Tibetan Medicine & Himalayan Healing

Overview

Distinct from Ayurveda, Sowa Rigpa is the Tibetan medical tradition preserved and practiced by Himalayan Buddhist communities, including a long-established presence in the Kathmandu Valley. This journey pairs consultations with a qualified practitioner with visits to monasteries and teaching institutions where the tradition's texts and training are maintained, so you leave with an understanding of where the practice comes from as well as what a consultation involves.

The program opens with an orientation on how Sowa Rigpa differs from Ayurveda and from Western medicine in its diagnostic approach, before moving into practitioner consultations and a visit to a working teaching monastery. As with our other traditional wellness journeys, this is presented honestly as a wellness and cultural practice — not a substitute for medical care — and practitioners are direct about the boundaries of what they can address.