Tibetan Rites Challenge - Day 1/7

[CBDB]

First day of our 7-day, 5 Tibetan Rites Challenge!

I’m really excited! My aim for after our challenge is to start embedding a 7-repetition version of these rites into my morning routine. At least try them for a month, staying at 7 repetitions. They’re like a micro-Yoga session that attends to most, if not all parts of the body. So I’ve kept myself from doing them until this challenge.

Today, we will focus on getting all the poses right and play around with posture and moderation of movements. Feel free to stop and start the video, trying these poses out and understanding any limitations or restrictions of your body.

As the final run-through today, we will do the whole sequence, but we’ll only do one single repetition, carrying out each movement carefully and very consciously.

But even though these rites are pretty gentle, listen to your body. Any exercise has the potential to aggravate specific health conditions. So if you do happen to have any weaknesses in the body, various niggles, or pre-existing medical conditions, consider if you need to get some advice from your doctor. Also, just to note, it’s not recommended to perform this routine if you are pregnant.

But together, the 5 rites are said to have great benefits, including

- Complete range of motion

- Attends to both strength and flexibility

- Keeps the spine healthy

- Promotes blood flow

- Increases lung capacity

- Incorporates full shoulder extension and flexi on, something seldom found in more traditional gym routines

The health disclaimer and benefits out of the way, let’s do a short 5-min warmup. From what I’ve read, these rites are often used as a warmup themselves.

But I’ve found a quick follow-along warm up that is designed to complement the 5 Tibetan Rites:

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WARM-UP

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Paul Kevin Smith (6 min) General Warm-ups for Five Tibetan Rites

youtu.be/M3EBijj70_E(Not working as expected?)

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THE 5 RITES

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And now on to the Rites. I’m providing three versions here:

1) A normal bodied follow-along version, which is part of a 21 day challenge. But we will only do 7 days of this.

2) A version for beginners, or slightly less nubile bodies. It also explains each moderation really well.

3) A video that has the normal rites but also includes chair-based versions.

So choose the version which feels the most comfortable, maybe after watching all three (they’re pretty short).

And afterwards come back here to read about the benefits below!

Here we go:

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DAY 1/7

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Northern Vertical (11:50 min) Day 1: 21-Day Five Tibetan Rites Challenge

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youtu.be/7OEk5UZZm0g(Not working as expected?)

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FOR BEGINNERS

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Remembering Whole (10 min) The 5 Tibetan Rites / A Beginners Guide

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youtu.be/mM7WUv0cEs8(Not working as expected?)

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CHAIR MODIFICATIONS

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Posture IQ (20 min) Five Tibetan Rites Explained WITH Modifications

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youtu.be/3A9WObOAGLE(Not working as expected?)

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BENEFITS AND TIPS

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☆☆☆ RITE 1 : THE CLOCKWISE SPIN

★ Benefits

- Proprioception

- Balance

- Neck mobility

- Fall prevention

★ Some Tips

- Move slowly

- Eyes on the horizon

- Take a few moments to breathe and steady yourself afterwards

☆☆☆ RITE 2 : THE DOUBLE CRUNCH

★ Benefits

- Spinal mobility

- Helps to improve 'desk posture'

- Quad and hip flexor strength

- Stretches hamstrings

- builds core strength

- Builds stability and thoracic spine control.

★ Some Tips

- Support your lower back with your hands in diamond formation

☆☆☆ RITE 3 : THORACIC EXTENSION

★ Benefits

- Spinal mobility

- Opens chest, improves lung capacity

- Strengthens and mobilises glutes and hamstrings

- Builds mobility range of hip flexors and quadriceps

★ Some Tips

- Use a mat

- Think cat cow

- Stabilise your pose with hands on lower back

- Breathe out at compression, in at expansion

☆☆☆ RITE 4 : BRIDGE TO L-DIT

★ Benefits

- blood flow boost,

- shoulder mobility and strength,

- glute & hip strength

★ Some tips

- don’t force yourself up, mobility will come with repetitions over time

- Squeeze glutes on the way up, quads in top position

☆☆☆ RITE 5 : UP DOWN DOG

★ Benefits

- total body strength,

- thoracic and shoulder mobility

- ankle mobility,

- stretching planta fascia,

- calf stretching

- Overall foot health

★ Some tips

- On up dog, roll your shoulders back, glutes engaged

- Exhale going into up dog

- Ideally knees & quads are not touching the ground

- In down dog, keep toes gripping the ground

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AFTERWARDS

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And let us know how you get on! Do you have any specific tips? Do you find specific poses challenging? Of course we will want to know if any of us feel younger after the 7 days; they are called ‘Fountain of Youth’ after all! 😉 But most importantly, are you enjoying these rites?

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WRITTEN RESOURCES USED

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Chase Mountain, 16 page movement guide basecamptraining.com.au/wp-...

Wikipedia Entry The Five Tibetan Rites

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiv...

Peter Kelder, The Eye of Revelation, 1946

Pdf is available from nicolaslevy.net/medias_docu...

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OTHER FOLLOW ALONG VIDEOS

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Chase Mountains (7 min) The Fountain of Youth [5 Tibetan Rites - Follow Along]

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youtu.be/uEfEIsradMY(Not working as expected?)

