The Five Tibetan Rites, also called the Five Tibetans, are a legendary practice developed by monks in Tibet around 2,500 years ago. They are a series of five movements performed each day. The goal is to complete 21 repetitions of each exercise daily.
How the movements came to the west from Tibet is not entirely authenticated. What is know is that Peter Kelder published a book in 1939 called The Eye of Revelation. In the book, Kelder relates the story of the rites and how his acquaintance, Colonel Bradford, discovered a secret sect of monks living in Tibet. He was awed by the fact that the monks looked and moved in ways much younger than their years.
The story goes that Bradford lived with the monks for several years where he practiced the rites, ultimately sharing them with the author.
1939 Eye of Revelation
1946 Eye of Revelation
Kelder wrote about seven vortexes that are the source of health and longevity, according to the monks. When these vortexes spin and move energy at a fast rate, the body stays healthy.
Vortexes means the same thing as chakras, a term with which you might already be familiar. A chakra is an energy center, and there are seven energy centers according to yogic tradition.
In TCM, the term is dantian, energy center. There are three dantians, the upper, middle, and lower dantians. The entire energy and qi of the body moves through these three centers along pathways called meridians.
The picture for the course is Mansarovar Lake near Mt. Kailash in Tibet. It is believed to have healing and rejuvenating properties, just like the Five Tibetan Rites!
