Five Tibetans
The name Five Tibetans stands for a sequence of five exercises that are intended to keep the body and mind healthy and are described in more detail in a book attributed to the American globetrotter Peter Kelder. It is said that they have been successfully practiced by monks in Tibet for centuries . Kelder's book is said to have first appeared in the USA in 1939. However, only a new edition published in 1985 by Harry R. Lynn in the USA, which appeared in German for the first time in 1989, is verifiable.
Framework story
The first-person narrator in Peter Kelder's book tells of the aged Colonel Bradford, who sets out to find the source of eternal youth . After a few years, the colonel comes back from a Himalayan monastery very rejuvenated . The first-person narrator can hardly believe the colonel's transformation. As a result, Bradford teaches the first-person narrator and other people in the "Five Tibetans". At the same time, the colonel advises certain tone exercises (mainly the singing of Om ) and a special diet. The diet is essentially a food combining with a strong emphasis on mono meals, which means that the dishes are reduced to a single ingredient. At the end of the story, the Colonel travels on to bring the "revelation" of the Tibetan exercises to other people.
Exercises
The exercises last about 15 minutes when in fact they are all performed 21 times. They are repeated three times at the beginning, later up to 21 times. The author suggests doing each exercise three times in the first week and then adding two repetitions each week (i.e. 3, 5, 7, ..., 21). According to their followers, the exercises should lead to the harmonization of chakra energies. The followers ascribe certain physical and mental effects to the individual exercises. These range from a strengthening of the immune system or a firmer complexion to the correction of prejudices.
First Tibetan (spinning top)
Stand feet hip-width apart, upright, with knees slightly bent. Place your palms together in front of your breastbone, forearms are horizontal, elbows point outwards. Raise your hands and arms so that your thumbs are at eye level, fix your thumbs with your gaze. As you exhale, extend your arms horizontally away from your body, palms down. Turn clockwise on the spot around its own axis. After three or more complete rotations, come to a stop in the starting position. Place your palms together in front of your eyes, fix your thumbs with your gaze until the dizziness subsides.
Second Tibetan (candle)
Lie flat on your back, arms close fitting parallel to your body, thumbs slightly under your buttocks. Breathe in through your nose into your stomach, moving your chin to your sternum and at the same time lifting your straight legs up to the vertical. As you exhale, slowly lower your head and legs again until you lie flat on your back (starting position). During this exercise, make sure that your entire back is always flat on the floor.
Third Tibetan (half moon)
Kneel on the floor, pelvic width, toes up. Upper body straight, spine straight. Push your hips forward with your hands on your buttocks, while inhaling, circle your shoulders backwards and arch your back. Head back as far as possible while opening your mouth. Slowly back to the starting position.
Fourth Tibetan (bridge)
Sit on the floor with your body upright and your legs straight forward. Support your palms next to your hips with your fingers pointing forward. As you inhale, bend your legs and move your hips up. Hold the bridge position briefly and return to the starting position with the exhalation.
Fifth Tibetan (mountain)
Lie on your stomach, hands as if for a push-up, hip-width apart at chest height next to the body, feet hip-width apart with curled toes. Stretch your arms, arch your back, head back. As you breathe in, move your pelvis and buttocks upwards, chin towards your sternum. With the exhalation return to the hollow back position.
There is also a “sixth Tibetan”. This should be used by people with excess sexual energies and lead to these energies being redirected to the other chakras. The “sixth Tibetan” is breathing therapy , similar to pranayama in Raja Yoga .
criticism
The journalist Susanna Schwager wrote in 1999 in the two-part article "Searching for the book out of nowhere" about the then very popular Five Tibetans. In the first part she cannot find any evidence for the first edition of the little book in 1939 or 1947 and the existence of a real person Peter Kelder. She writes: "In 1933, six years before the supposed Tibetan original was published, James Hilton's Lost Horizon was published ... Its content is amazingly similar to our little book."
In the second part, Schwager asks in “Europe's largest Tibet Center” and is told: “Geshe Khedup has never heard or read about the 'Five Tibetans' in the 68 years of his life ... You know, we don't do gymnastics . We work and meditate ... I've never seen such exercises with us. "
The term “five Tibetans” is used today as a catchphrase for the classic sequence of five relaxation exercises . From the evidence-based medicine , the "Five Tibetans" are used as relaxation exercises. The further information given by the followers on the effects, as well as the chakra theory as a whole, find little approval in evidence-based medicine.
The "Five Tibetans" are completely unknown in Tibet .
See also
- Wiktionary: Tibetans - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
- yoga
literature
- Peter Kelder: Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth . ISBN 038549162X (English edition from 1998)
- Peter Kelder: The Five Tibetans . ISBN 3502250359 (not identical German-language edition)
- Christian Salvesen: The Sixth Tibetan: The Secret of Fulfilled Sexuality . ISBN 3502250545
- Peter Kelder, Christian Salvesen: The Five Tibetans / The Sixth Tibetan . ISBN 3596162378 (double edition of the books by Kelder and Salvesen)
Individual evidence
- ^ Peter Kelder: Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth. HARBOR PRESS Inc .; print run: 15, pp. 11-24, ISBN 0-936197-25-0
- ↑ Susanna Schwager: Search for the book out of nowhere - Part 1 In: DIE WELT November 13, 1999
- ↑ Susanna Schwager: Search for the book out of nowhere - Part 2 In: DIE WELT November 13, 1999