Authors & Speakers

 
  • Elba Mueller

    With a law degree and experience working in the administration field, Elba spent much of her professional life in the corporate environment. She has experienced first-hand the effects of high stress, and learned that meditation is the best technique to release stress and live peacefully and joyfully. She is now a certified instructor in Primordial Sound Meditation and her passion is bringing the benefits of meditation to the workplace and the general public.

  • Shawn Achor

    After spending twelve years at Harvard University, Shawn Achor has become one of the world’s leading experts on the connection between happiness and success. His research on mindset made the cover of Harvard Business Review, his TED talk is one of the most popular of all time with over 11 million views, and his lecture airing on PBS has been seen by millions. Shawn has lectured or worked with over a third of the Fortune 100 companies, as well as the NFL, the NBA, the Pentagon and the White House.  Shawn is the author of New York Times best-selling books The Happiness Advantage (2010) and Before Happiness (2013).  He has now lectured in more than 50 countries speaking to CEOs in China, doctors in Dubai, schoolchildren in South Africa, and farmers in Zimbabwe. His Happiness Advantage training is one of the largest and most successful positive psychology corporate training program in the world.  Shawn’s research has been published in the top psychology journal for work he did at UBS in partnership with Yale University to transform how stress impacts the body, and he recently did a two-hour interview with Oprah at her house to discuss his mission to bring positive psychology to the world.

  • Martha Beck

    Psychology Today, USA Today, and NPR have all referred to Martha Beck as “one of the best-known life coaches in America.” She is a columnist for O, the Oprah Magazine, has been a contributing editor for Real Simple, Redbook, and Mademoiselle, and has written for many other national magazines. She appears frequently as an expert on life design on programs such as Good Morning America and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

  • Dr. Dean Ornish

    Dr. Dean Ornish is the founder and president of the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute and Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.  Dr. Ornish has directed clinical research demonstrating, for the first time, that comprehensive lifestyle changes may begin to reverse even severe coronary heart disease and other chronic diseases, without drugs or surgery, which Medicare is now covering.  Dr. Ornish is the author of six bestselling books, including The Spectrum.  He serves on the board of directors for the St. Vincent de Paul homeless shelter and was previously appointed to the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy during the Clinton Administration.  During his career, Dr. Ornish has received numerous awards and honors, including being selected as a “National Public Health Hero” by the University of California, Berkeley, “one of the 125 most extraordinary University of Texas alumni in the past 125 years,” “one of the fifty most influential members of his generation” by LIFE magazine, and and by Forbes magazine as “one of the world’s seven most powerful teachers.”  He was a Clinical Fellow in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and completed his residency in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital from 1981 to 1984.  Dr. Ornish received a B.A. in Humanities from the University of Texas in Austin in 1975 (where he gave the baccalaureate) and his M.D. in 1980 from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

  • Elizabeth Gilbert

    Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir Eat, Pray, Love has been called “a generation’s instruction manual” (Toronto Sun). Exploding onto the scene in 2006, the bestseller famously chronicled the year Gilbert spent traveling the world after a shattering divorce. Translated into more than 30 languages, Eat, Pray, Love has sold over ten million copies worldwide. The book — “fueled by a mix of intelligence, wit, and colloquial exuberance that is close to irresistible” (The New York Times Book Review)—catapulted its author from respected but little-recognized writer to a woman Oprah Winfrey has called a “rock star author.”

