You’ve heard the legends of searches for the fountain of youth? The most well known legend is Ponce de León’s quest for anti-aging and youthful longevity, a search that took him to Florida.

Ironically, he was not even associated with a quest for the fountain of youth until after his death, and he never actually found it.

Well, what if there really were a fountain of youth that had anti-aging benefits, restoring youthfulness and vitality, and it was as close as your own living room?

Since 1999, I have been doing 5 exercises in the morning (prior to eating) that are called “The 5 Rites”. I first heard about them from my mom who discovered them by reading the book, “Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth: Book 1“, by Peter Kelder. I bought the book myself and started reading.

What I learned is that the author, Peter Kelder, wrote this book in the 1930’s after meeting Colonel Bradford (a pseudonym), a British Army officer, who is the main character of the book. There is so much more to this fascinating story, but suffice it to say that Peter was extremely interested and impressed with the Colonel’s recount of his own search for “the fountain of youth”. His search took him to northern India where he learned not only how to do the 5 rites, but also their benefits first hand.

When Peter first met the Colonel, he was an elderly gentleman looking to be about 73, and when he saw him again, four years later, he was rejuvenated, looking and acting like a 45 year old. What did he do while he was away? Did he really find the fountain of youth?

During his four years overseas, the Colonel lived in a monastery for two years with Tibetan llamas. He was referred to as “the ancient one” there because none of the men or women looked or behaved as old as he did. During his stay, he learned 5 simple exercises from the Tibetan llamas. These exercises were the reason that the llamas did not look or act old and feeble, and the reason for the Colonel’s rejuvenation.

So, why are they so special? When the 5 rites are done as prescribed (in the correct sequence, the correct number of repetitions, and every day), they set your chakras back to spinning at the rate of a 25 year old. You see, if you do nothing to change this, as your body ages your chakras begin to spin at a much slower rate, as well as getting out of sync with each other (they end up spinning at different rates).

You may be wondering what a chakra is now: simply put, it is an energy center, or vortex, in your body. There are 7 (some say eight) major chakras, and 122 secondary ones (primarily located at every joint in the body). The book focuses on the 7 main chakras and returning them to spinning at a healthy rate of speed, the speed that is found in a youthful, healthy body.

The 5 Rites are best done in the morning prior to eating or drinking, however they can also be done at night. You can even do them both morning and evening, however this is not recommended for beginners as this would be too much stimulation. Once you have been doing them for 4 months, you could do them morning and night. By that time you would be doing full sets of 21 each in the morning, and would begin with only 3 of each in the evening.

When you first begin doing the 5 rites, you only do each of the 5 exercises 3 times, once a day. After one week you increase to 5 each, continuing to add 2 more repetitions each week until you reach 21. There are also alternate exercises that you can do in the beginning if the 5 rites are too difficult for you. These will help you work up to the rites.

There are several warnings listed for each exercise as well. This is not a complete list of each warning for each exercise, and I strongly recommend you consult the book, however some of the warnings pertain to: if you have Parkinson’s Disease, heart conditions, vertigo, multiple sclerosis, arthritis of the spine, or if you are on certain medications, then you must consult with your doctor prior to doing the 5 rites. Because these exercises are so powerful, it is important that you do not take them lightly.

Additionally, the 5 rites have a detoxifying effect on the body, and you may notice several changes once you begin doing them. This is another reason that it is recommended that you consult your doctor prior to implementation.

You can find the 5 Rites listed on this site. You can review them if this is something that sounds interesting to you, and you could start doing them right away based on the information you will find there, however I do strongly recommend picking up at least the smaller book (book 1, below) to have all of the details at hand.

These are not the only form of physical exercise that I get, since I also walk regularly and use resistance training (a future post). I feel that the 5 Rites would be a great way to start moving if you currently are sedentary, or they can be a compliment to your existing exercise routine.

At the very least, the minimum benefit that you will receive from doing the 5 rites is an increase in flexibility. I can tell you that I have increased energy and better clarity of mind. I find that they are an excellent way to start my day and I can attest to the difference that I feel if I do not do them, since I have had lapses since 1999. If I do not do them, my flexibility decreases greatly, and I just feel “off”.

One more benefit that I receive that may be of interest to you if you are a woman that has irregular periods (and do not have a medical condition; you can check with your doctor on this): as long as I do the 5 rites consistently every day, I have regular periods. I have always been irregular, which is not due to any medical issue.

Why do the 5 rites do this for me? All I know is that they do, so I am thinking that they put my body in balance. If you read Book 2, you will read of many amazing testimonials, everything from tumor reduction, gray hair turning back to its original color, anti-aging and weight loss, to curing the common cold.

It is important to remember that in order to derive the full benefit of these exercises that you must do them every day (they only take 20 minutes or so). If you travel, you can do them in your hotel room. You can miss one day once in awhile, but you must resume immediately on the following day or else the momentum you have built will be lost and the benefits will be reduced dramatically.

Once in awhile, if you are short on time one day, you can complete just 3 repetitions of each exercise instead of the full number that you are currently at (if you have not reached 21 yet).

I strongly recommend picking up a copy of the book, in order to read all of the details of these amazing exercises, as well as the individual warnings for each exercise:

Additionally, I highly recommend the second book, which is larger and contains so much more information, such as details on your chakras, dietary advice (i.e.: avoiding all dairy, which I can attest to the benefits of in a future post), and true stories of the benefits received by people who have done the 5 Rites consistently. I own both of them and I like the in-depth detail of the second book: