Ancient Himalayan Practice

The Five
Tibetan Rites

Five ancient movements to restore vitality, clarity, and youth — practiced for over 2,500 years. Accessible to anyone: begin with just 3 repetitions and build gradually at your own pace.

Discover the Rites Work with Isabel Practice Timer
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Origins

An Ancient Secret

The Five Tibetan Rites are a sequence of five yogic exercises described by British army officer Colonel Bradford in Peter Kelder's 1939 book The Eye of Revelation. Bradford learned them during a years-long stay at a Himalayan lamasery, where monks practiced them daily to maintain extraordinary health and vitality well into old age.

According to the tradition, the human body contains seven spinning energy centres — known in the book as vortexes, and corresponding to what many traditions call chakras. When these energy centres slow or fall out of sync, ageing, weakness, and illness take hold. The Five Rites are designed to restore each centre to its natural, harmonious spin.

Practiced daily, the rites take fewer than ten minutes. Their effects — increased energy, flexibility, mental clarity, and a sense of deep physical ease — are typically felt within the first few weeks.

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The Eye of Revelation

Peter Kelder's original 1939 text — the source of the Five Tibetan Rites as practiced today.

Download the Book (PDF)

The Practice

Five Rites

Each rite targets a specific energy centre. Begin with just 3 repetitions and add 2 more each week until you reach 21 — take as long as you need. There is no rush.

Spinning

Spinning

Stand with arms outstretched and spin clockwise. Begin with 3 to 5 repetitions.

Instructions → Leg Raises

Leg Raises

Lying flat, lift legs and head simultaneously on the inhale, lower with control on the exhale.

Instructions → Kneeling Backbend

Kneeling Backbend

From kneeling, alternate between a forward curl and a gentle arching backbend.

Instructions → Tabletop

Tabletop

Seated, raise the body into a reverse table. Tense the whole body at the top of the movement.

Instructions → Pendulum

Pendulum

Flow between upward-facing and downward-facing dog, coordinated with the breath.

Instructions →
Open Practice Timer Guided rep-by-rep timer with breath cues for each rite
Isabel Kirsch

Your guide

Isabel Kirsch

Isabel brings a depth of embodied understanding to the Five Tibetan Rites — drawing on a lifetime of practice across traditions that each illuminate the rites from a different angle.

She is an IMTA Certified Meditation Teacher with a background in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, a Mind-Body Coach, a 2nd Dan Black Belt and Certified Instructor in HapKido, and an Iyengar yoga practitioner. These threads — philosophical rigour, precise movement, and a somatic understanding of the body — weave together in everything she teaches.

Whether you are brand new to the practice or looking to deepen it, Isabel can guide you toward precision, ease, and a genuine connection with what these ancient movements are doing inside the body.

Work with Isabel

Offerings

Work with Isabel

Isabel offers individual instruction tailored to where you are — whether that is learning the rites for the first time, refining your form, or weaving the practice into a deeper path of meditation and embodiment.

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Introduction to the Five Rites

A personal session to learn all five rites correctly from the ground up — posture, breath, sequencing, and how to build your daily practice safely and sustainably.

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Deepening Your Practice

For those already familiar with the rites, this session focuses on precision, alignment, and the subtler dimensions of the practice — including the complementary movements done between rites.

Includes video guide access once available.

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Meditation & Embodiment

Integrate the Five Rites with a living meditation practice. Drawing on Indo-Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and mind-body coaching, Isabel helps you connect inward — body, breath, and awareness as one.

Get in touch

Begin Your Practice

Have a question, or ready to book a session? Send Isabel a message and she will be in touch shortly.