NLAM presents 5th episode of short video documentaries about traditional healers , ethno-medicine & local customs & culturesin India. These are made during excursions to heritage village & exclusive valleys to collect Vedic herbs & documenting traditional knowledge. This short interview reflects upon the dying cane art culture in Arunachal Pradesh. Shot at the Indo-China border at Gelling village, the insights are fascinating.
Th official NLAM blog, where I discuss about the Vedic and Folk healing traditions of India through use of plants and alchemy as I have encountered through my various journeys to the Himalayas and through India interacting with physicians, traditional healers, hatha yogi's, aghoris and many other indigenous practioners
Monday, February 25, 2019
NLAM Travel Diaries #EP-05 Dying Cane Art of Arunachal Pradesh
NLAM presents 5th episode of short video documentaries about traditional healers , ethno-medicine & local customs & culturesin India. These are made during excursions to heritage village & exclusive valleys to collect Vedic herbs & documenting traditional knowledge. This short interview reflects upon the dying cane art culture in Arunachal Pradesh. Shot at the Indo-China border at Gelling village, the insights are fascinating.
Sunday, February 24, 2019
NLAM Travel Diaries #EP-04 Interview with a Apatani Tribe Couple about Local customs & Medicine
NLAM presents Fourth episode of short video documentaries about traditional healers , ethno-medicine & local customs & culturesin India. These are made during excursions to heritage village & exclusive valleys to collect Vedic herbs & documenting traditional knowledge. This short interview takes a look into the lives of Apatani tribe belonging to Ziro village in northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.
For entire 7 part vlog on Central Arunachal , Click here
NLAM Diaries #EP-03 Interview with an teacher about Kinnaur's culture, Himachal Pradesh, India
NLAM presents third episode of short video documentaries about traditional healers , ethno-medicine & local customs & culturesin India. These are made during excursions to heritage village & exclusive valleys to collect Vedic herbs & documenting traditional knowledge. This video is an interview with local resident and teacher Puma from Nako village. Nako is located in Kinnaur region of Himachal Pradesh bordering Spiti valley. Life here is harsh amidst rugged terrain and weather.
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
THE BENEFITS & HARMS OF THE SPREAD OF HERBAL MEDICINE THROUGH DIGITAL & SOCIAL MEDIA .... A THOUGHT
Herbal medicine use and sustainable biodiversity implications are something we all should be concerned about. In age of digital media where news “right or wrong”, “fact or fiction” “fake or real” spreads like fire, its imperative we stop and think before jumping on to the bandwagon. Being an Ayurveda physician though i will restrict myself to herbs. Over years as digital media and instant messaging has grown with cheap data plans, I have seen a surplus growth of herbal cures and methods being propagated over social platforms through handheld devices. To be honest, I could relate to the good intention behind it overlooking the marketing economics & popularity sojourns associated with some of them. However for the first time in few months I am beginning to observe its repercussions on a grander scale.
Over 15 years of my Ayurveda clinical practise, my main mode of work has been to preserve bio-diversity (or in simpler terms herbs in their natural habitat) by creating awareness and sustainable picking. This is ensured through educating the locals about their herbal surroundings in remote villages (mainly in the western ghats & the Himalayas) and buying from them at a higher rate the selected produce in small quantities ensuring that the picking promotes more crop of the same species in coming years without any in-rooting of invasive species. Unfortunately in past few years this activity has seen cascading decline. Though there are many contributing factors to it like;
- The local youth getting more lucrative job opportunities
- Growing tourism
- Urbanisation
- Lack of transfer of traditional knowledge within generations
the one major impact has been digital media.
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