The Tibetan Rites are a series of movements to practice daily,
Which will help increase the vitality of your spine and nervous system.
By moving your body through these exercises every day,
You will extend the healthy lifetime of your spine and help you experience mobility through your life.
There are five exercises which are done standing and on the floor.
First,
Be sure to clear a space and wear comfortable clothing.
We'll begin with the first exercise called twirling.
Begin with your feet,
Heels,
And toes together.
Open your arms to shoulder height with your palms facing down.
Tuck your chin into your chest.
Begin making clockwise circles with your feet staying in one place under your hips.
Rotate a full circle seven times,
Taking it as slowly as you need to.
Keep the chest open and the chin tucked down with the back of the neck long throughout the entire exercise.
Arms continuing to stay out at shoulder height,
Palms down,
Shoulders relaxed.
As you finish the seventh rotation,
Keeping your chin tucked and eyes on the ground,
Slowly draw a line from the floor underneath you to the ceiling in front of you with your nose,
Casting your gaze gently along the path so as not to get dizzy.
Now make your way onto your back,
Sitting down,
And then resting your head onto the ground.
Arms palm down by your side.
Take a deep breath in,
And as you let it out,
Zip your legs together so that your heels and thighs are making contact.
On an inhale,
Raise your legs up above your hips and tuck your chin to your chest.
As you exhale,
Lower the legs and your back of the head to the ground.
Continue repeating this.
Inhale,
Legs up,
Chin tucked.
Exhale,
Legs lower,
Head rests.
If you find it difficult with your hands extended straight out outside of your hips,
Perhaps placing them underneath the skin of your buttocks to support your low back.
As you finish the seventh round,
Let your feet rest on the ground and slowly bring your body upright,
Sitting on your hips with your arms just outside of the thighs,
Planting your palms face down towards the ground,
Heels extended in front of you.
Begin by taking an exhale,
Tuck your chin into your chest,
And begin to hover your hips slightly off the ground.
As you inhale,
Bend your knees,
Bringing the flats of your feet to the ground as your hips extend upwards and your head extends backwards.
On an exhale,
Straighten your knees once more,
Bringing your hips between your arms,
Tucking the chin into the chest.
As you breathe in,
The hips will rise.
The chin will also face towards the ceiling.
As you exhale,
Your hips will send back in between your arms,
Hovering just above the ground as your toes flex.
Taking seven rounds just like this,
Hips towards the sky on the exhales,
And hips back on the inhales.
Throat towards the ceiling on exhales,
Chin tucked into chest,
Back of neck long on the inhales.
After your seventh round,
Set your hips down and cross your legs.
Roll over the front of your knees so that you are upright with your hips over your knees and your feet tucked,
Toes down behind your knees.
Place your hands on the small of your back just above the buttocks and bring your elbows towards each other behind you.
Inhale to reach long with the spine,
And exhale,
Send the gaze up towards the ceiling,
Extending the shoulders behind the hips while the hips press forward to remain over the knees.
As you inhale,
Return the spine upright.
Repeat this motion on the exhales,
Extending the ribs and hips forward,
Shoulders and throat back.
On the inhales,
Drawing the spine upright,
Shoulders over the hips.
Each exhale,
Be careful not to dump the weight of the head into the back of the neck,
But staying engaged through the throat and the muscles of the neck.
After your seventh round,
Bring your hands down to the ground in front of you and send your legs back to a high plank position and exhale to lower onto the belly,
Elbows draw in to the sides of the body.
With your hands just outside of the chest,
Begin by taking an inhale,
Pressing the hands downward and raising the shoulders,
Chin,
And head upwards to upward-facing dog,
And exhale,
Raise the hips back and up to downward-facing dog,
Tucking the head in between the arms.
As you finish the exhale,
Bend the elbows,
Bringing the body forward,
Bringing the body back down to the ground,
Belly flat on the floor,
And inhale to straighten the elbows,
Bring the hips downward and the shoulders and head upwards,
Upward-facing dog.
Exhale to raise the hips up and back to downward-facing dog.
Repeat this seven times,
Alternating between in-breath and out-breath,
Upward-facing dog and downward-facing dog.
After your seventh round,
Walk your hands back towards your feet in a forward fold,
Exhale,
And slowly draw your spine back upright,
Bringing your arms back to a T-position,
Feet together,
Chin tucked into the chest,
And repeat from the beginning of the exercise.
Seven more rotations or complete the exercise here,
Taking a deep breath in,
And letting it out.
After performing this series of seven repetitions,
Repeat from the first exercise two more times throughout the day for a total of 21 repetitions.
This is the recommendation for the greatest effect,
But all 21 repetitions do not need to be done in succession.
You can perform them all at once or come back to this recording later in the day.
