Himalaya Project

Happy July! 🎉

We’ve been hard at work here at Himalaya Project HQ and wanted to share some exciting updates with you!

In May, our team member graduated with a Degree in Tibetan Studies from Columbia University. She is eager to use her knowledge to further support our mission of preserving and celebrating Tibetan Medicine.

Happy New Year and Losar from the Himalaya Project Board! (1/3)

A message from Our Director, Hannah: We’ve had a busy start to the year but are excited to reconnect with you all! To round out 2023, the Board Members wanted to share some reflections and updates from our personal lives over the past year. We are looking forward to a fantastic, healthy, and happy 2024!!!

🏔️ We are quickly approaching winter, but some of our Board Members embarked on incredible journeys along the Himalayan range this summer! 🌟 As the first installment of our Travel Series, we are thrilled to highlight Tenzin Karma’s visit to Sowa Rigpa International College in Kathmandu, where some of our amazing students are actively engaged. We currently have three sponsored students - Jigtok, Princess Shah, and Pema Yeshe Gurgung - studying at Sowa Rigpa International college. The last few images are from Mentseekhang Bangalore, where Karma Phuntsok attends. The team was excited to connect to the centers where our students thrive! Our mission to bridge the gap between Sowa Rigpa practice and our students is showcased through these moments, and we couldn’t be more excited to share this fantastic experience with you. More travel photos to come!
# HimalayaProject

The Himalaya Project would like to take time to acknowledge our founder for his service to our team. You will be greatly missed but we know only the best awaits you!
Cheers to you Mark!

The Himalaya Project is excited to announce our new executive director, Hannah Kupferschmid (). We are beyond excited to invite Hannah into this new role and are confident in continuing the legacy of Himalaya Project’s Mission to preserve and support students of Sowa Rigpa. Welcome Hannah!

Here is one of our newest Himalaya Project students, Kunchok Wangmo. Here is a shared a snippet of what her day to day looks like,
“The practical class of acupressure has just begun. Doing a handout of what we are learning in theoretical parts, I found it fascinating and useful at the same time. Since I am at the beginning of the learning process, I might not get used to it but I’m enjoying that lengthy process”
Happy to have you Kunchok!

Here is one of our newest additions to the Himalaya Project students, Kunchok Wangmo. Below she shares a snippet of what her day to day looks like at he university.
“The practical class of acupressure has just begun. Doing a handout of what we are learning in theoretical parts, I found it fascinating and useful at the same time. Since I am at the beginning of the learning process, I might not get used to it but I’m enjoying that lengthy process.”
Happy to have you Kunchok!

Himalaya Project is excited to introduce one of our three newest students, Sonam Dorji! After receiving his primary school education in his home country of Bhutan, Sonam Dorji pursued his path as a Buddhist monk. At Namdroling Monastery in the South of India, Sonam Dorji completed his education in Buddhist Studies. In 2019, Sonam joined the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Varanasi, India, to pursue the study of Sowa Rigpa, Tibetan medicine. Himalaya Project supported Sonam in his studies by providing him a laptop and additional funds for textbooks and other school supplies earlier this year.

We recently asked Sonam a few questions about his studies would like to share his answers with you in our latest guide post! Guides can be found in the guides tab between our posts and tagged posts.

Today, Himalaya Project wants to introduce one of our three newest students, Pem Lhaton! Pem is a second year Sowa Rigpa student at Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Varanasi, India. Himalaya Project supported Pem in her studies by providing a new laptop and additional funds for textbooks and other school supplies earlier this year. We recently asked Pem a few questions about her studies and some of her takeaways from studying Sowa Rigpa and are excited to share her answers with you in our latest guide post!

