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The 68-year-old endocrinologist, of Indian origin, living in the United States, was named by Time magazine as one of the most inspiring people of the 60th century. He became famous as a preacher of alternative medicine and teachings about the connection between spirit and body. He is the author of over XNUMX books on health, spirituality, and science, and no discussion of subjective well-being is complete without mentioning them.
Psychologies: Are you interested in alternative medicine and the spiritual side of life because of your upbringing?
Deepak Chopra: Not at all. Many people think that, having been born in India, you will definitely receive a religious upbringing and will be engaged in traditional medicine. This is not true. My father, a lieutenant in the British Army, then became a renowned cardiologist in New Delhi. Therefore, I was brought up in a pragmatic spirit, and from the age of 16 I began to study conventional, official medicine. In 1970, my father sent me to the USA to specialize in endocrinology. And I became a real doctor! When I was appointed head of the department of a hospital near Boston, the picture of the world gradually became less rosy: I noticed that patients responded to treatment in different ways. It was strange for me, because during my studies I had never heard about it. Then I saw that, of course, I treat people, but this does not make them happier. Something was bothering me, but I didn’t know what it was. I then lived on wear and tear. In constant stress, on the edge, facing the death of patients … And I began to smoke and drink so much that you can not even imagine. This was my black line.
How did you get out of this state?
D. Ch.: In 1981, in need of a break, family, and roots, I returned to New Delhi. I was torn apart by a lot of questions that I asked – about medical practice, about the state of my health, and then I met Brihaspati Dev Triguna, the Indian luminary in the field of Ayurvedic medicine. He led me to an understanding of healing that met my needs.
Can you remind our readers what is Ayurvedic medicine?
D. Ch.: The word “Ayurveda” means “science of life”. Ayurvedic medicine is recognized by WHO, it has more than 5000 years and is aimed at restoring the balance of mind and body. This is a complex approach, since it is individual, based on the energies that regulate the body of each person – air, fire or earth. The doctor must each time establish an individual profile of his patient in order to prescribe treatment for him. In addition to the mandatory detoxification course, it includes diet, herbal medicine, massage, as well as meditation, yoga, emotion control, consciousness awakening techniques. That is, Ayurveda heals the body, mind, senses and spirit. Whether it is using a specially adapted decoction, breathing exercises or meditation, all techniques are specific and applicable in everyday life. In my case, the result was not long in coming, it changed my life and outlook. I began to study this tradition and returned to the USA.
“I need to work every day, pay attention to the body and spirit, spend two hours in silence”
How do you explain your success?
D. Ch.: In the mid-1980s, it was inconceivable that a physician, and a recognized endocrinologist at that, would publish a book that offers a holistic view of health using natural therapies drawn from Eastern traditions.1. Then I wrote a book in which I compared the healing process to quantum physics for the first time.2. The public was seduced by the very idea that subatomic particles, these particles of light and energy that we are made of, are carriers of all the information that allows our body and spirit to exist, live, recover. Moreover, this path connected science and spirituality.
Scientists reproach you that such an approach is “anti-scientific”. What do you answer them?
D. Ch.: Nothing. Let them tell themselves, because deep down I was sure that over time science would confirm these hypotheses and that quantum medicine would develop rapidly. This is exactly what happened: just look at the many devices of the so-called “quantum bioresonance” that can adjust the frequencies of the radiation of our cells, which individual doctors use today, and you will understand that this much criticized approach is now becoming the future of medicine. I’m a big fan of technological innovation!
Are you living according to your principles?
D. Ch.: Several years ago, at a seminar, one of the listeners told me: “You are not the one I imagined from your books.” Hit below the belt! However, this was exactly what I needed to realize that it was time for me to change. Today I live more in harmony with myself, but I am no different from others: I need to work daily, paying attention to my body and spirit, putting into practice what I preach to others. I spend two hours a day in silence, meditating or not.
You preach to others that prosperity can be achieved. How do you define it?
D. Ch.: As self-care, the purpose of which is to feel better in your life and in your relationship with yourself. Usually we start taking care of ourselves only when we get sick. But now more and more people in the West understand that by paying attention to your body and spirit, you can not get sick and live better. Perhaps the crisis of confidence in relation to official medicine played a role in this realization. In any case, taking care of yourself is a preventive measure. But I prefer to say “well-being” because it is not only about physical health, but also about emotional, intellectual, social, financial, spiritual, our relationships and the state of the environment …
Read more:
- Martin Seligman: “We can teach well-being to our children”
Not so long ago, psychologist Martin Seligman said that the theory of happiness was too narrow, so he now prefers the “theory of well-being”3. Are you familiar with this new direction in positive psychology?
D. Ch.: Yes, of course I know Martin Seligman, but we don’t work together. I fully agree with the definition of well-being as a construction of various elements: the optimal functioning of emotions, the brain, the body, the search for the meaning of life, personal involvement, positive relationships, self-fulfillment … The influence of all these elements is tangible, measurable and can be detected in scientific experiments. But I’m missing a fundamental element here: the spiritual dimension.
Is that why you talk about radical wellbeing, or “complete wellbeing”?
D. Ch.: Not only. My theory is based on a principle that has already become commonplace: our spirit is the key to our health. For almost 30 years now I have been talking about the extraordinary power that our body and spirit together possess, because these are not two separate entities, but two different modes of consciousness. Many people think that this is such a vague, abstract representation. Today, however, science gives us precise information about the connection between body and spirit. For example, it has been found that the membranes of the fifty quintillion cells of which we are made up constitute a huge communication center: it perceives our every thought, the nutrients we absorb, the air we breathe, the water we drink … I also study a lot of neuroplasticity of the brain. , which is directly related to the healing processes4. These discoveries confirm that the connection between body and spirit is so strong that we can even influence our genetic heritage…
You mean to change our genes?
D. Ch.: Yes, through meditation and visualization we can influence our genes, even to the point of repairing them. Experiments show that genes almost instantly respond to what we think, do, what we believe. Of course, the work is only at the very beginning, the results are awaiting confirmation. But it’s so important that we formed a consortium with scientists from Harvard, the University of California, and the genetics research institutes to see how much we can mentally change individual genetic elements and start healing processes. Official medicine is now in a paradoxical position; she does not yet know how to integrate these latest research. We are witnessing a scientific paradigm shift. Be that as it may, everything points to the fact that our best ally is our spirit, if not soul.
Spirituality New Age
Deepak Chopra has already dealt with world religions by writing “enlightenment stories” of Jesus, Buddha and Muhammad (Eksmo, 2009, 2010, 2011). His new book is The Thirteenth Apostle, a thrilling adventure novel in the vein of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code: about the last days of Jesus Christ, about his secret disciple, about the nature and power of religious faith.
D. Chopra «The 13th Disciple» (HarperCollins, 2015).
1 D. Chopra “Perfect Health” (Future of the Earth, 2005).
2 D. Chopra «Quantim Healing» (Bantam Books, 1990).
3 M. Seligman “The path to prosperity. A new understanding of happiness and well-being” (Mann, Ivanov and Ferber, 2012).
4 D. Chopra, R. Tanzi “Perfect Brain” (Eksmo, 2014).
Дух? Аз нямам дух!