Arura Healing Centre

Turquoise as a healing stone

More than just a pretty thing to wear around your neck or wrist, many cultures hold strongly to various beliefs in the healing and protective powers of Turquoise. It is one of the oldest mined stones on earth. Egyptian kings wore turquoise as far back as 5500 BC.

The Native Americans believed it stole its blue colour from the sky and the sea and honoured it as representing those powers and their deities. Tibetan people also believe the colour is connected to the sky. They believe that each stone is unique and it is always referred to by the name turquoise never just as a stone or gem.

In metaphysical sense it is a master healer, highly protective, builds self confidence, mental calm and emotional balance. It strengthens the body and aligns the meridians. Good for cleansing the blood and for proper lung function. The blue colour aligns it with the throat chakra allowing the free flow of creativity and the freedom to speak ones truth.

Used extensively in Tibetan medicine is is thought to be beneficial to the liver. There are many complex medicines containing turquoise.

However as it gets rarer and rarer and the market becomes flooded with artificial stones, the concept of wearing a piece against the skin is a better choice than grinding it up to make medicines for ingesting. A small piece is all that is required to be worn for health benefit or protection. (Never make your own medicines from precious stones, many of them are quite toxic and require lengthy and difficult purification processes before being mixed with the other ingredients.)

Spiritually its use dates back to the shamanic Bon traditions where it was, and still is, worn as a protection.

Turquoise is a relatively soft stone, and it very porous so it is normal for the colour to change with extended wear. It is thought that darkening stones are warning of impending danger.

Crystal essences made with old turquoise are available on request, and from time to time I have small pieces of genuine turquoise available. Email me if you are interested.

Rare Australian turquoise, from Lake Boga in Victoria, yes we have our own!

 

Old Himalayan Turquoise, always greener in colour than stones from South America, which tend to be a very bright blue.

 

Buddha as Medicine

It is traditionally thought that the Buddha Shakyamuni was 71 years old when he taught the medical tantras. He gave these teachings at Varanasi, India in the medicine forest. For a long time after that the teachings were kept alive through oral lineages. Now we have the lineage of the internet! Here is a lovely little description of the Four Noble Truths as medicine from the primary studies at http://www.buddhanet.net/

"When we get sick, we go to a doctor. A good doctor first finds out what illness we have. Next he decides what has caused it. Then he decides what the cure is. Finally, he gives the medicine that will make us well again.

In the same way, the Buddha showed that there is suffering in the world. He explained the cause of this suffering. He taught that this suffering could be ended. Finally, he showed the way leading to the end of suffering.

Look at the table to see the connection between a doctor and the Buddha."

A Doctor tells us	Buddha tells us the truth about
What is wrong with us	The presence of suffering
What is the cause of our illness	The cause of suffering
That there is a cure	The end of suffering
What we have to do to get well	The way to the end of suffering

Why hands can heal

Our bodies are probably the most complex, miraculous, under-valued constructs on the face of this planet. In the western world  in particular, so many of us just drag ourselves around using our bodies like robots and then wondering why they don't work when we didn't take them in for regular servicing.

In the skin alone there are countless nerves and neurons, every layer beneath the skin also has its own network, fascia, muscles, tendons... And from the perspective of Tibetan medicine we also consider the importance of energy channels, points and meridians.

Touch is not just pleasurable to us, it is vital to our well being. Babies who are not touched die, older people who live alone and are not often touched by another person are more likely to have suppressed immune systems. Even a simple hug can lift us on a bad day.

So it makes sense that the best treatment comes from a machine that understands our own, another body. In particular the human hand, it could have been purpose made for healing!

The hand is flexible, soft and firm, sensitive - fingertips are the second most sensitive part of the body after the tongue, able to mold to the shape of the body, able to sense pain, stress, energy blockages, tightness of muscles and tendons, and can do something to relieve these conditions.

When we lay our hands on another person with the intention to heal we are honouring so many aspects of our physical and energetic selves, we are practising a form of help and healing that has been part of being human since we first came to be. Our mothers were our first healers, through the simple yet profound act of loving touch. That is an unbroken lineage of healing we all belong to.

So when you choose massage as a treatment, or as a preventative measure, it is always so much more than massage. It is a treatment that is far greater than the sum of its parts.

Ku Nye, as the major external therapy of Tibetan medicine is certainly more than massage. It incorporates not only massage of the muscles and tissues, but also can include work on the energy chanels and meridians, acupressure, moxibustion and cupping, Yuk Cho, Hor Me, joint mobilisation, and treatments with hot stones and shells.

Ku Nye massage also brings in an understanding of the five elements, how we are made from them and exist in a universe consisting of them. We look at the fundamental type for each individual who comes for treatment. Every Ku Nye treatment is different because every person is different, and can be each time we treat them. The consultation prior to the actual massage is essential to establish what work needs to be done each time, and which aspects of the Ku Nye repertoire will best suit the patients needs on the day.

And it is all delivered to you through the best possible healing tool of all, hands.

Lucky me, working with Menpa Tserang at the Xining Tibetan Medical Hospital in Amdo last year.

Yuthok Nyingthik

Here is a short video of my wonderful teacher Dr Nida Chenagtsang explaining about the spiritual aspect of Tibetan Medicine, in particular a practice that comes to us from Yuthok, the father of Tibetan Medicine.

Of course you don't have to follow buddhism to benefit from Tibetan medicine, Yuthok himself said it was for everyone. The Yuthok nyingthik is helping the medicine practitioner develop and expand their awareness, their compassion and to purify them so they are better able to help their patients.

