The Practice
After the nine breaths, still seated in the meditation posture, visualize the master in front and above you. It does not have to be a flat, two-dimensional picture; allow a real, three-dimensional being to manifest, made of pure light and with a strong presence that affects your body's sensations, your energy, and your mind. Generate intense devotion and reflect on the great gift that the teachings are and the immense fortune you enjoy by having a connection with them. Offer a sincere prayer, asking for your negativities and obscurations to dissolve, and for your positive qualities to develop.
Subsequently, imagine receiving blessings from your master in the form of three colored lights flowing from their three wisdom doors—body, speech, and mind— towards yours. The lights should be transmitted in the following sequence: white light flowing from the master's forehead chakra to yours, purifying and blessing your entire body and physical dimension. Then, a red light flowing from the master's throat chakra to yours, purifying and blessing your energetic dimension. Finally, a blue light flowing from the master's heart chakra to yours, purifying and blessing your mind.
When the lights enter your body, feel them. Allow your body, energy, and mind to be filled with the light of wisdom. Use your imagination to make the blessing real in the totality of your experience, in your body and energy, as well as in the images of your mind.
After receiving the blessing, imagine the master dissolving into a light that penetrates your heart and remains there as your deepest essence. Imagine yourself dissolving into that light and remaining in pure consciousness, rigpa.
There are more elaborate instructions for Guru yoga that may involve prostrations, offerings, gestures, mantras, and more complicated visualizations. But the essence of the practice is to unite your mind with that of the master, which is pure, non-dual consciousness. Guru yoga can be practiced at any time of the day; the more frequently you do it, the better. Many masters say that of all practices, Guru yoga is the most important. It confers the blessings of the lineage and can open and soften the heart and quiet the chaotic mind. To completely achieve the practice of Guru yoga is to achieve the path.