HOLLOW BONE AND CREATION : THE AMERICAN INDIAN BELIEF

	"From Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit, there came a great unifying life force that flowed in and through all things: the flowers of the plains, blowing winds, rocks, trees, birds, animals, and was the same force that had been breathed into the first man. Thus all things were kindred, and were brought together by the same Great Mystery."
	-- Chief Luther Standing Bear, SIOUX
	The Great Spirit has six things that make up this life force. They are life, love, intelligence, soul, principle, and truth. These are the reasons the life cycle continues. None of this can be altered by man, but we can have access to these powers any time we wish. Just think about it - anytime I have a need I can access one or more of these powers." Those of you acquainted with the "creation" myths of other cultures, would immediately note the difference: Wakan Tanka, from him flowed VALUES that make up the Life Force.. a guide to live by . Life Love Intelligence soul Principle Truth Some elders become HOLLOW BONES to let these values flow through them. You too can be a Hollow Bone!

INDONESIANS IN PARIS

I am used to meeting visitors in various parts of the world, but today was an unique experience for me in that I was waiting for a group of Indonesians visiting Paris. Three families with 8 children among them! 12 suitcases.. and after arriving at the city of Light one of the first requests was: Where can we eat Japanese food?
The entourage, led by my good friend and Exercise instructor PJ from Sentul, consisted of his family whom I had already met but I had not met the other two families from Jakarta..
Last Thursday I said goodbye to PJ in Sentul .. and here he is today in Paris..C'est la vie..
The 11 year old, almost prophetically says to me: The economic times are bad for USA and Europe and China is No 1...Yes, when he is a little older China would be No 1..All the children speak English and all are being educated to International Levels, the oldest among them, hopes to enter Stanford..
I had a feeling today that I am looking into the future..The South East Asian Century...

THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL TIME

THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL TIME

The greatest gift that I can give to my friends is TIME.

That is why I don't wish to chat on line, talk on Skype or participate in Facebook.

Friends need time, as in being present there with them all the time, in Full rather than in snippets or Twitter.

Thus when time becomes scarce, friends are lost. So make Time!

Are you busy? someone asks

No, I am never busy for my friends.

But as we welcome new friends with great emotion and understanding, we should also accept their departure.

2011 my best friend in Asia left the scene.

2012 a good friend from Karaj, Iran left.

But as Bob Marley has put it in words, when one door is closed, the other is open.

There are no strangers in this world, only friends who are to be made.

Cuban friends never leave because they have been your friends in FULL, face to face, and share fully their times. Perhaps they too will depart when Internet becomes available in Cuba and they prefer virtual to real friends, but I somehow doubt it.

American Indians are always there, they are not going anywhere. Their lives are not trajectories, going from one step to another step higher. It takes a while before they would call you a friend, said a Meskwakia elder.

If someone shoots an arrow at your friend, you are duty-bound to stop that arrow, even if you are hurt in that process.

That is the spirit of the Warriors, to protect others.

Because my sister and her husband gives me a lot of time, Miami still has remained close to my heart.

I fondly think of the friends who defined “homes” to me during this vagabond life:

Kuala Belait, Brunei

Melbourne, Australia

London, England

Miami, Florida

Kingston, Jamaica

La Habana, Cuba

Baracoa, Cuba

Even though I feel very comfortable being in Asia, no place has felt “home”, even though my good friends in KL and Bogor had helped me feel at home.

I DONT HAVE TIME IS NOT A SENTENCE IN MY VOCABULARY WHEN IT COMES TO MY FRIENDS, IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THAT AND IT WOULD ALWAYS BE LIKE THAT.

GRATITUDE TOWARDS MY TEACHERS

GRATITUDE TOWARDS MY TEACHERS
American Indians, as always
Lately, MC in KL, PKJ in Bogor

When the student is ready, a teacher would appear. Instead of roaming around the world in search of a Guru, improve yourself so that a Guru would find you. Among the American Indians you are chosen to be taught, when you are ready, an elder would choose you and transmit his knowledge.
Indians would teach you to live harmoniously within your group or society.

