Donny wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 11:17 pm
Can Guru-Yoga also be practiced as a protection during this time?
Absolutely! Guru-Yoga is a little bit like the basis of all Vajrayana mantra practice, it never goes wasted and indeed does provide protection to the practitioner from all sorts of negative influences if you have faith in it. And if you don't have faith in it it will help you to develop faith over time.
The other practices are good as well though. Guru yoga is a little bit like an "allround cure & protection" for all sorts of things. Other practices like Parnashavari or Vajra Armour, Urgyen Menla and so on are sort of more targeted towards a specific purpose (here: healing, cure, protection of diseases). What's more important than which exact yidam you select for protection is that you develop a certain pliancy with it - really try to get results before stopping the practice. If you have signs in your dreams that's a very good marker of progress. You can select one that you feel most drawn to (if you received transmission for several ones). For example, some people are very much drawn to Tara, then maybe Parnashavari is a good choice as she is one of Tara's manifestations. If you are very much drawn to Guru Rinpoche, then maybe Dorje Gotrab could be a good choice for you, because he is a manifestation of Guru Rinpoche. Some like more peaceful deities, others more wrathful ones. Some like more female dakini figures, others more male ones or ones in yab-yum. And so on. It depends on your personality, your karma and so on.
If you have sufficient time, then it's anyway good to always start your mantra practice with a short round of guru yoga before doing other mantra practice. In a retreat (where I don't primarily accumulate mantras but do a bunch of different practices) I personally like to start the day with a guru yoga for example.