Dr. Sarita Shrestha and Women’s Health Clinic

Rubybleu Foundation is currently raising funds for an Ayurvedic women’s health clinic in Nepal.  Ayurvedic medicine is a traditional healing system which uses herbs, yoga and massage for preventing disease, supporting the body and treating illness. In 2003, Dr. Sarita was the first recipient of Rubybleu Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit that supports women and children in India and Nepal.  Other projects include scholarships for girls and microloans in South India.  More information is found at:  www.rubybleu.blogspot.com

Dr. Sarita Shrestha has been practicing and teaching Ayurvedic medicine for over twenty years.  She is also a Western trained physician specializing in Ob/Gyn and combines the two methods in her diagnosis and treatment of patients.  Dr. Sarita was featured in David Crow’s book, In Search of the Medicine Buddha and continues to teach at Mount Madonna in California.

 The Ayurvedic health clinic in Nepal is accessible to six surrounding villages and supports over six hundred patients.  The clinic has a staff of three doctors, two birth assistants and a pharmacist.  Everyone is treated, even if patients are unable to pay.  The clinic provides basic care for sickness such as flu, coughs, and infection.  They primarily use natural, Ayurvedic herbs for treatment and some Western medicine.  The clinic also provides an invaluable resource for the women, who often have minimal support or understanding about women’s issues regarding birth and proper healthcare.  Counseling is one of the goals of the clinic, along with yoga and meditation.

 Through Dr. Sarita’s direction, local farmers are growing and harvesting Ayurvedic herbs used to produce natural medicines.  The clinic also hosts herbal and Yoga workshops and camps to promote awareness for natural healing, Yoga and massage.

            Donations will provide further support for the health clinic by: enabling the expansion of the herbal garden and farming for Ayurvedic medicine, support the creation of herbal, Yoga and natural birth workshops and allow the clinic to buy needed medicinal supplies.

For more information, see www.saritashresta.org You may also contact Katalin directly at katalinkoda@yahoo.com

Mindfulness

Each day is a constant reminder to practice mindfulness.  Too often we are rushing about attempting to get things done, to be on time, to do, do, do... In this rush we often miss the quietness of the day that pervades; the inner silence of the heart which responds to more being and less doing.  I am again cultivating my daily meditation (ah, how it comes and goes) and finding such pleasure in the simple act of sitting on my meditation cushion for a twenty minutes or so each morning.  In that short time, many thoughts rise and fall away; sounds come and go; smells pass by my nose and disappear; pains hover then dissolve, just as Life currents flow through us and away.  We often forget how fleeting the life is as we attach to all our doing.  By sitting quietly, we remember, truly there is nowhere to go, nothing to do, really.  Of course we have a measure of energy so we do things, but by cultivating the quiet we observe within along with the realization that all things rise and fall away, we can begin to act from a place of mindfulness, rather than a place of madness, irritation, or unnecessary stress.  Just as the waves crash the shore effortlessly, just as the cloud breaks and shows us the sun, so we too can allow our creative efforts to become effortless, simpler and more mindful.  Mindfulness is a constant reminder to pay attention to each thing that unfolds in our daily life; thus we see the magick...