Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra (/ˈdiːpɑːk ˈtʃoʊprə/; born October 22, 1947) is an American bestselling author and public speaker. He is a prominent alternative medicine advocate and a promoter of increasingly popular forms of spirituality, for instance having been described in the New York Times as a "controversial New-Age guru". Through his books and videos, he has become one of the best-known and wealthiest figures in the holistic-health movement. Chopra obtained a medical degree in India before emigrating in 1970 to the United States. As a physician he specialized in endocrinology and became Chief of Staff at the New England Memorial Hospital (NEMH). In the 1980s he began to practice transcendental meditation (TM). In 1985 he resigned his position at NEMH to establish the Maharishi Ayurveda Health Center. Chopra left the TM movement in 1994 and founded the Chopra Center for Wellbeing. He gained a following after his interview on the The Oprah Winfrey Show regarding his books in the 1990s. Chopra states that, combining principles from Ayurveda (Hindu traditional medicine) and mainstream medicine, his approach to health incorporates ideas about the mind-body relationship, a belief in teleology in nature and a belief in the primacy of consciousness over matter – that "consciousness creates reality". He claims that his practices can extend the human lifespan and treat chronic disease. His beliefs and ideas are criticized by scientists and professionals in the medical field who say his treatments rely on the placebo effect; that he misuses terms and ideas from quantum physics (quantum mysticism); and that he provides people with false hope that may obscure the possibility of effective medical treatment. According to Ptolemy Tompkins, the medical and scientific communities' opinion of him ranges from dismissive to damning; criticism includes statements that his approach could lure sick people away from effective treatments.