Finished at last. Fabulous experience. Just the right amount of instruction , demonstration, and handy off references. Really built my mediation practice and my art skills. This was a great course that exceeded all my expectations.

I would recommend this course to anyone, including people with no drawing experience. I have art and drawing experience, but this is a completely different art tradition so I felt like I learned from the ground up. Highly, highly recommend the course and Carmen as an instructor.

Course would be a great gift for a Buddhist friend or anyone interested in art, healing, or meditation. Carmen is also a very knowledgeable Buddhist and a great mediation teacher. Can’t say enough good things about her or the course, or Tara, who is a constant encouragement.

I look forward to doing in the colouring course to learn more.

This was a great course that exceeded all my expectations. I was able to easily finish my drawing but due to personal unforeseen events I could not complete the painting. Despite that, I feel confident that Carmen has given me all the tools and training I need to finish on my own.

I would recommend this course to anyone, including people with no drawing experience. I have art and drawing experience, but this is a completely different art tradition so I felt like I learned from the ground up. Highly, highly recommend the course and Carmen as an instructor.

Course would be a great gift for a Buddhist friend or anyone interested in art, healing, or meditation. Carmen is also a very knowledgeable Buddhist and a great mediation teacher. Can’t say enough good things about her or the course, or Tara, who is a constant encouragement.

I’m very excited to have completed my Medicine Buddha. Carmen’s course and support materials are exceptional. I found the Thangka drawing and coloring surprisingly relaxing. I had a silent dialog going on with my Buddha. It was a happy experience.
I’m looking forward to the next Thangka adventure.

I loved the course just like all the previous courses I have taken with Carmen. I only wish I weren’t so busy at the moment, so that I could finish my Medicine Buddha. As it is, it is an unfinished drawing- still need to add the details to the throne, and then colour it. Looking forward to the next steps and definitely to more courses! 🙏❤️⚘️

My expectation were more than met, I learned so much about Tibetan medicine. I never tire of listening to Carmen chant the Medicine Buddha chant and keep it on my desktop. I have shared my completed drawing with my Sangha and hope some of my friends will begin to take courses from Carmen. The whole experience was one of healing and contemplation. I thank you so much for offering these wonderful courses.

Not quite finished yet, I’m working on it every week. Really enjoy doing it. Really enjoyed drawing and coloring again. And thank you the online program is very well put together. Also the color module. This summer I’m going to sign up for the drawing retreat in The Netherlands. I’m looking forward to that. Love Evaly

This course was an inspiring journey of the consciousness through the energyfields of the Medicine Buddha. We started with a blank piece of paper and a pen in our hands, having Carmen on our side, who walked me step by step through the wonderful realms of history, old traditions, healing plants, Buddhist symbols, mantra’s and much more. Being supported and encouraged by her excellent coaching qualities, her patience and her profound and generously shared knowledge, I ended this journey with a drawing of the Medicine Buddha, being astonished, that I really created this myself. The whole wonderful proces was strengthening qualities like diligence, endurance, patience, serenity and meditation and there was so much pure joy. Thank you so much, Carmen and my fellow students for this unforgetable experience.

I loved the Medicine Buddha course for so many reasons. Really well thought out with so much detail and history, as well as chanting and meditation. Carmen was always responsive to questions and to provide feedback and suggestions. So timely as well- I feel that doing this work at this time is supportive and inspirational during so much chaos and suffering in the world. I lit a candle each night that I worked and dedicated any merit to those in need.

I’ve really enjoyed the drawing experience of the Medicine Buddha. It’s been an beautiful meditative experience and deepening of my connection with the Medicine Buddha. Thank you Carmen for making this beautiful practice available to others!

With gratitude,
Marco

Hi Carmen, Enjoyed the course again. Very nice and interesting. I am not only learning more about the thangka paintings but the course also helps to improve my meditation. The last two courses I have learned so much and I am looking forward to learn more. Thanks again for the info you sent in response to my questions about the lion throne. I’m very happy with that. I hope to take another course in the fall. Looking forward to it already.

The course was well organized. I enjoyed all aspects of it. I especially enjoyed the images used in the videos regarding iconography and Tibetan medicine. With two months for the course, I found I got very familiar with the mantra. Also, I found some aspects challenging, but the instruction guided me through each challenge.
Thank you Camen!

