The Himalayan Healers (HH) training organisation, which aims to help Nepali people from the lowest social orders and tragic backgrounds to become well-rounded, international-standard therapists, has opened its latest spa boutique at Dhulikhel in Nepal.

The site was opened with new general manager Amanda Mahan Kaur, a Kundalini yoga instructor and massage therapist from Australia. Kaur will now direct the first Himalayan Healers Yoga Centre at the new massage school.

There are also plans to build a Himalayan Healers eco-village and retreat outside Kathmandu. The development will comprise student and staff housing, guest accommodation, treatment rooms and an area for training.

HH was founded by American Robert Buckley, who used his personal savings to initially fund the project. It targets the bottom rung of Nepal’s rigid caste system, chiefly the Dalits, or Untouchables. In Nepali society, it is taboo for other castes to be touched by a Dalit, reflecting how ambitious Buckley’s project is. (See Spa Business 07/02 p44. To order, visit www.spabusiness.com)