Rating: 
Summary: Never really felt any difference
Review:
When I first saw this book, and from all the good comments I had heard from it, I really expected it to be something unique, great, that would almost "change my life".
I have to say it's a pretty normal book that will not make any difference in your life- you can spend your entire life without reading it, and it will be the same. After trying all the postures for several of weeks, nothing really happened: I didn't feel more relaxed, my breathing didn't improve...
One must be really, but REALLY into the five Tibetans to like this book. It doesn't really start from a base, what makes it hard in the beginning to "decode" what the author is talking about, but it starts or shows everything it's got immediately. Plus, the pictures are not really beautiful.
Not one of my favorites.
Rating:
Summary: Do you like spinning around?
Review: Ahh yes, this one looked promising, and I thought it would makea good compliment to my existing exercise program. Boy, was Iwrong. While four of the five exercises I'm sure are okay, they can't redeem the first, which is basically spinning in place. Personally, the last thing I want when I'm trying to complete the other four exercises is a lingering nausea, which the spinning readily induces. Maybe I didn't stick with it long enough, but then again, my aversion to vomiting probably prohibits that. There are two positives, however: these exercises don't require a lot of space, and they don't require any equipment. They also don't require a lot of time, but that sets off alarms with me in the way many fad exercise plans do. Another warning light is that the exercises have no variations, so the body will adapt and thusly derive less benefit from them over time.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, practical guide to the exercises
Review: Devoting 15 minutes every morning to these exercises for the past month has done wonders: Though I swim, work out and do Aikido, these exercises have radically increased my daily feeling of wellbeing, both physical and mental. The book is the ideal guidebook: short, precise, interesting, clear and fascinating. Sorry I didn't read it ten years ago.
Rating:
Summary: 84 power packed pages!
Review: Do not allow the size of this book to fool you. This book will teach you an exercize regimen that will keep you in shape in 5+ minutes a day! I know 5+ minutes doesn't sound like much of a workout, but after I finish these exercizes my heart rate jumps to around 110 BPM while my resting heart rate is 70.
Rating:
Summary: Best 15 minutes spent either horizontally or vertically
Review: I am familiar with the benefits of Tai-Chi, Qi-Gong, Meditation, Martial Arts, etc. Most take a couple of years of training, and 1-3 hours a day of practice to achieve the health benefits that these 6 exercises will give in 10-15 minutes a day, and you'll start feeling the benefit nearly immediately. At least I did. I'm 48 and due to various debilities can't lift weights or do violent exercises any more. I've done the rites now for about 8 months and I can move pretty much pain free and rapidly. I've benefited mentally and physically vastly out of proportion to the apparent simplicity and brevity of these exercises. I bugged my 70's something dad to try them, and once he found out how much his energy and strength levels improved, he now does the rites daily. Mom is still trying to figure out what's going on, but even she's impressed with dad's increased energy levels. Remember, they will improve your physical and mental condition, but the rites are not a cure-all. Buy the book(s) and try them anyway.
Rating:
Summary: Best 15 minutes spent either horizontally or vertically
Review: I am familiar with the benefits of Tai-Chi, Qi-Gong, Meditation, Martial Arts, etc. Most take a couple of years of training, and 1-3 hours a day of practice to achieve the health benefits that these 6 exercises will give in 10-15 minutes a day, and you'll start feeling the benefit nearly immediately. At least I did. I'm 48 and due to various debilities can't lift weights or do violent exercises any more. I've done the rites now for about 8 months and I can move pretty much pain free and rapidly. I've benefited mentally and physically vastly out of proportion to the apparent simplicity and brevity of these exercises. I bugged my 70's something dad to try them, and once he found out how much his energy and strength levels improved, he now does the rites daily. Mom is still trying to figure out what's going on, but even she's impressed with dad's increased energy levels. Remember, they will improve your physical and mental condition, but the rites are not a cure-all. Buy the book(s) and try them anyway.
Rating:
Summary: Right to the point
Review: I believe one doesn't have to wrap the simple truths in too much excess detail. This book is a great resource, right to the point and very inspiring.
Rating:
Summary: Let's be Realistic...
Review: I don't know if these 'rites' will make you look decades younger, as Peter Kelder claims in Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth. Let's share what I DO know: the main 'magic' of the Five Tibetans is that they circumvent your EGO. Most folks who have tried meditation of any form will have discovered soon enough that the ego gets into the way of your every attempt to grow: it only wants what it likes, attacks what it dislikes, and it chatters to you non-stop about the same things the rest of the time. You can't get anywhere worthwhile without being tripped over by the ego's clutter..... 1. The ego drives you to spend all your time hacking 'pressing' issues, while all it does for the most part is worrying. Then it tells you that sitting in front of the TV or a drink is 'relaxation.' The rites only take 20 minutes to perform -- less than 10 if you're reasonably fit. And they need no equipment but space the size of your bed. Your ego may well still find ways to make you quit doing the rites, but that will be A LOT less likely in comparison to running or the gym, because the excuses will be lame. 2. The Five Tibetans make no claim of being even 'exercise.' No doubt the rites will greatly improve your muscle tone; but they don't pretend to give you the chest and biceps of a Mr. Olympia or the frame of a supermodel, which are precisely what the ego wants to attract envy. There is no 'pain' to 'gain' -- in fact you're advised to go slowly and force nothing. Again, in this way, the rites are much harder to quit. 3. By making your neck, waist, and back go through big ranges of movements, the rites dramatically undo most of the harms done by sitting in the office. Once your neck and back are 'un-jammed,' you'd begin to wonder about the value of the long hours which your ego wants you to throw in so that it can have its red sports car. As Mr. Kilham write in this book: 'It's very hard to keep up with something every day if your intention is not pure.' I like this one better than Mr. Kelder's because of this book's greater focus on deep breathing which, coupled with the whole-body movements, will give your lymph/immunity system an turbo boost!
Rating:
Summary: Simple and Effective
Review: I got this book many years ago and I love it. I've read some of the reviews here and see that some people do not like the first exercise - the spinning. It is my favorite. While it does say in this one and other similar books that it is not recommended to go overboard with spinning - there I times I do spin about 99 times three times a day. It's a way of getting naturally high. (On a side not, spinning is my favorite part of salsa dancing).
I also know a woman who has transformed literally in a few months by doing these exercises - and she too, did mostly spinning. Not only did she look younger, but she become way slimmer.
Some reviewers say that this it not a book for beginners - but the exercises are very simple and you are meant to do them according to your comfort level, progressing at your own pace, so it doesn't matter how stiff or flexible you are - if you persist with the exercises you are bound to make progress.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent exercise regime
Review: I have a bad back that has greatly improved since undertaking these wonderful exercises. The five Tibetans only take about 8 minutes of your time (I do every morning)and the benefits are amazing. It's a great way to start your day feeling refreshed and ready to go. The exercises are simple and layed out nicely in the book with photographs showing the correct way to do. The first Tibetan involves spinning and does take a few times to get "used to" but should not be a deterrant to undertaking the rest. Absolutely the best exercise regime I've ever made a part of my life and one that will remain for as long as I live, it's that beneficial. Bravo!
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