Five Tibetans

[nancylebovitz]

You mentioned visualization, muscle locks, breathing, and selective muscle tension for the Tibetans, but the only one I've got detailed information on is the breathing. When you've got a chance, could you expand on the others?

I had a rough time with the Tibetans last week, but seem to have worked the kinks out.

Part of it was that I'd overstressed my shoulders (fourth rite) to the point where a muscle hurt (not good exertion pain, as far as I could tell) enough that I couldn't really focus when I was sitting at the computer. I seem to have a problem that exercise with low to no pain can lead to non-trivial pain afterwards. I've currently got that framed as that a lot of my body awareness shuts down when I'm exerting myself. I don't know if that's an excessively depressing way of putting it. Or it might suggest that my life-long aversion to exercise had some rational self-preservation to it.

Anyway, I tried one thing and another, and settled on standing meditation. Fifteen minutes of plain standing and fifteen minutes of "holding a ball". For the first few days, I did the Tibetans first (that was the thing I'd committed myself to), and then I had the brainstorm of doing the warm-ups *first*. That (plus some Reiki/massage/energy work) from a friend has resolved the shoulder problem.

Last night I did the rites with no warm-up, and my shoulder is ok.

For most of the last couple of weeks, my energy level was below normal, and my normal level is pretty low already. I was getting concerned, and disappointed by the rites. However, I was spinning the wrong way (the right hand should lead, shouldn't it?), and I'm pretty sure I had one of those debilitating colds. Anyway, I'm back to normal or a little above.

The good news is part of my work set-up involves sitting cross-legged on the floor for moderately extended periods, and I'd been finding it more and more painful. (Hip/thigh muscle tension.) Now it's become easy again, and possibly better than it's been for years. I'm not sure how much it's the standing meditation or the Tibetans, though.

[nancylebovitz]

I'm starting 10 reps this week, since I've been adding one per week.

In general, I'm better at doing the rites, but the improvements in my life otherwise are pretty modest. Aside from that added flexibility (mentioned last week) and somewhat better focus at T'ai Chi (senses + inner monologue about T'ai Chi for 5 or 10 moves at a time instead of random subjects), the weird one was having depression as a specific, immediately named sensation rather than having to deduce it from my actions, feelings, and thoughts. This seems like a big jump in clarity, and possibly something I can work with.

Still, I was hoping for fairly quick improvements in my energy level. I'm hoping it's just that I'm not all that close to 21 reps. I'm planning to stay with it up to 21 plus a few weeks to give it a fair chance. Other possibilities are that I'm doing it wrong, there are some people the rites don't work for and I'm one of them, and/or I'm sabotaging it.

Is anyone else staying with the Tibetans? How is it going?

Anyway, improvements in the rites. Not only can I do number 4 without pain afterwards, I can mostly do it lowering myself rather than falling with a thump. I did a set of number 2 that was well coordinated with my breathing.

Last week, I put off posting for a couple of days because I was ashamed that I was having so much trouble with it. If possible, I'm not going to do that again. This is an experiment with the Tibetans and an attempt at self-discipline. Success is not a matter of virtue.

[temporus]

I've been sticking with them Nancy. I had one morning where I ran out, forgetting to do them. I ended up doing them late at night instead.

I know that as I just keep at it, each time I'm feeling a little less awkward in all of the movements. I just moved up to 5 reps, and I anticipate holding on that level for a while. It's enough to feel like I'm doing something, yet still short enough that I can move through the routine quick enough that I'm not stressed about being late for work. (Wish I could say the same about the compulsive blog/email reading I end up doing in the mornings.)

As to the effects? I don't know. I feel good about committing and doing. That's not a small thing. I feel good that I'm improving at doing them. I can't really think of a down side to doing them, though the one day I started the exercise after my son was awake was a challenge. He kept wanting to sit on me, thinking it was all just a game. Cute, but distracting.

I'm going to keep at it, and if nothing else, I figure it has to help with some physical flexibility, and a short way of getting the blood moving, and the breathing centered before I ruin all that with a commute, and a day of sitting in a chair staring at computers.

Am I wrong? Can anyone see a specific downside to performing them?

