Seeking tranquillity in a stressful world

Damrivi Foundation heals mental scars through Buddha’s teachings:

Ramani Kangaraarachchi

With the hectic lifestyle and chaos in the present world many of us are caught in a dilemma, being unable to identify priorities in life. Certain people fail to reconcile the unrest surrounding them thus falling into the abyss of frustration and disappointment.

Fortunately there still are groups consisting of academics, professionals and spiritual leaders who have

 identified the pathetic situation and are formulating strategies and paths to heal the needy.

The Damrivi Foundation at Isipathana Mawatha, Colombo 05 is one such organisation. The woman behind the cause is Dr. Manjula Vidanapathirana.

Despite her busy schedule as a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Psychology, Colombo University Dr. Vidanapathirana spends her leisure and pleasure hours to serve the needy voluntarily at the Damrivi Foundation.

“There is a need for counselling throughout the world and it is growing in different angles. Sri Lanka is no exception. The increasing number of school dropouts, youth unrest, trauma due to war situation and the tsunami and many others have led to a psychological imbalance in many people that we come across,” Dr. Vidanapathirana said.

“Counselling is a necessity for everybody today. We are quite healthy as a nation but high stress is a growing trend. We at Damrivi are paving the way not only to do counselling for the needy but also to formulate programmes to come to terms with the spiritual, social and economic development and good governance.”

We draw lot of inspiration from Buddhism to promote values, balanced viewpoints and education while safeguarding the Buddha Sasana and dissemination of the Dhamma, she said.

Having obtained her PhD from the University of London and MA in Buddhist and Pali Studies she says it was one of her childhood dreams to serve the common man in the association of her father who is a well known personality in the same field Sarath Nanayakkara.

“But there was no opening earlier and I’m happy now the path is clear to discharge my duty for the country,” Dr. Vidanapathirana added.

Being in the teaching panel at Damrivi she said: “Counselling could be at a very small scale but more importantly it imparts education in a very systematic way through Buddhist insight”.

People from all sections of society are following courses here. So far nearly 100 students have followed the one year Diploma programme since the inception of Damrivi two years ago and the fifth course started recently.

The course includes lectures with Western psychological inputs along with Buddhist and cultural insights and

 therapies, discussions, role playing, relaxation and other therapies including meditation techniques.

Lectures are delivered by leading psychologists, psychiatrists and Buddhist academics. Apart from that once a month group discussions are held with past students, professionals and the panel, she explained.

She said the main project is developing study courses and conducting professional training based on Buddhist psychotherapy and providing professional counselling with Buddhist insights.

Conducting meditation retreats, leadership training programmes, training Bhikkhunis and nuns to counsel women in distress, providing scholarships to needy children, training tour guides with a knowledge of Buddhism and history, are among other projects. Counselling sessions are conducted throughout the week free of charge for the needy.

“The Damrivi Foundation is committed to spiritual, social and economic development through Buddhist insights and setting up a professionally managed organisation with modernity and to facilitate networking of organisations and individuals with similar interests.

Those interested can help the Foundation by identifying and formulating projects, providing expertise for implementing projects and donations,” said Dr. Vidanapathirana.

The Foundation can be contacted through [email protected].

Handy Tips

Apples: Refrigerated apples last up to 10 times longer than those left at room temperature. To prevent apples from speeding up the ripening process of other items in your produce drawer, store them in a plastic or brown paper bag.

Cabbage: Instead of blanching cabbage leaves to wilt them for stuffing, simply leave the whole head in the freezer overnight.

Chopped Onions and Green Peppers: You can buy frozen chopped onion or green peppers for a quick recipe shortcut, or since they freeze so well, chop a whole bunch at once and freeze them in single servings.

Citrus Fruit Juice: To get the most juice out of fresh lemons, limes and oranges, bring them to room temperature and roll them under your palm against the kitchen counter before squeezing. Another method is to microwave fruit on high for 30 seconds, let stand a couple of minutes before cutting and squeezing them.

Leafy Greens: The sooner you consume lettuce, spinach and other greens after they are picked, the crisper they will be. Rinse not-so-fresh greens under cool water to “revive” them. Dry by running the greens through a salad spinner or wrapping them in dry towels.

Place in a loosely closed bag and refrigerate for one hour. Leafy greens are packed with vitamins and minerals. When buying fresh greens, remember that they cook down considerably. One pound of spinach or mustard greens will yield a cup or two of cooked greens.

Garlic: To mince a garlic clove quickly, rub it over the tines of the back side of a fork. Peel garlic by using the heel of your hand, press the flat side of a wide knife onto an entire clove of garlic. You can then slip the slightly crushed garlic from its skin. Hands smell after peeling garlic? Rub hands with the rounded side of a stainless steel spoon under running water.

Onion and Garlic Odours: To deodorise a plastic storage container in which onions or garlic were stored, wash thoroughly, then stuff a crumpled piece of newspaper in the container, and snap on the lid. In a few days the smell will disappear.

Tips for clear skin

Acne treament is the most sought after treatment among the younger generation. Acne is a common and chronic skin disease. It is an inflammatory condition of the sebaceous glands and hair follicles.

