10 public events dedicated to the World wide transmission of Guru Yoga took place in St. Petersburg from 24 October to 22 December 2014. More than 60 people attended the events, for the first time 25 of them discovered the methods of Yantra Yoga, Vajra Dance and meditation, as well as found out about the basics of Tibetan medicine, geomancy and thangka painting.
St. Petersburg Channel 1 broadcasted a video-story with the participation of Tibetan doctor Phuntsog Wangmo and Kirill Shilov, representative of the Shang Shung Institute in Russia. Here is the link to this video:
http://www.1tvspb.ru/event/Tibetskaya_kul_tura_v_Peterburge/
The Dzogchen community of Sangyeling is grateful to all participants in this project: teachers, managers, the gakyil, the Shang Shung Institute, translators, designers and photographers whose joyful efforts offered the citizens of St. Petersburg new opportunities to meet the Dzogchen teaching and the lineage.
Excerpts from the video:
Kirill Shilov, member of the Shang Shung Institute board of directors: ‘The International Shang Shung Institute was founded in 1989 in Italy by professor Chögyal Namkhai Norbu. The Institute has branches in Australia, Argentina, the UK and Russia. Its main purpose is to preserve, support and expand the knowledge of the Tibetan culture and traditions. For us the most important project now is the School of Tibetan Medicine, and it is something new for Russia’.
Tibetan doctor Phuntsog Wangmo assures: ‘Wintertime in Russia and Tibet are similar, it’s cold and snowy’. Two years ago she came to the Moscow countryside, Pavlovskiy Posad, to teach at the School of Tibetan Medicine. Dr. Phuntsog was invited to St. Petersburg to give a talk on unique methods which are more than 4000 years old: pulse diagnostics, treatment of chroniс and mental disease using Tibetan pills, correct diet and behaviour.
Dr. Phuntsog Wangmo: ‘In developed countries there is a lot of stress. Unfortunately our lives become like a competition. We compare everything, how we are at work, how we look and as a result of continual comparison we have to compete all the time. This makes us an epicenter of stress. In order to be healthy we need to try to understand the purpose of life, and to work with our circumstances not comparing ourselves with others. And also to train in long breathing. In Tibetan medicine we say that breathing is not infinite but limited. For example, you breath one thousand times a day. If you do it quickly then you breathe tomorrow’s breaths today. It means you reduce [your breathing] by one day. That’s why it is important to combine movements with breathing to make it longer, for example, by doing Yantra Yoga.
In 2005 Dr. Phuntsog opened the School of Tibetan medicine in the United States. One of her American students has confidence in the doctor’s methods having been cured from a serious chronic disease, and now follows the doctor, perfecting her skills. Dr. Phuntsog’s student and translator from St. Petersburg, Elena Bobylskaya, is learning Tibetan because a doctor needs it to be able to read ancient texts. All that she learns she applies in her family for now.
Elena Bobylskaya, translator and student at the School of Tibetan Medicine: ‘Every morning I drink a glass of hot water with honey. So does the whole family. In the morning there are three cups with hot water on the table. It is considered that the first illness that appeared on earth was indigestion, and the first medicine that appeared was hot water, in order to cure indigestion. If we drink a glass of hot water in the morning before breakfast we activate our digestion. It is considered that all illnesses are based on indigestion, even such remote problems like cancer.’
Tibet has left its impression on St. Petersburg not only with its way of life and philosophy, but also with songs and music. Tibetan children learn to sing before they start to speak, and learn to dance before they start to walk. It’s a famous Tibetan joke. Tibetan dances have become very popular all over the world and thanks to that were presented at the UNESCO International dance council (CID). From the videoclips made in the Land of Snow many happy people have learned joyful dances all around the world — from Tenerife to America, from Mexico to St.Petersburg.
Yantra Yoga course with Zsolt Somogyvari (Hungary)
Yantra Yoga course with Zsolt Somogyvari
Retreat on the Dance of Six spaces of Samanthabhadra with Tatyana Gerasimova
Public talk by Dr. Phuntsog Wangmo in St. Petersburg on ‘Why we have illnesses? Tibetan medicine: thousands of years of experience against modern stress’
Dr. Phuntsog Wangmo
Dr. Phuntsog Wangmo and Kirill Shilov, representative of Shang Shung Institute in Russia, which organised the first talk of the well-known Tibetan doctor in St. Petersburg
Dr. Phuntsog Wangmo and Elena Bobylskaya, student of the School of Tibetan medicine and translator
Workshop on Drawing of Buddha’s head
Thangka painter and teacher Tatyana Kryzhanovskaya
Public talk of Sa Che and Tibetan Ku Тну therapy Maria Ivanova ‘Sa Che. Health in your home’
All photos are courtesy of Alyona Glukhova