As a part of daily Tibetan ritual, the use of Incense is an important part of Tibetans ongoing relationship to nature. The Scientific name for Tibetan juniper shrub/tree is “Juniperus tibetica”. The branches are used as incense in Buddhist rituals and traditions where Juniper itself has been used in traditional Ayurvedic medicine to treat illnesses and strengthens nerves. Burning it as incense is believed to cleanse and purify environments from any negative spirits
📸by Hannah K

: https://www.exoticincense.com/tibetan-juniper-incense-p-1474.html(https://treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/juniperus/juniperus-tibetica/)
- [https://treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/juniperus/juniperus-tibetica/](https://treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/juniperus/juniperus-tibetica/)

Gathering and preparing medicinal plants for use in Sowa Rigpa requires significant understanding of many topics, including astrology, topography, and climate. Prior to setting out to collect plants, there are several things a Tibetan Medicine practitioner must consider:

1. Habitat: plants are characterized as either hot or cold in nature, and it is believed that they have superior healing when collected in their natural environment.
2. Time: plants are also divided into parts (roots, stems, leaves, and fruit), and there is an optimal time for harvesting each particular part.
3. Compounding: most Tibetan medicines are not made from just one ingredient, rather from several plants with similar qualities, making the remedies more soothing, smooth, and easier to digest.

📸 credit: , array of harvested plants and herbs, taken on a trip to a monastery in Tibet, summer 2017

The Himalaya Project Board would like to wish all of our followers and students a Happy Losar! We hope you all have a wonderful New Year full of hope and happiness ✨

We are thrilled to announce the addition of a student to the Himalaya Project Cohort. Kunchok Wangmo is our newest student from the Tsum Valley of the Gorkha District of Nepal. We asked Kunchok Wangmo about her hopes for her time with Himalaya Project and she shared,

“Underlining the importance of healthcare in my home village and other rural areas, it has been my goal to improve their health by healing pain physically and mentally through means of acupuncture. Additionally, I would love to conduct camp coordination with other practitioners in the future.”

Welcome Kunchok!

Not only do we enjoy supporting our students, but we are lucky enough to learn from them too. At the close of 2022, we asked our current students to reflect on the year and share with us, and all of you, their favorite class or subject they learned over the past 12 months. We have loved reading their responses and hope you find them interesting as well! Please check out our newest guide to read their favorite lessons and classes!

Students pictured, in order:
• Urgyen Jigtak
• Karma Phuntsok
• Princess Shah
• Kungyal Lama

In addition to our board members New Years, we want to take a moment to reflect on our wonderful students! Our scholars wish you and your loved ones a happy start to your 2023 and we look forward to seeing what’s next for our team!

Happy Holidays and New Year from the Himalaya Project Board! We hope you and your family had a restful holiday season and have a happy New Year ✨ We are so thankful for all your support and for following along on our students’ journeys in 2022. We have big things planned for 2023 and can’t wait to share them with you!

Mustang is a historically rich region filled with Tibetan culture. Within the region, the practice of Sowa Rigpa has been upheld by practitioners of Tibetan Medicine (Amchis) for generations. An important part of Himalaya Project’s mission is preserving and promoting the practice of Sowa Rigpa in these regions to sustain the social landscape of accessible healthcare. For more information on Mustang and its history with Sowa Rigpa, stay tuned for our upcoming citations page!
📸: mother and grandmother who are on pilgrimage!

We recently asked our student Princess Shah another question: “Where do you see the future of Sowa Rigpa in the 21st century? How has technology impacted the practice, if at all?” Check out our latest guide post for Princess Shah’s response to this question to get an insight into what a Sowa Rigpa student thinks about the traditional medicine’s future.

Sowa Rigpa emphasizes the relationship between body and mind. The psychophysiological relationship between the mind and body is a subtle ode to the scientific nature of Buddhism and its inquiry into physical well-being. Tibetan practitioners created Thangkas(scrolls) filled with illustrations of medical knowledge to make sense of the body, including this one above. Sourced from W. Dhondrup et al. and the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, we see how physical ailments are linked with three mental ailments through the realm of nature. In this piece, Jampa Trinlé’s Explanation of the “Four Medical Tantras through the Eighty Medical Thangkas: Light of the Blue Gaze” (2006) is just one of various historical sources that are referenced to create a deeper and philosophical understanding of Sowa Rigpa today.

