The Spiritual Pilgrim’s Approach

Historically, Buddhism and yoga have always shared fertile ground. Vajrayāna developed in India alongside the Hatha Yoga tradition. Both drew from a common landscape of sacred texts, meditative techniques, and ritual practices that emphasized not only liberation of the mind, but also the transformation of the body, breath, and subtle energies. 

A group of people participating in a yoga class in a spacious, decorated room with wooden floors, large windows, and ornate ceiling designs.

Yogic Buddhism refers to this living overlap. It highlights the way Vajrayāna Buddhism incorporates methods that yogis would recognize:

  • Prāṇa (vital energy): harnessing the breath and life force as a vehicle for transformation.

  • Nāḍī (subtle channels): refining awareness of the body’s energetic pathways to stabilize meditation and open deeper states of consciousness.

  • Bindu (drops of essence): working with the subtle “seeds” of awareness and bliss as gateways to awakening.

  • Mantra and visualization: uniting body, speech, and mind to reshape perception and reveal innate wisdom.

A man sitting cross-legged on the floor inside a richly decorated temple or shrine, speaking or explaining something, with a large golden Buddha statue, framed photograph, flowers, and various religious items behind him.

In this view, meditation is not separate from embodied practice — it is infused with it. Just as Hatha Yoga sees the body as a vehicle for awakening, Vajrayāna teachings emphasize using every aspect of our human experience — body, speech, prāṇa, and mind — as gateways to realizing our true nature.

For modern practitioners, Yogic Buddhism offers a language and framework to honor this shared heritage. It points to a path that is at once physical, energetic, and contemplative — a practice rooted in the Himalayas, yet resonant with the yogic streams that continue to shape seekers worldwide.