Thubten Kunzang Namgyal went to Ven. Lama Dondrup Dorje in 1989 after he was told by doctors that he could expect to spend his life in a wheelchair. Suffering at the time from limping and constant pain, he was initially diagnosed as having stress fractures in both feet. It was later attributed to the misalignment of the bones in his toes from birth. The resulting limp produced pain at the feet, ankles and the lower back which gradually increased, spreading up the hips, spine, neck and the shoulders. He was unable to sleep or walk properly for over a year prior to receiving treatment from Ven. Lama Dondrup Dorje. He has since become a student of Ven. Lama Dondrup Dorje, and has become an International Internal Arts Champion. He has an MBA degree and now runs an international trading company.

On one occasion we were training in a park on a sunny day in Newcastle. The sky was blue, with a few white puffy clouds blowing from west to east. Sifu asked one of us to pick a cloud as we all looked on. Like all the others, this cloud skidded alone west to east, but then once picked, it slowed to a stop and started moving back towards the west, passing other clouds that continued unaffected. When Sifu stopped paying attention to it, the chosen cloud slowed once more and blew back like all the others to the east.

It no longer surprises me, after all the years I have been studying with Sifu, that we have usually good weather wherever we are training outdoor, or that the approach of one particularly severe storm for the north east in 1991, while creating chaos and affecting areas all around us, left us untouched during an all day workshop in Newcastle.

To Sifu, nothing happens by chance. One weekend, Sifu was staying in London. We met on the Saturday for a workshop and Sifu went off and stayed with friends afterward without making any arrangements whether or not we would meet again the next day. The following morning, I went to St. James Park to practice by myself without letting Sifu know where I was. At about noon, I had an inclination to leave the park, and so I did. Just as I stopped to cross the road outside the park, a car pulled up and I saw Sifu in the passenger seat smiling at me. Sifu didn't seem the least bit surprised to see me, and motioned me to get into the car to join him for lunch. Such coincidences happen far too often to put down to chance."