Tsa lung and trul khor yoga

Domain XIII · Contemplative & religious disciplines · Tibet

What it is

Framework in the tradition (public outline).

Format

• Session count and format. No session count for psychotherapy integration of this practice was found in the sources consulted. In the one published oncology trial, a trained instructor taught the yoga one-to-one in a few sessions during chemotherapy, followed by booster sessions. That format belongs…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Trul khor. A longer, structured training at Ligmincha, designed by Tenzin Wangyal for Western students. Completing it is a prerequisite for becoming a trul khor instructor in that lineage, and graduates share practices under supervision. Chaoul reports completing a multi-year Ligmincha training before teaching.
• Phase A, assessment and consent. Clarify the practice and its lineage, the client's teacher, the client's goals, any trauma history, psychiatric and medical history, and current intensity of practice (for example retreats or instructor training). Agree what role, if any, the practice will play in therapy. Move on when the client's goals are clear and consent to integration is explicit.
• Phase D, consolidation. Help the client hold their own interpretive framework alongside a clinical one, plan for retreats or deeper training, and end or step down therapy.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Stopping medical treatment; shame when the illness progresses ("I didn't practise enough").
• Over-identification; subtle steering toward the therapist's own views; the client deferring to the therapist on spiritual matters.
• Light-headedness, panic, or trauma-linked responses to breath focus. Breath attention can be activating for some trauma survivors (see B6).
• Clients seeking the therapist as a substitute teacher or authority; a therapist pull to advise on practice. Both call for re-stating roles.
• Recent psychosis or mania, active trauma symptoms, severe insomnia, or major life crisis. Consider postponement with the client and teacher.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.