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☆☆ LINKS ☆☆

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Teaser 1 and Chase Mountains Video - healthunlocked.com/strength...

Teaser 2 and FAQ - healthunlocked.com/strength...

DAY 1/7 Getting to know the 5 Poses - healthunlocked.com/strength...

DAY 2/7 Getting into a Rhythm healthunlocked.com/strength...

Day 3/7 Memorising the 5 rites healthunlocked.com/user/CBD...

Day 4/7 We know what we’re doing, right? healthunlocked.com/strength...

Day 5/7 Five is a good number!

healthunlocked.com/strength...

Day 6/7 The penultimate healthunlocked.com/strength...

Day 7/7 We got this! healthunlocked.com/strength...

And a good overview from one of our yogis who have been working their way up to 21 repetitions is here healthunlocked.com/strength...

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold]

Day 1/7 of our Five Tibetan Rites Challenge has begun!

Welcome to the 5 Rites Challenge!

TheTabbyCat Oldfloss ToothPickJafah Over60sRunner Wine dijep LurcherMum Niteflite Folkylass Annieapple and @cbdb and all other VRBs joining us.

[Annieapple in reply to CBDB]

I had a go last night.. realised how stiff my body is .. but going to gently persist..

[Annieapple in reply to Annieapple]

youtu.be/38-XUb1kWj4(Not working as expected?)

Link to the seated Tibetan Rites

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold in reply to Annieapple]

Oh that’s a brilliant find. It even has chapters! I’ll add it to the resource section. Great find and well done!

[Wine 30D Graduate in reply to Annieapple]

Brilliant link thank you

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold in reply to CBDB]

the new post day 2/7 is up healthunlocked.com/strength...

Happy rite-big!

Also welcome backintime ! I think I missed you from our list first time around!

[backintime]

I'll give it a go, the weather finally broke so we have some air and a bit of rain!

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold in reply to backintime]

we’re still waiting for a bit of rain but definitely weather has turned.

[ToothPickJafah 30D Graduate]

Day 1 of morning Tibetan rites done 👏👏

What a great way to start the day! 🧘‍♀️

Namaste 🙏

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold in reply to ToothPickJafah]

Well done!

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold]

Just did these with some modifications, so here is what I found challenging:

1) good, but I’m tempted by spagetti arms. I always loved YWA’s version of it (knocking on heaven’s door). I do need to focus consciously on when to breathe in and when out.

2) I can just about do these, but the tip of using diamond shape hands underneath bum feels good. Again, I need to focus on breathing to get it right. I also like the versions of bent knees, which would be my go to alternate version if I don’t manage the straight legs one.

3) Good, I just need a lot of knee padding.

4) this one is tough, but I just about muddle by. My hands can only point outwards. And it’s easier if I start with bent knees and feet on floor, rather than straight. The suggestion to not lean the head backwards is good, as my neck feels already quite compressed to my shoulders, even if I lengthen the neck as far as I can. This feels really tight in my shoulders, so it’s a good pose to address this tightness.

5) this one is the most challenging for me. I tried different modifications and I’m not sure which one I should stick to.

I can just about do transitions from down dog to plank and back ( this took 2 years of yoga to achieve), but on to updog is just not possible.

The alternative is to move from a kind of cobra (on floor, upper body raised), through tabletop to down dog, so being on knees inbetween floor position and down dog. There is no way (at the moment) I can transition without knees on floor.

Third alternative is the one on the elbows. I can do that one. That’s also one which I’m drawn to, as it has a fuller spinal movement.

HOW DID EVERYONE ELSE FARE?

Any challenges or successes?

[ToothPickJafah 30D Graduate in reply to CBDB]

I actually found all the poses ok to do, maybe a wee tiny bit dizzy on the first one but apart from that…success! My favourite is the last one 🙏

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold in reply to ToothPickJafah]

Nice! I’ve memorised them now, so will try to see if I can do them without video tomorrow.

[Niteflite]

I’ve just completed and didn’t find them too bad to do. That is except for no 1 which made me feel rather sick! I should have taken in the advice given and gone more slowly. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow.

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold in reply to Niteflite]

yes, there are yogis that do them a my different speeds, but there seems to be increasingly a consensus to do them slowly, some say very slowly, like all poses.

[Wine 30D Graduate]

I did the adjustments.... First was dizzying liked how the man did it... I loved i did it... Thank you for the adjustments link 💙💛💚❤️💜

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold in reply to Wine]

Brill!

[dijep 30D Graduate]

I've just had my first go at doing these. My working area was somewhat bumpy as you'll see from the photo 😂 My main problem was that I woke up with a slightly stiff neck so that made it all a bit awkward. I know that numbers 3 and 4 will be my most challenging normally if I didn't have the neck stiffness.

Number 5 was my favourite.

Field that has been recently cut

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold in reply to dijep]

it seems rite 5 is indeed the popular one! (I myself am not sure I have a favourite yet)

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold in reply to CBDB]

and so great to see your “out-and-about”!

[backintime]

Is the aim to do 1-5 x times or 1 x times then 2 x times, etc.? I must admit I watched the exercises but didn't listen to all the bla, I'll have another look!