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| Ingrid with Madam Sindhu, Director of VIIS |
All eight of us were adopted into
Dr. Mohan and Dr. Arundhati family. They have become our home away from home.
The staff at Kenchanahalli have given me so much joy. Shukmar’s kind words that
welcome us to tea every day to Mahadevi’s “How are you?” to Gita’s outstanding
Chapatis and Praveen’s smile are all integral components of making all of us
feel at home in this beautiful place.
At this site is where I was
stationed to complete my project which included creating a booklet and
flipchart that discussed techniques to help Knee Pain Management. My goal was
to create booklets that could be used by any member of rural Indian community,
and therefore make it understandable so everyone could comprehend the material.
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In the guest house at Kenchenhalli.
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During my stay at Kenchanahalli,
I participated a couple times with Deepa and Gowri in Yoga routines. I was able
to learn the entire Surya Namaskara. Gawri showed me how to do proper patella
mobilization practices like what was described in my individual project and she
also helped me as we discussed how my project could be improved by inserting
certain yoga practices into the knee healing process.
Last week I was able to have a
massage called Janubasti from Dr. Arundhati, Gowri, and Putti. The message
included a calf and ankle massage combined with heaps of hot oil rubbed and
placed on and around my patella. This was so helpful for my project because it
gave me a personal experience on how knee pain is treated using Ayurvedic
methods. After two days of massage, I can really feel a difference in the
amount of knee pain I experience.
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| Practicing Kannada language with students. |
India has been amazing, but it
also has had its set of challenges. For example, Kenchanahalli is a much
different environment to anything that I have ever experienced. It is much more
isolated than I would have thought and being away from my family for seven
months has been hard to deal with. The food is much spicier and my stomach
could not adjust to it well.
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| Dr. Mohan, Ingrid's mentor, showing the students the view from roof of the guest house. |
However, I would not give this
experience
up for any type of issue and am so thankful
for the peaceful environment that Kenchanahalli brings which I have come to
appreciate so much.
