In Brotherhood, a new memoir by brothers Deepak and Sanjiv Chopra, the two reveal the story of their personal struggles and triumphs as doctors, immigrants, and brothers going down two very different paths toward achieving their goals. Both pursued medicine, one from a straight, Western approach, the other from a path informed by ancient practices and his own cultural heritage.

Brotherhood is available now at Amazon and other booksellers. Read Deepak and Sanjiv’s remarkable journey, and tell us your thoughts in the comments section below!

Subscribe to The Chopra Well for more from Deepak Chopra and friends every week!

The post Deepak Chopra: Brotherhood – Dharma, Destiny, and the American Dream appeared first on Intent Blog.

I wrote this poem in November of 2010, shortly after coming home from a yoga retreat at Esalen that was focused on recovery from all forms of addiction. What became clear to me there was that it really is a dis-ease caused by the desire for MORE – this poem has a little fun with that:) I’ve gone back to the same retreat for 3 years now and it’s amazing!! Such a cool group of people from all around the world. Check out this year’s retreat here.

The post Wordplay Wednesday: More appeared first on Intent Blog.

Reality is entirely dependent upon perception, and perception occurs in consciousness. That is why reality may be different in the seven different states of consciousness (the first three of which we are most familiar with):

1. Deep sleep
2. Dreaming
3. Waking
4. Soul consciousness – In this state you become aware of yourself as the observer of reality. Who is listening? Who is watching? Ask yourself this right now, and see if you become aware of a silent witness: your core consciousness – or soul.
5. Cosmic consciousness – This is to be in the world but not of it. Your silent witness – or soul – has awoken and is alert in all states, including deep sleep and dreaming.
6. Divine consciousness – You witness the universal in the particular. All of existence is present in every manifestation of creation.
7. Unity consciousness – The personal witness merges with the universal witness, and you experience the whole universe as your own extended body. In this state, your inner being radiates passion, love, and ecstasy.

So, would you like to make the journey to enlightenment?

Subscribe to The Chopra Well and join us tomorrow at 12PM PDT for our LIVE Google+ Hangout with Deepak Chopra, Sanjiv Chopra, Amy Purdy and other guests on “The Science of Survival”!

The post Deepak Chopra: The Journey to Enlightenment appeared first on Intent Blog.

If you are working through a difficult issue in your life – such as sexual identity, questioning faith, loss of a loved one, or financial hardship – you may be a perfect fit.

Participants will sit down with Reverend Ed Bacon, esteemed pastor and self-help expert recently featured Oprah Winfrey Network’s “Super Soul Sunday,” to discuss these concerns and receive inspiring advice, right in the heart of Venice Beach, California! Refer to the flier below for application information.

PLEASE APPLY TO: AdviceRevBacon@gmail.com

WHAT: Seeking participants for the new show “Help Desk” for The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN)

WHEN:  Thursday June 6

WHO: Reverend Ed Bacon is a celebrated self-help expert recently featured on Oprah Winfrey Network’s “Super Soul Sunday”. He is the rector of All Saints Church in Pasadena, a congregation dedicated to urban ministry and interfaith dialogue.

WHERE: Recreation center in Venice Beach, CA

DESCRIPTION: Help Desk is a new television show on OWN that features renowned self-help experts making themselves available in public spaces to provide advice to anyone who needs it. Help Desk is a deeply substantive series that grounds some of the great wisdom provided by today’s top experts and helps people live better and more fulfilling lives. Although the event is public, we are looking to secure a select group of participants who will be given priority to gain a spot to sit down with Reverend Bacon.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR: We need people who are seeking advice to help them with a specific life issue or circumstance.

Below are several examples but we are open to hearing about any particular issues you would like to discuss:

• Leaving or questioning faith
• Dealing with criticism
• The stress involved by “coming out” to family and friends
• Conflicting sexual and spiritual identities
• Loss of a family member or friend
• Divorce or breakup
• Coping with job loss
• Struggling with alienation, loneliness, or existential doubt
• Overcoming addiction
• Veterans suffering from PTSD
• Managing work life and spiritual life
• Combating stereotypes
• Overcoming specific anxieties or fears
• Parenting issues
• Financial hardship
• Sex and relationship issues

Requirements:

1. We need applicants to be available during the day on June 6 at the beach recreation center in Venice Beach, California
2. Simple description of yourself (age, profession, relationships status) contact information (email and phone number)
3. Photo of yourself
4. Single paragraph description of the specific life circumstance that you need spiritual advice to overcome.
5. Specific question(s) you would like to ask Reverend Bacon
6. If selected, applicants will need to sign an Appearance Release

Send email with answers to the above questions to: AdviceRevBacon@gmail.com

The post Los Angeles: Be in a new OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) show w/ Rev. Ed Bacon, 6/6/13! appeared first on Intent Blog.

