Buttercupchappati Chronicles

Help me Luke Skywalker!

I have gone over to the dark side!

Everyone knows I am a book girl. Real books that you can hold in your hand, read, look at, lend to a friend, put on the shelf until the next time you need to visit the world between those particular covers.

In theory I have admired the idea of ebook readers, but wasn't wanting one for myself. If I commuted to work, maybe, in one year I could probably read my way through a small forest. I think the printed word is one of our great acheivements on this blue planet. All you need to read is a book (and adequate light, yes I know). One book can be read by many many people. Anyway that is a rant for another time.

But here's the thing. My upcoming travels have sedced me over to ownership of this previously scoffed at item.

Looks innocent enough, doesn't it?

Being the resident Hermione Grainger of my TTM class means I was planning on taking all my texts and notes with me for the three months I'll be away, good revision time I thought.

That's a big chunk of my luggage allowance right there.

So there was the perfect rationalisation! (Plus I love a new toy.)

But the other big thing that has been worrying me is the lack of reading material. You cannot buy english language books where I go; and I cannot carry three months worth of reading, not without much excess luggage and a small troupe of muscular boys to carry it for me.

That was enough to make it a "necesary purchase", next is the fun part! Yes, yes, loaded up the pdf files of all the texts and notes for my TTM studies. Now filling up the clever little device with pleasure reading.

I am a comfort reader. I love to re-visit favourites over and over. So that's what I am taking with me, my library of favourites.

A much bigger pile!

 
That's not all of them, its the ones I could find easily this morning. And I have discovered something wonderful, lots of these books are available for free, and the others are a fraction of the cost of a hard copy. I have pre-ordered the new George R. R. Martin, due out in a couple of weeks, and it will be delivered directly to my device! So I can see myself a happy resident in the electronic reading camp and the actual book in hand camp.

This is my favourite picture: everything, and the wee black case that has it all and more.

 
Think I'll name it Darth.

Mind you, I still love a big pile of books, that says happiness to me!

 

 

just so you know

because I don't want anyone to feel left out (although if you have not heard my elated screeches - where have you hidden your eardrums?)

I GOT MY VISA! Yes, it is in hand, and in the other is a ticket to Beijing. Smiling sounds too simple for what is going on, but it will do.

So, much happy dancing, and much much excitement at the thought of spending three whole months studying and practicing TTM. And of course huge amounts of gratitude to all those who helped make this opportunity mine.

Did I mention I was excited?

The countdown is on, leaving at the end of July.

And yes, already worrying about three months worth of reading in a place where there are no english language books for sale. (And let's not even go there thinking about three months without a hair dryer!) Minor sacrifices - especially the hair, I don't have to look at me.

Serious thinking about language skills as well. Classes are on in earnest and I am trying to quell the thought that I am way too old to be learning Tibetan. Come on, even Tibetans find it hard. And really, I need to improve my repertoire in the Chinese area as well; two phrases - hello and thank you - get you points for politeness but that's about it. (And they tend to lead taxi drivers to leap to the assumption that I speak fluent Chinese, sorry, I smile in many languages however).

"Nothing comes from nothing
Nothing ever could
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good"
 

 

so, back to the list

If you ever read more than a few words here, you will know that I am a list girl, Queen of lists, oh who am I kidding - Empress!

This morning, as D-Day approaches this weekend and I collect Dr Nida from the airport and we embark on 15 days of TTM studies and other great and amazing courses like Mantra Healing and Dream Analysis, I thought it was timely to sit down and make a little list of the things I have left to do.

Two full pages later...

Today I realised something, lists beget lists. They take on a momentum of their own. (Then I realised I was making sub-lists and had almost worked out my own Dewey system for cataloguing them.)

But that's ok, because nothing is better than ticking stuff as done.

I am half way through the main list and have - you will be proud, I am - resisted the urge to make a new list out of the old half crossed off one for tomorrows round of tasks.

If God is in the details, then I am totally a whole universe of divinity just walking around, truly! 

a new one

Two thousand and eleven, a year well launched with friends and family, laughter, dancing, singing, momo's, Texas chili, margaritas and The Rocky Horror Picture Show on dvd.

I suspect the horror part was all of us doing the time warp some time around midnight, but anyway...

It was cozy - and that is one of my main words for this coming year. I want to snuggle in and read, study, work, create, be myself; with occasional outings for travel where I do all that, just in a different place.

Key words for 2011:

reflection

meditation

mantra

reading

study

music - really listening, not just playing in the background

healing - myself and my patients

art

writing

solitude

gratitude

poetry

a dharma year
a catching up year
a year where I return to Amdo - always!
a year where I say hello to myself, everyday

well - resolution comes from resolve, so let's just see.
Intention is everything, I tell everyone else that! Best listen to my own awesome advice.

Happy new year everyone!
Peaceful, safe, prosperous and brilliant.

how beautiful are these women

I love this picture.

I could stop right there really.

These remarkable women are such an inspiration to me on so many levels, I was looking at this photo today and wishing them well from the bottom of my heart.

They are both Tibetan Doctors at the Men-Tsee-Khang in Mcleoganj, India. So quite apart from all the other things they have to do and have done in their lives as women and wives and Tibetans living in exile in India, they have studied Tibetan Medicine for six years and then done another year as intern. And now they work all day for the good of all sentient beings, especially the sick ones!

They have both been very kind to me whenever I have visited Mcleodganj, spending time, answering my endless questions about TTM and how they practice it there. The MTK does not admit Westerners to its TTM course, so it is especially kind that they would find the time to help me when they can.

