An interview with Deepak Chopra, MD

Deepak Chopra, MD, FACP, FRCP, is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and author of over ninety books, including the New York Times bestseller Ageless Body, Timeless Mind. He joined Well Being Journal to discuss ways to live mindfully and create a more balanced, hopeful future. 

Karina Gordin (KG): Thank you for taking the time to share your insights and expertise with Well Being Journal readers. Before we delve into your latest book, Living in the Light, can you first discuss what led you to become a physician, and how you ultimately specialized in integrative medicine with a focus on spirituality and personal transformation?

Deepak Chopra (DC): I trained in internal medicine and neuroendocrinology, and my interest in integrative medicine was sparked by my research on the molecules of emotion: serotonin, oxycontin, dopamine, and others. Not only did I realize that emotions have biological effects, but these neuropeptides were immunomodulators. In other words, healthy emotions such as empathy compassion, love, and joy help fine-tune the immune system while negative emotions such as contempt and resentment have the opposite effect, leading to inflammation and a compromised immune system. 

This research led me deeper into the field of epigenetics and integrative medicine, which then evolved into a deeper understanding of self-awareness, spirituality, and human consciousness. 

KG: Living in the Light features a variety of yoga poses (asanas) for cultivating higher consciousness and self-awareness. What are your go-to asanas to help center your thoughts and relax both the mind and body?

DC: I practice thirty-five asanas every day, including sitting poses, standing poses, twists, forward bends, and backward bends. These poses help stimulate every branch of the vagus nerve, which is responsible for self-regulation in the body. By “self-regulation,” I’m referring to the innate wisdom of our body to counterbalance the “fight-or-flight” response and bring us back to a place of calm and relaxation (safety).

In terms of go-to poses, I’d recommend the child’s pose (balasana)—a common position in yoga that is easy to perform and can be done at any time for a few minutes or longer. The child’s pose is considered “restorative”—a style of yoga meant to slow down the parasympathetic nervous system, lengthen the spine, and stretch tight areas of the body, including the back, neck, ankles, and shoulders. People of all fitness levels and ranges of flexibility can perform the child’s pose. 

To perform the pose:

1. Kneel on the floor with big toes touching and buttocks on the heels. For support, you can place a cushion or folded blanket between your thighs and calves. 
2. Exhale and lean forward, resting your belly between your thighs and forehead on the floor. Tuck chin slightly.
3. Tip: If your head cannot reach the floor, rest it on a cushion or folded blanket to take the tension off the neck. 
4. Walk your hands out in front of you. Keep palms up and release your shoulders toward the floor. Tip: If this is difficult, allow your arms to rest alongside your body with palms facing up. Add a blanket or cushion under your head and arms for extra support. 
5. Remain in this pose from thirty seconds up to five minutes, inhaling and exhaling slowly.

KG: The fall 2023 edition of Well Being Journal focuses on the intersection of technology & health. Please share how you’ve tapped into artificial intelligence to enhance human consciousness.   

DC: Technology and AI are valuable for helping point the way to mindfulness, mudra practice, sound sleep, vagal stimulation, nutrition, exercise, and emotional and spiritual well-being. This is what we are doing with the NeverAlone App—a personal safety mobile app that offers smart location tracking so that a community of volunteers can quickly respond during emergency situations.

The Four A’s with Deepak Chopra

Together with French actress Gabriella Wright and entrepreneur Poonacha Machaiah, we aim to create AI programs that can serve as mental health resources around the world. We recently developed People Interacting with Intent (PIWI)—an emotional chatbot to help create online and offline communities where we focus on what we call the 4 A’s:

Attention: Deep listening
Affection: Deep caring
Appreciation: Deep gratitude
Acceptance: Deep tolerance  

We have had up to 6K interventions in suicidal ideation and over 22 million text messages exchanged. We are scaling the program and hoping to provide it in multiple languages.

KG: Tell us about the Chopra Foundation and how the Four A’s—Attention, Appreciation, Affection, and Acceptance—aim to promote mental health and resilience.

DC: Mental health is only achieved when we go beyond the divided, conditioned, separate mind that lives in fear. Anger is the memory of trauma; anxiety is the anticipation of trauma; guilt is blaming yourself and leads to humiliation; the combination of all the above is the depletion of energy we call depression. 

The Chopra Foundation aims to offer people tools and an experience where they feel supported, have a spiritual practice, and are part of a community that, in my opinion, can help more than conventional therapy of any kind unless there is a very significant biological pathology.

KG: As we enter the holiday season, how can the Four A’s be applied to manage holiday stress and overindulgence?

DC: The four As can help reinvent your intentions and increase self-awareness. Self-awareness and asking ourselves select questions in deep silence gives us access to our own insights and intuition for self-regulation.

Through daily meditation, learn to quiet the mind and ask yourself the following questions: 

• Who am I? 
• What do I want? 
• What is my purpose? 
• What am I grateful for? 