While the practice can be done everyday there is also a special seven day retreat which I have been lucky enough to complete twice, once here in Australia with Dr Nida, and once in Tibet at the beautiful Gonlakha monastery near Rebkong.

MindBodySpiritFestival 2011

What a time we had!

Our stand looked great (I might be biased there) and we had people milling about for the whole three days; asking questions, buying lovely things from Himalaya Arts, looking at my photos from Tibet, trying a Yuk Cho treatment. Fantastic!

We gave out so many flyers, hundreds of bookmarks I had made with with Yuthoks picture, I talked about Tibetan Medicine, Tibet, my clinic, all the different therapies, Dr Nida and IATTM, travel, study, Medicine Buddha, yaks, Tibetan food! You name it, they wanted to know about it.

I gave 20 minute Yuk Cho sessions and everyone loved it. Of course being such a unique treatment there was a lot of curiosity, always a wide-eyed audience.

So a great event and experience. I am very glad we took the opportunity to share this wonderful healing art. (Now that its all over? Happy but tired!)

I can't speak highly enough of the MBS festival organisers, they were efficient, professional and very helpful always, as well as being very very nice to a first time exhibitor! They won my heart with the chocolate hand out on the first morning, my kind of people.

And a big shout out of thanks to Philip for his support, my beautiful son Alexander for his smiling face and help on the stand; and of course to Tobchen for agreeing to join me on this mad adventure! It was a lovely synergy having his beautiful things there for people to buy, another way for them to make a connection with Tibet and her amazing people and culture.

A few more pictures here

Half price tickets for MindBodySpirit Festival

You can download a printable voucher for half price entry to the Melbourne MindBodySpirit Festival here:

Download Half Price Ticket - Melb Nov

How good is that.

And a reminder that the dates are 18th, 19th, 20th November, 10am to 7pm daily.

We will be at stand D13, see you there!

Menpa Machig

My favourite photo from this last trip to Amdo.

You can't see it, but the room, as always, is full of people; some just watching, patients waiting their turn, other doctors waiting to ask Menpa Machig a question. But his focus is completely on the patient and taking his pulse.

 

MindBodySpirit Festival - see you there!

I am very excited to announce that Arura Tibetan Medicine Centre will be having a stand at the November MindBodySpirit festival in Melbourne. This is my first time to exhibit at this event and I hope to see lots of your smiling faces there.

The festival dates are 18th, 19th and 20th of November.

I am just as excited to be sharing the stand with Himalaya Arts. Himalaya Arts is owned and run by Tibetans living in Melbourne. They import beautiful (and very desirable) things from Tibet, India and Nepal. So think clothes, jewelry, shawls,  incense, dharma items such as prayer flags, tingsha, malas, singing bowls ... great chance to start your christmas shopping (or just treat yourself!)

We are at stand D13 and the festival is open from 10am to 7pm all three days. I will be offering a chance to experience some treatments over the weekend, these will need to be booked early on each day as times are limited.

More information about the event can be found here and they have a Facebook page as well.

So come and say hi, talk to me about Tibetan Medicine, about my recent trip to Tibet, buy something gorgeous from Himalaya Arts, it will be great!

Beautiful applique thangka of the Medicine Buddha in Xining, Amdo

 

Mongolian Moxabustion

Hor Me or Mongolian Moxabusiton is an ancient form of healing with ties to Mongolian Medicine traditions, and was first written about in texts on Tibetan medicine nearly 2000 years ago. Che Bu Tri Shi mentions it in the Bum Zhi, the first recorded treatise of Tibetan medicine. Later on in the Gyud Shi is it found in the tree of External Therapies and is known as one of the best treatments for rLung disorders.

Moxabustion therapy has many types, it is a treatment that uses various sources of heat to provide warmth and pain relief to external points or pain points on the body. Most often the herb mugwort or artemesia is used.

Hor me is quite different and uses small muslin pouches filled with a mixture of herbs; these pouches are warmed in sesame oil and appiled to the body in conjunction with acupressure on the place being treated.

As a warming treatment it is very effective for many kinds of pain relief, it also has a very positive effect on stress, anxiety, sleep problems and headaches.

Hor me can be part of your Ku Nye massage treatment or can be booked as a stand alone session.

 

Ginger, garlic, aniseed and nutmeg are the usual herbs used to fill the pouches, other mixtures can also be made depending on what condition is being treated.

 

 

 

 

 

The powdered mixture is placed on a small square of muslin ...

 

 

 

 

and a little dumpling like pouch is made using red string ...

 

 

 

 

 

 these pouches are then warmed in a bath of sesame oil. The heat of the oil activates the herbs and provices the heat source for the moxabustion as the pouches are pressed against the point being treated.

Required Qualities and Duties of a Doctor (in Tibetan Medicine)

"One wishing to become a good doctor must be intelligent, having a deep comprehension, quick understanding and a good memory. He must be able to read and write in order to learn all about medicine and master the medical texts. His teacher must be one who knows all about medicine and is able to explain everything, not hiding any knowledge from the student; an understanding and kind-hearted person and generally knowledgeable in every field. The student should obey and be patient with his teacher,  and co-ordinate with his fellow-students to help one another in their studies and not be  lazy."

excerpted from the Second Book of the rGyud-bzhi,
called the bShad-rgyud

My knowledgeable, understanding and kind-hearted teacher!
Dr Nida Chenagtsang