Spirituality Monday

Today we had a classroom day at Pallium India's hospital. After a discussion of a couple chapters of a book we have been reading and some brainstorming for our end of class projects (which I will present on Friday), we began with a presentation from Dr. Raj about spirituality and palliative care. We were also informed that he will be traveling out of town for the week, and will not return until after we have left, so we all bid our farewells at the end of the day. He is a genuine and amazing individual that is so incredibly good at what he does, and it was a real privilege to be in his presence and learn from him, as the father of hospice and palliative care in India. Here are some of things I took away from his presentation today:

Spirituality

• All desires that are nonmaterial are representative of spirituality
• Our interconnectedness with the world gives meaning and purpose to our lives
• Our job as healthcare professionals in palliative care is to work to restore purpose and meaning to people's lives who have lost hope in living
• We must restore a realistic hope
• We must realize that we don't always connect with people naturally
• We must refrain from being judgmental when it comes to the actions of patients or their families, as we have limited knowledge of their personal situations and what they have been through
• Essential elements of spiritual care
• control physical symptoms
• convey that you care
• encourage reminiscing about the patient's life
• reinforce something positive by asking the patient what they want to leave behind 

After we had lunch, we had a presentation by a catholic priest about Hinduism and the other religions of Kerala. Here are some of my notes form this presentation:

Hinduism

• Not necessarily a religion, but a culture and a way of life
• No Hindu institution and no hierarchy of ranks (like priests, popes, etc.)
• Not missionary; they do not actively work to expand their beliefs
• Large culture of tolerance
• Karma
• Law of Deeds (actions)
• Individuals must live an ethical life to achieve Moksha (liberation), otherwise they will be reborn as a person, animal, plant, or other life form
• Castes that arose from Hinduism
• Brahmins (priests)
• Warriors
• Merchants
• Servants (untouchables)
• Caste System
• Individuals are born into their caste due to their destiny; are unable to move from the caste they are born into
• Gods
• Brahma (the Creator)
• Vishnu (the Protector)
• Siva (the Destroyer)

After we were finished with our day of class, we returned to the hotel and had a cooking demonstration on the rooftop from the executive chef. We learned how to make dosas and appam, two traditional Indian breads that are somewhat tortilla like. After the cooking demonstration, I went with Liza and Aparna to QRS (a convenience store) to get some snacks and some more hairspray, and then by rickshaw to  ZamZam's restaurant (for the third time this week because it's so good and has American friendly food). We had a particularly crazy rickshaw driver on the way back to the hotel, with several instances in which we were within inches of buses next to us in the unruly traffic. Scary! Anyways, we just got our schedule for home visits for the week, and I'm excited to make our last week here a great one! Thanks for reading!