Do not seek the answers but allow insight and intuition to live the question, and life will move you into the answers. More specifically, not seeking answers mentally (intellectually) allows the questions to incubate in awareness (ie, your intuition, insight, creativity, imagination, and higher consciousness).

KG: Can the same principles apply to navigating the current state of our nation, including the divisive upcoming 2024 presidential election cycle?

DC: I have no solution to the 2024 divisive election cycle as politicians are not really interested in the wellbeing of society. Their interest is more in power mongering, influence peddling, cronyism, corruption, and amassing personal wealth. 

Unless there is a critical mass of people who are the change they want to see in the world, there is no solution. Self-awareness and meditation practices need to be engaged by each one of us. The only way to change the world is to be the change ourselves. Another way to put it, to heal the world, take responsibility for healing yourself first.

KG: And by extension, does that apply to issues such as poverty and the chronic disease epidemic?   

DC: One aspect of poverty comes from the lack of generosity of spirit. If we work towards the happiness of others and toward their success as our own success, we can create abundance for all. 

Another aspect of poverty comes from the state of ignorance of oneself. To illustrate my point, I would like to share a personal story. Approximately twenty years ago, a friend invited me to visit his grandfather in the Himalayas. The grandfather had become an ascetic—he took Sannyasa and detached from material possessions. I was very curious and agreed to visit. We took a rickety car to a cottage near the Ganges where the grandfather lived with no contact to the world. Zero. 

While we were there, a Swami (Hindu ascetic) dropped in. The only clothing he was wearing was a coconut shell covering his genitalia, otherwise he was naked. 

The swami was lithe and strong, robust like an athlete. My friend and his grandfather hadn’t seen the swami in a long time and greeted him with kindness and respect, touching his feet out of reverence. 

I asked my friend, then sixty-three years old, what the age of the swami was. He responded, “I don’t know. Ever since I was a child, he’s been like this. He shows up every few years for a meal.” I then turned to the grandfather to find out the age of the swami. He responded, “I don’t know. Ever since I was a child, he’s been like this, a spiritual master.”

Once the meal was served, the swami removed his coconut shell, rinsed it in water, and scooped food into it. That shell was his only possession. After the meal, he regaled us with stories of being a wandering monk caught in the war between India and China and seeking refuge with Tibetan monks. He also talked about Tummo (inner fire) meditation and the rainbow body. 

Eventually, we left, fascinated by this guy. As we were driving down winding roads in the Himalayas at about ten miles per hour, suddenly I looked behind and the swami was running like an antelope keeping up with the car, full of joy, waving at us. Eventually, the car picked up speed and we lost him, but I’ve never forgotten him. He had nothing except a coconut shell, but I have never met a more joyful person in my life. 

Epigenetic Switches

Now, back to your original question. As far as the chronic disease epidemic is concerned, less than five percent of disease is determined by fully penetrant genes. The remaining ninety-five percent are influenced by epigenetics. To bring about self-regulation and healing, and influence the epigenetic switches in ourselves, we need to focus on practices such as:

• Sleep
• Meditation
• Mind-body coordination through yoga
• Vagal stimulation
• Emotional intelligence
• Resilience
• Nutrition that enhances the health of our microbiome

KG: Can you briefly touch on some ways we can practice vagal stimulation?

DC: Stimulating the vagus nerve—the longest cranial nerve in the body—can play a key role in helping manage mental health. In Latin, “vagus” refers to “wandering,” which is not surprising since the vagus nerve wanders around the body connecting the brain to important organs such as the heart, lungs, and gut. 

As part of its many functions, the vagus nerve influences breathing, heart rate, mood, and digestion—all of which impact mental health long term. Maintaining vagal nerve health can help the body relax faster after stress—returning the body from the fight-or-flight response to parasympathetic mode, where you’re more relaxed. 

There are a variety of strategies to help boost vagus nerve activity, including cold exposure (eg, cold showers), deep & slow breathing exercises, singing/humming/chanting/gargling (vagus nerve is connected to vocal cords), probiotic-rich foods, exercise (eg, interval training), socializing and laughing, and meditation. 

When it comes to probiotics, a 2016 study published in the Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility reported that both the vagus and enteric nerves (gastrointestinal) are involved in the gut-brain interaction and can be affected by certain probiotics, such as Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus and Bifidobacterium longum. These can be found in fermented foods such as kefir, sauerkraut, and kimchi, and in supplement form.  

KG: That is all very intriguing, thank you for sharing different ways we can boost our spiritual, mental, and physical health. Where can readers learn more about your work and any upcoming events? 

DC: I just finished writing Quantum Body with coauthors Jack A Tuszynski, PhD, DSc, and Brian Fertig, MD, FACE. This book explores quantum ideas for longevity and wellbeing.

Following this book, I plan to write about AI, consciousness, and the future evolution of the human species. Readers can learn more at DeepakChopa.com

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