PKJ teaches how to live harmoniously within yourself, avoiding conflict with others, near and dear as well as professional.
MC teaches you how to grow within yourself harmoniously.
Harmony is not growing your hair long, wear beads or chant OM and sing Hare Krisna
Harmony is within yourself and you don't have to dress your part.
Perhaps that is one explanation why all the great Sitar and table players are INDIANS from India; people flock to Cuba to learn drumming but the masters are always Cuban, Europeans just cant match them; Culture is something –emic and not worn like a orange shirt or a saree.
People who belong strongly to a culture can easily distinguish others who belong to that culture, also to detect fake ones who are pretending to belong to that culture.
PKJ teaches: don't pay attention to time when you are faced with time such as during long flights. Things outside your control, you must allow them to flow by themselves.
MC teaches the tool: Close your eyes and concentrate on the present, forget the past and the future. That is Yoga.
I am so so grateful to have been introduced to Yoga by MC. She is among the finest, may you have the same luck as me to get instructions from her!
American Indians have truly rescued me from a world of Order, Hierarchy and Close mindedness. (Middle class Australian life, corporate medical practice would have brought discontent to me)
American Indians opened my mind, taught me in this world of uncertainty in the manner of organized chaos.
In Australia, I was taught networking in the European fashion: What can you do for me? From the American Indians I learned: What can I do for you?
MH 20 is descending into CDG after a 13 hour 30 minutes flight. Not once did I feel bored or discontent: using the philosophy of PKJ and methods of my yoga teacher, MC.
CDG-MAD-FRA-ORD-MIA-IAH-OMA-ORD-HKG-SIN-CGK-KUL-CDG
Work and Life of a Medical Anthropologist 28Nov-14 Dec 2012.
Sister in Miami. MS in Omaha. Los Indios. PKJ in Bogor/Sentul

GRATEFUL FOR A GOOD YEAR OF TRAVEL 2012: A PHOTO ESSAY

GOOD YEAR FOR TRAVEL 2012

I had become aware of travel at an early age, after all I had to move countries before I was three years old. I longed to become an adult so that I can travel: I travelled first within Australia, then came Europe and then North America, Asia and South America are both late comers into my Travelling world, starting in 2001. South East Asia and Japan has been my focus in Asia and Argentina took up a lot of hours! There are only two Spanish-speaking countries in South America that I have not visited.

Since meeting serendipitously MC, who later became a good friend, my focus has been Malaysia and yet another casual encounter in an aeroplane has led to visits to Indonesia. All in all I have enjoyed Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar and now Indonesia.

2012 was also special for encounters in Indonesia, a special encounter in Malaysia, special days in London, gorgeous affectionate and intimate days in La Habana and of course there are always American Indians. Miami always had a feeling of home.

Many new people arrived into my life and a few left, none left any regrets but few left nostalgic flavours. The most important friend to arrive was certainly PJ from Bogor.

I am looking forward to 2013 with two major changes, one that would include a Humanitarian Medical Project in a village near Sentul in Indonesia.

The Airlines flown this year in order of their excellence: (long-haul flights longer than six hours)

1.           Qatar

2.           Asiana

3.           Thai

4.           Lufthansa, including Swiss

5.           KLM

6.          Air France

7.           United Airlines

8.          Oman Air

9.           Malaysian

10.      Royal Brunei

I had 32 long-haul flights, the longest being ORD-HKG at 15 hours and 20 minutes and the shortest being LAX-HNL at just six hours.

There were 92 short flights, from the 42-minute flights between Miami and La Habana, many internal flights within the USA. Also many Intra-Asian flights using Air Asia, which is an excellent airline, delivering what they promise.

Best Airlines Lounges this year have been:

Premium Lounge at Doha

Air France Salon at Terminal 2 E in Paris

Silver Kris at Terminal 2 at Changi.

The lounges of the USA based airlines do not leave any impressions. Skyteam Lounge at Terminal 4 of London Heathrow is very pleasant as well.

Grateful for a good year of travel. Thanks for all those who shared this vagabond life in different parts of the world. A new country which I enjoyed visiting in 2012 was Morocco.

