Transcript
Karen Seinor: Hello, Karen here from s Soulful and Wild. And today I'm actually going to share some memories with you about a trip that I went on in 1997, which is quite a long time ago.
Karen Seinor: So at the moment... it is 2026 so That's 29 years ago if my math is half decent. Now, I don't know about you but sometimes I forget about the things that I've done.
Karen Seinor: And I wonder if that sort of... um a getting older person thing. I was having a conversation with my my mum the other day and I said oh you know I've led a very ordinary life and she started to laugh.
Karen Seinor: And she said, Karen, you have done a lot of things so far in your life And I went, oh, do you think so? She said, think about it, girl. Anyway. that That happened and then...
Karen Seinor: I happened to go to the doctors. And, um... Blow me over. I went into the doctors. And... The doctor was absolutely lovely.
Karen Seinor: And it turns out that he's um His hometown is Durham Cellar. which is where I went to in India to study Tibetan medicine and Tibetan astrology.
Karen Seinor: Now the other funny thing is that I always say, oh I'm not an astrologer. which I'm not. But I have actually studied Tibetan astrology. I think at a time when...
Karen Seinor: I mean when I actually was there in 1997. It was the very first time. that Tibetan medicine. and astrology had ever been taught in English. Now it's actually a seven -year training program and it's an oral tradition so no written down things and there was myself an environmental scientist from Germany And Dr. Bobbi Rose from...
Karen Seinor: Palm Springs. and myself from Albury we were the only people who were not medical western medical doctors the rest all were from Russia from all sorts of countries all over the world was pretty amazing.
Karen Seinor: and um So there's been a series of little things that have have brought this memory back to the fore. and And so I thought I'd just share with you some of the amazing things because it was kind of weird how I even ended up there how I got to know about it.
Karen Seinor: I am. I was living in Wodonga at the time. And I woke up one morning and I just had this incredible burn. to was right there in my head that I needed to go and do some training to do with herbs.
Karen Seinor: And I was like, where the hell has this come from? And. So for some... unknown reason. into my brain went. Well, go to the...
Karen Seinor: Go to the travel agent. you know maybe there's a trip to the amazon or something like that And so I tootled off down to... the travel agent in Wodonga in High Street. and had a chat with one of the ladies there.
Karen Seinor: She came up with a few things but nothing that was relevant. Anyway, I went home. and blow me over. with a feather. They're on my fax machine. is a sheet.
Karen Seinor: that's come through. from the Tibetan monks in Melbourne near Broadmeadows. and It's about this course.
Karen Seinor: that's happening at Menzikhan in Dharamsala. It was exactly the thing. So... I called them, I rang them up. I mean, it's all times right.
Karen Seinor: effects machine in your house. um I rang them up. And... Yeah, I... I tootled off back and...
Karen Seinor: booked myself in for flights and And then I... ran some workshops. to iran I actually ran a... um A weekend.
Karen Seinor: Healing. retreat. down in ah on Mountain Creek Road. in the Kiwa Valley. And some ladies came from Melbourne and...
Karen Seinor: Wherever. And that's one of the ways that I actually made the money. And and a girlfriend of mine, we we ran that together. She did the cooking and I did most of it. most of the teaching.
Karen Seinor: And. um that got the the money ball happening so that I could go. And... um My son at the time was living with his dad.
Karen Seinor: My brother and my sister -in -law had my daughter for a month I mean, that was major. I think I'm sure afterwards it probably put them off having kids for a little while, but but they were pretty amazing and supported me to go.
Karen Seinor: And. um I got on ah an airplane and flew to India. like. Off I went. And... um You know, I'd been involved with ah Tibetan Buddhism just a little bit, you know, like I'd done meditation and... The real pull for me was I'd studied. um The books of Alice Bailey.
Karen Seinor: And. She was actually channeling somebody called... the Tibetan. and um So that's kind of how. the connection for me, how I got involved in.
Karen Seinor: in that. Um... But yeah, so... I'm not really talking about Tibetan medicine per se today. I just wanted to share some of these amazing synchronicities. and and some of the beautiful memories that.
Karen Seinor: have just come. as a result of that. so There's a few cool things that happened. One thing. and excuse me if I get a little bit of emotional because it's it's pretty incredible some of the stuff that happened.
Karen Seinor: Um. I mean, just how I heard about it for a start. that I woke up with it there. um So...
