You know you’re talking to someone who’s got it together when he answers the question, “How are you today?” by saying, “I’m great. Like every day.” So began our call with Deepak Chopra, a kind and gentle spirit who clearly wants the rest of the world to know what he’s figured out about the mysteries of life. That’s why he’s teaming up with Oprah Winfrey once again for an all new mediation series called Oprah & Deepak’s Desire and Destiny.
The 21-day journey features guided audio mediations by Oprah and Deepak. A private journal and daily emails help participants incorporate the lessons into their life. And, in true Oprah fashion, they’re building a network of other meditators to boost up the community vibe.
Chopra recounted how the duo came up with the idea, which they originally launched in March of this year, “Oprah and I were talking about meditation one day and we had the idea that we could make this global movement and so we did. Last time 700,000 people all over the world were coming every day to meditate with us. In the meanwhile, I’ve been to China, Russia, you name it and I’ve asked people if they participated and about 10% of hands go up. So I don’t think there’s been this kind of meditation experiment globally in the history of civilization. We’re actually entering the Guinness Book of World Records right now as we speak.”
Now Oprah and Chopra will see if they can beat themselves at their own game. Deepak explained how the program works, “The theme is an online interactive meditation experience with Oprah and myself that focuses on living with passion and abundance. This one will begin on November 11 and it lasts three weeks. Those who register for the three-week mediation meditation experience will receive 21 days of guided meditations from Oprah and me and then they’ll have the opportunity to meditate and journal each day as they uncover what we call their ‘innate creative brilliance.’ They’ll connect with their deepest desire and they’ll have reached their potential to transform dreams into reality. That’s what we promise and that’s what we deliver. These meditations can be accessed from a mobile phone, from a tablet or computer. So we make it really easy.”
Of course, in our world full of skeptics, not everyone thinks that meditation is for them. So we asked Chopra what he would tell someone who didn’t see the value of it all. He replied, “You’re missing out on life. Because if you don’t get in touch with yourself, you don’t get in touch with who you are, you really never know what the world is because in every experience of the world you bring yourself to the world. And the more you are aware of yourself, the more you learn to reflect, the more you learn to go into the stillness between your thoughts, the more you expand your awareness in every way. In the way you think, you’ll have more insight, imagination, creativity, inspiration. You’ll be more free of the opinions of others. You will be less reactive. You will enjoy better health in terms of lower blood pressure and stable heart rate, decreased inflammation in the body, better sleep. Your body will feel joyfully energetic. Your mind will be restfully alert. And your spirit will experience lightness of being. What more can I say.”
If that isn’t enough to convince you, perhaps a little medical proof will do the trick. Chopra revealed, “At the moment, by the way, at the Center we have the number one digital medicine department in the world, which is at Scripps under the direction of Dr. Eric Topol. He’s the number one Digital Cardiologist in the world. So we’re doing an experiment right now, the results of which will be out soon, where as people meditate their heart rate variability, their brain rate, their stress levels will be picked up by their handheld device or iPhone or Android or whatever, 10 feet away then transmitted wirelessly to a super computer at Scripps. But they could be transmitted wirelessly anywhere — to China if you want. And instant feedback that shows as you meditate, your biology responds instantly. So we don’t have those results yet, so we can’t actually say what the results are but we have reason to believe that you change the state of your well being as you soon as you begin to start meditation.”
Still not ready to sign up? Well, consider this. Oprah just put Chopra’s three disc meditation series on her Favorite Things list. An honor that did not go unnoticed by the holistic health guru, “It means a lot. To be on her list like that means that the world notices and, in this case the world also benefits greatly. Oprah’s three discs include Miraculous Relationships, Perfect Health and this newest mediation experience, Desire and Destiny. So we’re thrilled about that.”
The celebrated author also has a new book coming out on November 12 called What Are You Hungry For?: The Chopra Solution to Permanent Weight Loss, Well-Being, and Lightness of Soul. Per Chopra, “It’s based on a very simple idea that you should only put food in your body when you’re physically hungry. You can’t feed emotional hunger with food. Nor can you feed spiritual hunger with food. So the book is about listening to your body, asking the right question and, of course, choosing healthy food. It’s also about how hormonal imbalances occur as a result of emotional chaos or you might say emotional anxiety or emotional distress and how to address those issues of emotional distress. And all this new relationship that we now know — how is metabolism affected, not only by the quality of food but the quality sleep but also by emotions. So your emotions influence your metabolism. From my point of view, it’s a breakthrough approach to weight management and losing weight, without focusing on just a diet.”
We like to wrap up our interviews by asking, “If you could pick one pop culture icon or historical figure from any time in history, who would you choose to be and why?” We weren’t sure how such a great thinker would react to such a frivolous question. But Chopra didn’t miss a beat when responding. “That’s an easy question for me. I would walk in the shoes of the Buddha, who totally exemplifies love, compassion, joy and equanimity.”
Take a step closer to finding your own inner bliss. Register for Oprah & Deepak’s Desire and Destiny at www.oprah.com/meditate. And visit https://www.deepakchopra.com for more details on Chopra’s other projects.
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