Lita Smith - lita.sangshen@gmail.com Australia

I am sure that I arrived in Bodgaya this time with a purpose in mind and those creeping expectations that are ever present. As usual these where quickly and perfectly crumbed into a pile ready to rebuild with the help of mother India. After a week my bottom bruised but healing from the motorbike miles and a familiarity building over roadside thalis with our fellow Indian practitioners. I was beginning to have an idea of what the brainchild of Heiner, mixed with a little Behari spirit was accomplishing. As an almost purely Chinese medicine trained practitioner my job was to watch our local staff and correct acupuncture point location. A large part of this also was of cause to interact with the clients, enjoy the wonderful Behari friendliness and gulp down the serenity of a late afternoon ride back to Bodgaya through villages and paddy fields. I realised here that there is so much more to the mechanism of healing than just a physical therapy, be it Acupuncture or any other modality. I feel the relationships formed during this process bring joy and worth to the client, actually everyone involved. Facilitating a much more beneficial holistic process of not only amazing clinical progress but also a tool for life in adverse conditions. Through my time working within the Trust of ____ there are too many wonderful experiences both inspiring and sometimes difficult, to mesion here. So I leave you only with my overall lasting impression. This is a picture of strength in adversity, a strength that comes from compassion and respect, comfort of community, and a basic human understanding that we are all sentient beings with a right to happiness.