Continuing Education Credits
India Immersion Program
Hindu Psychology, Mental Health and Alternative Ways of Healing
January 2nd, 2019 - January 11th, 2019
We Are Still Recruiting Participants!
There are many pathways to healing! This year's immersion program will expose you to Hindu psychology and help you look at the concepts of health, pathology, family life cycle and healing through its lens. You will be exposed to alternative systems of healing with the goal of improving the delivery of mental health services to diverse populations.
The program will be conducted as an experiential learning program in India based on critical pedagogy. The program will include discussions, guest lectures from experts, audiovisual presentations and site visits to local places of worship, alternative healing centers and spiritual centers. There will be an emphasis on engaging in experiential activities, self of the therapist work and self-refection.
Sample Activities
-
Observation of a Fast
-
Visit to Ramakrishna Mission for a lecture on Vedanta from the monks.
-
Lecture on Ayurveda
-
Visit to manufacturing unit that makes Ayurvedic and Siddha medicines
-
Visit to an Ayurvedic Spa
-
Spending a day at a yoga center and chanting
-
Visit to local market and learning to cook an Ayurvedic meal
-
Travel to the temple town of Kumbakonam and visit to temples
-
Experiencing and learning about everyday spirituality
-
A session on astrology
-
Watch a dance recital
-
Engage in self reflective process groups
Program Fee—$2,500 (covers Lodging, Food, activities, travel in India; Does not cover Airfare & Visa)
Continuing Education Credits (CEUs) - You will receive 25 CEUs
Next Steps (Approximately In Chronological Order)
-
Schedule a 30-minute interview with Dr. Raji Natrajan-Tyagi. Contact me to set up an appointment. Once accepted into the program, please follow next steps.
-
Pay the program fee.
-
Attend the pre-departure orientation. Orientation is scheduled on Sunday, December 2nd between 10.00 am and 12.00 pm. It will be held at Alliant International University, Irvine campus. A skype invite will be sent to those of you who cannot attend in person.
-
Study Abroad Release Form – Please review the release form and send us back a signed copy of it. The release form, in general, asks you to confirm that you are voluntarily willing to undertake all the risks associated with going on a Study Abroad program. Form will be sent to you after interview with Dr. Natrajan-Tyagi.
-
Passport - If you don't have a passport, please apply for one.
-
Visa - We recommend that you apply for the 30-day e-tourist visa (https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/tvoa.html). There is a window within which you must apply for the visa. If you plan on being in India on the 1st of January, then you can apply for the visa anytime between November 30th, 2018 to December. 25th 2018. You don’t want to wait until Dec. 25th though. The visa is valid for 30-days after your date of arrival. The visa costs $60 plus a 2.5% bank charge.
-
Flight Tickets - Please book your tickets as soon as possible and send me your Itinerary so that we can plan your pick-up and drop-off. The arrival airport is Chennai International Airport (MAA). Some of the common flights to Chennai are Emirates, Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa, British Airways and Singapore Airlines. If you have found cheap tickets on other airline, please share the information with others. The Program starts on Jan. 2nd, 2019. So, please arrive at Chennai by Dec. 31st, 2018 or Jan. 1st, 2019. This will give you some time to rest and get familiar with the surroundings.
-
Immunizations - Immunizations may be recommended for many destinations in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. Check with Center for Disease Control for more info: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/. Make an appointment with a Travel Health Clinic in advance, since some inoculations must be done in series over many weeks.
-
Travel Health Insurance - Consider buying travel insurance. There are many providers and you can find them if you google “travel health insurance.” World Nomads is one we've used in the past. http://www.worldnomads.com/. Check with your health insurance providers, some providers may have travel insurance privileges embedded in your plan.
-
Hotel - We will be staying at Raj Park Hotel,180 TTK Road, Chennai (Madras) 600018 (http://www.rajpark.com/chennai/). You will be sharing your room with one other person. If you have a partner in mind, please let us know. If not, we will pair you up with another participant. If you are arriving in Chennai earlier than December 31st, we will have the hotel staff assign you to your allotted room so that you do not have to change rooms later. We are still working on hotel accommodation at Kumbakonam. Information about that will be posted soon.
-
Tamil Language Acquisition – There are several online Tamil language courses that you are welcome to explore. There also several phone apps that you can download. We recommend “Learn Tamil Quickly.” Click here to visit our 10 recommended modules of “Learn Tamil Through English” series. These are easy to learn, You-Tube PowerPoint presentations that help learners learn basic conversational Tamil.
-
Recommended Reading - We will be sending you a list of recommended reading soon. However, for the orientation, we would like you to read the article titled, “The View from the Veranda: Understanding Today’s Colonial Student” by Anthony Ogden. Please bring any thoughts and reflections you may have about this article to the orientation.