The Plan

The trip to India is less than a month away, so I am busy finishing up my lessons and collecting materials to teach.  The plan for my two week neuroscience program with the monks will include:

1.  A review of neurotransmission
2.  Hemispheric dominance
3.  Vision (finish what I did not get to last time)
4.  Hearing/touch-pain/smell/taste
5.  Learning and memory
6.  The Autonomic Nervous System
7.  Sleep, dreaming, circadian rhythms
8.  Scientific Method/Statistics

I hope that the monastics will have time to do some of their own research on a topic of their own choice.  Also, I want to encourage debate and discussion about various neuroethics issues.

Need Visa

What is wrong with my photo on the right?  There is nothing really wrong with it unless I use it to apply for a visa to India. 

A visa is permission granted by a country to permit someone to enter into that country for a specific purpose.   India requires for a visa for travelers coming from the US, so I wanted to make sure I applied in plenty of time for the trip in January.

I remembered from my trip to India in May that the visa application requires two photographs.  So I went to a local store that would take passport photos ($8).  After I returned home with the photos, I filled out the application.  When I reviewed the instructions, I read that photos for the visa application should NOT include glasses!  Take a look at the photo:  I was wearing my glasses.

I rushed back to the store and explained that I had to re-shoot the photographs.  The store clerk was very understanding and did not charge me for the extra photographs.

With new photographs (without glasses), I packaged the application, a money order for $97 and my passport and sent it away to San Francisco where the visa will be processed.  I expect to get the visa and my passport back in about two weeks. 

Back to India!

I have been invited to return to India to teach neuroscience during a workshop in the Science for Monks program.  This workshop will take place in January, 2012, near the city of Bangalore in southern India.

Science for Monks Web Site Redesigned

The Science for Monks web site has been redesigned.  I was one of the instructors in the second cohort.

Post-Trip Post

Last week, after a long 36 hour trip from Bir, India, I arrived safely back in the States.  The day after I arrived, I became very ill:  fever, body aches, headache, nausea, dizziness, stomach problems.   I think something I ate on the plane made me sick.  After 24 hours of feeling terrible, I recovered.

If you have been following this blog, you know that my trip to India was cut short.  The other instructors were able to pick up the slack and from what they have told me through email, the entire workshop was a great success.

I hope to return to India in several months to continue my work with the monks and nuns. 

Stay tuned!

Must Leave

Thursday morning I received some sad news from home and must leave Bir, my fellow instructors, and the monks and nuns immediately.  Unfortunately, I will have to shorten my stay and return to the States now.  I am entering this post from the airport in New Delhi where I am waiting for a flight back to the USA.

Before I left Bir, the monks and I were able to discuss the anatomy and physiology of neurons and reflexes.  We talked about the different parts of a neuron, the resting potential, the action potential and chemical transmission.  This was a lot of material to cover in such a short period of time, but I think I was able to provide the monks with the basics to understand neurotransmission.  Because I have to leave them so soon, I will not be around to answer what I am a sure will be their many, many questions.  I gave my email address to all of the monks and nuns and my TA (Tenzin) will translate emails for any of the monastics who do not understand English.  I expect to hear from many of them. 

Immediately after my teaching session on Friday, I was ready to leave for the Dharamsala airport.  Bryce Johnson and Bobby Sager were able to change my flights to get me out of India as fast as possible.  However, I was told that because of bad weather, my flight from Dharamsala to Delhi had been canceled.  I would have to drive five hours to a different airport to catch a flight to Delhi and then another flight back to the US.  

So I started towards the new airport with one of the Tibetan translators who was going to be dropped off at Dharamsala.  He was able to call the airline and found out that the flight was re-scheduled and that I would make my original flight to Delhi.  So, instead of a 5 hour drive, I had only a 2 hour drive back to Dharamsala.  (I was lucky to see my first monkeys on the side of the road during the drive!)

It is unfortunate that I will not be able to stay with the program for the second week.  The Tibetan monks are such great students; they are so attentive and curious and ready to learn each and every day.  Even though I spent only a short time with them, I consider them to be my students, my teachers and my friends.  I will miss them.  But this is not the end of the story.  It is likely that I will join them again for a second workshop in a few months and we will continue our discussions about the brain. 

The Rain Returns

The lightning returned for a second show on Thursday night.  That night, Bryce, one of the Tibetan translators, and I ventured into the small town below the Deer Park Institute in search of chocolate.  Although several shops had chocolate, Bryce was not satisfied with the selection.  One shop, however, had what he was looking for:  chocolate with fruit and nuts!

On the way home, we heard thunder and saw lightning flashes getting closer and closer.  The first raindrops fell as we were about 100 yards from the gates of the compound.  These first raindrops were only the beginning of another strong storm.  This storm had more lightning and thunder than the previous day’s storm, but it was not as windy.  I tried to photograph the lightning, but the images I recorded are not very good.

We lost power again, but it was restored before I went to sleep.