Why Tibetan Medicine Starts With Your Mind, Not Your Body with Tenzin Namdul

What does it take to trust something enough to put your full weight on it? That question has stayed with me since this first conversation with Tenzin Namdul, my friend and our newest board member. Tenzin grew up in Dharamsala, India, and trained in Tibetan medicine at the Tibetan Medical and Astro Institute. He came to the U.S. in 2009 planning to stay for two years. Instead, he started over as a freshman at the University of Minnesota, then earned his PhD in medical anthropology at Emory. Today he runs the Tibetan Healing Initiative at the Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing, teaches courses, and leads students to Dharamsala to study at the Tibetan Medical College. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me that he has joined the board of Headwaters Journal. You’ll feel his heart as he talks. We had a lot more planned for this episode, but the conversation took us where it wanted to go, and I’m glad it did. KEY THEMES + TAKEAWAYS Faith isn’t a fundamental category in Buddhism. Balance, compassion, suffering and impermanence are. In the Tibetan understanding, faith comes after investigation. You look at something with curiosity and a critical eye before you trust it. Tibetan medicine traces illness back to the mind. Without its roots in Buddhist psychology and philosophy, Tenzin says it would collapse. A self-centered mind feeds afflicted emotions. Turning toward others makes us happier and more resilient, and the science of happiness is finding the same thing. The nature of mind is clear and knowing. Learning, contemplating and cultivating that understanding is how we grow personal agency. None of us is an independent self. We depend on everyone from our parents to the person at the cash counter. Everything changes, our bodies and our minds included. Understanding that gives health and happiness a steadier footing. OUR FAVORITE QUOTES “The only thing that is permanent is impermanence.” “Don’t focus on the clouds. Focus on the clear sky, because the clouds will pass but the clear sky will remain.” “Is this going to hold me, or am I going to fall in?” “The more we try to put effort in helping others, the more mentally resilient we are.” “We are not competitors. We’re colleagues.” CHAPTER MARKERS 00:24 Welcome to the headwaters 03:27 Meet Tenzin 14:03 From Dharamsala to Minnesota 26:59 What faith means in Tibetan 30:38 Will the ice hold me? 47:08 The mind is like a clear sky 52:37 Living with what we can’t change YOUR TURN Think about something you’ve been holding onto tightly this week. Is it a cloud passing through, or is it the sky? SEND US YOUR QUESTIONS If you’re struggling with something and wonder what these traditions might say to you, send us your questions and your situations. We’ll do our best to share the wisdom of our traditions with you. CONNECT Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing: csh.umn.edu Tibetan Medicine and You: A Path to Wellbeing, Better Health, and Joy by Miriam Cameron and Tenzin Namdul (print and online, not yet on audio) MB018IYQ8RM0F1R