  • Roger Gabriel

    Born in Liverpool, England, Roger Gabriel spent his formative years in the United Kingdom and first learned meditation there in the early 1970s. It instantly became his passion and he soon trained to be a meditation teacher under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. After moving to the U.S., Roger began studying Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of health care. In 1985, while helping to establish centers for Ayurveda and meditation, he met and became friends with Deepak Chopra. Since then, Roger has assisted Deepak with numerous training programs, seminars, and workshops; taught thousands of people on all continents to meditate; and helped to train hundreds of people to become teachers of meditation, Ayurveda, and yoga. Roger has been blessed to meet and study with great teachers in India and the West, and he has traveled extensively in India. He incorporates much of what he has learned in his practices and teaching. In 2006, Roger received his spiritual name Raghavanand from Shree Satuwa Baba Maharaji of Varanasi, India. As time permits, he involves himself with charity programs in India and takes like-minded seekers on tours to some of his favorite pilgrimage sites there. Roger currently serves as a member of the Chopra Certifications’ Advisory Board and is a Chopra–certified educator who teaches regularly at the Center’s workshops, seminars, and teacher training programs. He lives in Encinitas, California. You can learn more about Roger on his website: www.rogergabriel.com. 

  • Deepak Chopra™, M.D.

    DEEPAK CHOPRA™ MD, FACP, founder of The Chopra Foundation, a non-profit entity for research on well-being and humanitarianism, and Chopra Global, a whole health company at the intersection of science and spirituality, is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation. Chopra is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego and serves as a senior scientist with Gallup Organization. He is the author of over 90 books translated into over forty-three languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. His 90th book and national bestseller, Metahuman: Unleashing Your Infinite Potential (Harmony Books), unlocks the secrets to moving beyond our present limitations to access a field of infinite possibilities. For the last thirty years, Chopra has been at the forefront of the meditation revolution and his latest book, Total Meditation (Harmony Book, September 22, 2020) will help to achieve new dimensions of stress-free living and joyful living. TIME magazine has described Dr. Chopra as “one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century.” www.deepakchopra.com

  • Eckhart Tolle

    Eckhart is a spiritual teacher and author who was born in Germany and educated at the Universities of London and Cambridge. He is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Power of Now (translated into 33 languages), and the highly acclaimed follow-up A New Earth, which are widely regarded as two of the most influential spiritual books of our time. At the age of 29, a profound inner transformation radically changed the course of his life.

  • Davidji

    For the past decade, Davidji has shared the Chopra Center’s timeless teachings for balance, healing, and transformation with thousands of people around the globe. He is a gifted teacher who has inspired countless individuals to discover and share their own unique gifts and talents with the world.

  • Robin Benincasa

    Robyn Benincasa accepts full blame for inspiring people to do insane things like climb Mount Kilimanjaro, run their first triathlon, start their own adventure racing teams, or launch their own businesses. This is, after all, who she is and what she does: Robyn Benincasa inspires people to do amazing things.

  • Janine Shepherd

    Janine Shepherd's story reads like the plot of a Hollywood movie. A champion cross-country skier in training for the Winter Olympics, her life was irrevocably altered when she was hit by a truck on a bike ride. Doctors warned her parents that she was not expected to survive her extensive injuries and even if she recovered, she would never walk again. Janine's hopes of being an elite athlete were gone. But Janine refused to believe what the medical professionals were telling her and instead she focused every sinew of her being on healing her broken body and crushed morale. After spinal surgery an months in the hospital, she returned home in a wheelchair.

  • Anita Moorjani

    Anita Moorjani has become something of an international sensation since her book Dying to be Me hit the New York Times bestsellers list only two weeks after its release in March, 2012. She had experienced what most people never have; she "crossed over," and came back to share what she learned. Her remarkable NDE (Near-death experience) and subsequent healing from end-stage cancer is one of the most amazing cases ever recorded. Doctors had given her mere hours to live when she arrived at the hospital in a coma on the morning of February 2, 2006. Unable to move, and in a deep coma as the result of the cancer that had ravaged her body for nearly four years, Anita entered another dimension, where she experienced great clarity and understanding of her life and purpose here on earth, and was given a choice of whether to return to life or not. Anita chose to return to life when she realized that "heaven" is a state, and not a place. This subsequently resulted in a remarkable and complete recovery of her health within days of her return.

  • Ken Druck, Ph.D.