Dr Wangmo and Dr Sonam, may Yuthok bless you many many many times, and I am looking forward to the next time I sit in your clinic and we laugh together about my life as an injie  studying TTM.

Tibetan Medicine adds another leaf to its newly planted tree in Australia

In 2009 we were blessed to have the first intake of students for Traditional Tibetan Medicine studies here in Australia. At the end of that first course, our teacher Dr Nida Chenagtsang said it had long been a dream of his to teach TTM in Australia.

So coming back for our second year of studies felt like a real consolidation of that dream into a very real reality. Our TTM family had grown with the inclusion of some new students who had completed studies during the year to enable them to join the current group.

As always it is with great anticipation and excitement (and some fear – what have I forgotten!) that we start our classes with Dr Nida.

TTM is such a vast and rich subject, with it’s history going back thousands of years; deeply embedded in the indigenous Bon culture of the Tibetan people and then later entwined with Buddhism, as it became the predominant religion of Tibet. Tibetan medicine can encompass not only the things we expect from a healing system such as medicines, external therapies, suggestions for diet and lifestyle; it can also include dream studies, astrology and an understanding of Sa Che or geomancy or more esoteric techniques such as healing with mantra. So it’s no wonder that we feel a little daunted as westerners embarking on this journey.

We don’t need to worry, Dr Nida makes sure we don’t get lost, don’t feel left behind in the cultural or historical differences. The fundamental thing we all need to practice any kind of healing is compassion and he shows us that in so many ways. We laugh, cry, and learn a lot!

As our nine days fly by we learn more about pulse reading, urine analysis – everyone is used to coming to class with their small yellow jars now. We look at tongues and hear about leeches. We try not to set each other on fire as we practice moxibustion. We face the prospect of bloodletting – what is worse, giving or receiving?

We learn about the amazing infinite, internal journey of the fetus. Long before the advent of x-ray or scanning, Tibetan doctors had a clear understanding of the way a woman’s body becomes a whole universe for every child that is born. And of course the mysteries of the end of life journey, with its dissolution of the body back to the five elements from which we all are formed.

We find out there are 72,000 internal channels in the body (and I hope we are not expected to learn them all by next year!) The three humors become more detailed as we go further into the subtle energies at work in us all. Pathology studies begin, and understanding the systems of our amazing bodies.

We all so enjoy having the gentle energy of our Tibetan students with us in the classroom, and the opportunity to hear Tibetan spoken each day is lovely.

(And we learn that an orgasm every day is good for your health…)

And it’s here in this room in a hotel in Melbourne that we have taken another step forward on our TTM journey; and started to really comprehend how connected we are, to each other, to our chosen subject, to our teacher, our patients and everything in and around us. That seems to be the most important thing anyone who wants to work as a healer can learn; that there is no separation.

Dr Nida Chenagtsang Teaching Schedule 2010

Details for all courses and  public talks with Dr Nida next year are now available on the Ngak Mang Australia web site.
http://www.ngakmang.org.au/

TTM community

Had a lovely day at the home of one my fellow TTM students yesterday. I had jokingly described it to PRS as a "pee party". But the joke was on me, none of us remembered to bring a urine sample for everyone to analyse! Next time.

It was really good to catch up for the first time after our teachings with Dr Nida, compare notes, clarify things, de-brief the whole experience. (Any time with Dr Nida has an extended impact on so many areas of your life, we are very lucky to have connected with him.) 

One of the problems with studying something like Tibetan Medicine is the fact that not many people know about it - yet - therefore you don't often have an opportunity to discuss it with someone who is truly interested. The family have a definite upper limit to how long I can go on about pulse reading for example. And I am not allowed to proffer my opinion or diagnosis when we are watching "House". Sigh.

We made up for that lack yesterday! It's one thing to have a passion for something, to feel you have really connected with your life path. But having support and community for that passion takes it to a whole new level. So a hundred thousand blessings to my TTM girls for that. I am looking forward to our next gathering, (we all promised to remember to bring pee.)

*Urine analysis is an important diagnostic tool in TTM, along with observing the tongue and reading the pulses on both wrists. So now you know.

Dr Nida will back before we know it

Who is he and why should you care?

Dr Nida is my Tibetan Medicine teacher, and if you haven't come across his name here before, then you haven't been paying attention!

And for anyone who may be interested in taking one of his courses while he is here, (and I can't recommend that highly enough), here are some links to information about the what why where and when.

Sharpen those pencils kids...

Traditional Tibetan Medicine

Mantra Healing

Dream Analysis

Forget Barack Obama

Winston Wang is my man of the hour! If not the year and I say that with confidence in January!

Who is this paragon among men? My acupuncturist.  Naturally.

I have waited weeks for todays appointment to treat a very painful shoulder, dreading the diagnosis of frozen shoulder (it is) and holding tight to my faith in my good doctor. Weeks is how long it takes to see this man because he is just that good.

I love acupuncture. A right shoulder problem? Okay then let's put a needle in your left shin. And it works. I can't wait until the acupuncture part of my Tibetan Medicine studies gets going. Dr Nida is resurrecting the old texts but using modern, delicate, fine, Japanese needles. If  you ever saw any Tibetan acupuncture instruments of old you would understand why it is not practised any more. (Seems to be about 200 years since any major work was done in this field). The instruments look like torture implements, some as thick as a ball point pen. Not what you want puncturing your skin.

And of course you can't get away without some of the scary Chinese medicine. You know when he tells you it's going to taste bad, you are about to cross a bad taste threshold above and beyond anything you've tasted this far. 

Ever. 

And he was right. 

Face pulling, kitchen counter punching, gotta-go-find-someone-to-tell BAD.

Therefore probably very effective. Yes?