In her new book, Soul-Centered, Transform Your Life in 8 Weeks with Meditation, she presents a contemporary view of meditation, shares inspiring stories, and offers an effective meditation program

You will discover a variety of time-tested meditation techniques and self-awareness practices that will guide you towards a happy, fulfilling, and soul-centered life.

Visit www.Soul-Centered.com to read a free excerpt of the new book.

“Soul-Centered is entertaining, informative, and inspiring for even the most experienced meditator.”  ~Deepak Chopra

Deepak Chopra and Oprah Winfrey in India

This April 29 on a special, one-hour Super Soul Sunday, Oprah Winfrey sits down with world-renowned thought leader Dr. Deepak Chopra, who was the inspiration for her recent trip to India. Deepak joins Oprah for a revealing conversation about his ground-breaking work in the field of mind-body medicine, the life lessons he’s learned from his parents and family, and the influence that India’s rich cultural traditions have had on his journey. He also describes his recent life-changing experience as a Buddhist monk in Thailand. Click here to find the

Watch a sneak peak of the show here.

Question:

Two questions about meditation. First off, is there any differences between the types of meditations? Such as breath meditation, mantra meditation, heart meditation. I own a copy of your Secrets of Meditation audio, and it seems each session is something different. Do they all result in the same thing, or is the effect of each of them different? My second question is that recently it feels like my meditation practice isn’t as peaceful as it used to be. I can remember times when I would meditate and my whole body would feel calm, and when I would come out I would be peaceful and anywhere from just simple and happy to exuberantly happy (with the Chopra Center’s 21-Day Meditation Challenge). Now none of that is there really. It feels like I am just sitting there repeating the mantra, and it feels the same as when I went in, or sometimes more aggravated over some things or thoughts when I come out. It’s frustrating to say the least. Am I doing it wrong? I could use some advice.

Deepak’s Response:

There are many types of meditation practices, breath ones, silent ones, visual ones, guided ones, standing ones, etc. Your mantra meditation is designed to give you the experience of your true self and in the process clear away the old conditioning that inhibits you from having that self-awareness at all times. The phase you are at now is temporary and indicates that you are clearing away some blocks and once they have been released your experiences will again be more deep and peaceful.

Love,
Deepak

I arrived in NYC a short time ago to start production on the our new YouTube channel, TheChopraWell.

Rewind…several months ago we signed a deal with the fine folks at YouTube to build out a premium channel in the health and wellness space that launches this July. Ever since, we’ve been think tanking on what that actually means. Is it daily yoga poses and meditation techniques? 7 steps to reversing your aging? 10 lessons for finding your soulmate?

Or maybe it’s really a spirituality channel. Less how to and more how come, you’know? Like, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” or “What happens to me when I die?”

What about tone? More Deepak and the nature of consciousness? Or more Gotham and the nature of cynicism? Or more Mallika and the nature of goodness?

And then: the revelation. It’s YouTube, people. The greatest incubator in the world. Just do it…and the will come. Or they won’t. Then just do something different …and they will come. Or they won’t. You see a pattern here? YouTube analytics will show us the way.

Which brings us to The Chopra Well: Manhattan Project. Here are the details:

This Thursday, April 19

Ask Deepak at 10 am, Meditation Flash Mob at 11am

Union Square (West Plaza) NYC

The idea? I’m bringing my dad off the mountaintop and putting him in the heart of Manhattan to see what happens when the rubber hits the road. Our conceit is that spirituality shouldn’t just be for the 1%, the folks willing to visit spas and ashrams and meditation retreats. On the contrary. We want to create a dialogue that engages normal people curious about the meaning of their lives and their connection to the cosmos around them. We want cultural conversations around purpose and significance. We want to plunge down the rabbit hole together and explore together this vast conspiracy of miracles that is the Universe around us.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHOPRA WELL HERE

Will it work? That depends on you. On who shows up. On the questions you ask and the conversations that ensue. We’re throwing in a flash mob meditation around lunchtime because, well, that just sounds cool.