One way to begin is to experience joy is through cultivating your inner sacred space. I call this place the secret garden. It’s a good place to plant seeds that can be cultivated and grow into a harvest of bliss. Some essential tools that help to dig deep and tend the inner garden include the hard work of self-inquiry, a regular meditation practice, a dedication to pay attention to and act on the guidance of your inner gardener – that higher, wiser part of you that is Divine – and a yearning to get rid of inner junk and pests that stand in the way. This junk is often old stuff from the past, including attitudes and habits that may have served us well at one time, but now just get in the way and hold us back. It’s time to let go of these and grow into the new life that’s waiting. One of my favorite ways to cultivate bliss in my secret garden is through consciously choosing guiding values.

Values are like seeds. They may include peace, kindness, generosity, joy, determination, patience, and more. When we choose the seeds we want to grow more of in our life, we can begin to cultivate them both inside during meditation and also through actions in our daily lives. Will the seeds you plant today lead to joy?

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Register to win copy of Debra’s new book, Garden of Bliss on Goodreads.

Debra Moffitt is the award winning author of Awake in the World: 108 Practices to Live a Divinely Inspired Life and “Garden of Bliss: Cultivating the Inner Landscape for Self-Discovery” (Llewellyn Worldwide, May 2013). A visionary, dreamer and teacher, she’s devoted to nurturing the spiritual in everyday life. She leads workshops on spiritual practices, writing and creativity in the U.S. and Europe. More at http://www.awakeintheworld.com.

The post Cultivating Joy That Lasts Longer Than Chocolate appeared first on Intent Blog.

The nature of the Universe is that is it constantly coming into existence; it seems counter intuitive to suggest that there is one creator of matter, when matter continuously springs into form from dark space. But if there is a god at the source of all things – or if “god” is what we call the act of creation – then who or what made god?

Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below!

Subscribe to The Chopra Well and check out Deepak Chopra’s book, God: A Story of Revelation!

The post Deepak Chopra: Who Made God? appeared first on Intent Blog.

Note: I wrote this one in December of 2005, about 6 months after a break-up. Rejection is protection!

The post Wordplay Wednesday: Leaving appeared first on Intent Blog.

In this episode of “Ask Deepak” on The Chopra Well, Deepak Chopra explores the seeming imperfections in nature and in humans’ own behavior, and how this relates to the overall perfection of the Universe.

Nature and the Universe are pure synchronicity, pure expression and organization. This doesn’t mean light and dark, pain and pleasure, good and evil need not exist – paradox is as natural as order, after all. But human life, and life in general, are often unnecessarily messy, flawed, and chaotic. Instead of identifying with the soul of the Universe, we identify too often with logic, with our brains and egos. If we can return to an identification with the larger universe, we will reclaim a life of equanimity.

Subscribe to The Chopra Well and check out Deepak Chopra’s book, The Ultimate Happiness Prescription.

The post Deepak Chopra: If the Universe is Perfect, Why Aren’t We? appeared first on Intent Blog.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

Many years ago we were teaching a meditation weekend in Plymouth, England. On the Saturday after the program was over for the day, Carole, one of the attendees, told us she had just been with Deepak Chopra, that he had walked out of the Body Mind Spirit Festival in London, renounced the world, and was at the local Heart and Soul Center healing people for free. We were amazed and intrigued as she added he was much thinner than in the photo of him that we had in our book, The Way Ahead. A mutual friend, John Haricharan, had previously introduced us to Deepak in New York City, who was already a well known teacher. So when we went to the Heart and Soul Center the next evening we were surprised to find an Indian man with the same name but obviously not the same Deepak.

Later we found out that the imposter Deepak had been abusing the women he was teaching (the real Deepak later thanked us for exposing the con man). But in the meantime we witnessed the amazing power of faith. Those who were convinced the pretender was the real Deepak went through cathartic healings, transformations, and great joy. Until he was exposed as a fraud when suddenly these same students reversed to the distress they had had before. The power of faith was palpable.