Ed

[nancylebovitz]

I suppose I could call this a non-specific downside. There seems to be a limit (maybe I should work on this) to how much exercise/meditation I can get myself to do. At this point, I'm up to alternating days of about a half hour and an hour. Which is a lot compared to what I used to do, and a lot by most standards.

Five Tibetans displaces other stuff. There's Swimming Dragon (a chi gung exercise) that I've quit doing, and a another chi gung rejuvenation set I've learned half of and would like to get around to.

However, there are physical advantages to the Five Tibetans, and it seems worth staying with for now for me. Also, the big deal with the Five Tibetans wasn't just that it's pretty good, it's that it's a substantially better use of 15 minutes than other systems.

[Steven Barnes]

I can't imagine that you would hurt yourself, and a second set might be a time to experiment. On the other hand, if you have an urge to do more, you might be better served integrating some short-time exercises like Hindus, Turkish Get-ups, yoga, jumping rope, etc.

[tcastleb]

I've been doing them daily since the beginning, with the exception of three days when I had friends visiting (rather shy about doing them in front of people, and there's nowhere to be alone in a studio apt.) After that little break I did notice motivation and endurance dropped considerably (kept trying to convince myself not to do it again) but I did it anyway. I just bumped it up to 11 reps, except for the last one, because my abs get too tired before I get to that many.

And I think I'm finally getting the whole body/mind connection thing. Yes, it took a while, but I've never been into sports, don't exercise, and haven't had an intimate relationship, so I'm not terribly physically aware of things. I get the idea of a flow state, being a writer and a musician, I just haven't used anything physical to get there, but at least now I can see how it can happen.

And as for Tibetans helping to improve my life overall . . . hard to say; I think because I haven't gotten to the flow state with them much I'm loathe to say they're working wonders, although I have been less stressed and unhappy lately, but that might be attributable to a few other factors too. They're certainly not hurting, and generally I look forward to doing them.

[temporus]

Nancy, I see where you're coming from. It's a point of trade off of doing this routine, versus doing a different routine, at which point I understand how you have to weigh out which one adds to your life more. That's something I hadn't considered, since the only thing this competes with in my life is either five more minutes of sleep, or more likely, more time puttering around on the web in the morning.

Speaking of which, I almost forgot this morning, but remembered right as I was feeding the dog. Which meant that while the dog was eating breakfast, I popped into the other room, and did my tibetans while allready dressed for work. (THough I took off the shoes.) Not exactly the most comfortable way to do them, but it was nice to be able to get them in, and not feel like I'd have to run and change my clothes or anything.

On my second week of five reps. I need to examine why it is that I haven't gotten this in as a natural extension of my morning routine yet. Except that perhaps I don't really have a proper "routine" and that could be some of my problem. Hmmm....that sounds like something to ponder.

Ed

[nancylebovitz]

Starting 12 reps.

I forgot to mention that for the past couple of weeks, I've been getting a lot of joint cracking, some of it in joints (like wrists) where I wouldn't expect it. This seems like quite a good thing-- I'm presumably getting more mobility.

The big news is that, as a result of working with T5T by Carolinda Witt (a book about the Five Tibetans by someone with a yoga and Pilates background), I've figured out a basic problem with my breathing-- my general default has been chest breathing. It's a lot better if I let my belly and shoulders move, too. And my back. I thought I knew how to track my breath, but I was only paying attention to my mouth and nose. This probably helped with mental focus and a little with breath, but it didn't do much for tight muscles.

I've been working on changing my default breathing to the whole body pattern-- just getting back to it when I notice, which is a number of times per day. I haven't been beating myself up about it.

Other than that, I've been poking around youtube for videos of people doing the tibetans. Mostly, I've been trying to figure out how to do the fourth one better, but it's interesting to see the variations in form--detail that I didn't notice at all on a previous pass. And I think I picked up something about making my steps more precise and energetic in the first rite.

After getting around to trying the short and simple warm-up set from T5T,
I calmed down enough to realize that a big part of my problem with the fourth rite is tight shoulders. This is very different from having a theory that my problem might be tight shoulders. I went from feeling entirely as though the fourth rite is hard because I'm defective and/or because this universe is just too hard for me to realizing that I'm fighting against my own strength, at least so far as shoulders are concerned. I think I'm still up against confusion and self-pity on a lot of the lower body movement.

