Release date: March 28, 2003
Contact: Deb Hammacher, Associate Director, University Media Relations,
at 404-727-0644 or dhammac@emory.edu

Tibetan Monk Teaches the Mind-Body Connection

By studying a combination of Western science and Eastern spiritualism, students at Emory are learning from a Tibetan monk how mental moxie can give the physical body an edge in overall health.

Students in the "Mind, Body and Healing: Tibetan and Western Perspectives" class this semester are making the mind-body connection by studying scientific research on mental attitudes and health, while also exploring centuries-old Tibetan traditions from a teacher with first-hand knowledge of the practices.

Lobsang Tenzin Negi, a Tibetan monk in residence at Emory since 1999, is guiding students through the complex material in his religion and Asian studies class, which has drawn students from multiple disciplines, including theology, medicine and international studies.

"I would like them to see and feel the importance of paying attention to their mental attitudes," says Negi, who wrote his dissertation on traditional Buddhist and contemporary Western approaches to emotions and their impact on health. "I hope it will be beneficial for them as they grow in their respective professions."

Negi was ordained by the Dalai Lama at age 14 and studied at the Dalai Lama's private school for seven years. He is a graduate of the Drepung Loseling Monastic College in Southern India, the center of study for Buddhism and Tibetan culture. In addition to teaching at Emory, he directs the Drepung Loseling Institute, the North American branch of the monastery, which became affiliated with Emory University in 1998.

For much of the semester, the class has examined modern scientific research, looking at such subjects as the impact of stress and anger on the body, as well as how relaxation techniques and positive mental attitudes can affect the fight against disease.

"Some modern scientific research seems to indicate that without conscious, mental effort, you can't have physical change," says Negi, who earned his doctorate from Emory's Graduate Institute for the Liberal Arts in 1999. The research ties in with Tibetan practices, Negi says.

"The Tibetan concept of health assumes that the basic primordial energies that form our bodies are also the basis of our experience," says Negi. Those energies, or elements, include wind, water, earth, fire and space, and are each related to basic emotions and mental attitudes. Balance within the elements equals good health, while imbalance leads to disease. For example, too much anger, or fire, can cause imbalance in the other elements.

"In the Tibetan tradition, the mind and body are inseparable," says Negi.

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