Back to one: Please come and join us on Thursday morning if you are in and around the NYC region. You’ll get a chance to meet my dad and question and ask him your deepest questions about health, spirituality, and life in general. If it works, we’re taking this show on the road and maybe we’ll come to a location near you. Subscribe to our channel and become a part of our community. Join the conversation. Be a part of the critical mass that will change the conversation. Start by asking a question. And oh yeah, there are no stupid questions, just spiritual answers.

See you Thursday.

About Gotham Chopra

Gotham Chopra is a multi-media voice on issues of spirituality, culture, and news. As an anchor for Channel One News — an in-school educational news broadcast seen daily by upwards of 8 million American students — Gotham reported from Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, Egypt, China, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Colombia, Russia, Chechnya, Mexico, Honduras, all across Europe and the United States. He has interviewed a wide range of Global leaders — from President Bush to the Dalai Lama to associates and foot soldiers of Osama Bin Laden. He has hosted events as diverse as the Pope’s pep rally in St. Louis to the action at the fifty-yard line at the Superbowl. Gotham’s global assignments have sent him on patrol with anti-militant commando units in war torn Kashmir and had him detained by secret police in China, Iran, and Pakistan. Gotham is the author of Familiar Strangers (Random House 2002) — a non-fiction and spiritual chronicle of his travels and encounters at the frontlines of areas in conflict and transition. Gotham served as Story Editor on the Bulletproof Monk — a comic book about bullets, monks, gangs, and seekers. He also served as Executive Producer of the feature Film with John Woo’s Lion Rock Films and MGM Studios, which appeared in theaters in 2003. He is also author of Child of the Dawn, a novel published in 1996 and translated in 13 languages internationally. He recorded The Mythical Lover on A Gift of Love — a recording of sensual poetry by the 13th Century poet Rumi, and has served as researcher and lyrical advisor to Michael Jackson on the multi-platinum albums Dangerous and HIStory. He has also served as Producer on television specials for PBS. As co-founder of 5K Entertainment, Gotham wrote, is producing, and will direct the indy feature Swindle. He is also the co-creator of K Lounge — a Kama Sutra bar and lounge in New York City with more to launch internationally in 2005. As co-founder of Chopra Media and a partner in Intent Media (with Deepak Chopra and Shekhar Kapur), Gotham is involved in a wide-array of creative media ventures. He is the President of development for Gotham Studios Asia, the largest comic book studio in India. Currently Gotham is serving as creative consultant to Current TV, a new television network co-founded by former Vice-President Al Gore, and scheduled to launch in 20 million American households in August 2005. Identified by Newsweek Magazine (March 04) as one of the “most powerful and influential” South Asians worth watching, Gotham speaks nationally on issues of youth and spirituality, conflict resolution, and develops workshops to create a language for young people to bring out the internal and external issues that important to them.

Tonight (Monday, April 16) on OWN TV, Oprah is bringing the world’s biggest classroom to Toronto, where special guest teachers Deepak Chopra, Iyanla Vanzant, Tony Robbins, Bishop T.D. Jakes will discuss forgiveness, letting go of the past, and creating a compelling next chapter in your life.

Learn more and get ready for the class: http://www.oprah.com/oprahs-lifeclass/Oprahs-Lifeclass-the-Tour-Episode-4-The-Power-of-Forgiveness

Tune in to OWN or log on to Oprah.com or Facebook.com/OWNTV at 8/7c. Find the OWN TV schedule in your area here.

Deepak Chopra discussed the healing power of spiritual solutions at a National Press Club luncheon in Washington on April 4.

Enjoy this fascinating in-depth interview about  health care, wellbeing, and the future of medicine, as well as questions about:
• Deepak’s writing process     • Preventive health care
• The Chopra Center’s upcoming study of the effect of meditation on healthy aging
• Growing younger and living longer

Watch the video recording here.

Download the audio recording of the talk here.

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I have been reading Deepak’s book The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, where he talks about the “gap.”  I was wondering more about what it is and how I get there. Is there a special technique to meditating? I am enjoying the book so much. Each time I read it I learn something new. I hope you can help me out here.

Thanks,
Curt

The Chopra Center Responds:

Dear Curt,
Thank you for your note. We’re glad you are enjoying your reading. To answer your question, the term “gap” simply refers to a state of quiet, restful awareness in which you experience no thoughts about the past or future and are squarely in the present. Since there are no thoughts in the gap, as soon as you realize that you have been in this state of pure awareness, you have just drifted out of it, for the thought “I’m in the gap!” is the thought of the thinking mind. Most meditation techniques are focused on cultivating this state of expanded consciousness, whether through focusing on the breath, an object such as a candle, or a mantra.

