Need Help With Five Tibetans

[kagejs]

Has anyone here had experience with T5B?

I've been messing with them for a little while now, but they seem to be a bit counter-intuitive to me in terms of how the breathing is done.

Can anyone help?

[Scott Sonnon]

Josh,

Steve Barnes' speciality is the 5TB. PM him and ask him to comment on the thread.

[kagejs]

I've asked him several times and got no response from him, which is why I'm bringing my query to you all.

[Scott Sonnon]

I'll ask Steve to reply.

What in particular are you having problems with?

[SteveB]

Josh, where did you ask me? I'm unaware of any messages...
At any rate, I beleive that the correct breathing for the Tibetans is to exhale on the compressions, allow a passive inhale on the recovery. This takes a bit of experiementation, but pays off mightily. If you have more specific questions, please feel free to contact me directly at: lifewrite@aol.com
Again, sorry--don't know how I missed your questions!

Steve

[kagejs]

Coach,

Thanks for bringing this to Steve's attention.


Steve,

I mentioned it in a few threads a while ago. I think it may have been around the time you were moving (it was you that was moving, right?), so it's understandable that the thread didn't get much attention.

Anyway, to the point. Let me take, for example, the exercise where you lie down and lift your legs and head off the ground; I believe it's the 2nd exercise. I don't have the book in front of me, so if memory serves correctly you're supposed to inhale as you lift your legs and head. This seems counter-intuitive to me. It would seem to me that you're supposed to inhale as you bring your legs and head back down to the ground, not the reverse.

I'm kind of thinking of it just like the exercises in Be Breathed; as I lift my head and legs I'm compressing my core, and therefore I should be exhaling.

This is one example page on the web that explains the inhale during lift:

http://www.berrybesthealth.com/tibetans.html

Thank you for your help, Steve. Sorry for the earlier confusion.

[Scott Sonnon]

I agree with you, Josh. The suggested pattern in that article does not jive with skilled breathing. However, perhaps they are at an earlier level in their breath mastery (Breath Scales Mastery (http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/27/sonnon4.html)).


"In movements with small efforts (similar to those in calisthenic exercises such as trunk inclination) the inhalation should coincide with the trunk extension and the exhalation with the trunk bending."

[Jrichardson]

When I was first starting that second Tibetan I found it useful to breathe in during the lift and out during the extension, to protect the back. The hip flexors can overwhelm the abdominals and yank the pelvis forward if you're not used to it and let the abdominals relax too much during the inhale.

When doing the full back movement, I'd breathe in until my legs hit 90 and then exhale the rest of the way, reversing this on the way back out. Once I became comfortable with the movement I started doing exhale --> inhale through the full movement without discomfort.

[Scott Sonnon]

A good example of Breath Scales Mastery, Jon!

[kagejs]

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to try it with the exhale to see how that feels. If my back does become dis-integrated then I'll try the inhale again.