Do the five Tibetans for a long life

by Sarka-Jonae Miller 

(NaturalNews) The five Tibetans are a unique sequence of yoga poses reputed to be the key to longevity. According to legend, the sequence was created by Tibetan monks in a Himalayan monastery and then brought into the world by British Army Colonel Bradford. The colonel was amazed by the monks’ vitality and superior health. They credited their religious observances, simple diet and the five Tibetans.

1. Whirling Dervish

The first of the five Tibetans is a standing exercise. To perform this exercise, stand up straight with your arms held out to your sides at shoulder height. Spin to the right and keep looking forward. Let your vision blur as you spin. Breathe deeply into your abdomen. Slowly work up to 21 spins.

2. Tibetan leg lifts

The second of the five Tibetans is similar to an abdominal exercise called leg lifts. To begin, lie on your back with your legs straight and your arms at your sides. Touch your legs together. Inhale as you lift your legs until they are perpendicular with the floor. Raise your head off the floor at the same time, bringing your chin toward your chest. Exhale as you lower your head and legs back to the floor. Work up to 21 leg raises.

3. Moving through camel pose

The third of the five Tibetans promotes flexibility of the spine and gently stretches the back, chest, abdomen and neck. The exercise is similar to camel pose used in other styles of yoga but is a less extreme back bend.

To perform the exercise, kneel on the floor and relax your arms against your sides. Your back is straight with your hips, shoulders and knees in line. First, exhale and bend your chin toward your chest. Then, inhale as you bend your head back to look up and you gently arch your lower back. Slide your hands up to your lower back as you bend backwards. Repeat up to 21 times.

4. Staff to upward plank pose

The fourth exercise combines two popular yoga postures, the staff pose and a variation of upward plank pose. The exercise strengthens the wrists, arms, core and legs.

To begin, sit with your legs together and straight in front of you. Place your hands on the floor next to your buttocks with your fingers pointing forward and flex your feet toward your shins. This is staff pose. Inhale as you bend your knees and raise your hips off the floor. Lift up until your spine is parallel to the floor and your knees are in line with your ankles. Look at the ceiling. Exhale as you lower back into staff pose. Perform up to 21 repetitions.

5. Down dog to cobra pose

The fifth exercise moves from downward-facing dog pose to cobra. The Tibetan exercise strengthens the arms, shoulders and chest while also stretching the abdomen, shoulders and legs.

To begin, assume push-up position with your hands shoulder-width apart. Inhale and press your hips up toward the ceiling. Your arms and legs are straight. Push your heels down and align your neck with your spine. This is down dog. Exhale as you lower your hips and arch your back. Lift your chest to face forward as you tilt your head to look up. Your hips are inches from the floor and your arms are straight. Perform up to 21 reps.

Starting off the day with the five Tibetans provides energy and increases alertness. The sequence can also provide a burst of energy in the afternoon or evening, when many people’s energy levels drop.

Sources:

http://www.lifeevents.org/5-tibetans-energy-rejuvenation-exercises.htm
http://www.mkprojects.com/pf_TibetanRites.htm
http://home.acceleration.net

About the author:
Sarka-Jonae Miller is a former personal trainer and massage therapist. Get more health and wellness tips on Sarka’s blog, www.naturalhealingtipsblog.com

Sarka-Jonae Miller is a former personal trainer and massage therapist. Get more health and wellness tips on Sarka’s blog, http://www.naturalhealingtipsblog.com 

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Study: The longer you sit, the shorter your life

The more Americans engage in one of their favorite pastimes — sitting around — the shorter their average life span, a new study suggests.

The effect remained even after researchers factored out obesity or the level of daily physical activity people were engaged in, according to a study of more than 120,000 American adults.

Q&A: How to move while at work

It’s just one more reason to “get up and walk,” said Dr. Jay Brooks, chairman of hematology/oncology at Ochsner Health System in Baton Rouge “The message here is like everything in your life. People need to recognize that the things you do every day have consequences. And if you’re in a job that does require sitting, that’s fine, but any time you can expend energy is good. That’s the key.”

The salutary effect of exercise on being overweight or obese, rates of which are at an all-time high, have been well documented.

But according to background information in the study, which is published online July 22 in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the effects of sitting per se are less well-studied. Although several studies have found a link between sitting time and obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease risk, and unhealthy diets in children, few had examined sitting and “total mortality,” researchers noted.

The authors of the study analyzed responses from questionnaires filled out by 123,216 people (53,440 men and 69,776 women) with no history of disease who were participating in the Cancer Prevention II study conducted by the American Cancer Society.

Participants were followed for 14 years, from 1993 to 2006.

In the study, people were more likely to die of heart disease than cancer. After adjusting for a number of risk factors, including body mass index (BMI) and smoking, women who spent six hours a day sitting had a 37% increased risk of dying versus those who spent less than three hours a day on their bottoms. For men the increased risk was 17%.

Exercise, even a little per day, did tend to lower the mortality risk tied to sitting, the team noted. However, sitting’s influence on death risk remained significant even when activity was factored in.

On the other hand, people who sat a lot and did not exercise or stay active had an even higher mortality risk: 94% for women and 48% for men.

Study lead author Dr. Alpa Patel, an epidemiologist with the American Cancer Society, said that the obvious reason for the connection is that “the more time you spend sitting, the less total energy expended and you can have consequences such as weight gain and increased obesity.” And that affects your metabolism as well as risk factors for various diseases, she said.

But there could be other biological factors beyond simply getting fatter that explain the link.

There’s a burgeoning literature evolving around “inactivity physiology,” Patel said. When muscles, especially those in the legs, are “sitting,” they stimulate or suppress various hormones which then affect triglycerides, cholesterol and other markers for heart and other diseases, she explained.

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