Karen Seinor: I knew nobody. I wasn't meeting anyone. I traveled on my own. I arrived in Delhi. and around midnight. And I went. I went out, I remember as a child, my dad was as a soldier and we went to live in Singapore. And, you know,
Karen Seinor: I remember the smell as we went got off the aeroplane in Singapore. I would have been... five or six years old. And the smell hit me. And when I got off the plane in Delhi,
Karen Seinor: in the middle of the night Wham. It was the same kind of smell. It was... you know was the humidity it was the heat and the tropics, it was...
Karen Seinor: It was unique and fabulous, you know. And it was a little bit daunting because I... I went through, I was exhausted. I went through customs and I went out and there's just this sea of people. And if you've been to India, you know what that's like. It is overwhelming. And there's...
Karen Seinor: carry on and people are trying to get your attention. And there is somebody with my name on a placard, thank heavens. and a very calm, gentle person.
Karen Seinor: And as it turns out, This gentleman had come the night before because I'd given them the wrong date. So he'd been there waiting for me the night before. I didn't arrive.
Karen Seinor: And he turned up the next night for me. Thank God. because god Goodness knows what would have happened to me if he hadn't have been there to collect me. I was so innocent. I don't think I'd ever really travelled.
Karen Seinor: on my own to a country like that before. and You know, India's not exactly even, you know, 30 years ago, wasn't. really the safest place in the world for a woman to travel.
Karen Seinor: um Probably. safer than it is now but It was pretty overwhelming. Anyway, he drove me to...
Karen Seinor: the hostel. And it was basic. So bloody basic. But I was exhausted. I fell asleep clean, of course. fell asleep. And the next morning...
Karen Seinor: I woke up to all these. amazing sounds, you know, the sound of the city waking up. And... Had simple food.
Karen Seinor: that I had to go and get. and um I really wanted to go to the marketplace for some reason. And my friend had said to me, Karen, do not go out without a scarf around you.
Karen Seinor: So. Of course I forgot the blasted scarf, didn't I? And the lady at the hostel... got a taxi driver. to take me and I really wanted to go into this marketplace and experience it and he did not want to come with me and I insisted that he come with me.
Karen Seinor: So he did come with me. But on the way, I realized I had had not taken my scarf. So I said, I have to go back and get my scarf. He said, no, no, no, you'll be all right. I said, no, I must. So I insisted and he took me back. He was a bit annoyed with me, but...
Karen Seinor: And when I went into the market, It was, I'd never been. in a place where there were that many people. Just the mass of humanity was overwhelming. It was just like...
Karen Seinor: Um... It was a sea of human humanity, you know, shoulder to shoulder. and um moving and loud and Wow. it was it was incredible actually.
Karen Seinor: And all the sounds and the languages and... And I remember this moment where there was this opening. And there were people selling guns.
Karen Seinor: like machine guns and everything. And I saw this. And. This guy looked at me right in my face. And then the sea of people closed.
Karen Seinor: it was gone and i turned and we walked away i was like oh we need to get out of here Anyway, I sent to the taxi driver because there was a temple close by the marketplace that I really wanted to go into.
Karen Seinor: And. um I had to be dressed appropriately to do that. And the scarf was important for that. So he came with me but he wouldn't enter the temple with me.
Karen Seinor: So it was actually a very special experience. to go in and... I don't remember the name of the temple now. but um I just remember thee.
Karen Seinor: The sense of humbleness and... Um... insignificance. of my own presence and my own life.
Karen Seinor: in that moment. You know, the the history, the age of that temple. And just what ah what a tiny, minute dot I was on the planet, you know.
Karen Seinor: surrounded by all these people. it was actually Pretty fabulous. Anyway. So a bit of an adventure there. and then that night...
Karen Seinor: I caught a bus. to go up to Dharamsala. and This was one hell of a rickety old bus, mate, I gotta tell you. Lucky I was young and stupid, I tell you, because I don't know that I'd be wanting to get on that bus now. But I just launched myself onto it. now What happened is... um
Karen Seinor: I can't recall, I think... that someone from the hostel was also traveling to Dharamsala. and The people at the hostel, they really looked after me so well. I was so cared for.
Karen Seinor: and so protected really. um Little did I know it. And so... I was sat with one of these Tibetan guys who'd been at the hostel. He kind of looked after me. He sat with me on the bus.
Karen Seinor: And. um We head. I think we only had two stops. That's all I remember. If there were others, I obviously slept through them. um between Delhi and...
Karen Seinor: Derm seller. And like, it was... Straight. and then up. Anyway. He was just the most charming.
Karen Seinor: gorgeous young man, chatted to me. He spoke about his family, about Dharamsala, asked about where I came from, all of those things. And. um
Karen Seinor: We stopped at this. Roadhouse. Oh my god. My first. Um, adult experience of having to use one of those squat toilets and it was filthy disgusting.