Buddha means awakened – awakened to one’s true nature, to the essence of reality, to radiant emptiness. It does not mean god, deity, or celebrity. Deepak Chopra is a respected modern-day teacher, regarded by some as a celebrity and even god-like. As such he has a narrow path to walk so that he doesn’t invoke the blind adoration we witnessed in Plymouth. We remember seeing a movie where the lead character shouted: “I want to be Deepak Chopra.” Why would someone feel that way? Could it be because Deepak is loved and wise, or that he embodies the real meaning of life?

Perhaps. Yet the Buddha was clear that we shouldn’t blindly trust everything we are told but rather to find out for ourselves what is real. Which is why he gave this most important teaching:

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

Deepak is definitely helping to create a wiser and more compassionate world through his teaching. He has what the Tibetans call ding. This is similar to confidence but more of a deep inner unshakeable confidence when you are comfortable in your own skin. Because of this, one of Deepak’s most attractive qualities is his ability to be his own teacher, to know his own wisdom. We see our own inner teacher reflected in our desire to be kinder, more loving, and more loving; it is the impetus to begin seeking answers, to aspire beyond our limitations, to climb our own particular mountain and find our own path. For within each of us is Buddha nature, the potential for awakening.

No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path. -The Buddha

We wouldn’t marry someone as soon as we meet them, we would take time to know them first. It is easy to believe that if a teacher comes from India or Tibet they have all the answers and will save us from ourselves. But we are the only one who can do it. We have the wisdom of the ages inside our hearts. We just need to be still and look more closely, as the Buddha and Deepak have done.

Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things that renew humanity. -The Buddha

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Join our Be The Change Meditate e-Conference that will uplift and inspire you. 30 eclectic meditation teachers, including Marianne Williamson, Congressman Tim Ryan, author of Mindful Nation, Sharon Salzberg, Robert Thurman, Gangaji, Joan Borysenko, Seane Corn, neuroscientist Richie Davidson who proves how meditation affects the brain, Roshi Joan Halifax, Tara Stiles, and us, Ed and Deb Shapiro, authors of the conference companion book, BE THE CHANGE: How Meditation Can Transform You and The World. Expect your life to never be the same again!

For more information: www.edanddebshapiro.com

The post What The Buddha Might Say To Deepak Chopra appeared first on Intent Blog.

Should a soul-searching pilgrimage to Bali or a few Divinity School degrees to find your spiritual self be out of the question, no worries. Harvard-trained theologian, Meggan Watterson, did both. The 30-something New Yorker spent two decades studying holy texts, searching for the spiritual voices of women.

The results are in her new book, Reveal: A Sacred Manual for Getting Spiritually Naked, where Watterson provides a road map to finding love within yourself. (No plane ticket required.)

“I want this book to be the spiritual mentor that I couldn’t find, but desperately longed for when my journey began,” Watterson told us, after relaying a personal story about storming out of bible school at age 10 because of the way women’s voices weren’t heard.

We asked Watterson how her questioning, research, and journey lead her to being happier, bolder, and “spiritually naked”—and how we can have some of that for ourselves.

What’s the first thing women should know if they are struggling and haven’t found happiness and meaning in their lives yet? There’s a voice inside of you that knows your truth. And we’re each here for a sacred reason, and if we dare to follow that voice of truth inside of us, that voice of love, we can live out what a unique expression we each have to share. That to me, is happiness. The beginning is understanding that there will never be a voice outside of you that will lead you to your truth, happiness, meaning—a life beyond what you can even imagine right now. The courage that it takes to follow the voice inside of us is so uncelebrated—it’s something that you have to become loyal to and devoted to in the same way we imagine becoming devoted to a lover or partner. We can become that devoted and faithful to the voice inside of us, and it can lead us to a life that fulfills us and allows us to reach our potential with grace and magic.

Is there a way to get the sacred experience that occurs in meditation into our every day lives? At one point, I had this expectation that I’d sit on a cushion and light incense for 5 to 20 minutes a day. And the more and more I tried to superimpose that onto my life, the more I felt like a spiritual failure—that somehow I wasn’t doing things right. I had this longing but thought I didn’t have the correct discipline. The reality was sitting on a meditation cushion every day wasn’t what I needed to feel connected that place within. I needed it to be seamlessly interwoven into what was mundane.

Read the rest at Well and Good NYC  >>

More reading from Well and Good NYC:

SoulCycle hints at a major digital debut this summer
Keep your eyes peeled for black market BluePrint juice
How to access your dream career

The post Getting Spiritually Naked with Meggan Watterson appeared first on Intent Blog.