This course was very special for me. I started drawing my Medicine Buddha concentrating on the healing aspects for one person and I was finishing it with great sorrow for the people who were involved in the war in Ucrania. I spent hours chanting M. Buddha mantra for all those in pain and desperation.
Carmen, our dear teacher has provided an extraordinary course on Tibetan medicine and I’ve learnt a lot of interesting things it. I hope to enroll in the next course of medicine plants to learn more about it and be able to make another Thangka with them.

Another wonderful course, with every course I do with Carmen I learn something and progress further. I really enjoyed the drawing and painting of the Medicine Buddha, it was profound and I felt quite moved when I had finished it. As always, the grids and instructions are clear and I love the extra meditations and information given in the course. I am so glad Carmen decided to do these courses online, they have really opened up a whole new philosophy and art for me.

My medicine buddha – he is my favourite one and I enjoyed every moment. Many thanks to Carmen for her guidance and support. I have learned a lot by the lectures and was able to deepen my knowledge about buddhism. It won’t be the last time that I will draw the medicine buddha.

I started this course, process, blanc, not expecting but hoping it would bring me some joy and peace and healing.

It brought me more than that. During this whole process I became able to reconnect more with myself again.

My situation is difficult and doing this course brought also joy to my husband, who witnessed me smiling more and finding some inner peace on moments.

Just super grateful I was given the opportunity and for ever happy with my Medicine Buddha 🙏🙏🙏

I will try to colour it in the best way I can in the coming weeks/months.

May you all find peace and joy in the merits this course brought me.

Hi Carmen,

Here is a photo of me with Medicine Buddha, whom I saw when I closed my eyes during the dedication, but with different color halos glimmering, very moving.

This time I realized that next time I would like to try to paint the Buddha I have chosen to draw. I used the color pencils that can have water added to make it more like water color along with regular color pencils making the paper wavy. Other than that I was really happy to be drawing again, and if I have time, I would like to draw another one, perhaps in blue ink. If you like I can send you a photo by email of just the Medicine Buddha alone.

Thank you for the course, I’m enjoyed a lot!
I really like the result also, but im on the way to do it even better 🙂 It really takes a lot of time, so i wish to have another three day do repeat it. I would like to color with acril, if it possible.
Best wishies for everybody!

Finally I have done my medicine Buddha. It was a wonderful experience and need so much patience..

What a surprise! While my thangka isn’t perfect, it’s far better than I expected. I’ve started Carmen’s courses with no drawing experience, and I’m excited at how quickly my drawings are progressing. Next is the Eight Auspicious Symbols class as I continue practicing drawing the Buddha.

It was again a very nice course. A lot of information and very clear instructions for the drawing. Thank you Carmen.

I loved the class! It was a wonderful experience and I really enjoyed the mantras and meditations.

You are a great teacher – thank you!

Wow. I am totally blown away. I’ve been wanting to meet Medicine Buddha for a while now. I never imagined it would be this way. Only a couple months ago I started following “Medicine Buddha” tag on instagram and your classes popped up. So I signed up and started with the Buddha face and proceeded with the Medicine Buddha course.

This was better than I ever could have planned myself, at a time that couldn’t have been more perfect for me physically, mentally and karmically. Your quote sums it all up, “We practice medicine to alleviate suffering and prolong the human life, to improve the opportunity to attain enlightenment”. And I could quite literally see this working…in my meditations, as I focus on my breath, I usually am aware of a background of nonsense thoughts constantly coming and going. After practicing and reciting Medicine Buddha mantra for this month, I noticed in my meditations that background noice while concentrating on breath was a background hum of the mantra. It was almost as if my subconscious was getting cleansed from random thought to the mantra. I thought that was quite amazing….

I am a practitioner of the healing arts, but I really haven’t done “physical art” since high school…a bit of drawing or ceramics here and there. I was completely amazed by the end result of Medicine Buddha. I think I found a new feel-good, meditative hobby! I want to keep this going. Thank you so much for such an enriching, educational, meaningful, powerful course. I am very grateful for you as a teacher, for Medicine Buddha as a guide in my life and for Zoom for making this accessible to me in Montana, USA!

This experience woke me up to the possibility of creativity and meditation in my life. Carmen, your teaching style, the supports and bonus options enriched my life deeply.

Deep bow to you,
Ellen Green

My experience with my first Medicine Buddha Course by Carmen in Zwolle (NLs)

It was I think April 2019.
I chose a big size drawing sheet, because I wanted to try it. I am used to small drawings or even tiny ones.
I took one unit = 0.5 cm
Never realized it that it was really that big 😊.  I didn’t make it myself easy this time, but enjoyed every moment of this weekend of drawing and sharing information with each other. My drawing was not completely finished yet, but went home happy.

