Our Trip to India: Dharamsala Day 14

by Siegfried Othmer | November 5th, 2014

by Siegfried Othmer, PhD

Sue and I have just returned from a sojourn to India, where we taught our training course at the Tibetan Medical Institute, Men-Tsee-Khang.
Day 14

September 29 (Monday)

In the early morning hours we were awakened by the sound of chanting wafting up from the monastery. This was the second of five days of festivities leading up to the 25th anniversary celebration on the 2nd of October. Soon it came time to head off for our meeting at the Dalai Lama’s personal residence. There was extensive security, and then we simply had to wait. It was a time for me to frame my message succinctly. I decided to follow the same thought that had guided my lectures, namely to emphasize that we had indeed brought a new method of mind-training to Men-Tsee-Khang, which brought an immediate welcoming response. A little later I actually boldly interrupted his monologue to say that in fact we were mainly bringing back what had originated in India in the first place. The Dalai Lama responded immediately to that as well, recalling that Tibetan Medicine has had a long-term history of being open to outside influences, a history that dates back to the eighth century. That was a time when Tibetan sages opened themselves up to Greek medicine (Unani), which also lies at the root of Western medicine, Indian medicine, Ayurveda and Siddhi, as well as Chinese medicine, mainly acupuncture.


Throughout our conversation, the Dalai Lama held my hand firmly in his grip. At such a moment, one wants to be in a state of broad and inclusive awareness. In consequence, I really don’t remember everything that was said, and neither does the rest of the group, apparently. When it came time for the official photo, I wanted to be sure that his arm was within its comfort zone, so I stood slightly tilted. Only on viewing the photo did I realize that he was tilting slightly in my direction, perhaps to accommodate me. Experiences like this cannot be described in words.

The autistic girl was scheduled to have two sessions during the day, but the first one was not successful. Was there an increase in impulsivity? Possibly so. It was time to add in some Fp2-T4 training. This occurred during the brief afternoon session, until that one too had to be aborted after just a few minutes of training.

Also on this day Sue saw a second long-term meditator who came in over lunch for his experience of alpha synchrony. This individual seemed more wary and tense about the whole experience, and one wonders whether he actually yielded himself to it. In any event, he reported nothing in the way of state shifts after the training.

On this day we had not only monsoon-like rains, but also hail. The racket that made on the tin roof was deafening. Dinner that evening was at the Chonor House again, hosted in this case by the family of the autistic girl. They were beginning to be hopeful about the neurofeedback. Again, the kindness and generosity of both the Tibetans and the Vietnamese were not lost on us; it is a hallmark of living a life of dharma.

Our Trip to India Continues

Dharamsala Day 15

Siegfried Othmer, PhD
drothmer.com

One Response to “Our Trip to India: Dharamsala Day 14”

  1. John Putman says:

    Absolutely amazing! The pictures say it all. What an experience

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