This month, we posed the same question to each of our four students: "What are some of the most important lessons you’ve learned from studying Sowa Rigpa?" We have collected all of our students’ answers and would like to share them with you all, with the hopes that our followers, current and future students, and Board members alike can learn something new about what it means to study Sowa Rigpa to different individuals. Check out our newest blog post to see our students’ responses. 😊

Pictured above are our students in the following order: Kungyal Lama, Princess Shah, Urgyen Jigtak, and Karma Phuntsok

We always enjoy catching up with our students, and each time we speak to them, we are reminded of the amazing things they are learning and doing. Recently, we spoke to Karma Phuntsok, one of our first students we sponsored, about his current Sowa Rigpa courses and studies. In talking to him, he wanted to thank all of our followers and sponsors again for the support. Check out our newest guide for a full letter to all of you from Karma Phuntsok!

Sowa Rigpa includes many different traditions with many different reasons and backgrounds. One of these unique traditions is using the specific substances turquoise, coral, and pearl when creating Tibetan medicine. In Barbara Gerke’s research article “The Potency of Tradition: Turquoise, Coral, and Pearl in Sowa Rigpa”, she explores just why each substance is important.

According to Gerke, Tibetans have traditionally believed turquoise to be connected to a person’s life force. Wearing turquoise, typically as jewelry, indicates having a strong and plentiful life force. Thus, turquoise began to be processed and used in pills in Sowa Rigpa.

Coral reached Tibetan medicine via foreign traders and Gerke found that coral’s significance in traditional Tibetan medicine was similar to turquoise: it too was linked to having better life force, living a long life, as well as fertility and vitality. In Sowa Rigpa, coral has been used in medicine for nerve disorders.

Pearls are rarer and especially valuable in Sowa Rigpa. Gerke says pearls have been used in many different Tibetan medicines and it’s believed including pearls adds to a medicine’s strength and power.

📸: Tenzin Karma

Himalaya Project supports students studying Tibetan Medicine in several areas, including the city of Kathmandu, Nepal. Pictured above are two photos of Kathmandu Durbar Square taken in almost identical locations: the first was taken by Board Member Hannah in September 2019 and the second in July 2022 by Board Member Tenzing’s uncle! Kathmandu Durbar Square is a UNESCO World Heritage Site believed to have been constructed in 11th century AD. It is one of three “durbar” squares, which translates to royal palace, in the Kathmandu Valley. Kathmandu Durbar Square is royal indeed - it is the site of the Hanuman Dhoka Palace Complex, which was the royal Nepalese residence until the 19th century!

Himalaya Project’s Tenzin has transitioned into a new role on our Board as Treasurer! She will start taking on treasurer responsibilities this summer and will also continue her work with the social media team. Congratulations!

You may wonder how the term, Sowa Rigpa translates to what we know as "Tibetan Medicine". Check out our guides to learn more!

Congratulations to Himalaya Project’s Tenzing and Tenzin on their recent graduations! Tenzing graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a degree in Neuroscience and is looking forward to starting graduate school at Columbia University this fall to study East Asian languages and cultures specializing in Tibetan cultural studies. Tenzin graduated from University High School and will attend Wellesley College to study Economics and Neuroscience.

The Bhavachakra, as pictured by our own Hannah K during her visit to Tibet, is an illustrative representation of the cycle of rebirth and life in samsara. The cyclical nature of this core belief is one of many Buddhist traditions that play a role in Sowa Rigpa knowledge in regard to balance and cycles of growth. Tibetan Buddhism contributes to the understanding of the mind and body. The interdisciplinary nature of Tibetan medicine allows our students to engage in thoughtful dialogue about the science and culture healing.

Today, we are excited to officially introduce the Himalaya Project Social Media Team, the faces behind our Instagram content from the past 9 months!

The team meets virtually via Zoom once a week (pictured here at one of our weekly meetings) to plan, design, and write posts to share with all of our followers.

From top right clockwise, our team is made up of board members Hannah Kupferschmid and Tenzing Sherpa, as well as our intern Tenzin Karma.

We have some exciting things planned over the next few months, and we appreciate all your support. Additionally, if there is any specific content you’d like to see, please comment below! 👇🏼

You may have seen some of our students mention a few core elements in our blogs.
If your wondering what they are studying, one of the core values in Sowa Rigpa is an adherence to the five elements. Sa(earth), Chu(water), Meh(Fire), Lung (wind), and Namkha (Space). Together these elements build what’s called the three dynamics which helps maintain balance of the body and mind. Our students engage in creating holistic approaches to mind and body through studying the impacts of these elements. Check out the interviews on our guides for more!