The Five Tibetan Rites
A short routine for a long life
I came across Peter Kelder’s The Eye of Revelation on one of a spate of sites1 that surfaced as I spelunked the work and life of Wilhelm Reich. It tells the story of a British Colonel who, finding himself decrepit in retirement, searches out a Tibetan monastery rumored to host centenarians who look and act half a century younger. His two year stay with them rejuvenates him mentally and physically, and he leaves to share their practices with Kelder and the world.
At just 40 pages, it’s a short and charming read, written with sincerity and hope; having come across in late December, it presented itself as an ideal resolution (small time commitment, references to woo, shout out to vortexes—which are all over the place in the cold fusion rabbit hole), and my energy and mood are improved five weeks thence.
Here is Dr. Stanley Bass’s summary from the PDF reproduction linked above:
This is a reproduction of the original rare unedited book written by Peter Kelder in 1939, wherein Colonel Bradford, a British officer stationed in India, tells of his discovery of a group of Lamas in a monastery in a remote part of Tibet. Men of well over 100 years of age, who resided there, reportedly retained the appearance, strength and vigor of healthy men of 30 to 35 years of age. Further, old men who went to live at this lamasery, reportedly began to look and act dramatically younger within a few months.
After his retirement, finding himself rapidly growing old, feeble and decrepit, Colonel Bradford, after many long, hard months of searching, finally arrived at the Lamasery and entered into the way of life there. Within a few weeks he began to feel surprisingly younger and stronger. He soon discarded his cane, engaged in hard physical labor and spent 2 years at the Lamasery, after which he went to India for a few months to teach his newfound knowledge to others.
The core of the Lama's knowledge consisted of 5 Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation, allegedly 2 centuries old, which are practiced daily and can be done in 15 to 20 minutes. These 5 exercises stimulate the 7 subtle energy centers along the spine called Chakras. These spin at a high rate of speed in a young, vigorous, healthy person, but slow down and fall out of harmony as a person ages. Daily practice of the Rites soon gets all the Chakras spinning rapidly and in harmony again, often making the practitioner feel dramatically revitalized and rejuvenated after 21 days, according to Colonel Bradford.
I have practiced them personally for several months, and know several people who have been using them for years. All of us agree that they are the finest condensed exercises, which give the best results of any exercise system we know of, for the 15 to 20 minutes they take to perform.
If you’re keen, I made a worksheet that summarizes the routine and its recommendations.
Whether it was in Growing Empowered’s Supplementary Knowledge section, which would not be a bad collection to have on hand for an apocalypse, or in the nooks of crannies of Borderland Sciences, or amongst the various conspiracy theories on Educate Yourself I can’t recall.