Karen Seinor: filthy disgusting. Excuse me. for the cough um But. Fortunately, I had thought ahead and I had, you know.
Karen Seinor: my own TP. So. no problems there. and um i was very careful about what I ordered to eat as well. And then we we're back on the bus in no time.
Karen Seinor: And after a short time, like it was amazing. going through the traffic and it's like It's like this. a perfect um chaotic,
Karen Seinor: Vortex. when you see people driving in India. How it works I have no idea but it does. um So it was amazing to watch that happen.
Karen Seinor: And just the color. and the noise. Eventually, we started going up. and we're on a mountain road. And it was still daylight then.
Karen Seinor: So we... and i'm on the outer edge of the bus i'm on the the side of the bus. where I can look down the edge. of the mountain. and down there I'm seeing vehicles that have fallen off the road.
Karen Seinor: That was a... That was a little bit interesting for me. So. I just took some deep breaths. And just keep. you know.
Karen Seinor: I'm fine, I'm on my way. And... Yeah. was fascinating but it was a full moon that night. And eventually at some point, oh my gosh, I thought, oh, I'm going to bust. When are we going to get to a toilet? Well, we did have a stop.
Karen Seinor: And it was in the middle of... God knows where. A beautiful full moon. Massive. And think about... I'm in the Himalayas. and it is a full moon.
Karen Seinor: I'm with all these strangers and this lovely young man explains to me There is no roadhouse. We have to go pee. in the paddock. So...
Karen Seinor: Off I trot. into the paddock. to do a pay. under the moonlight. And every now and then... I do remember. You know, when there's a full moon every now and then I remember that.
Karen Seinor: moment. But um while I was off peeing in the in the front the the light of the full moon in the middle of nowhere in the Himalayas, um because it's a big wide open space.
Karen Seinor: in the dark. and the light. This lovely young man, he went and bought me a chai. It was my first ever. Chau. And it was the yummiest, yummiest thing.
Karen Seinor: And perhaps it was because I was thirsty, because of the moment. The environment, probably a combination of... all those things That was my first experience of chai.
Karen Seinor: well. with that. And back on the bus. And we just kept climbing. And I slept, you know. Anyway, when we um When we arrived, there were only two hotels in Durham Sulla at that time, and I had booked myself the fanciest hotel. And I'd chosen that one because it had a restaurant attached.
Karen Seinor: which was really a cafe. But. um It was great. There were big bugs. The mattresses. But I dealt with that. That was okay.
Karen Seinor: Sorted that out. So... um I think I had a day or so. before the course started. and um
Karen Seinor: It was amazing. It was... I had to walk down this track. And it was mostly Tibetan people in that area. There's another little town just below at the time. I mean, I'm sure it's very different now. It's probably extremely touristy. In fact, that's what I've heard. Very touristy, a lot of international people.
Karen Seinor: But they weren't then. We were the oddity. I was an oddity. um A real oddity. And Dr. Bobby Rose was actually staying at the same hotel as myself.
Karen Seinor: um and we became firm friends. actually. He's passed away now, sadly. but We had a real connection. We had a lovely time. And I learned a lot of things from him.
Karen Seinor: He was a doctor of chiropractic. Even we discussed the possibility he invited me to move to Palm Springs. and that he would sponsor me to become a chiropractor.
Karen Seinor: That's my puppy snoring there. in the background. um But... Ultimately, that was not what I did. but It was an interesting.
Karen Seinor: thing to consider. But. umm Yeah, so I met him. I think day one and we, I think we ended up sitting together actually.
Karen Seinor: So I had to walk down. the mountain basically. on this st dirt road. to get to Mensa Khan. And. Maybe there were about 24 of us.
Karen Seinor: um doctors and
Karen Seinor: students. And... um It was incredible. There was a five day basic course. I was hearing... October and October and early November.
Karen Seinor: And then there was a 10 -day advanced training. And then there was... a five day, I think the astrology one was after the Tibetan medicine one.
Karen Seinor: it was um five days of Tibetan astrology. And. it was So we were being taught. in English, and they'd never done that before.
Karen Seinor: And the whole idea was that that Um, They wanted to share. their their culture. And.
Karen Seinor: the amazing healing. practices that they... they use and that have worked. for so darn long it was really amazing actually Really amazing.
Karen Seinor: Um... i I wrote copious notes. for that month. And it's only recently that I have. actually disposed ah of those notebooks and the reason that I did that is the ink was actually fading. and I thought am I going to go through and sift all this information out and I thought no I actually don't need to.
