The Five Tibetans Yoga Workshop

Book Spotlight – The Five Tibetans: Tone Your Body and Transform Your Life

Written by Susan. L. Westbrook

The Five Tibetans Book Cover — For more information or to purchase the book, click the cover

What has a world wide following and is also practiced on a daily basis by television’s Dr. Oz? Answer: The Five Tibetans and a simple ‘Google’ can easily demonstrate the fascination.

For the uninitiated, The Five Tibetans are the legendary yoga-like poses reportedly part of the daily practice of monastic monks in Tibet who performed the five exercises to balance the energy of the chakras and to enhance vigor and vitality. In The Five Tibetans Yoga Workshop: Tone Your Body and Transform Your Life (Findhorn Press, July 2014) experienced yoga teacher, Susan L. Westbrook presents a life-changing workshop between the covers of the book that powerfully couples the exercises with meditation and mantras.

“While the exercises are good for your body the meditation will change your life.” ~ Susan Westbrook

Westbrook spends a little time explaining the history of the Five Tibetans and the lore surrounding them as the ‘Rites of Rejuvenation’ or the fountain of youth. But the core of this book encourages a daily practice of the Five Tibetans yoga and contemplation of the accompanying mantras and chakras. It is a unique approach to personal transformation, which Westbrook breaks into three parts. The first involves learning the exercises and becoming acquainted with what Westbrook calls ‘the stars of the show’ the grasping and healing behaviors. In the second part, she ventures deeper into ‘grasping behaviors and identifies them as confusion, resentment, doubt, fear and miserliness and reflects on how they influence our lives and relationships. The final section offers the antidotes to ‘grasping’ as vulnerability, surrender, authenticity, awareness and connection and how a commitment to these healing behaviors impacts our lives.

Westbrook’s approach is influenced by the work of Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh and she refers often to the concepts of non-attachment and non-permanence. Westbrook skillfully uses her own life experiences to make her concepts relatable and accessible to the reader. This book truly is a workshop, a place where you can take apart, tinker and rebuild yourself.