The Primordial Sound Meditation technique taught by the Chopra Center is a mantra-based technique. A traditional mantra is a sound without a meaning, and silently repeating a mantra during meditation helps the mind move beyond its usual busy internal dialogue into an experience of the gap. The meditation practice is a continuous cycle of dipping into the gap, then drifting out when we experience a thought, sensation, or feeling . . . then moving back into the state of restful awareness.

Keep in mind that trying to stay in the gap will bring you out of it. The gap is a quiet, simple state of awareness, and mental effort is a more active, excited state of awareness. There’s no need to force or concentrate. When you meditate, let yourself gently cultivate familiarity with the gap. During the rest of the day, the silence you have experienced will naturally be present in your thoughts and actions.

With love,
The Chopra Center Staff

Question

Answer
First I’ll begin with the question of “How do I attain happiness if at this moment I am unfulfilled?” You need to recognize the false premise your unfulfillment is based on. You are assuming that you can’t be happy or fulfilled unless certain external conditions are met, such as a loving relationship. Yet above you said you understood that happiness is within and living in the moment. If you are simply in the moment, then you aren’t placing any demands on how things have to be – you are simply being there with it.

When you say you can’t be happy because you don’t have a partner, you are making your internal state conditional upon external circumstances. That isn’t living in the present. By orienting your perspective and sense of wellbeing to operate from the inside-out, instead of the reverse, you find perfection and fulfillment in the ever-changing moment. In this way your silent witness is not only detached, but at the same time your sense of purpose is also fully engaged in creating the life you want according to your life purpose.

Love,
Deepak
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Join Deepak Chopra and the Chopra Center as we travel to Chicago on the pathway to happiness.

Seduction of Spirit: Pathway to Happiness
July 9–15, 2012
Eaglewood Resort & Spa, Chicago, Illinois

Are you seeking more joy and fulfillment in your life?

This July at Seduction of Spirit, the Chopra Center’s signature meditation and yoga retreat, Deepak Chopra, the Chopra Center’s master certified instructors, and special guest Mike Dooley will guide you in a week of timeless practices and wisdom for awakening to the happiness that lies
Seduction of Spirit: Pathway to Happiness features:

• –Instruction by Deepak Chopra  in an advanced meditation sutra practice taught nowhere else
• –Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga classes led by Chopra Yoga Director Danielle Mika Nagel
• –Instruction in Primordial Sound Meditation and your personal mantra
• –Interactive sessions with Mike Dooley, a renowned spiritual teacher and author of Notes from the Universe
• –Time for silent reflection and rejuvenation
• –A warm community of like-minded people

Join us for a life-changing journey to the heart of happiness! Call 888.736.6895 or click here to learn more.

Each page of Juicy Joy resonates with Lisa’s authenticity, warmth, and wisdom.  Filled with  practical tips and inspiring, heart-felt stories from Lisa’s own life and from the thousands of people she has coached, Juicy Joy will help you connect to the truth of who you are and share your own unique gifts and talents with the world.

To order your copy of Juicy Joy, click here.

What People Are Saying

“I love this book! It’s honest, from the heart, inspiring and, like the title says, juicy. Lisa McCourt captures all the values I hold dear and expresses them in a believable, engaging, and exciting way.” ~ Alan Cohen, author of Enough Already

“Lisa is a sparkling example of what she teaches. She excels at the art of being ‘happy for no reason.’” ~Marci Shimoff

“Lisa McCourt is a daring and adventurous life pioneer. If you are ready and willing to follow her 7 Steps, I promise you will be forever (and fabulously) changed.” ~Arielle Ford, author of The Soulmate Secret, and foreword writer for Juicy Joy

“Lisa McCourt has developed a brilliant step-by-step system for relocating yourself as the juicy, delicious, vibrant creature you were born to be. Allow these seven steps to launch you into unprecedented heights of self-adoration.”
~Regena Thomashauer, author of Mama Gena’s School of Womanly Arts

Lisa McCourt

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