Karen Seinor: It was the experience. It's in me now. you know. it's um
Karen Seinor: It's not information that I need to spit back out. It's almost like... it's almost like the learning was a consolidation of things I already knew. That's what it felt like.
Karen Seinor: It put things in place for me. End. Yeah, so I didn't need the notes. It was the experience. Breathe it in, you know.
Karen Seinor: It was pretty cool. Yeah. So excuse me, I'm just going to cough. Cough Cough Oh goodness. Just getting over a cold. So... I mean Tibetan medicine.
Karen Seinor: is I'm just going to have a little note here. for the believe It is... The way they taught us. is There's a a tanker so it's a um a visual of a tree.
Karen Seinor: And these three... um Three big. branches to that tree and so um three big trunks i guess And um each of those is a different area and there's are branches and leaves. and And so that's how they taught us using the Tungka. And it was amazing. I actually bought a copy of it. tanka of course it wasn't it wasn't hand stitch it was a a copy of it and I had that framed.
Karen Seinor: when I got home and I i loved it. Um... and that imagery. It's like it connected me into the teaching. It was quite quite powerful.
Karen Seinor: a beautiful way to teach actually a wonderful way to learn it's like it moves into you you know um Yeah, ah let me just...
Karen Seinor: Let me just... consult my notes because i want to give you something that's at least of value. so the four tantras it's credited to the 12th century physician whose name I cannot pronounce correctly.
Karen Seinor: You took. Yontan Gonpo. is my bastardized Australian version of the pronunciation, so I apologize. And so... It focuses on... um Three energies to keep balance, ah the wind, the bile and the phlegm.
Karen Seinor: And diagnosis is done by reading the pulse. and We had the... incredible privilege of having His Holiness' as personal physician.
Karen Seinor: be one of our lecturers. And he of course, taught us he was speaking Tibetan and one of the the Tibetan doctors translated that into English.
Karen Seinor: So he did do some of the lectures for us. And he was he came over with his holiness when his holiness was a child. So that would have been in 1959. and I was very honored to...
Karen Seinor: have a conversation with him one day at lunch. And he actually did the seven wondrous pulses. on me. to diagnose my mother.
Karen Seinor: Because my mum's been... had some health issues for many years with... um rheumatoid and osteoarthritis and I just spoke to him and...
Karen Seinor: I asked him if he could recommend. um Any medications for? My mum who was ill. And... So he asked my permission and he he actually did the seven and it's it's amazing. He just pressed his fingers.
Karen Seinor: onto my Mist. in a number of places And then he... told me what was wrong with my mum. I didn't tell him.
Karen Seinor: He told me what her condition was. And. i was I was truly blown away if I had been a sceptic.
Karen Seinor: That would have turned me, I can tell you. um And I didn't arrive as a skeptic. I didn't arrive as a believer. I just had to be there actually. But when he did that, I was blown away.
Karen Seinor: so he um He basically provided a script and I got that filled. and um
Karen Seinor: Interestingly enough, that medication did. arrive. at my mother's home. That's a whole other story that we won't share here. but um and It was incredible. So they use the seven wondrous pulses. That's what it's called.
Karen Seinor: and Also, urine analysis. So... the patient. Peace. into a jug. or into a vessel and you stir the urine and so that's one of the things that we learn is um We were taught by the doctors the different things to look at.
Karen Seinor: in the urine, how it bubbles, the colour, the smell. the taste, all sorts of things was absolutely fascinating. very ancient system.
Karen Seinor: And really. Totally spot on. And it has a real strong spiritual connection too. So there's um you know traditionally...
Karen Seinor: there is this whole thing about... um You know, spirits is part of it as well. So... Yeah, and of course me being me.
Karen Seinor: I did ask the difficult questions and I think that the... Um, the doctors who were doing the lecturing. were a little shocked by some of my questions but though it's the first time they'd ever done it they were on the back foot they answered so I got the answers I needed.
Karen Seinor: I would imagine. that. After that, they probably would have skirted those kinds of questions because it may have...
Karen Seinor: caused some skepticism for some of the western medical doctors that were present for the studies. but And, you know, they used things like they spoke about.
Karen Seinor: One of the... the treatments that I remember that I thought was really barbaric. um actually. was the use of a gold needle.
Karen Seinor: and it was bloody thick i've got to tell you and hammered into the the crown of the head. But interestingly enough, In later years, I went...
Karen Seinor: for acupuncture. on a regular basis actually he locally with a really fabulous acupuncturist Dr Lou, some of you might have heard of him. He was traditionally trained in China.
