Maurice Daubard

EXPEDITION TO FINLAND

 

From 23 March to 4 April 2007
for a scientific experiment

 

According to official statements by Kertu SALONEN, Vice President of the Finnish Yoga Federation, Member of the Board of the European Yoga Union, this was the first time that a yogi had come to teach Toumo in Finland.

 

Kertu SALONEN is the organiser of this event. The programme includes several conferences in different locations in Northern Finland, as well as a week-long Yoga and Toumo course in Kiilopaa, near the Russian border, 400 km above the Arctic Circle in Lapland, with participants coming mainly from Helsinki.

 

Kiilopaa is a centre in the middle of a forest of fir, pine and birch trees, a restaurant built of wood in a village of chalets where the Finns go for their summer and winter holidays (cross-country skiing). What a surprise it was for these holidaymakers when they met Maurice DAUBARD bare-armed and barefoot in his sandals!

 

Programme for this week’s course

 

From 07:00 to 08:30: Toumo in the forest, undressed on the snow with special Pranayama breathing. At this time of year, temperatures in Lapland are around -30°.

 

Maurice DAUBARD was always the first to undress (in his pants), sitting in a lotus position on the snow for the whole week.

As for the practitioners, they only undressed for a few minutes on the last two days.

At 11:00am: Back to the forest with a short walk on snowshoes, in pants, and a snow bath.

From 5:00 pm to 7:30 pm: yoga class in a heated room.

After dinner: talk and meditation.

 

From time to time, a few people entered the classes, making it a bit of a “Auberge espagnole”.

 

There was also a two-and-a-half hour conference open to the trainees and also to all the residents of the centre.

 

During this intense week, Maurice DAUBARD, tireless, exemplary and open, won everyone’s hearts. The Finns, who by nature are very reserved, asked to give him a hug and a kiss. Everyone greeted him with respect and deference.

 

On the last day of the week, an all-day dog-sled expedition was organised to the Russian border. Each six-dog sled was manned by two people, who took it in turns to lead the dogs. Russian guides on snowmobiles kept an eye on the teams, ready to intervene in case of emergency.

 

What a joy it was to spend the whole day through the fir and pine forests, encountering nothing but the wilderness and its wildlife, and the dogs running with incredible speed and exhilaration!

 

The second week, we returned to the Arctic Circle, 400 km further south, having regretfully left the first week’s trainees and the Kiilopaa centre, to join a cultural activities centre in the town of Rovaniehi where Maurice DAUBARD was to give a lecture and a course in yoga and Toumo.

 

The lecture was scheduled, as always, to last 2 hours, but in fact it lasted 3 hours 30 minutes, because everyone was captivated and passionate. At the end, everyone embraced Maurice DAUBARD with great warmth and emotion. Once again, Maurice DAUBARD succeeded in winning over all the participants, some of whom had travelled 400 km to meet him.

 

At 10am the next day, in the back room of a large restaurant in the city, Maurice DAUBARD’s team had a meeting with two scientific specialists and professors, Mr HANNU RINTAMAKI and Mr JUHA OKSA from the New Finland Institute of Research on Extreme Cold for Public Health.

 

The rest of the morning was devoted to asking Maurice DAUBARD very specific questions about his experience of the cold and the Toumo spirit. Of course, Kertu SALONEN, as a doctor, took part in these interviews, as did other leading Finnish figures.

 

These exchanges were of great mutual interest to Maurice DAUBARD and the scientists. The feeling was mutual and they gathered a wealth of important information on Maurice DAUBARD’s experience since 1956. They were astonished by the results they obtained after reading his file, and in particular about Maurice DAUBARD’s illness in the years 1948 to 1953, and also astonished by his age (M.D. was 77 at the time).

 

The afternoon was devoted to the experiments, which lasted 1 hour. Maurice DAUBARD, who was directly exposed to the cold, was fitted with sophisticated high-tech equipment, including blood pressure and heart rate monitors, skin and blood vessel antennae and a breathing mask. They made Maurice DAUBARD swallow a mini-computer the size of a revolver bullet so that he could be observed from his stomach using an ultra-sophisticated device (worth €100,000). This device would be directly connected to a computer to record a host of highly complementary information, including the infinitesimal aspect of hypothermia.

 

 

At the start of the test, Maurice DAUBARD’s temperature was 37.4°.

 

After an hour, the scientists asked Maurice DAUBARD if he would agree to stay for a further 10 minutes to see how far his internal temperature would finally fall and thus determine exactly when hypothermia would appear.

 

Maurice DAUBARD agreed to stay for the extra 10 minutes, and his temperature only dropped to 36.9°. The scientists were astonished, firstly to observe a very slight decrease in hypothermia, with no change in cardiac output, and secondly that the blood pressure was the same from the beginning to the end of the experiment.

 

The scientists were astonished because Maurice DAUBARD’s body was boiling hot, which they found unbelievable.

 

What’s more, once they got inside the chalet, Maurice DAUBARD did not emanate a single thermal shiver. The only word the scientists uttered with the utmost seriousness was: ” phenomenon ”

 

As for the psychological observations, they noted his perfect mastery due to his exceptional experience, knowing himself physiologically and psychologically.

 

After putting all their sophisticated equipment back into their van, the scientists and all those who had organised the course (doctors, yoga teachers) expressed their pride and emotion at having shared and lived through these moments of exceptional experience with Maurice DAUBARD.

 

On behalf of everyone present, Kertu SALONEN thanked and congratulated Maurice DAUBARD on this experience, underlining the mastery of his work, his endurance, his energy and the passion with which he had given himself, tirelessly, and so many other things that she was able to highlight with great emotion.

 

Maurice DAUBARD simply replied that he had not come to Finland for tourism, and that he was very honoured to have been chosen, that it was therefore normal to give the best of himself, to be exemplary, that he was a man of integrity, but also out of respect for all those who had financed this expedition. Maurice DAUBARD also said that he was proud to represent his country, his region (Moulins and Saint Aubin le Monial) and its inhabitants, proud for his children, and that there was no other explanation for his efficiency and his inexhaustible energy.

 

 

MAURICE DAUBARD

 

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