Wellness · Balance
Traditional medicine
Pulse, tongue, herbs and a diagnosis that takes its time.
Sowa Rigpa, the Bhutanese and Tibetan science of healing, has been practised here for a thousand years and sits alongside modern medicine in the national health system. In Thimphu the National Institute of Traditional Medicine trains physicians, prepares herbal formulas and treats patients from across the country.
A consultation begins with the pulse, read at both wrists, and a look at the tongue and eyes. The physician asks about sleep, digestion and mood, and speaks of balance between the three humours rather than of symptoms. Treatment might be a herbal pill, a dietary adjustment, moxibustion or simply a change of pace.
We arrange visits to the institute and private consultations with its physicians, and can introduce you to the herb garden where the raw materials grow. This is not a spa treatment. It is a quiet, serious conversation about how you are living.
The ritual
How it unfolds.
- 01
Arrive rested and before eating, so the pulse is clear.
- 02
The physician reads your pulse and tongue, then listens for as long as you need.
- 03
A walk through the medicinal herb garden to see the plants in the formula you have been given.
More
Other ways to restore.
Begin
Tell us a little. We will shape the rest.
One specialist, one conversation, and a first sketch of your journey within two working days.