Karen Seinor: and he used to put a needle in the crown of my head. was And. It didn't freak me out because I... It wasn't thick like the...
Karen Seinor: The gold one. that the Tibetan doctors used. yeah what else so Um... Yeah, and the other the other ways, of course, of diagnosis with Tibetan medicine is you know they look at your tongue and your skin and your face and um ask you lots of questions as well so which is would be standard medical practice even today.
Karen Seinor: um Yeah, let me have a little think about it. so They look at diet, behavior, lifestyle, those kinds of things. um And moxibustion is a treatment therapy as well.
Karen Seinor: and the precious pills. that they make. are made from all kinds of cool things. even Dare I say it?
Karen Seinor: um the dung from certain animals. and some of these plants. are that they are used are only grown in very specific places in the himalayas very very um specific very unique plants. I mean, it's a...
Karen Seinor: It's a very unique environment up there. in Tibet. So. But some of them, of course, are available in India too. And at Binsi Khan at that time, they were really working on developing...
Karen Seinor: um growing some of the plants that they needed for their medicine for the for the precious pills yeah Um...
Karen Seinor: Yeah, the other thing of course is the Medicine Buddha. is a big part of the the medical practice. Yeah. A very fascinating time. i've And, of course, because of the...
Karen Seinor: the historical nature of this experience. I don't have a ton of photos, I've got some. um but of course they've faded a little bit the color's not the same no iphones back then That's for certain.
Karen Seinor: Yeah. Um, What did I want to tell you about? Oh yeah. Look, I... I... I actually did a little...
Karen Seinor: wandered down to the the little village. below Dharamsala which was more um people of from India rather than people from Tibet. which is what Durham Sulla was mostly the population. And I i had um my Indian astrology chart done on because I was interested. and The gentleman sold me some garnets.
Karen Seinor: and I'd actually... taken with me over there from Australia. this Golden barrel.
Karen Seinor: it had come to me. And I'd been really guided to actually buy it. And it was a weird... sort of situation but anyway I did buy it and it was I later found out it was for my pancreas, which is to do with a whole lot of other things of a spiritual nature for me.
Karen Seinor: um to help me do my spiritual work. to deal with sugars and things like that in my body. Anywho, i so I knew that... I was gonna have this.
Karen Seinor: golden barrel. Sit. while I was in India. And. um
Karen Seinor: Anyway, so I bought these two garnets from this Indian astrologer.
Karen Seinor: because it was you know showed up in my chart and everything. Anyway.
Karen Seinor: I spoke to...
Karen Seinor: you know I used to have dinner. at the at the cafe with the or the restaurant rather. at the hotel. like basic basic but beautiful food beautiful food um And one night... So I'll come back to the jewelry thing because that's connected with this. this part of the story.
Karen Seinor: These two young Tibetan men came in one night and they could see I was sitting by myself at a table and they very politely came and spoke to me in English. and asked if it would be possible for them to sit with me.
Karen Seinor: and converse so that they could practice their English. And I mean, I was by myself and I said certainly. And so... We struck up a...
Karen Seinor: conversation. And what happened is they came back each night. just for a half hour chat. And so we kind of got to know each other and then they brought a third friend.
Karen Seinor: And I was asking them about their life and how they came to be. in India in Dharamsala. And... They started to share their story.
Karen Seinor: And... Keep in mind that I'm this young woman from a very safe country.
Karen Seinor: in Australia at that time, you know, and Albury is a Wodonga. I lived in Wodonga at the time, which is Albury -Wodonga, very close. um in your country area. I had a country mindset.
Karen Seinor: and you know pretty protected life in lots of ways. And I'm hearing this story. from these young men. where they had escaped.
Karen Seinor: from Tibet. and they had traveled. I got into a truck.
Karen Seinor: and escaped. to a certain point, and then they walked. over the Himalayas.
Karen Seinor: No food. They just walked. There was a group of them. I mean they were risking their lives for their freedom. and um I'm just getting a little emotional remembering that. story. and um They were very careful about how they... shared the story and so and I very respectfully because we were getting to know each other.
Karen Seinor: asked a few questions and they shared with me their fears about sharing the story. about their... Because... These young guys, these two two of the guys had actually had a private audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Karen Seinor: because he heard about. the Their escape. And. you know, their arrival in Durham Sulla. And. part of the reason that they were practicing their English is because His Holiness had encouraged them to share their story.
Karen Seinor: Um, So that the world would know. what was going on in Tibet to the Tibetan people.
