My close ones call me Lami, abbreviated from the 2nd half of my 1st name, Neelam. After my hair-loss due to chemotherapy, people would often comment that I look like a Lama. The alliteration was irresistible and so I became Lama Lami – a self-initiated Lama without a monastic order. I was pleasantly surprised by how the practice of present moment awareness - inspired by Eckhart Tolle made it so easy to deal with thrice-relapsed cancer. I now practice Loving What Is as taught by Byron Katie.