    Dr. Ken Druck has been a bestselling author, speaker, organizational coach/consultant and inspirational leader for the last thirty-five years. While his career began in clinical psychology, Ken’s pioneering work in the areas of executive coaching, parent education, male psychology, grief literacy and, most recently, transforming adversity into spiritual deepening has resulted in Ken receiving the “Distinguished Contributions to Psychology” and “Visionary Leadership” awards.

  • Steve Gold

    Steve Gold is a down-to-earth, soulful singer and yogi. Steve has practiced yoga for more than twenty-five years, and is a certified instructor of Prana Flow Yoga. He also creates powerfully positive music that heals and inspires. His rendition of So Much Magnificence, the title track of his first album, can be heard in yoga studios around the world. Steve teaches “Mantras for Manifestation” and “Voice of Magnificence” workshops, showing people how to use music and intention to actualize their deepest desires.  His latest album, Let Your Heart Be Known, has been called “a soulful genre-buster, destined to be a classic” by LA Yoga magazine.

  • Jean Houston

    Jean Houston is a renowned visionary, scholar, and one of the principal founders of the Human Potential Movement. Recognized as one of the world’s leading scholars in mythic and spiritual studies, Dr. Houston is the founder and principal teacher of the Mystery School, dedicated to teaching history, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, myth, archetypes, and the many dimensions of human potential.

  • Claire Diab

    Claire Diab is an International Yoga Therapist, health and wellness expert, and inspirational speaker who has been teaching throughout the world for more than 25 years. She has co-developed the Chopra Center's Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga Teacher Training courses with co-founders, Drs. Deepak Chopra and David Simon. She is a Master Educator and is certified in Primordial Sound Meditation, Perfect Health Ayurvedic Lifestyle, and Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga.

  • Danielle Mika Nagel

    Danielle has worked with Chopra Global for over 10 years leading events and trainings. For the past 20 years Danielle has worked with business leaders, elite athletes, intact teams, individuals, yogis and people who are completely new to wellbeing. She was most recently at Lululemon, as their Director of Mindfulness, Learning & Leadership leading a global team of facilitators and coaches. She is joining a financial institution as their head of Leadership Development and Organizational Wellness to lead wellbeing, including mental health programs to their employees.She is passionate about integrating the tools of mindful performance into corporate culture and has created trainings and practices that contribute to the wellbeing of 30,000 global employees, athletes and guests.Danielle leads in person and online programs, including 200hr and 300hr yoga leadership teacher trainings and immersive retreats. She is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) and incorporates the teachings of yoga, meditation, Ayurveda and coaching with her clients.www.daniellemika.com

  • Marie Josée Vermette

    Marie Josée Vermette (MJ) is a Musician, Healing Artist and Bodymind, Acupressure & Energy Therapy Practitioner, with specialized training in Sound Massage. She has extensive experience, supporting people healing from trauma, addiction, abuse, emotional, mental or physical challenges. As a skilled facilitator, vocalist and hand drummer, she has been offering Intuitive Voice and Drumming self-Expression Workshops since 2004; a unique concept that allows her therapeutic expertise to blend with her artistic personality, to help people radiate peace, health and positive force. Raised and trained in Montréal (Canada), she moved to Vancouver in 2010, where she formed SacredFire (previously Chants & Drums) with Dean Richards.

  • Dean Richards

    Dean Richards, in conjunction with his video and multimedia business, has been performing music professionally, recording and touring Canada, the UK and the USA since the 80’s. His Dharma is to connect with people at a deep level using music as the conduit. His percussive zest, smooth charisma and strong presence bring fluidity and intensity to Chants & Drums’ performances.

  • Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith

    Dr. Beckwith’s life is a living testament to building spiritual community. In the 1970s he began an inward journey into the teachings of East and West, and today teaches universal truth principles found in the New Thought-Ancient Wisdom tradition of spirituality. Gifted with a vision of a trans-denominational spiritual community, in 1986 he founded the Agape International Spiritual Center upon his faith in that original vision.

  • Brent BecVar, M.S.