My first Long-haul flight for 2013 would be to the American Indians, the first Asian flight would be to Phnom Penh, Bangkok and Bogor.

The lovely staff at Hotel Hilton Salalah, Oman

Chance meeting with the Humble Man of Bogor that brought me to Indonesia

Dining in KL, Great Hospitality in Malacca

Yet another Airline Meal: choose your airline wisely..

A Good Introduction to Sundanese Cooking

Welcome to Phnom Penh, Cambodia 

A Chinese wedding in Jakarta

 The man in seat 4D  LH 747-400

Eating well in Indonesia 

This is where I walk/jog when I am in Bogor with my friends from the Sentul Healthy Happy Living Group 

SENTUL HAPPY HEALTHY LIVING, INDONESIA

SENTUL HEALTHY HAPPY LIVING AND PERSONAL HEALTH

During each of my visits to Bogor, the focus of the conversations has been Personal Health and Philosophical basis for the union of Health and Happiness.

The reason or the force behind such discussions is of course PJ who is the most considerate boss I have ever known and it is incredible that the best boss is in Indonesia, and he is head and shoulders above other bosses in the corporate world that I have known. In fact he runs his organization on much more of a human potential rather than a material potential. When I asked him why is that he spends so much time with his managers but never discusses the business, he answered; I am interested in their health and their happiness and the environment they live in. What they do with the improvement in their lives is up to them. On an average day, the managers may have up to 3 hours to share their thoughts and knowledge about health and happiness with PJ, and at least one meal a day is shared together. When I was there for six days, as could be seen in the photographs in an earlier blog, none of us ever ate alone. There would always be five or six people excluding PJ.

Even though I am a specialist physician, I learn so much from them: their explanations are lived in experiences and practical whereas an Indonesian doctor would tell you what he has learned or read in a book or article, work done by others.

If an overweight, unhealthy person goes to a Doctor and asks for advice, what he hears is:

Eat less and Exercise more and loose weight. Every one knows WHAT is that to be done, but what they need advice is on HOW to do it.

And, dangerously enough, if the doctor is a peon of a drug company, he may prescribe one of the two recently approved, expensive medications (which don't do their jobs well anyway) or an off the label usage of some of the newer designer drugs (3 to 5 dollars per day!). If they had a few seconds to spare, they may suggest a membership at a Gym (I saw a Celebrity Gym at Botanic Mall in Bogor, with very few people inside). Gyms are good at making your wallets weigh less and their tactics of signing up etc. are well known.

Nothing of the above advice gives the person who seeks the advice, HOW am I going to achieve Better Health?

What is missing in all the various Weight Loss programmes is that the body is not a machine that just responds to Exercise or diet composition in a prescribed fashion, plus a piecemeal approach without a mind/body/spirit/environment connection cannot be expected to produce good results. What these “experts” ignore is the fact that the body is a social unit, part of the society in which it lives:

It includes connection with

Family

Friends

Job

Transportation

Politics of the Country

The fact that the social aspects of a body can defy scientific knowledge of Nutritionists and Lifestyle Coaches (especially from the Gym) are the two examples:

Despite high fat intake the French people have half the cardiovascular diseases than the Americans who eat less fat than the French with the thought that it would protect them against heart disease.

Playing Golf, which is very low intensity in Physical Activity, has a prolonged effect on the longevity of the person, as against very tough bodybuilding or cardio work out in a gym.

As an Anthropologist I can tell you the reason for both are the social nature of eating and playing.

The French, even the busiest of executives would take time out to have lunch, and the lunch is usually not a quick meal but a prolonged affair. Canteens of high calibre are provided for most office workers where the hour spent (very few workers in America get one hour for lunch) socializing and believe it or not, the canteens even provide wine for those who would like a sip.

Golf by its nature is social, and there are rituals and participations, which are all very social in nature. The fact that both, long lunches laden with fat or slow intensity exercise, are beneficial is attributable to their sociability

Any health programme for a community that does not take into consideration the various aspects of life a Body lives in context is bound to fail.

