..	The challenge of our species," anthropologist Vine Deloria has written, "is to find ourselves between the plateau of wisdom and the desert of ignorance, with mountains of experience to be traversed." As metaphoric geography, sandwiched between India and Tibet, Nepal is a suitable location for both outer and inner exploration, particularly in a cultural environment that has fostered this quest for thousands of years. What are the mountains that you are seeking to climb?

There are many opportunities to learn and to give through your experiences in Nepal. If you have a special area of interest in which you would like to learn, let us know and we can try to arrange a mentor for you. Availability of teachers varies from semester to semester. Making your own arrangements is part of the learning process.

As an apprentice you can gain new skills in medicine, meditation, arts, crafts, music, dance, and more. We link you up with opportunities. Whichever apprenticeship you pursue can be an empowering experience itself. In a short time you will learn more about yourself, the city, and the culture.

Yoga
The Yoga Center offers courses in Yoga, Naturopathy and Meditation. Working in a holistic way, the center aims to bring balance, creating harmony between the mind, physical body and the spirit.

Yoga, Thai & Shiatsu Massage, Reiki, Reflexology, Aikido
Nabin has brought together many experienced and qualified teachers to offer a variety of choices in one place. “Most people know something of yoga and shiatsu. Thai massage combines pressure points, stretching, and work with the aura. Reflexology focuses on the nerves in the feet and hands. Our vision is to give a percentage of our profits to help the poor in Pashupati, and eventually to buy land and build a house and farm in the mountains.”

Ayurvedic Medicine
Our ayurvedic teacher lectures at two different ayurveda campuses, has just been appointed as head of the alternative medicine section and is setting up the Ayurvedic wing in the Ministry of Health. “I can teach you theories about swimming, then you must jump into the water. Western medicine, based on physical science, is totally different from the science of ayurvedic medicine, based on the senses, what you see and feel. It teaches us how to judge the inner constitution, sometimes prescribing lifestyle changes. Dreams are part of the diagnostic process, and diet is part of the therapy. The key to ayurveda is in the Eastern thought process which is beyond science. I could take an apprentice to visit traditional medical practitioners, people who might be the seventh generation of healers in their family. You can come to my clinic and study from books and observe when I have clients.”

You can study with an ethnobotanist who specializes in medicinal herbs and plants of the regin.

Working with a doctor who runs an Ayurveda health home, you could visit ayurvedic clinics and hospitals with him. He also offers an ayurvedic massage course.

Traditional Chinese Medicin
At a clean, quiet, well-lit Chinese acupuncture and healing centre, during the afternoons, you could observe the methods of acupuncture, acupressure, and herbs. You may also get some lessons in Chi Qong when there are no patients.

Tibetan Herbal Medicine
Tibetan medicine is a holistic method of curing mental and physical diseases. It is a comprehensive art of healing with its own philosophy, method of diagnosis and treatment. The basis for this psycho-physical medical tradition is formed by Tibetan culture and the Buddhist belief system.

Kathak Dance
Kathak is a classical storytelling dance originating from India which relies mainly on footwork. “My mother,” says our dance teacher, “is a dancer and dance teacher. Of her four daughters, two of us dance. I was twelve when I joined the class for formal lessons. My husband, a tabla teacher, saw me dance when I was 15 and went straight to my mother to ask to marry me. She made him wait one year. We have always worked together since then. The tabla player controls the dancer. As he plays he also tells me what to do, so I must concentrate to be ready to take the dance any way he directs it. We first learn basic exercises, one at a time, and then put it all together. This dance can be done by both males and females.”

Classical, Modern Folk & Carya Dance
This teacher says, “When I was seven years old I learned with my grandmother in Bombay. The Nepalese folk dances I teach have their origin in the mountains where they are performed for weddings, meeting relatives and festivals. Kodha is characterized by hand and body work; Tamang focuses on hand and leg work. Carya is one of the most important religious dances of Tibet, also performed at the Newari Buddhist festivals in Nepal. The expression is in the finger work, legs, body and the eyes. All of these dances are for both male and female. We begin with developing concentration and the basic steps, gradually engaging the emotion and the 'yoga' of dance.”

Lingtro Dance
“My father was a great lama,” says the Tibetan dance teacher, “who organized the dancers where we lived in Tibet. He gave all the appropriate initiations and spiritual guidance to me and the other dancers. When I was young in Tibet, there could be up to 500 dancers at a time, but when we had to flee, the dance was not performed for quite some time. Now as an older woman settled in exile in Nepal, I again have time to practice and perform. Our troupe of about 30-40 dancers based in Kathmandu practice at irregular times. It is necessary to call and find out when. We perform at religious ceremonies all over the Tibetan cultural world.” This is a women's prayer dance.

Sarod
Reminding one of an American jazz musician, the sarod teacher plays this unfretted instrument which, in the beginning, is said to be more difficult than the sitar. You can't tell it by listening to him. He learned to play from his father starting about age 15. “First one must learn how to sit. Then how to hold. That takes one or two days. Then for one or two days you can play only one string at a time. Previous music knowledge is a help, any instrument or singing, for the ear. Correct tuning is important. There are a limited number of classical compositions, then it is all improvisation. A new student would not get to the improvisational stage. I have an extra instrument for students to use. You can get a feeling for it.”

Tabla
The table master started as a vocalist when he was ten. “The lineage and the guru/shishya (student or disciple) relationship is very important." He also had academy training. "First I teach how to fix the finger (positioning) beginning with the index finger, middle finger, then middle and ring finger together, until finally full hand. Altogether there are six notes played with the right hand and two with the left and two with both, totaling ten. You can learn some of the basic compositions. I have an extra drum or you can buy a clay one or a copper one for RS. 4500-6000..”

