Available for order september 17th 2025
Massage therapy is a part of every healing tradition in the world, and healing touch may be the oldest and most natural therapy known to humans: ancient Egyptian and Indian written records of massage therapy date from 2500 BCE, and oral traditions speak of origins still older. Kunyé is the massage therapy of Sowa Rigpa—traditional Tibetan Medicine—and with other Sowa Rigpa 'external therapies' forms a key component of a sophisticated and holistic system of medicine that offers us a path to health and happiness through the cultivation of balance and harmony.
With precise and varied manual techniques, specially-prepared herb-infused oils tailored to the individual's unique constitution, environment, and changes of both life and season, along with an array of low-tech tools such as heated and cooled stones, herbal compresses, incense, copper cups, and traditional wooden tools, kunyé and the related external therapies discussed in this book offer a noninvasive and highly-adaptable approach to health and wellness that a properly trained therapist can safely and effectively practice for people of all ages and states of health.
Tibetan physician and teacher Dr. Nida Chenagtsang received extensive training in kunyé and Sowa Rigpa external therapies as a young man, and through witnessing the healing power of these deceptively simple traditional therapies, has been since the beginning of his professional career inspired to both research them extensively as well as advocate for their greater use by Sowa Rigpa practitioners and other healthcare providers to alleviate suffering and improve the health and happiness of patients and clients. After decades of working with patients and teaching students, Dr. Nida now shares his wisdom and experience in this in-depth overview of Sowa Rigpa's treasury of massage and external therapeutic techniques.
For a more complete overview of Sowa Rigpa as a whole system of medicine, consult Foundations of Sowa Rigpa: A Guide to the Root Tantra of Tibetan Medicine (2024, Sky Press)
Print Book:
7 x 10 inches
Full color
Paperback
294 pages
About the Author
Born in Amdo, Malho, in Northeastern Tibet, Dr. Nida began his early studies of Sowa Rigpa at the local Tibetan medical hospital. Later, he was awarded a scholarship to enter the Lhasa Mentsikhang or Tibetan Medical University, where he completed his degree in 1996, with practical training at the Tibetan Medicine hospitals in Lhasa and Lhoka.
Alongside his medical education, Dr. Nida trained in Vajrayana with teachers from every school of Tibetan Buddhism. In particular, he trained in the Longchen Nyingthig tradition of the Nyingma school with his root guru Ani Ngawang Gyaltsen and in the Dudjom Tersar tradition with Chönyi Rinpoche and Semo Dechen Yudrön. He received complete instruction in the Yuthok Nyingthig lineage, the unique spiritual tradition of Tibetan Medicine, from his teachers Khenpo Tsultrim Gyaltsen and Khenchen Troru Tsenam, and was requested to continue the Yuthok Nyingthig lineage by Jamyang Rinpoche of the Rebkong ngakpa and ngakma (i.e. non-monastic yogi and yogini) community.
A well-known poet in his youth, Dr. Nida later published many articles and books on Sowa Rigpa and the Yuthok Nyingthig tradition in Tibetan and English, which have been translated into several languages. He has extensively researched ancient Tibetan healing methods, and has gained acclaim in East and West for his revival of little-known Tibetan external therapies.
Dr. Nida is the Founder and Medical Director of the Sowa Rigpa Institute of Tibetan Medicine and of Sorig Khang International: Foundation for Traditional Tibetan Medicine. He is also the co-founder and principal teacher of Pure Land Farms center for Tibetan medicine, meditation, and rejuvenation in Los Angeles; and the co-founder of the International Ngakmang Institute, which was established to preserve and support the unique Rebkong non-monastic yogi and yogini culture in modern Tibetan society.
In addition to his work as a physician, Dr Nida trains students in Sowa Rigpa and the Yuthok Nyingthig tradition in over forty countries around the world.