In an article published in December 2012 in Archives of Internal medicine, the results of an intervention among overweight or obese adults who met the criteria for Pre Diabetes or metabolic syndrome.

Each group consisted of about 80 participants, all recruited from the lists of General Practitioners of medicine

First group received the USUAL care, the kind of care given by doctors and nurses to people who are overweight and are pre diabetic

The second group were given DVD instructions and the self-directed actions were carried at home.

The third group had a special curriculum delivered to them by a lifestyle coach, and in a small group.

There was a 3-month period of intense coaching followed by a year of maintenance phase of coaching and communications for groups 2 and 3

At the end of the 15 months, the social group (no 3) had fared much better than both self directed group as well as the usual care group. It is interesting to note that both successful aspects of this programme were non medical (self directed and lifestyle coaching)

The social group lost 2.2 kg/m2 of BMI from baseline, which is impressive, compared to 1.6 for self directed group at home and the poorest at 0.9 was for the usual care group (in fact in real life, majority of the patients or people who are overweight who seek advice would fall into this group and thus would be disappointed with the results)

That is why the experienced reality of the Sentul Healthy Happy Living Group is so successful. By August of 2012, the members had lost a collective 70 kg and just three months later, another 20 kg. Bringing the total up to 90 kg in weight loss. In short, each participant had lost a minimum of 10 kg.

This is the reflection of the coordinator of the group: PJ

People are not coerced to stay or prevented from leaving. It is up to the individual whether or not they would like continue participating in the activities of the group. So far all the participants have been employees of the same firm.

Philosophy of PJ

Healthy bodies exist in context of Happy minds.

Happy Bodies need good environment:

At home/families

At work

At the place of residence (suburb, village etc.)

During this visit to Bogor, the day begins with a pick up at the hotel at 6 AM; we congregate or join in, around the Lake at Sentul Golf Residences, and walk/jog for a minimum of one hour, not including the time for socialization.

The kind of questions asked of me, because of my role as a specialist Physician and Anthropologist, reflect the philosophy of the group. I will give you one such example:

The manager of The Exotic Fish Farming and Export asked me on my recent visit:

A lot of the time, 10-15 of the workers had to work until very late at night, perhaps until about 5 am to pack the fish for export.

What is your advice regarding their rest period after working for such a long time?

And what should they eat? Is there any specific kind of food that would give them a boost in energy?

A good practical question, not the kind I am asked in my usual professional role as a Specialist Physician.

My answer after a little deliberation was:

When they finish at 5 AM, they should rest at least 3-4 hours

Preferably in a quiet room, without too much light.

If they have eyeshades to cover their eyes while they sleep (if they don't, I will bring 15 on my next visit), they should wear them.

After 3-4 hours of rest, they should drink water and not any other soft drink or fruit juice. They could have a cup of Tea (green Tea) or Coffee (not coffee mix, three in one) with brown sugar for sweetener

Then they should exercise for one hour: Walking/jogging/running, to the best of their capacity

Then Breakfast together, cooked in the canteen of the fish packing plant:

Not too much rice

Chinese style breakfast or Bubur Ayam. Eggs recommended. No noodles or pasta

Then go back to work.

Health is not an absence of Disease but it is related to the state of your mind, and without working on your mind, the body tend to deteriorate. All ancient philosophies state this fact which seem obvious but neglected by the modern day purveyors of health who wish to sell you

Instant Health

Pills for Better Health

Supplements for Health

The advice from the Sentul Healthy Happy Living Group is

Get your mind ready to become Healthy in your body and we can tell you HOW you can do it…as each one of us have done it, including me, a Specialist Physician in the Metabolism of the Body.

On the last day of my stay in Bogor this time, I could jog for ten laps around the Sentul Lake, a total distance of 6 km. much to the cheer of the various members of the group, who knew this doctor who at a BMI of 22 kg/M2 still was the fattest looking one in the group…

No Longer!

Come and see us at the Sentul Happy Healthy Living and share our Spirit for Better Bodies in Better Societies.

(happy to have completed ten laps jogging around the lake at Sentul!)