    Brent BecVar, M.S., Vedic Counseling Program Director, has practiced astrology and counseling over the past 36 years and has studied with respected teachers in this country and in India. Mr. BecVar has worked directly with Dr. Deepak Chopra and Chopra as an administrator, teacher, therapist and Chopra Retreat facilitator for over 32 years. He is trained as a psychotherapist, certified yoga/ meditation instructor, Ayurvedic educator and is a longstanding member of the American Council of Vedic Astrologers.

  • Amanda Ree

    Amanda Ree is a Certified Vedic Educator for the Chopra Center for Wellbeing and serves as Host/Emcee for many of the Center’s live and online events. Since 2006, she has studied closely under Drs. Deepak Chopra and David Simon, and gleaned wisdom from the multitude of other luminaries who have come through the Center. She’s completed three Chopra Center certifications (Primordial Sound Meditation, Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga, and Perfect Health: Ayurvedic Lifestyle) and she holds both 200‐ and 500‐hour teacher certifications from the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers.

  • Brent Cesare

    Brent is a board-certified doctor of physical therapy and a Chopra Center-certified instructor of Perfect Health: Ayurvedic Lifestyle and the Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga. He teaches at the Chopra Center’s weekly Perfect Health programand also lectures regularly on anatomy and physiology at Chopra Center University’s Yoga Teacher Trainings. He is also the owner and director of Zenergy Physical Therapy, a healing studio that integrates many mind-body techniques, including yoga therapy, meditation, and Ayurvedic bodywork

  • East Haradin

    With a commitment to helping others actualize their full potential and wellbeing, East Haradin has been a licensed acupuncturist and practitioner of integrative medicine since 1999. In addition to a private practice, she shares her passion for this medicine as a professor, and clinical supervisor, at the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in San Diego, California. In 2008, she created a special outreach program at the Family Recover Center in Oceanside, California, where residential and day-treatment patients receive acupuncture in group and private settings.

  • Maureen Pisani

    Early on in her life, Maureen Pisani realized that her life passion was to support others in creating their best lives. She became a certified hypnotherapist through the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in Southern California, where she now lectures and mentors the faculty. She has also been a guest lecturer at several universities, including UCLA and Santa Monica College. Maureen has also served as Program Director and instructor for the Hypnotherapy Program at Mueller College.

  • Dr. Sheila Patel

    Sheila Patel, M.D. is the Chief Medical Officer for Chopra and a board-certified family physician who is passionate about bringing holistic healing practices into the Western medical system. For more than a decade, she practiced full-spectrum family medicine, from prenatal care to ER coverage. As an integrative medical provider, Sheila currently offers medical consultations that combine the best in conventional medicine with the wisdom of Ayurveda. Sheila is certified as an instructor of Ayurveda, yoga, and meditation.

  • Valencia Porter

    Dr. Valencia Porter is a leader in Integrative, Preventive, and Environmental Medicine, combining ancient wisdom traditions such as Ayurvedic Medicine with modern science. Double-Board Certified in General Preventive Medicine and Integrative Medicine, she has been a part of the Chopra medical team for the past decade, providing integrative medical consultations and teaching health professionals and the community how to achieve total mind, body, spirit health.

  • Tim Brieske, M.D.

    Tim is a board-certified family physician, mind-body healing expert, and core member of the Chopra Center medical staff. With his characteristic compassion, wisdom, and lighthearted nature, he provides medical consultations for guests and patients and offers mind-body guidance at the center’s events. He also teaches the healing tools and techniques of Ayurveda and leads walking meditations in nature.

  • Rachelle Williams

    As a Chopra Center Vedic Educator, Rachelle is certified in Primordial Sound Meditation, Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga, and Perfect Health: Ayurvedic Lifestyle. She started working at the Chopra Center in 2007 and has loved it ever since. Rachelle teaches at Chopra Center events in addition to leading private classes.

  • Rudolph Tanzi, M.D.

    Dr. Rudolph Tanzi is the Vice-Chair of Neurology, Director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit, and Co-Director of the McCance Center for Brain Health at Massachusetts General Hospital, and serves as the Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School.