Bronze - Casting
Mr. Shakya runs the business that he and his father began by learning techniques for different aspects of statuary from many different teachers. From just the two of them, business has now grown to include many assistants. “The first things an apprentice does is help with the wax and clay phase of the piece. They can get some hands-on skill with this, and through observing and assisting with melting, pouring, piecing together, finishing and plating, they can get an understanding of the whole process.”

Jewelry Making
The jewelry teacher creates his work in a cozy workshop with a staff of about six jewelers. He began wielding his tools at age ten. He wanted to do what he had observed his grandfather and father, the former jewelers for the Royal Palace, doing. “It took me six years to become skillful in all the basics, but a new person can learn something in a week. It is an ongoing process, easy to difficult. As a teacher the most useful thing I have learned is patience. With patience you will learn to melt, to beat, to build. You can make a bracelet, a ring, a chain.”

Stone - Carving
The stone carving master is from the fourth generation of stone carvers in his family, and he started when he was 14. In his grandfather's time the business was very small and local. His father went to Japan to learn additional techniques from a master stone-carver, and brought them back to Nepal. Now they win prizes and commissions from all over the world for large and small scale works. “The first step is to learn to plane the stone by hand with a flat chisel. Then the form is sketched directly onto the face of the stone. Finally stone is chipped away to bring out the figure. In addition to practice, the apprentice will learn to sharpen tools and use the mallet, and finally to create original designs. Biswakarma, the deity of all Nepali artists, will be your guide.”

Thangka Painting
“The most important aptitude for an apprentice to have is curiosity, even if they have no ability to paint. The beginner sees a flat surface, but as they learn they enter the puzzle door to a multi-dimensional world. If a person is dedicated, he or she may finish a small painting. But at the very least they will get a basic knowledge of postures, breath, meditation. Also basic Buddhism will be taught, its different sects, how thangka paintings function within religious practice, and the techniques.” When the thangka teacher had to flee Tibet, life in Dharamsala was very difficult. He first worked in carpet weaving. His love for drawing brought him to his teacher, “I began when I was 22, living in my teacher's home for 4 years. I used to see iconography developing in my dreams and what colors to use. Then I painted on my own for 12 years and now I teach what I have learned. I feel a very strong spiritual relation to painting. Teaching every day for a short time I cover hand gestures, eyes, leg--in a week they can draw a body with measurements. Depending on the background of the student, in one month it is possible fora student to finish a small thangka.“

Barouti Beadwork
Babita is a health care worker who began developing the craft of beadwork to help rural women support themselves in small business. “All the girls were making these necklaces. I began when I was 5 years old. We do traditional designs as well as new ones. The polyandry system was breaking down, changing our economy. We work alone in our homes, but we'd like to open a small factory to work together. An apprentice can learn the technique and the pattern and complete an item in one day.”

Papermaking, Paper Products, Printed Textiles
After years of experience in development organizations, Shanti started her own business. “We can gear an apprenticeship to the interest of the student. For example, product design; merchandising and marketing; the craft of making handmade paper and paper products; and textile printing. Even the simplest tasks of handling the paper will begin to give a person first hand knowledge for identifying the weight and quality of different papers. One student's design turned out to be a top seller for us. One of our former students went away and was able to get a job in a buying house. We want to help you see the basic working truth in our business, and we can exchange Nepali and English while we work.”

Vegetable Dyeing, Pottery
Urmila has devoted her artistic life to applying philosophy through arts and crafts to helping poor people learn skills for earning a living. Her gallery displays tapestries and cloth and rugs produced there which are of the highest quality, and in astonishing variety. An apprentice might follow the same pattern any newcomer to the center would: going out into the village or landscape to make a sketch for your design, perhaps dyeing (even spinning if you wish) the yarn for your colors, learning how to set the warp on a loom, and weaving a small tapestry based on your sketch. If you prefer to make some hand-built pottery, the clay and kilns are at your disposal.

MORE APPRENTICESHIPS

• Woodcarving
• Pottery
• Music: Flute, Violin, Nepali Classical & Folk Instruments
• Bamboo Weaving
• Maithali Mural Painting
• Cooking

VOLUNTEERING FOR SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS

By volunteering with a social service organization you may express your support for someone in a difficult circumstance here.

Teach English at schools; help organize co-curricular activities; produce school magazine & newsletter.

Help non-government organizations:

Research and documentation, planning and implementing on issues ranging from the rights of women and children, refugees and indigenous people

Help in office with computers, letter writing, art work for advertising, ideas for export marketing

Moral support and companionship of volunteers at temporary shelters in Kathmandu primarily for rural people who have gotten displaced, victims of domestic violence and those who wish to get out of the sex business; volunteers can help in teaching basic Math & English, any sort of play activities on weekends or after school

At a day school for mentally retarded children involving them in games, yoga, art, cleaning, dance, health, sports

At a clinic for people handicapped with leprosy, sometimes being left with few or no fingers; volunteers at the clinic might register patients, distribute medicine, change beds or simply help create a welcoming, comforting atmosphere for patients

At a half-way house dedicated to the successful return to society of women prisoners—training involves economic incentives, literacy, health—staged first in non-formal discussions of options, obstacles and confidence building, and secondly concerning income producing work, marketing, micro-credit, bookkeeping and planning.

Volunteers would be a good influence in helping to widen the horizons of the women, visiting shops or taking a bus, teach how to cook western foods such as might be served in a guest house, help with hygiene and health, housekeeping and spoken English; document the stories residents; office correspondence

Help Mother Teresa’s sisters at their center for the indigent, elderly and dying

Work with aid organizations on such issues as health, environment or urban planning.