Bija Vidyapeeth: Centre for Learning
Health Care as if the Earth and Human Beings Mattered
November 7-14, 2003
with Dr. Mira Shiva, Vidya Rao, and Dr. Vandana Shiva
OVERVIEW
This is a collaboration between Bija Vidjapeeth and Rita Dixit-Kubiak's Eco-Somatic Energy Tours, which is a holistic health exchange program under the auspices of Big Medicine. Rita is organizing two consecutive Eco-Somatic courses in India this year. Participants are welcome to take either course but are encouraged to take both. There is a 48-hour R&R break in Delhi between the two.
COURSE I: Health Care as if the Earth and Human Beings Mattered
This course will explore two vital concepts for understanding and achieving
"public health":
1.Health is not merely the absence of disease but a sense of total social,
economic, political, physical and spiritual well being;
2.We are inextricably linked to the web of life on this planet and are
dependent on all aspects of its health.
We will examine how current "globalized" corporate activities in South Asia both ignore and violate these insights, and study how they have disrupted the Indian public health system and environment. We will also consider the dramatic impact this has had on the weakest social sectors: women, children and the poor. Most importantly, we will survey the various Indian people's movements working to shift to sustainable modes of health and environmental care, as well as the economic and societal promise of their approaches.
The faculty will consist of community health experts, ecologists, organic
farmers, a yoga teacher, and a musician trained in India's classical and
spiritual music traditions. We will invite participants to expand the
scope of the discussions with their own questions, insights, and personal
experiences. There will be sufficient time within the day to form break-out
groups to discuss specific topics in greater depth.
Participants will also have frequent opportunities to practice yoga, meditation,
and shram dan (voluntary labor offerings) in the farm fields and/or campus
kitchen. The schedule offers a variety of local cultural activities, but
given the imposing scenery,
we also recommend long walks through the rolling fields and farm villages,
swimming in the mountain streams, or simply bathing in the green air and
bird song at dawn and dusk.
COURSE II: Indian Traditional Medicine: Options for Public Health
The second course, "Indian Traditional Medicine: Options for Public Health" will be held in collaboration with Jagran Jan Vikas Samiti, a health, environment, & community development NGO that works with indigenous tribes around Udaipur, Rajasthan.
The course is scheduled from November 17th to 23rd, coinciding with the festival of Dhanavantri, the Vedic god of medicinal plants and healing. (See the Big Medicine - Jagran page)
Faculty
For more details
Rita Dixit Kubiak, Coordinator Big Medicine Eco-Somatic Energy Tours
metamed@nancho.net
www.nancho.net/bigmedtours/
Coordinator, Bija Vidyapeeth
A-60, Hauz Khas,
New Delhi, India
Tel: 91 11 26561868, 26562093
Fax: 91 11 26562093
bijavidyapeeth@vsnl.net
www.bijavidyapeeth.org
