Christopher S. Kilham - The Five Tibetans: Five Dynamic Exercises for Health, Energy, and Personal Power

This new edition of The Five Tibetans is dedicated to the thousands of people who have practiced these postures in my yoga classes, to my wife Zoe Helene, and to the yogis, mystics, shamans, and teachers around the world who have inspired me.

THE FIVE TIBETANS

Inspired and clear, The Five Tibetans makes a worthy contribution to body-mind wellness and longevity.

MEHMET OZ, M.D.,
PROFESSOR OF SURGERY AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY,
DIRECTOR OF THE CARDIOVASCULAR INSTITUTE & COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE PROGRAM AT NEW YORKPRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL, AND HOST OF THE DR. OZ SHOW

Chris Kilhams The Five Tibetans is a time-honored classic that belongs in every yoga library. A true yogi, Chriss voice is strong, sensitive, and clear; his calling deep and genuine.

DEEPAK CHOPRA, M.D.,
WORLD-RENOWNED AUTHORITY ON MIND-BODY HEALING,
BESTSELLING AUTHOR, AND FOUNDER OF THE CHOPRA CENTER FOR WELLBEING

I know hundreds of individuals who swear by this practice on a daily basis. Chriss ability to translate this powerful teaching in a simple way has led to great self-transformation.

JONNY KEST,
CREATOR OF SLOWBURN YOGA
AND DIRECTOR OF THE JONNY KEST YOGA TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAM

In The Five Tibetans, Chris Kilham offers a simple yet profound practice that promotes health and longevity, is centering, and leads to peace of mind. Chris is a jewel among men!

NICKI DOANE,
AUTHORIZED ASHTANGA YOGA TEACHER AND CODIRECTOR OF MAYA YOGA STUDIOS

The Five Tibetans are a perfect practice for a balanced life and a healthy body.

EDDIE MODESTINI,
CERTIFIED IYENGAR AND ASHTANGA YOGA TEACHER
AND CODIRECTOR OF MAYA YOGA STUDIOS

This book is packed full of expert information... clear, concise, and easy to understand... a wealth of information and advice from many years of teaching and personal experiences... a wonderful way to start or end your day.

TCM REVIEWS

Kilham brings to the Five Tibetans beautifully written chapters about kundalini, the chakras, and an especially insightful instruction on the role of breathing while doing each rite. Excellent and recommended.

HINDUISM TODAY

The author on a coral outcropping above the blue waters of the San Blas Islands, Panama, 2011.

INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW EDITION

One of my favorite quotes from a spiritual scripture says, This will all seem like a brief flash of heat lightning on a summer day. That is one of the great mysteries of life, that time flashes by at a tremendous rate. Days turn into months, months turn into years, and years quickly multiply into decades. Sometimes we begin something, and at a certain point we stop to consider that weve been involved with that activity for a long time.

So it goes with the Five Tibetans. I encountered them in 1976, began to practice them daily in 1978, and now, thirty-five years later, I am still practicing these methods every day. Except for the rare occasion when I am flying someplace around the clock, I practice yoga each morning and always finish with the Five Tibetans. When I first took them up, it was hard to say for sure what benefits I would derive or how long I would enjoy making them part of my life. Decades later, I can say with certainty that the benefits derived from practicing the Five Tibetans are many, and I have every intention of making them an integral part of my daily life until I can no longer do so.

As a medicine hunter, I travel the world in search of traditional remedies that can help alleviate human suffering, remedies that can be used in place of dangerous, potentially lethal pharmaceuticals. As part of this work, I find myself in many countries, often in very remote places. In all my travels, the Five Tibetans have been my companions. I have practiced these methods in Vanuatu South Pacific; in Siberia; Morocco; the Peruvian, Brazilian, and Ecuadorian Amazon; high up in the Indian Himalayas; in the Syrian desert; along Xinjiangs Naladi grasslands; on the Mexican coast; and in countless cities from Kathmandu to Shanghai to Marrakech to Moscow to London to Accra. I have practiced them in hotels, on beaches, on stone patios, in native shacks, on boat docks, in forests, on mountains, and in airports. As the Johnny Cash song says, Ive been everywhere. And so have the Five Tibetans.

The Five Tibetans book has been busy too, starting from its publication in the United States, to its current publication in twenty languages and more than twenty-two countries. I have found The Five Tibetans in bookshops in London, Amsterdam, Mumbai, Mexico, and many other places. I never could have imagined such a positive reception. The Five Tibetans is the little book that just keeps on going. It sits on coffee tables, bookshelves, counters, and bedside tables all over the globe. How wonderful is that?

One of the claims made about the Five Tibetans is that they are youth enhancers. When I first wrote this book, I frankly admitted that I did not actually know one way or another if this was true, but I hoped to find out. Now, decades later, I can say that the Five Tibetans definitely help to maintain more youthful strength, flexibility, balance, circulation, energy, endurance, and stamina. I also credit them with helping to keep me mentally sharp. Thats not bad at all for a ten-minute daily practice. Despite this, Im still aging, looking older than I did decades ago, and going through various processes of change as the years melt by. Any of us who live long enough will age. That is a guarantee. But, yes, I can state that, as advertised, the Five Tibetans make a difference in at least slowing down the aging process. And this is a mighty thing.

Throughout the ages, for as far back as history can recount, people have sought health secrets of various types, from exotic elixirs to mystic ceremonies to tantric rituals, foul-smelling concoctions, viper venoms, odd foods, breathing exercises, dances, and countless other means. The very practice of yoga, in all its forms, is designed to engender greater physical, mental, and spiritual health while advancing consciousness and opening the practitioner to broader awareness of innate divinity. Among the offerings available in the vast buffet of yogic practices, the Five Tibetans hold a special place. They are dynamic, they are accessible to most people, they produce results that you can feel, and they add vitality to your life. If you can allocate only ten minutes a day for yoga, practice the Five Tibetans.

When I think back over the years, I smile at all the places and times I have practiced these methods. And I am grateful that during most of the thirty-seven years I taught yoga, I turned thousands of people on to the Five Tibetans. While I have no idea how many of them still practice these methods today, I feel that I have been a good and worthy emissary. My belief about yoga is that we do not find it; yoga finds us. As a persistent and perennial current of spiritual dynamism, yoga uses us to spread itself, to broaden its reach, to touch the lives of others, to keep itself going. Many years ago, the Five Tibetans came to me. They caught my imagination. I started to practice them. Eventually I became their ardent advocate. I spread the word far and wide. Today, I am still working on their behalf, still spreading the word, still sharing the methods.