Three Year Retreat

The traditional three-year retreat (lo-sum chok-sum) in Tibetan Buddhist yoga has a few different components.

• The Breath Connection: The timeframe of three years and three fortnights (three months) comes from the Kalachakra Tantra. 

• Transforming Energy: Yogic tradition calculates that human breathing patterns produce subtle "wisdom winds". Over a lifetime, experiencing these subtle winds totals roughly three years and three months.

• Minimum Time: Tantric texts state this duration is the minimum required to fully transform ordinary karmic breathing energy into primordial wisdom energy through intensive meditation. 

• Bodhisattva Vow: The stabilization of the wisdom winds allows one to create less karmic formations and therefore less confusion. To be of benefit to others is to take full accountibility for the confusion in oneself, transmuting conditioned states over time  which leadis to spaciousness, compassion, and clarity.