10-12 January, 2014. The Cultural Association of the Spanish Dzogchen Community and the Shang Shung Institute School of Tibetan Medicine, in collaboration with the Associazione per la Medicina Centrata sulla Persona Onlus (Association for Person Centered Medicine), organized the first Meeting on Integrative Medicine. This event was made possible thanks to the voluntary collaboration of many people, and, in particular, the organizers and collaborators. The aim of the event was to share the professional work of Integrative Medicine, in which individuals are treated in a holistic way. The idea for the meeting came from Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche during the Tibetan Culture week held in January 2013 in La Laguna, Tenerife, to promote dialogue within the different integrative medicine systems at an international level. Participants: Prof. Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Dr. Phuntsog Wagmo Dr. Paolo Roberti di Sarsina Ms. Pepa Ninou & Dra Imma Nogués Dr. Eva Juan Linares Dr. Teresa Herrerías Dr. Estela A Bealew Dr. Li Qilin Ms. Eloísa Alvaro Centeno Dr. Tomás Alvaro Naranjo Dr. Ishar Dalmau Dr. Maria Carmen Martínez Ms. Neus Rodríguez Dr. Guillermo Martí The main subjects were mental disorders and dementia considered from the point of view of Tibetan medicine, homeopathy, Chinese medicine, allopathic medicine and other supplementary forms of medicine. All the participants, most of them doctors and psychotherapists, were very interested in sharing their own ways of working in this holistic medical system and also in presenting their experiences and practices in the area of mental health and spirituality. One of the speakers, Dr. Paolo Roberti di Sarsina, president of L’Associazione per la Medicina Centrata sulla Persona, gave a presentation of the Traditional, Complementary, Alternative, Non-Conventional Medical System (TCAM/NCM), one of the tasks of which is to educate people to take better care of their physical, psychological and spiritual health and which emphasizes the importance of a cultural transformation in order to integrate the mainstream medicine Biomedicine and TCAM/NCM healthcare systems.
One of the allopathic medical doctors, Francisco Paco Bornell, shared his unconventional healing experiences in the field of traditional medicine that have completely changed his vision of patients’ healing. Based on that experience, he has formed a work and research group that recruits a large number of health professionals every day. In order to add holistic resources to current health systems, interdisciplinary work projects were also presented in order to solve epidemics in a social way. From the point of view of Homeopathy, Dr Herrerías very clearly transmitted its basic concepts, referring to history and pointing out Hipócrates view of the doctor’s role as an observer of the phenomenon of disease and the finding of a cure through two laws: the law of contraries that is used in allopathic medicine, and the law of curing by similarity – those qualities that are similar are cured by similar ones – used in homeopathic medicine. Disease shows itself through signs and symptoms; deep, internal alteration cannot be perceived at different levels of the disease. The only and noble mission of the doctor is to bring the sick back to health in a swift and permanent way, comprehending the patient in his or her totality, according to Haneman. In regard to remedies, the homeopathic remedy is a crushed, diluted substance that has been empowered by different natural environments, seven in all: mineral, vegetal and animal among others. Its healing power can only be perceived through the action caused in the human body in healthy conditions.
Ms. Pepa Ninou and Dr. Imma Nogues presented the Approach to Health care within the “ National Values Plan” of Catalonia. Mrs. Neus Rodríguez, an entrepreneur who nurses Alzheimer patients, moved the audience with her ardent passion for work and training nurses for Alzheimer patients. A documentary on Alzheimer’s disease that won the 2013 Solé Tura Awards was also presented and really touched the audience in an emotional way. All the complete talks that were given are available in the replay section of the Dzogchen Community Webcast site [http://www.shangshunginstitute.net/webcast/]. We recommend listening more in detail. We would just like to mention the most remarkable aspects of Tibetan medicine, during this event, focusing on the bridge between Eastern and Western medicine. Master Chögyal Namkhai Norbu explained that medicine is important to cure human beings and make people live in a healthy way. However, people who are very ill do not care if medicine is Western or Oriental – they need to be cured; therefore we do not have to remain limited. The condition of an individual is made up of body, speech and mind. The physical aspect, which relates to the body, is simpler but is not enough because it is always related to the energy and the mind. The mind is located in time and space, it dominates the person and creates lots of problems. For this reason if something can help to solve a problem, it is better not to be limited. So “integrative” refers not only to medicine but also to Tibetan culture and knowledge that could otherwise disappear. The purpose of this Meeting is to make Tibetan knowledge in general available to the public. How can this Meeting on Tibetan Medicine produce results? By forming a bridge that links together East and West, thus being able to expand a millenary tradition of knowledge and a comprehension of the human condition that bears fruit that can benefit all beings. 
