Impressions of Wellbeing Tibetan Medical Camp September 16. – 18. 2015 at Sylviander House

3 days Wellbeing programme with the tibetan team from Bangalore, the 5.Tibetan Medical Camp at Sylviander House and the 46th in Kerala. 

The special feature this time: The 5th anniversary Wellbeing programme in Kerala!

Friendsoftibet founder Sethu Das and campaigner Eswar Anandan have arrived already a day before, bringing organic rice and organic vegetables for our meals. 

Early morning Eswar as usual has to get up to welcome the tibetan team at the railway station of Alappuzha. 

This time the team is:

Dr. Dorjee Rapten Neshar

Dr. Tamdin Sangmo

Sonam Wangmo

Yeshi Chodon

Tenzin Dhonden

The weather is mixed. After short rains the sun is shining from a deep blue sky. 

And another visitor has arrived this morning, a Krishna Eagle is sitting on a branch of a cashew nut tree in the garden. 

After the prayers in Dr. Dorjee‘s room consultation starts punctually. Patients have arrived already much earlier. 

For those patients who not speak english, Alexander, Sethu, Eswar will translate …

… as always some campaigners are coming from Palakkad to help with translation and coordinating the patients. 

The tibetan medicines need a lot of space, placed inside the entrance room and on the verandah. 

Alexander shows Sethu the long silks of a spider who started an amazing installation in our garden, spinning its silk around 20 meter long from the cashew nut tree to the teak wood tree and to the kashampulli trees beside the pond … 

As always, Lilama is active in the kitchen for preparing the meals. She enjoys the Wellbeing Camp a lot. 

Meanwhile it feels like being a big family, when sitting in the kitchen for the meals and the morning and afternoon tea with tiffins, prepared from Varghese, our brother in law. 

During one of these tea breaks Dr. Dojee performs a malayalam song for us … 

Patients of all ages are consulting the tibetan doctors with different kind of diseases as chronic complaints, cancer …

Most of them are coming regularly, many from far away …

Sonam is the cashier, Yeshi and Dhonden count and pack the medicines. 

In between, Alexander, Eswar, Sethu are doing a kind of office work, keeping the timetable without long gaps or patients waiting is their topic.

Surprisingly many young people suffer high cholesterol which shows the hidden stress of modern life in Kerala … 

Dr. Dorjee takes his time to discuss with the patients the probable reasons for being sick …  

… and besides the tibetan medicine he suggests changes of the diet. 

It is fascinating, how he reads or rather hears the character of the pulse to understand, what is in disharmony. 

The 3 days passing to fast. Already friday again. After all packing is done, sitting in the cool shadow of the verandah and relax and talk until the rickshaws arrive to bring the tibetan team to the railway station around sunset. 

And this time we – the girls! – have so much joy with Lilly, one of the 3 new kittens in our Sylviander House.

Thanks and pinnekanam … we are looking forward to the next camp.

Next WB Camp will be in November 2015 – please register: www.friendsoftibet.org

Photographs by Sylvie Bantle and Dr. Tamdin Sangmo

Saturday 8.August 2015: 8th Children Class

For a long time we had no children class, but children from the surroundings have visited us a lot, some wished to see the paintings in the museum again and again, some came to sit for a while on the verandah having a look at the pictures in Alexander‘s art books … 

As always I've prepared music for the dance part with some ideas what we‘ll do. This time I‘ve chosen a south american music piece. The kids should first contemplatively listen to it to imagine which instrument they would like to dance. Very dominant were singers, rhythme guitar and a solo guitar. 

I really was surprised how deeply they concentrated sitting with closed eyes … 

Then I formed 3 groups, one will act as singers, another one as rhythme guitar, another as solo guitar. 

Of course, for them it was very unusual. That‘s why I joined each group for a while to show how the interpretation could look … 

We should forget any dance style, we should become the visible sound of an instrument …

Also we have to listen when exactly the instrument is playing… 

Again and again I had to explain …

We have to forget ourselves, just to become a sound, visible through our body and movements … 

And even we shouldn‘t controle the movements, but we should allow to the music of the instruments to move us … 

The easiest it was for the singers group. But they only should act as singers, when the voices were heard in the music. 

Slowly, slowly they understand and dare to express freely …

And while joining a group I have to give the signal to another group for their entry …

It is not easy being an orchestra, each one has to play an instrument and same time playing together as a group …

But with the time the idea being a dancing orchestra becomes visible …

After this loud and funny part follows the silent part … 

Everybody finds a place in the shadow of the garden in front of the Sylviander House, sitting with pencil and paper to draw what they see … 

For some it will be the banana plants, for those sitting along the pondside it will be the hibiscus bushes and ferns … 

Alexander walks from group to group to advise how to look at the plants and to draw what is to see …

For the group in front of the kitchen door, their view is the papaya plants, some with flowers, some with fruits … 

Always seriously concentrated our grand nephew Joyal who loves to draw and paint since at very early age … 

One boy of around 12 years makes a remarkable drawing from the banana plant. Alexander lets him know that he really has a talent and should keep on drawing.

Everybody tries to catch what they see, which is something new for them. Mostly they copy from magacines, mostly comics …

Finally everybody takes an impression back to home … 

When all kids have left, I saw many papers thrown into the pond, which told me clearly, what will be the theme for the next children class …