So I've been working with moving my arms back while standing so that I'm doing the fourth rite position without putting any weight on it. (This isn't quite the same relaxation as doing shoulder rolls.) And then the same with bending my hands up-- that adds more tension to release.

This does make me notice a cleverness built into the rites. The fourth makes for a big expansion through the shoulders just as your breath is getting to them. Now that I think about it, part of the challenge is getting expansion through the front without contracting the back.

I tried doing the heartbeat meditation yesterday, and felt so much energy/fizziness in my body that it took a while to find my heartbeat. The fizziness felt good, but didn't translate into energy for the rest of my day. My energy level's mostly been down, and I've been needing a lot of sleep. I'm hoping it's random and/or illness (minor digestive crud) and/or detox.

[Steven Barnes]

Yes, you will detox, so drink lots of water and get good, solid sleep. Breathing in your chest? Definitely a problem: you're only getting half the air you deserve. Start breathing deeply during the day. Research deep breathing and energizing breathing, and use the Tibetans as a time to integrate what you are learning. You are doing fabulously! Try doing wrist circles (circle each way 5-10 times) before you begin.

[nancylebovitz]

I haven't missed any days, and I'm up to 14 reps, almost 15.

I've been using Carolinda Witt's <i>T5T</i> for a bit over a month now, and I recommend it strongly for anyone who's having trouble with the Tibetans or who would like to polish them up, especially if they don't have a background in yoga.

I'm definitely stronger and more flexible. I can do the first Tibetan without getting dizzy or having the room spin when I stop, I bend much farther on the third than I could when I first started, I can do 14 of number four without pausing (there was a while when I'd need to pause after about 5 of them), and sometimes I really dig into number five and do them relatively quickly. And I can get my forehead down to the ground on child's pose (the pose recommended by Witt after numbers three and five).

I didn't mention number two because I haven't found it all that difficult-- I'm sure I can do more of them, but adding one per week isn't a big challenge. Witt makes a big deal of *not* rocking your pelvis to flatten your back when raising your legs. Do you think that's an important feature? I have managed to coordinate it so my head and feet come to the ground at the same time-- that was impossible when I started the Tibetans.

I've reached a point where I like the Tibetans enough to feel a strong motivation to do them.

I've been working on my default breathing. It's definitely loosened up some. I go on the assumption that if I can't positively feel my belly, chest, shoulders, and back moving when I breathe, they aren't moving, except for my default of chest breathing. Steve, I'm pretty sure you were optimistic when you said I was getting half the air I'm entitled to. It isn't as though my chest muscles are relaxed. I also use my hands to check on my breathing because it's clear that I can't trust my kinesthesia very far on the subject. If I don't monitor, I can loosen up my belly and then find that my chest isn't moving.

Breathing more deeply weakens my compulsion to kill time-- this is something I'm pleased with, since I'm not that successful at beating the compulsion head on.

My level of background rage is dropping. I don't want to scream at the radio any more.

I can't track how I'm breathing for any of the Tibetans except the first, but I assume that will come.

[Steven Barnes]

Nancy--

I have the T5T book and like it a LOT. But remember: it ain't gospel. I like to tilt my pelvis to flatten my back, but within reason you should experiment. Even if there WAS an unbroken "Tibetan" lineage, look at all the different types of Tai Chi or Yoga. Opinions vary. Background rage dropping? Great. That is VERY good. Now, after you're up to 21, I would suggest using your Tibetans as a warm-up or morning wake-up, and adding something either enjoyable (dance, for instance) or intense and hyper-effective (kettlebells, for instance. Less than an hour a WEEK can give a HIGH fitness level, if you know what to do!)

You're doing great.

[belle]

I first heard of the 5 Tibetans in one of your writing emails. Exercise has always been a problem for me, and though I hear about people enjoying exercise or feeling good afterward, exercise has never felt good to me.

Until now.

I have been doing the 5 Tibetans daily for several weeks now, maybe for a month. I am up to 15 reps for each rite except the first one, for which I do the alternative. Every time I finish the rites, I stay on my mat for some additional back twist stretching and a moment of meditating.

But, every time I do the 5 Tibetans I feel great. It feels like I am buzzing, from head to toe, like an electrical connection inside my arms, legs and torso. It is great.

Belle

[Steven Barnes]

Fabulous!