Moving Being

By Khandro Déchen

Khandro Déchen Tsedrup Rolpa’i Yeshé is a Nyingma Lama who teaches in the Dzogchen lineage of Aro Lingma. Her clear, direct and detailed handbook of sKu-mNyé (also known as kum nye) enables those with determination to embark on an adventure into the otherwise hidden dimension of energy revealed through Dzogchen long-dé – the series of space.

Thirty-five elemental exercises cover seven dynamic movements from each of the long-dé series of symbolic animals: lion, vulture, tiger, eagle, and garuda.

Aro sKu-mNyé can be practised by almost anyone, whatever their body type, because the forms range from simple to challenging – from mild to strongly aerobic.

The theoretical background to the exercises is explained in simple contemporary English. It is accessible to those with no experience of Vajrayana Buddhism – yet contains a wealth of footnotes which will be of value and interest to those who have practised intensively and studied the tradition in depth.

These exercises are finely illustrated by the artist Pauline Williams. A western life-drawing style has been chosen in order to portray real-life practitioners of Aro sKu-mNyé rather than the perfect iconographic bodies of yogis and yoginis depicted in Tibetan thangka painting.

Moving Being is the basis for all the Aro sKu-mNyé programmes.