Karen Seinor: But of course these young men wanted to do that and they did do that. End. I... said that I would share their story, which... I did when I came home. i I wrote that. down and I...
Karen Seinor: I sent it, I don't even remember where I sent it, but it was published. was published in some Magazine somewhere. And I don't even have a copy of it anymore.
Karen Seinor: but um Or if I do, I i haven't found it. And I think... Back then... I did have a computer my very first computer someone gave it to me actually.
Karen Seinor: um
Karen Seinor: But they were they didn't want their names used.
Karen Seinor: or their place of origin because they were fearful for their family. who were still in Tibet that they would be punished. And I took that very, very seriously. very seriously because every day that I was walking to Menzikhan there and back I walked past a clinic And there was a big sign out the front of it that said, Torture survivor. victim clinic.
Karen Seinor: Torture survivor. victim clinic. That was the name of the clinic. It was for people who had been tortured. and survived.
Karen Seinor: That did my freaking head in, I've got to tell you. That did my head in.
Karen Seinor: And I remember that I put that. photo. with the story. as evidence that it was real. Do you know what I mean? Because me myself, I couldn't believe that this sort of stuff was going on. I hadn't heard about it.
Karen Seinor: I knew that China had taken Tibet. But I didn't understand. the the depth of that. and what it actually meant until I was sitting in the Himalayas listening.
Karen Seinor: to the story from these young men's own experience. And what happened? but One of the things that happened on that trip was they were captured by Nepalese soldiers at the border.
Karen Seinor: And there were some young women. with him. as well. End.
Karen Seinor: They were badly treated. And I won't talk about... um
Karen Seinor: some of the things because it's disturbing. But um...
Karen Seinor: those young men were deeply traumatized because they knew what happened to those girls. one in particular um
Karen Seinor: very tragic Very, very tragic.
Karen Seinor: But they got away. They bribed one of the soldiers with a watch. And they got away from. The soldiers. and they made it to Durham Solar.
Karen Seinor: And... They all live to tell the tale. So... Anyway. So that's... That's a very sad.
Karen Seinor: part of that experience but um
Karen Seinor: as As the conversations continued... over a few nights I did mention to... these guys that I'd... Um.
Karen Seinor: that I'd love to get that you know that I had brought this golden barrel with me from home and that I'd love to get it set. in you know, some jewelry.
Karen Seinor: and Did they know where I could go? Holy Magoli. had I hit gold. um literally So I got put onto one of the... women who worked at this hotel who
Karen Seinor: it Must have been her. a relative of hers I can't remember if it was her father or her grandfather might have been her father
Karen Seinor: He was a jeweler. And he came out. with his holiness. in that first trip. when His Holiness came. from Tibet.
Karen Seinor: this gentleman.
Karen Seinor: was with him. So... She took me. we made a day and a time and she took me and I'm walking up this Go track.
Karen Seinor: um And it's where the Tibetan people were living in basically... real subsistence because these guys are refugees. They're refugees.
Karen Seinor: in a poor country.
Karen Seinor: What an amazing man. So... Up this goat track. past all these different, I guess they'd be... kind of such humble.
Karen Seinor: Little homes, really. I suppose it would be a shanty place, some people would say. But... and I was welcomed into his home very simple.
Karen Seinor: one grain. and I showed him the stone. And I actually had the gun. It's with me. And...
Karen Seinor: He said to me, with the golden barrel. He asked me what I wanted. And he suggested a ring and I said, yes, that would be lovely.
Karen Seinor: And he just... um said to me, that he would do it in gold. 24 karat gold. And. he would do it traditional way.
Karen Seinor: And I just said, okay. And I just agreed. yeah I wasn't going to bloody negotiate a prize with this guy. Excuse me. Sorry about the cough. Anyway. um And.
Karen Seinor: with the garnets. heat And I'll show you the garment. These are the earrings. Very simple. And this is the ring. which I still have.
Karen Seinor: And it's all hand carved. Now, unfortunately, because of the softness And, of course, I wore it. like a mad woman all the time. that It's sort of sunk in a little bit. I've banged it around probably.
Karen Seinor: but it is. The real. to you. That's great. But more importantly... It was...
Karen Seinor: the beauty of meeting this person. this gentleman. End. being so Honoured to have met him. to see the exquisite nature of his work.
Karen Seinor: and to pay him a very... probably a very good price. um a fair price.
Karen Seinor: and for it to still be here. I don't know, it was just... It was such a... a gift. to me too. be able to have that experience.
Karen Seinor: And um I do believe that this... um stone and this whole Tibetan thing it it streamed something together for me I can't really put my finger on it but one of the things that happens with people who And I've only discovered this relatively recently actually.
