energy, and inner fire. But the warmth in the adept’s body is only a side effect. The purpose of this meditation is to experience bliss and emptiness.

Mental Gymnastics

It is probably no coincidence that this fragment of Milarepa’s poem was quoted in the book Mystics and Miracle Workers of Tibet by a woman of inexhaustible inner energy, Alexandra David-Néel. In the course of her more than 100 years of life (1868–1969), this emancipated