5 Rites: Easy Healthful Yoga at Home
Are you relatively new to yoga? Have you been wanting to get more involved but, due to the many pressures of daily life, you don't feel that you have the time, money or energy to commit to an in-depth yoga practise? What if there was an easy way for even beginners to get the full benefits of yoga, at home, and starting with just 5 minutes a day?
The Five Rites is system of yoga based on 5 movements that, when performed in sequence have been said to increase longevity and health. Repeating these 5 movements several times every day can invigorate and integrate your mind, body and spirit.
These simple movements described in the picture above were first introduced to the western world by Peter Kelder in 1939 through a publication called "The Ancient Secrets of the Fountain of Youth". They are said to activate and regulate the flow of the major energy centres (chakras) of your body.
Regular practice is easy and gradually increases to promote circulation, gentle body detoxification and longevity.
For a relatively healthy person, practice starts every morning with 3 repetitions of each movement for a 7 day period.
Each successive week participants increase their repetitions by 2, to a maximum of 21 repetitions per movement per day:
Week 1: 3 repetitions
Week 2: 5 repetitions
....
Week 9: 19 repetitions
Week 10 and thereafter: 21 repetitions
It is important to note that greater than 21 repetitions per day has be said to over activate your energy centres and may reduce the positive effects of practise.
The gradual increase in repetitions allows newcomers to yoga to ease into practise, slowly build strength, increase detoxification and minimize the potential for overstrain.
To complete each yoga session, participants should sit cross-legged and chant "Ohm" the same number of times as each movement was performed. This further integrates the energetic aspect of the practice and allows for the cultivation of a clear and meditative mind set at the start of each day.
Try it!
