Himalayan Bon Traditional Healing, a discussion with Bon Lama and Gyanesh

Description

The Indigenous Wisdom Series – What is Traditional Healing?
Offering cross-cultural perspectives in Health and Well Being.

Experience the traditional healing ceremony of the Katmandu Valley of Nepal through Bon Lama – through a translation from Gyanesh Lama

Gyanesh Lama, was born in the Himalayan mountains of Nepal. He grew up as a farmer, a cattle herder, a porter, and a craftsman, spending much of his childhood ploughing farmlands, He left his village with his cousin to go to the city of Bhaktapur, walking for over a day to get to the nearest road. There he worked as a Thangka Artist, an indigenous Himalayan Painting tradition.

He learned English so he could speak with tourists to sell his Thangka and wooden masks. But his learning English changed his destiny. Fast forward, he became the first ever to get elementary schooling in his family, first to go to high school and to get a college degree in his village, and first and the only person to receive a PhD in his community. He comes from a family of Bon lineage holders, his father is a Bonpo. At present, Dr. Lama is a professor of social work at California State University, Fresno.