It was my first time connecting with the Tibetan Energy and Carmen’s lectures. I have been studying classical yoga for more than 20 years and found the same way of thinking in Tibetan Buddhism. (Thank you).

A year later in 2020 I finished the complete Medicine Buddha as a pencil drawing. In the meantime I had been drawing a very small Medicine Buddha with pencil.

Last year I started the online course by Carmen about the White Tara. That really lifted me up because “She” was smaller and after finishing the White Tara I felt inspired to start the coloring of the Medicine Buddha.
The driver for the choice of the Medicine Buddha started in 2018. In that time I was diagnosed with an overactive immune system affecting my hart muscle and currently I am treated with an immune inhibiting therapy.
In my mind I needed some kind of support to get me through this. By connecting with the Energy of the Medicine Buddha something is happening inside me. However I couldn’t get it colored at first. It just grew on me during this 2 years and after my connection with the White Tara I felt I could start coloring the Medicine Buddha and by finishing the coloring I can now feel his bettering coming to me .

My reflection is to take my own time and flow to do things in life and that my mindset is the most important to stay calm and to trust the process.

Be joyful and trustful!

Love,
Gé van Lieshout-Klarenaar

Hi Carmen,
Attached is my Medicine Buddha with the beginnings of color. I love how you say how the Buddhas emerge from the paper, that is really how it feels for me. I’m still getting used to colored pencils but will continue, it is enjoyable and very different from my other illustration.

I really enjoyed speaking with you on our Zoom meeting Sunday and was very cheered and inspired by our conversation. It feels great to have started on this path of learning about thangka, many thanks again for sharing your knowledge and experience!

I got occasion and so fortunate to realised my dream. With the guide of Carmen, instruction, her skill, her encouragement, I could complete my work smoothly. Even I try the Buddha on the throne.
Thanks Carmen who gave us that chance by compassion and patience. Just relax and draw. It’s so wonderful.

Inspiring course. Great background information and beautiful mantras.

The class exceeded my expectations. There was so much information, from learning about the history and background of the Medicine Buddha and Tibetan medicine; the meditation, the Medicine Buddha mantra and chanting to the actual drawing and coloring. It was very helpful to have Carmen’s guidance during the zoom meeting. The class was a joy to experience.

I took a class last summer, live, in Italy, and have wanted to paint the Medicine Buddha for years. I am not comfortable with computers, but this class worked out well. Thanks. It is clear, nicely divided up into sections, so you can do as much or as little as you have time for, and come back, know where you are and continue. Recording these classes is a work of love, now they will be accessible to more people who can’t travel. Grazie Carmen. Tanti grazie.

About the Colouring Techniques Course:
Wow. Yes, Carmen, what a fabulous course. I didn’t really know what you would present. It is a very comprehensive drawing course, introducing pencil and shading and blending and color and how to use it. I love all the examples of students work. Seeing the variety and different personal styles gave me the courage and inspiration to keep going. It was also very nice, not being in a classroom with other students, being able to see other people’s work, and some other faces. I loved, loved, loved the supplementary bonus links to Rembrandt and Vermeer and Van Gogh, I spent hours in the museums drinking in your rich heritage. Thank you.

I’ve never really used colored pencil formally before and I am grateful to learn new techniques. Who knew how many values you can get with one color pencil? And with the instruction on blending I now know how others achieved the softness in their Thangkas. I didn’t know you could use Q-tips, or paint thinner to blend and extend the color. I very much like the water color effect you can get with the solvents.

If I had taken this color class first, my Medicine Buddha would have been very different. I won’t struggle so much with my next one, having learned so much in this course. I missed the comradery of the classroom, but I loved being able to pause and rewind and practice and re-listen to the different lessons.

My expectations were more than met by this course. I especially loved the spiritual practices, which were so meaningfully integrated. The combination of all the elements was helpful and enjoyable. My coloring technique is at present in need of more practice – makes me want to try my hand at another course!
Thank you so much for doing this!

Thank you Carmen for providing such an enriching and serene experience with this Medicine Buddha course.
Though not an artist by any standards, your course, that was structured so beautifully, helped me draw the Buddha and have a meditative experience too in the process. Kudos to you for setting up a great online course that guides us all the way with greatly paced and instructional demos.

