The Institute

Maurice Daubard

A short biography

The first 20 years of MD’s life were marked by suffering, restrictions, war and finally illness. It was through the practice of Yoga and Toumo that he found the path to healing. He then naturally became a Tummo Yoga teacher.

Born in 1930 in Paray-le-Monial, Maurice Daubard subsequently lived (from the 1980s until the end of his life in 2022) in Saint-Aubin-le-Monial, two blessed places (as he liked to say).

The first 20 years of his life were marked by suffering, restrictions, war and finally illness. Suffering from tuberculosis, pleurisy, scoliosis, anaemia and decalcification, he spent 5 years (from the age of 18 to 23) in hospitals and sanatoria. “I lay in silence and intensive immobility. I was condemned by the medical profession to be disabled for life”.

At the sanatorium, he met a former Christian missionary who had spent time in India. “He taught me the basics of mental yoga, positive thought control and breath control, which led to an initial improvement in my state of health – and that’s when it all started! I avoided a thoracotomy. The priest recommended that I read a book on Hatha Yoga.

A few months later, after reading another book, “Mystiques et magiciens du Tibet”, by Alexandra David-Néel (on the Tibetans’ exercises for adapting to the cold), he took his first cold bath in the Allier, in the winter of 1956.

Maurice Daubard spontaneously discovered the power of asceticism on the body – what in India is known as TAPAS, the awakening of the inner fire, which generates energy that can, for example, be used to heal the body.

“When I came out of my first winter bath, I thought I’d been turned into an ice cube! But I felt that, even though it was very cold outside, warmth was growing inside me. I was taken over by a slightly crazy faith, calling on Jesus to help me go further… This practice influences not only the body, but also the psyche.”

Voluntary exposure to cold and Tummo
Sand marathon
Ice immersion
Mountain biking in the Himalayas
High-flying diving
Tummo
Yoga Asanas
Tibet September 2006
Tummo in Pirolin January 2007
Expedition to Finland March 2007