Saturday, April 12, 2014

Appointment with a Tibetan Doctor


Last weekend the opportunity arose to have a consultation with a Tibetan doctor. I decided to go ahead and make an appointment with Dr. Namgyal in part because I was curious and in part because I felt like I'd been dealing with my ankle and knee for so long that maybe it was time to try something different. I really had very little idea of what an appointment with a Tibetan doctor would involve so I was quite relieved when the woman who was hosting the doctor gave me a quick rundown on what to expect...and then it proceeded to go almost exactly according to what she said. It started out with him taking my blood pressure (some things don't change) - although he didn't use both the methods he had instruments for - perhaps he didn't find a problem there with one so saw no need to do it a second time. The next ten to twenty minutes was spent with him reading my pulses at various places on my arm. Different locations telling him different things about the systems in my body and three energies that Tibetan medicine is centered upon. We spent the rest of the time talking, him telling me what he observed, asking for my impression of it before he recommended diet, activity and medicine that could help me balance things out. I must admit I'm a bit skeptical - but then I'm skeptical about modern medicine too in certain ways. However he said enough that resonated with me, that were things I had already been drawn to add into my routines, that it is hard to completely dismiss his findings and recommendations. (Among those was spend more time surrounded by nature, drink cinnamon or mint tea to calm my "crazy monkey mind", and that I have a sensitive heart). I decided if I was going to go through with an appointment I might as well try to do everything he recommended as well as I could. After all, I doubt it will hurt me. And so I've started on a 15 day regiment of Tibetan medicine. I'd been warned by several different people that it is like eating dirt - but select dirt. I have to admit that there is an element of truth to that. In the morning and at lunch I grind up these little brown balls and proceed to try to swallow the resulting powder which takes quite a bit of water. I find a mint afterwards helps to clear some of the taste from my tongue...Before I head to bed I take a powder mixed in warm water to calm me and help me get ready to sleep, and I must admit I haven't been having any problem falling asleep this week! I guess I'll have to wait another ten days or so to see if I feel any difference or am any more balanced. In any case the whole thing has been an experience and given me a lot to think about in terms of my habits as well.

1 comment:

  1. hey! did you happen to see any noticable difference after the 15 days?

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