Introduction

I learnt The Five Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation from a friend (a teacher of The Five Rites) around eight years ago. I have practiced them almost every day since. They have seen me through all sorts of ups and downs in my life since then, and I know I’ll never give them up. I call them “The rod of iron inside me, around which the chaos of life revolves”. A strong statement I know, but let me tell you why…

As a Practitioner

When my friend persuaded me to learn them, I was very cynical – particularly when she told me that they would fix ‘everything’! By everything she meant my early menopausal symptoms of hot flushes, emotional fluctuations, foggy mind, unusual fatigue, empty nest syndrome and loss of meaning and purpose. This was a long list and I thought she was kidding!

I learnt them and started practicing on my own, building up repetitions as recommended. Within two days – and I am not having you on here – I experienced a significant caffeine like energy and even got a bit concerned about it! You might find that funny, but you have to remember I was menopausal! By the end of the day it had settled down, but I had a rather restless night. By the time the next morning rolled around, I woke up surprisingly fresh (after the poor night’s sleep I had just had). The caffeine type energy had settled down and now I just felt like I could face doing the many things I had been putting off because of fatigue and procrastination.

I began cleaning and kept cleaning and cleaning! I seemed to have this massive endurance energy that just went on and on. Thank goodness – because I had a lot of stuff to do! The cleaning outside soon became representative of what was going on inside me – as my life energy increased and my vitality returned. It was like emerging out of a thick winter fog!

I really looked forward to practicing them every day, and felt a sense of purpose and well-being I hadn’t felt for a while. My moods levelled out, much to my families’ gratitude and mine – and I began to plan new & exciting directions in my life.

Best of all – my hot flushes which used to leave me with swimming pools in my naval at night – calmed right down. Now I would only heat up when exposed to heat directly. At this point of writing, I hardly ever get one – and I’ve never taken a single hormone, herb or supplement, nor do I rub wild yam onto my skin!
Around six months into my practice, our family experienced the loss of a vital young teenager (not my child) in an accident. I don’t know how I would have got through it without my daily practice. It kept me strong and centered and stopped me closing down inside myself. I realised then just how important The Rites were to me both mentally, emotionally and physically.

My friend then asked me to go into business with her running Five Tibetan Rite workshops in Sydney, Australia. I agreed, and we were very successful with many people participating in our workshops.

As a Teacher

Although people were getting great benefits, I noticed a pattern of lower back and neck pain developing in a certain percentage of people in every workshop. This resulted in them needing to visit various health practitioners like chiropractors, physiotherapists etc – or having to give up the Rites altogether.

Naturally this concerned me greatly so I decided to consult with a wide variety of health practitioners (physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors, occupational health, Pilates, Iyengar Yoga and Feldenkrais instructors) to find ways to prevent these problems occurring.

We picked the Rites apart bit by bit, looking for ways to retain their integrity and power, but make them safer for the average sedentary Westerner to practice.
Let’s face it; our modern western lifestyle is very different to that of the monks. They lived in the steep Himalayas, and would have been very fit walking up and down those mountains! Their food production, preparation and day to day tasks would have kept them physically active. Since the Rites were part of their daily practice, they probably started practicing them at a very early age.

It is important now to describe here, the type of people who were attending our workshops. You can see now why most of them could be called ‘largely sedentary’ or ‘largely unfit’.

- Were attracted to the Rites because of their anti-aging, energy raising benefits (meaning they had noticed the first signs of aging)
- Had never done yoga before and had not developed skills in body awareness (meaning they would not be aware of the feedback system of the body; & as a result were likely to overdo things & strain themselves)
- Others had done yoga, but were time poor and wanted something they could fit into their busy days (meaning they did not have time to do much exercise)
- Were largely sedentary, doing little to no exercise. If they did do other exercise; it was generally only walking.
- Came to improve their flexibility & strength (meaning they were not flexible or strong to begin with)
- Wanted something to help them feel more motivated and purposeful (meaning they were having difficulty in getting motivated enough to exercise)
- Wanted to strengthen their backs to reduce back ache or to rehabilitate after injury

I tried out the suggestions of my fellow health Practioners in the living laboratory of my classrooms. Through this co-operation of ideas and practical experience, a way of learning the Rites in a series of steps from beginner through to intermediate and advanced level evolved. This method that I call T5T (my abbreviation for The Five Tibetan Rites) develops strength from the inside out – ensuring that people are ready to perform the advanced version of the postures over a period of time. Best of all – provided people stick with the program as described in the T5T books, DVD and Workshops – the back and neck problems of the past have all but disappeared.

This little booklet is an essential and wonderful read about the discovery of the monks and their anti-aging secrets. It is very uplifting. Written in the language of the times (1930’s) it reads in a rather naïve but magical way. I am sure you will enjoy it.

However as a teaching aid, it is very basic and I would not recommend you perform the postures as described unless you are a very seasoned (and currently doing regular classes) yoga practitioner.

Even then, you of all people will understand how important it is to protect your spine – & will understand why the T5T steps make such perfect sense.
I have added notes to various sections, so you can learn from the experience of the literally thousands of students – who have learnt the T5T method with me and the other Registered T5T Instructors.

Sit back and enjoy the tale of the ‘Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth’.
I wish you great health and happiness.

To be continued…

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