Dr. Phuntsog Wagmo, academic director of the Shang Shung Institute USA’s Tibetan Medicine Programs and ASIA Project Coordinator in Tibet for the development of the Gamthog Hospital, emphasized that medicine belongs to all sentient beings. While there are many healing systems, in Tibetan medicine, illnesses are considered in two ways: prevention and treatment. It is important to understand the body and to know the relationships between the physical, verbal and mental functions. If the body is not happy, neither is the mind. The mind can be compared to a king, the body to an assistant. When the body becomes old, it may not respond so effectively but the mind may still be very active, which is why it demands more than the body can do. As a result, stress-related illnesses such as cancer develop in the West. How do the different healing systems work? Western medicine has many resources to save people’s lives, but its methods are more aggressive than those of Oriental medicine. Western medicine is like a very active and intelligent adolescent who always wants to do something and regards the body as if it were a machine, sometimes even mistreating it. Tibetan medicine, on the other hand, is like a very experienced adult person. By combining the adolescents and the elderly, we can help other beings in a better way. In the West it is a priority to treat illnesses according to their symptoms; Tibetan medicine, instead, focuses on the feelings and style of life, and tries to understand the causes of illnesses, integrating the three dimensions of body, speech and mind of the person. Tibetan medicine tries to understand the direction of illnesses, that is why it does not concentrate on the symptoms only; it investigates the outer conditions, the time of year, the age of the person, food habits, kind of work, stressing situations, etc. If someone is not happy, Tibetan medicine tries to find out the reasons for not being happy. According to the findings, some Western medicine or alternative therapies, yoga, etc., will be put into practice. While Western medicine has a very recent experience Oriental medicine presents a vast orientation. From a Tibetan point of view, the practice of yoga is recommended as a good method to live a long life because everybody wants to live a long life of good quality. 
Dr Thubten Phuntsok, professor and researcher at the Tibetan Studies Department of the Beijing Central University for Nationalities in China, recommended taking care of and protecting the environment and stressed the importance of maintaining the balance of the five elements in the physical body. Some illnesses come about due to atmospheric causes, or provocations that affect our balance. Elements connected with near or remote causes in relation to bad circulation of the air element, for example, can produce mental problems. The second cause of illness is from provocation, which suddenly manifests as disease. Both types of illnesses, whether due to climatic reasons or to provocation by spirits, have ‘near’ causes. A ‘near’ cause could be the circulation of the lung or wind, or blood that does not flow in the correct direction according to the interpretation of Tibetan medicine regarding infectious diseases in the four thousand year old Four Treatises of Tibetan Medicine. The third cause is diet, food habits, when food is not correctly used, and conduct or behavior. In 2010 Tibetan medicine was recognized by the national government in India as a medical system and since then its practice has developed. Disease in Tibetan medicine is called Ne; Negpa produces change and suffering. Tibetan medicine does not consider that change comes from the outside; it states that the root of suffering, ne, comes from the inside and bears fruit due to secondary causes. We have stated that there are three types of mental diseases caused by the lung, or wind. Lung disorders are caused by the three poisons, attachment, aversion and ignorance or marigpa, which form the basis of our samsaric existence. Therefore we must make an effort to recognize our ignorance. If we follow a spiritual path and we are lucky to have a Master on this planet, we can overcome ignorance. 
The cause of conflicting emotions is the wind element and the causes of diseases are related to diet, behavior, the seasons, the weather and provocations. The problem arises when we focus the direction of our happiness outside ourselves, hoping that an object will provide it, yet when we have it we are not satisfied. Short story: a master and a student had a goat and whenever they went from one place to another they had to take care that the goat did not get lost or was not stolen, so the student got no sleep. One day he told his Master that they need not worry about the goat any longer. The Master, surprised, asked how he had solved the problem. I let the goat go free, he answered. Desire is never satisfied; it is like scratching or eating – the more you do it, the more you need it. In whichever way mental disorders are classified, be it depression or anxiety at different levels, the origin will always be unhappiness stemming from mental disorders. If we already know that attachment is the root of all suffering, this fact becomes important so that we can be more alert in certain ways. If you know this, your mind will be peaceful; with it, you will be able to form a healthy family and a happy society. We must try to evolve in this direction. The method of diagnosis introduced means looking for the cause of the disease, observing how the symptoms manifest and observing the effects. It was emphasized that Tibetan medicine in general takes great care in prevention, learning how to deal with conflicting emotions and with the interdependence of all situations, as well as being able to take responsibility in all situations that can become our enemies. In order to prevent diseases, there is a very important practice, Lojong, for training the mind and therefore avoiding damaging other sentient beings or ourselves. And so peace can be reached. As a conclusion all the participants agreed that the health system should be reorganized with more open professionals, who not only pay attention to the symptoms but also to the evolution of beings and the circumstances regarding human suffering. Roxana C. Sciacca, Tenerife