What a beautiful experience! Drawing meticulous all aspects of the Medicine Buddha was an intense exploratory journey for me, in body and mind, and perhaps in the future also in my speech. Thanks, Carmen, for your attentive guidance and fascinating lectures, a world opened up for me that I will try to hold on to. I am looking forward to the color technique course to perfect both the Buddha face and the Medicine Buddha. Thanks again!

I appreciated Carmens knowledge of tibetan history and iconology as an essential part of the workshop, besides the technical aspects, which were also very clear.
Oh, and I do like her shop!

The course exceeded my expectations. So much information on the history and detailed instruction that I really enjoyed, especially for drawing the hands and feet, I so appreciated it. The mantra recitation was really beautiful!

I absolutely love the Meditations and the sacredness with which you handle and deliver the course material, Carmen! I loved every aspect of the course and it was such a blessing to be able to go over material I needed to review again and again!

Also, the fact that you offered the course online was so helpful since with the pandemic no onsite courses were available! Still miss the interaction with you in person and with the other students but I am so grateful I could immerse myself in drawing sacred art! It was such a special time for me!

I loved the depth of this course: intention meditation, mantras, learning about the history of Thangka and Tibetan medicine, the meaning of symbolism, dedication meditation… I didn’t just learn how to draw the Medicine Buddha, but have gained a rich spiritual practice. Your course was amazing, far exceeding my expectations!

I thoroughly enjoyed the course and find the Buddhist teaching element and spirituality excellent. My aspirations were simply to be able to draw a presentable Medicine Buddha in the first instance and I’m happy I achieved that.

The guided drawing in stages with hints and tips of how to actually do it and in what order have been invaluable. Its possible to go out and buy a book but without this clear instruction, guidance and indeed lineage working from a book is very impersonal and open to interpretation.

I feel Carmen struck a great balance and this online course has great artistic and authenticity value.

I wanted to learn about the symbolism and iconography behind the Medicine Buddha and of course the proper proportions. I think it was very apt to have a course on him at this time considering the global pandemic. The class was perfect! It met all my expectations.

I really enjoyed how it was broken up into different modules. It was almost like taking a class with you in person! Your calm demeanor and positive energy even came through in the videos!

This session was structured very well to understand the iconography and how to draw the full Buddha body. I really enjoyed the transformation of grid to the full body figure as we go on the course step by step.

I reall liked the way Carmen explained drawing feet and hands in this course.
I also liked the special zoom session she took to help me understand the colouring techniques.

I enjoy the combination of all the different elements. I feel that it is a rather detailed and in depth course like I would receive if I were there in person.

I actually found the meditating the most useful to me. I suffer from anxiety and noticed that I was calmer after every session. I was also interested in the background of Tibetan medicine. So much so, that I even ordered a few books on the subject.

I loved doing this course. I knew it would be great again!
I knew more or less what to expect and the course was again very well structured.

I very much appreciated the mantra and the singing, it took me into another state of mind, so it was easier for me to focus.

The course felt thorough. Carmen is adept at instruction and encouragement!
I loved learning about the mantra. I learned a lot in my one-on-one Zoom session.

I didn’t think I could draw a full Buddha. It was a great experience. I learned a lot about thangka methods, working with pencil, and colors. In addition, learned about the Medicine Buddha and his mantra, plants, symbolism.
Thank you Carmen!

I expected the course to be similar to the White Tara course I took previously. I think Carmen did a good job with transitioning the course on-line. I enjoyed the lecture information along with the drawing instructions and mediations.

The breakdown of the drawing sessions were quite useful. I would say though the information in the lecture and private Zoom session were most valuable for the understanding drawing and the Medicine Buddha.

Thank you again Carmen for offering the course on-line. I enjoyed this class and would love to take another class with you.

I thought the videos were beautifully made, visually appealing and clear to follow and learn from.
I appreciated how different aspects of the course, art process, history and culture, understanding and use of the mantra, and the guided meditation all supported each other.
My expectation was to create a drawing and that expectation was met. The guided meditation was an unexpected treasure.

I was glad we had a whole month to access the material.
As a single person living by myself out in the woods under quarantine I consistently under estimated how much I would be interrupted. Even worse when outside interruptions stopped I would manage to interrupt myself!
Creating blocks of time to be in retreat mode was a challenge but very rewarding when I managed to do it.