Karen Seinor: Um, One of the... health conditions that happens to people who work. in trance.
Karen Seinor: ah So... with mediumship and and or channeling, if you want to call it that. um is there can often be a blood sugar issue. diabetes can sometimes become a problem because something happens when you drop down into trans and then you're coming out there's this shift in the blood sugar if There's a bit of research that's been done on it.
Karen Seinor: and um Of course, when I first started working as a clinical hypnotist, I had no idea. that Most people.
Karen Seinor: who do that work do not go into trance, that they use scripts. I didn't know that I just. I used to drop into a trance state.
Karen Seinor: and I'd get the client to go into trance. I would drop into a light trance. And. Usually I got a whole bunch of information ah beforehand. I'd write notes before they came.
Karen Seinor: And usually. bullet points and things and then i drop into trance and um do... the hypno hypnotic sort of session for them and I was basically entrapped.
Karen Seinor: And then I'd come up and then I'd bring them up. So.
Karen Seinor: I think I actually needed something. to support my um, system. for the work that I was yet to do at that time.
Karen Seinor: because I didn't start doing trance work. Until many, many years later, I was... Probably. I was in my early 40s then. when I started doing that work.
Karen Seinor: And so this is... quite a long this trip was quite a long time before then so to me there's a real connection with that plus my studies with the Tibetan.
Karen Seinor: as well yeah anyway that's me just sort of putting some threads together um retrospectively, I guess. Um... What else can I share with you about this trip?
Karen Seinor: Yeah. Now the Tibetan astrology If you're interested in that, Mincy Khan does actually publish a yearly Tibetan almanac, which you might be interested in in looking at.
Karen Seinor: And there is a strong link with Tibetan medicine and Tibetan astrology so the times that the medicines are made up, when they're taken, all that kind of thing, the person's chart.
Karen Seinor: their um character and what have you it's all together. Um... And there's something called what? Okatsi what astrology?
Karen Seinor: And napsi. I'm sure I'm bastardizing the pronunciation, so I apologize, which is more elemental. um astrology and has more of the Chinese flavor.
Karen Seinor: so you know the 12 animals the five elements and it's a 60 -year cycle so it's it's that system um So the wide astrology basically comes from India. and It's based on the color chakra.
Karen Seinor: Tantra. which is the wheel of time. So yeah. interesting. Now, the other thing that I wanted to share with you.
Karen Seinor: was Perhaps one of... the most
Karen Seinor: Amazing and moving experiences. of that trip. Um. and something that demonstrated the power of.
Karen Seinor: People. and heart. of spirit. So. I'll just speak about it. um It's simple. all right it and it's sort of a you had to be there to get it kind of deal you know but um We can go there together.
Karen Seinor: So. and
Karen Seinor: Very simple people.
Karen Seinor: refugees, In a foreign land, they've given been given... um safety they're allowed to be in India. They're allowed to speak their language.
Karen Seinor: to practice. Tibetan Buddhism. Beautiful. but are people that have been through... enormous difficulty and they are people of courage.
Karen Seinor: profound courage. and deeply, deeply spiritual in the ways that really are spiritual. You know, we we all know it. Spiritual, virtual. There's a lot of people that talk the talk.
Karen Seinor: and say they're walking the walk. But...
Karen Seinor: Yeah. For some, for some it's it's it's more hopeful than actual. Anyhow. There was... um a special celebration. at this time.
Karen Seinor: And um of course. all of us as students we knew about this the doctors our lecturers told us about it we were invited to go to the celebration and they told us all about it so it was the anniversary of the Tibetan Children's Village. Now this was um Let me get this right.
Karen Seinor: there's an anniversary on the 23rd of October every year and of course that was right in between out. our our um beginners class and our advanced class of Tibetan medicine. And. um basically, Yeah, it's called the Tibetan Children's Village but it's an orphanage.
Karen Seinor: That's what it was. It still is. It's an orphanage for um refugee children or orphan children. Okay. and it It was actually, it began in 1960.
Karen Seinor: for 51 kids. Think about that, 51 children. who arrived on the 17th of May. 1960. Seek.
Karen Seinor: and malnourished.
Karen Seinor: My god. Yeah. um Anyway. It's much bigger now. It's changed from being... you know the orphanage the refugee stuff to the Tibetan children's village it's sort of been Rename TCV.
Karen Seinor: And. they educate the children. and care for the children and feed the children. Anyway, so... we walk up this lemon big hill there are a lot of hills there hill walks very good for the cardio And so there's just people everywhere.