The lesions are usually found on the skin of the face, neck, chest and shoulders. Nearly six out of ten young people between twelve and twenty-four years suffer from some degree of acne. The disease causes a great deal of embarrassment at an age when people tend to be sensitive about their personal appearance.

Some home remedies for acne cure

Orange

Orange peel pounded well with water. Applied to affected acne areas

Water

Drinking atleast 1 litre of water a day to impart a healthy glow to the skin

Clove

Clove based face mask or a paste of Fenugreek leaves applied overnight on acne and washed off next morning

Lemon

A simple remedy at home for acne: Lemon juice applied regulary has proved very beneficial in reducing pimples and acne.

Garlic

Garlic has been used successfully to cure acne. Rub with raw garlic several times a day. Garlic is known to have cured the toughest of acne problem. The external use of garlic helps to clear the skin of spots, pimples and boils. Acne can further be cured by eating three seeds of raw garlic once daily for a month. This purifies the blood stream and ensures basic cleansing of blood keeping acne away.

Coriander and

Mint Juice

A teaspoon of coriander juice, mixed with a pinch of turmeric powder, is another effective home remedy for pimples and blackheads. The mixture should be applied to the face after thoroughly washing it every night before retiring. Mint juice can be used in a similar manner as coriander juice.

Fenugreek

Fenugreek is another useful remedy for acne. A paste made of the leaves of this vegetable, applied over the face every night before going to bed and washed with warm water in the morning, prevents pimples and blackheads.

Cucumber

Grated cucumber applied over the face, eyes, and neck for fifteen to twenty minutes has been found effective. It is the best tonic for the skin of the face. Its regular use prevents pimples and blackheads.

Well-balanced diet

The patient can adopt a well-balanced diet with emphasis on raw foods, especially fresh fruit and vegetables, sprouted seeds, raw nuts, and wholegrain cereals, particularly millet and brown rice. Further short periods of the ‘all-fruit’ diet for three days or so may be necessary at a monthly interval till the skin’s condition improves.

Avoid strong tea/coffee, soft drinks and processed foods

Meats, sugar, strong tea or coffee, condiments, pickles, soft drinks, candies, ice cream, refined and processed foods should be avoided as far as possible.

www.home-remedies-for-you.com

Chemistry of science ‘n’ administration results in efficient principal

Kasturiarachchi Warnakulasuriya

She traversed a long way from her birth place down South to hill country to Colombo to reap the best of her capabilities. Similarly she moved from Science education to school administration to impart the finest essence of her education to the student community.

Rupa Amarasingha-Ex-Principal Visakha Vidyalaya, Bambalapitiya, after four years of yeomen service,

 assumed duties at Sujatha Vidyalaya, the other day. She is the second Visakha Vidyalaya Principal to join Sujatha Vidyalaya after their illustrious founder Principal Clara Motwani.

Born to a respectable teacher-family, in down South, her beloved father was a renowned Principal of the day, and mother too, an exemplary teacher. Nurtured in a Buddhist atmosphere, she was sent to Sujatha Vidyalaya-Matara.

Then she has had her post-primary education at Telijjawila Central. Her turning point in education starts with her stepping down to Col. Olcott-Woodward oriented Mahinda College, Galle, where she cut her teeth in higher education in Science, which she mastered there very well.

Amarasingha is a fine product of one of their star pupils - late Jayasena H. Gunasekara, in early 1960s. It is none other than the personality she was able to build up under the footsteps of exemplary Guru Gunasekara, that took her to great heights as Graduate Science Teacher, Postgraduate Science Teacher, Science Lecturer, Zonal Director of Education and finally as a much sought-after Super Grade Principal.

The leadership qualities she gathered as Head Prefect (among girls) cum co-curricular and extra curricular activist, under his able Guru in Buddhist environs inculcated by Olcott-Woodward-Wijesooriya combination at Mahinda College, Galle, must have been the greatest factor that contributed to her rendering yeomen services later, to the nation in different aspects of education.

She was conferred with the first Degree BSc. in Bio Science at the University of Sri Jayawardhanapura. After passing out, she embarked on her teaching career at her Alma Mater Telijjawila Central and followed up at St. Thomas’ Girls.

Then she went on to endow the nation with an array of Teacher-Trainees by being appointed their Science Lecturer at Amarasuriya Teacher Training School, Unawatuna. From there she fulfiled her life long dream of serving her Seat of Learning-Matara Sujatha Vidyalaya, where she was taught the alphabet.

It was the time Education was decentralised by the authorities by creating Zonal Education offices. The Matara Regional Education Office having understood the potential of Amarasingha, who by the time passes the competitive SLEAS exam, called upon her to give the initiative to the newly created education structure.

No sooner than, another prestigious institution - Kandy High School neededthe services of an able administrator. Amarasingha who roamed through her hometown territories all this time, had to take up that assignment in the up country.

The Head of a Super Grade School should essentially be an educationally and professionally well-qualified, well-experienced personality with enormous life experience to mould their charges to make them exemplary responsible citizens who can contribute their mite to nation-building.

With that concept in mind, once again the authorities turned to Amarasingha. It was none other than the island’s Premier Girls’ Buddhist Seat of Learning - Visakha Vidyalaya, Bambalapitiya.