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Do What You Love 6/25/2026 7:49:19 AM
DO WHAT YOU LOVE
A little less than four years ago, I discovered the Five Tibetan Rites. Wow. Imagine that! I’ve been a dancer the majority of my life, yet I managed to perform and teach for years without ever knowing the Rites existed.
The effects are said to be phenomenal. People who perform them religiously are said to “youthen” and feel “absolutely Mahhhuvelous!!!”
In case folks have never heard of them here’s a Beyond Basic Breakdown (each rite may be done up to 21 times):
1. Spinning.
2. Leg lifts while lifting head back and lying flat.
3. Kneel. Arch back as far as you can and contract a bit when you come forward.
4. Sit with feet forward. Then yoga tabletop, pause, clench, and come back down.
5. Upward dog/downward dog…smoothly transitioning from one to the other.
Got all that? YouTube has a ton of videos carefully explaining how to do each rite.
It didn’t take me long to get it all figured out. And so I did the little suckers daily … usually as a warm-up for my strength/stretch routine (which includes yoga, Pilates, floor ballet) and for cardio days as well.
I have no idea if I youthened.
Five Tibetan Rites. Nearly four years of spinning and leg and butt lifting and arching and dogging.
After my stroke in April, I got back to the Five Tibetans, although several took longer to achieve. Then, two weeks ago I finally said it, about three butt lifts into Rite Number Four (the tabletop pause, clench, drop).... “What in bloody bloomin’ blazes am I doing? I HATE THESE!”
I’d been just going through them…as fast as possible. Following the suggested breathing but miserable. I put on music that allows me to forget I’m doing them as much as possible. Didn’t help.
Tons of yoga gurus and other very solid, good, exercise influencers swear by the “rites”. And the instant I considered scrapping them, guilt set in. Guilt is insidious. I still have to push it aside. Maybe the rites DO work, but I’d honestly rather see laugh lines and crow’s feet and lose a year of life than go through another set.
After all, when one stops and thinks about it, they’re just yoga poses. Done in a sequence and at a faster pace. Once I began to modify everything but the spinning (which is easy and kind of fun) I ended up actually thinking and feeling about what I was doing, rather than rushing to finish up and get to my main workout.
And guess what? It’s okay.
The Tibetan Rite police are not going to come pounding on my door screaming at me in foreign tongues to stop doing the modified bridge and perform what I call the tabletop “butt swing.”
Gurus in robes will not slap handcuffs on me and force me to work on a yak farm if, instead of lifting and lowering my legs and head, I hold in a V sit for a minute or so.
Monks are not going to bother to light dozens of incense candles around me and suffocate me if I hit down dog and hold, and up dog and hold several times instead of 21, and breathe and take note of where various body parts have landed.
Surprisingly, the spinning, which is the easiest, I still do, although if I try counter-clockwise it makes me dizzy.
Three weeks in of modifying and not a crow’s foot in sight.
Again, the guilt creeps in and I have to inwardly smack myself. Not only when it comes to the Tibetan Rites but other exercises. I work on finding exercises I like. They might not be as physically effective but I don’t care. I want to finish up a workout and smile and not spend time moaning because I find the “bird dog” pose to be annoying and boring.
When I began modifying I couldn’t help but think of the song “Nothing” from A Chorus Line. The singer, Diana Morales, is talking about the acting class she took where everyone else “got it” but her and she felt worthless. She finally convinces herself that this is B.S. and if she’s ever to become a good actress, she needs to find a better class.
I used to heed the advice of fans of Five Tibetans and was miserable. Like Morales, I felt everyone else was perfect … and I’m worthless.
I’m a dancer. Yeah, yeah, an old dancer, but a dancer. Ballet floor barre exercises make me feel like I’m achieving something and my brain goes “YES!” I’ve started subtracting more yoga and Pilates and adding both “ballet at the barre” and floor barre. My roots.
What’s ridiculous is that, also as a dancer, I’ve always known to LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. Yet I ignored that mantra. Mistake.
So now I’m telling everybody else who’s struggling with whatever exercise you’ve been told you must do to be healthy, then it’s time to find a better class.
If you need help, find someone who understands the concept of “each person is different.” Which reminds me, while there are some fabulous instructions to be found on YouTube, but don’t talk yourself into an early heart attack or beat yourself silly because some online guru tells you that if you can’t sit in a “deep squat” for at least thirty minutes a day it’s time to call the undertaker. One of the exercises I did for years as a fast warm-up before a show was a wide “deep squat” with my hands down and shifting from side to side. I can’t pick rice that way (and hey! What is Instacart for?”!) but it’s still effective. There’s no strain doing it and it’s oddly enjoyable, so my brain isn’t channeling the online deep squat influencer and screaming, “Buy the coffin!”
DO WHAT YOU LOVE…NOT what others tell you is the latest super health trend. My brother and sister-in-law hike for several miles at least three days a week. Personally, I’d be up a tree at the first sign of a snake (!) but I totally agree it’s fantastic exercise both for cardio and strength. Hiking keeps them healthy and sane.
DO WHAT YOU LOVE
When I finally “go” it may well be that I land in Shangri-la and see a bunch of 10-thousand-year old folks looking 25, all puffing away doing repetitions of down to up dog via Rite Number Five.
If that’s the case, I’m spinning around (just once) and asking where I can find a place to channel Lady Gaga and “Just Dance.”
Basically, I’m finding a better class.