Karen Seinor: old ladies, ancient old ladies walking with flasks. And they're just trudging up, mate, these people are fit as. And. um So...
Karen Seinor: I traveled with my... Fellow students, a couple of us. We gather together. End. we there's this great big oval looks like Um, you know The Oval of the MCG down there. right But we are sitting on the dirt.
Karen Seinor: on this very super steep hill. and it was bloody freezing I've got to tell you absolutely super cold And. Then...
Karen Seinor: Some monks came and sat down, not very far from us. kind of behind us. within a metre of us, maybe half a metre away. And you know what?
Karen Seinor: no longer called. No longer cold. And I didn't really notice it until they left. So we'll speak about that later.
Karen Seinor: But that is a skill. that the monks Actually. utilize and there's been some research done it anyway um Now, actually, I'll speak about it now. It's it's called TUMO.
Karen Seinor: And it's it's the inner fire meditation. And so the monks can generate body heat through their breath. And. um It's said that they can actually dry wet sheets that are wrapped around them in freezing air.
Karen Seinor: And Harvard researchers have looked at this and measured um the real rises in the monk's body temperature. now They've never really done any research as far as I know on whether that heat can move out to people around them. But I know from my own personal experience and my friends, my fellow students who are with me.
Karen Seinor: noticed it too. we looked at each other and went. It was them. It was. bloody amazing. I had no idea that stuff existed. Anyway, so that that's that's about that. but um So we're sitting there waiting. There's all this noise. People are talking amongst themselves. It's just heaps of people. It was just like being at the grand final, really.
Karen Seinor: And then... Something changed.
Karen Seinor: something changed. Like. Suddenly all the chatter. fell away. And it became silent.
Karen Seinor: and everybody. And they were... I have no idea how many people. But think MCG. And. All these people stood up, they got to their feet.
Karen Seinor: And they started to sing.
Karen Seinor: Just... They started to sing.
Karen Seinor: And it was. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. and the swell of energy.
Karen Seinor: And then there was the sound of this trumpet. Like, I don't know, it's not a trumpet trumpet, but... of this really long horn. And then some cars came in.
Karen Seinor: And it was the Dalai Lamas. entourage. It's like, how did they know? They knew. And... um
Karen Seinor: They sang. And then they all became silent. And they said,
Karen Seinor: And it was the most profound experience to sit in that energy, to be with these people. And to feel this heat. Spoke. And it was.
Karen Seinor: Incredible. to Hear him speak. And.
Karen Seinor: only I'll never ever forget that experience. It was amazing. And there was a lot of the kids all did. um certain activities but the thing that sticks in my mind Sorry, I'm getting a little choked up.
Karen Seinor: the thing that sticks in my mind. Now remember that these kids are orphans. And these people are refugees. And they are... not in their country.
Karen Seinor: China has taken their country. So there's all these groups of children and they're marching around this big oval and One group comes in and there's a flag bearer.
Karen Seinor: And there's all this clapping and... singing and Words and blessings are being spoken. And.
Karen Seinor: Every single country. in the world. is represented.
Karen Seinor: and China. is rep the Chinese flag. And they sang and they blessed. and they clapped just the same. And that, I think...
Karen Seinor: It broke my heart open.
Karen Seinor: It broke my heart open. Because that... was a demonstration. in very real terms. of the Dalai Lamas.
Karen Seinor: Position. On. Love.
Karen Seinor: His example. to his people. and his people following his example. To love all. was amazing.
Karen Seinor: Yeah. Pretty profound stuff.
Karen Seinor: I think That changed me. And it's set. Yeah, it's just just incredible. you can You can talk about it.
Karen Seinor: or you can live it. You do. And it's a lot harder to live it. when you see And you know. the difficulties that go with that.
Karen Seinor: You kind of have to hold. You have to hold steady. With your beliefs, you know Don't talk about it.
Karen Seinor: Walk the journey. here Anyway, that's a lot of blah blah blah. Oh. I think that's probably all I really wanted to share with you.
Karen Seinor: They're the things that have really stuck with me. So 30 years later, these are the things that have really mattered to me about that trip. And it was a profoundly...
Karen Seinor: Deeply spiritual. experience. Yeah. And a real blessing. I feel so honoured. to have been able to Experience.
Karen Seinor: the people, the place. The energy. Yeah. Anyway... That's that. Have a beautiful day.
Karen Seinor: And... I hope you too can... Walk the talk. And maybe... be Oh. the example of the Tibetan people.
Karen Seinor: or touch you too. Much love.
