Welcome to the BPMI blog

In lieu of a website we don't have the cash to spring into existence, I've decided to map out our efforts in making the Bhutan Preventative Medicine Initiative happen on this blog.

We are a couple of acupuncturists from Nelson, BC and a Feldenkrais student from Whistler who are planning a three month expedition into remote communities in Bhutan with the sole purpose of providing acupuncture to all who desire and need it.

At the same time, we have arranged a 3 year tuition scholarship for a Bhutanese student at the Academy of Classical Oriental Sciences in Nelson, BC.

So, at this stage of the game, we have incorporated our society, secured $33,000 in scholastic donations, and have just prepared our proposal to the Bhutanese government which will be mailed out this week.

Objectives over the next few months is securing funding and sponsorship for the expedition which is slated to begin next September during trekking season.

Luckily, we have Verdell Jessup on our team who has spent 2 years as a volunteer in Bhutan working with monks, kids, and gawking tourists. She is our eyes and ears and boots on the ground. She is a veritable beast when it comes to inhuman feats of strength and endurance. The type who runs a marathon after a week's training and finishes with no injuries in a respectable time. Her orders from the outset were singular and sharp: "No Whining!"

Kevin Wallbridge is a founder of and instructor at the Academy of Classical Oriental Sciences. A closet Buddhist with an encyclopedia sized penchant for all that is eastern wisdom and culture, he will invariably serve to bridge the cultural gaps we westerners puzzle over like, for example, why all Bhutanese treks always start out towards the east. It should be noted he has begun learning Dzhongka. While he recently admitted to having started his long awaited manuscript concerning the Myths of Qigong ("the mind leads the qi" is just the warning label on the box, he writes), I personally look forward to seeing this urbane academic bagua warrior haul is ample frame over them high Bhutanese peaks with Verdell shouting at him to "keep the pace".

I'm Rob Grace and I like to think I'm a PhD of Kicking Up Dust. Fear of Verdell's physical prowess and Kevin's brain has me shedding pounds at the gym and consuming all manner of chinese herbs to tonify my gray matter. I met Verdell at the 2008 Feldenkrais training this fall and was amazed to find she'd actually been to Bhutan and lived there for an extended period of time (like years!). When it became apparent that a position might be available for me to live there and practice traditional medicine, I cried long into the night, unable to leave my girlfriend and life in Nelson for the quiet mountains of the Himalayas just yet. This project will bring me to the country I've always dreamed of and enable me to do it in a way where I'm part of the community doing something I love.

That's enough of an introduction for now. I've got to sleep as training continues tomorrow to carve my core, strengthen my legs, and bring the dream of acupuncture in Bhutan one step closer.