THE MARKETING OF DEEPAK CHOPRA

Deepak Chopra is a very successful doctor who has been able to take the wisdom of others, mix in a little mystery, put it into books, lectures, and video tapes and, in the repackaging of it, make himself well known and prosperous.

What is important to acknowledge is that much of what he has to say is valuable, since he writes well and steals mostly good ideas, the messages that he gives are worth listening to.

However, social workers can do the same, and should be doing the same, and a few like Claudia Black are doing much the same. It is not so much what you know as how you market what you know that counts the most when it comes to making money and finding an audience.

With that in mind, let us look at Chopra and see what we can learn from him both in terms of his message and how he uses that message to make money.

He wrote a national best seller entitled PERFECT HEALTH: THE COMPLETE MIND/BODY GUIDE (N.Y.: Harmony Books, 1991). Please note that his marketing effort starts with the title and a total lack of modesty. The book does not deliver on either the title or the sub-title, however, as long as you plunk your money down and buy the book, the author doesn't have much to worry about in terms of whether the title accurately reflects the book's contents as long as the contents do provide substantial and helpful ideas---and his book does do that. If you read it carefully and employ the ideas in it, the book can be very helpful because most of it is built on the basically sound ideas of others. Chopra provides nothing new or novel that he has created.

PERFECT HEALTH pushes the ideas of Ayurveda which "is a profound science that has its roots in the ancient wisdom of India. I, as well as all Ayurvedic scholars whom I have worked with, feel a deep sense of gratitude to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for having first pioneered the birth of this knowledge in the western world" (p. vii). Although this book pushes Ayurveda, most of what he has to say has been said by others outside this field and you could eliminate all the references to Ayurveda and still have a book worth your reading.

Chopra's focus is on quantum mechanics. "A quantum, defined as the basic unit of matter or energy, is from 10,000,000 to 100,000,000 times smaller than the smallest atom. At this level, matter and energy become interchangeable. All quanta are made of invisible vibrations---ghosts of energy---waiting to take physical form...The quantum mechanical body is the underlying basis for everything we are: thoughts, emotions, proteins, cells, organs---any visible or invisible part of ourselves. At the quantum level, your body is sending out all kinds of invisible signals, waiting for you to pick them up. You have a quantum pulse underlying your physical one, and a quantum heart beating it out...The quantum mechanical body would do us very little good if we could not detect it. Fortunately, human awareness is capable of sensing these faint vibrations, thanks to the incredible sensitivity of our nervous system" (p. 7).

"The silence inside us is the key to the quantum mechanical body. It is not a chaotic but an organized silence. It has shape and design, purpose and processes, just like the physical body. Instead of seeing your body as a collection of cells, tissues, and organs, you can use the quantum perspective to see it as a silent flow of intelligence, a constant bubbling up of impulses that create, control, and become your physical body. The secret of life at this level is that ANYTHING IN YOUR BODY can be changed with the flick of an intention.

"You may find this hard to believe, so let me offer the example of Timmy, a perfectly ordinary-seeming 6-year-old who suffers from one of the strangest of psychiatric syndromes---multiple personality disorder. Timmy has more than a dozen separate personalities, each with its own emotional patterns, vocal inflections, likes and dislikes. Yet people with multiple personalities are not just psychological cases; as they drop one personality and put on another, remarkable changes can occur in their bodies...one personality may have high blood pressure while the others do not; even scars, warts, sores, and other skin blemishes have been seen to appear and disappear with the changing of personalities...Timmy is particularly amazing because one of his personalities, and only one, is allergic to orange juice and breaks out in hives if he drinks it" (pp. 10-11).

"This is a perfect example of how signals from the quantum mechanical body can cause instantaneous changes in the physical body...in Timmy's case, it appears that as the molecules of orange juice approach his white cells, a DECISION is made whether to react or not. This implies that the cell itself is intelligent...To say that molecules can make decisions defies current physical science...Once we absorb the fact that he is choosing to be allergic...then we confront the possibility that we are choosing our own diseases, too. We are not aware of this choice, because it takes place at a level below our everyday thoughts. But if we have such an ability, we should be able to control it" (p.11).

"We all tend to see our bodies as 'frozen sculptures'---solid, fixed, material objects---when in truth they are more like rivers, constantly changing, flowing patterns of intelligence...every year, fully 98 percent of the total number of atoms in your body are replaced" (pp. 11-12).

"The ideal of perfect health depends upon perfect balance. Everything you eat, say, think, do, see, and feel affects your overall state of balance" (pp. 13-14). Chopra claims that he can help you achieve this balanced state. Mind you, he has not achieved it in his own life, but he claims that he can teach you how to achieve it in yours! You should always beware of those who promise the impossible, especially when they don't practice what they preach. However, despite this "flaw", Chopra does have important things to teach and you can move toward greater balance and greater well-being by listening to him. His outrageous claims are simply part of his marketing strategy. If he told you the truth he would say: "With a lot of time and hard work, the ideas I have borrowed from others can positively impact on your life." The title of the book would be: BETTER HEALTH not PERFECT HEALTH and he would lose a lot of sales.

ONE OF THE GREATEST DISCOVERIES OF MY GENERATION WAS THAT HUMAN BEINGS CAN ALTER THEIR LIVES BY ALTERING THEIR ATTITUDES OF MIND.

WILLIAM JAMES

James said this a century ago and Chopra quotes it in his book. In short, we have long known that we can "move mountains" if we change our attitude. This is an idea that is not only a century old, it is thousands of years old. Since we have long known this, why have we not been able to do it? Because it is very very hard to change your attitude. It is very very hard to live a balanced life. If it were easily taught in one book, then someone would have taught it long before Chopra wrote his book.

"Any disorder can be prevented as long as balance is maintained, not just in the body, but in the mind and spirit as well...Growth is automatic; it is in nature's plan, built into our very cells. It is only a question of following the silent river of intelligence to its source. That is the final secret of perfect health. If we could allow the mind to expand and to explore higher realities, the body would follow" (p. 17).

Much of Chopra's book deals with the non-science or mystery of Ayurveda. I call it mystery because it is part of his marketing game. If he can capture your imagination and make you think that he has something revolutionary to teach you, you are more likely to try the ideas. The main ideas, remember, are old ones, the ones that William James talked about---the idea that, if you can have a positive attitude, then you will be healthier and happier. And, this is true. This is why we have the placebo effect. This is what you as a social worker need to do more than anything else---you need to generate hope in your clients, you need to use empathy to build a relationship that will then engender hope so that their body chemistry joins in a positive struggle to live a healthier life.

In order to live a balanced life, Chopra rightly suggests that you need to slow down and pay attention to what your body and surroundings are saying to you. He suggests that you pay attention to your diet, exercise, and get into a regular daily routine in which you have time to be good to yourself---to relax, to meditate, to take warm baths, create and seek out natural, aesthetically pleasing environments, et cetera. Most health care professionals and social workers would recommend the same.

"An old Indian saying goes, 'If you want to see what your thoughts were like yesterday, look at your body today. If you want to see what your body will be like tomorrow, look at your thoughts today.' Most of us would be pretty upset to apply this test to ourselves. The real medicine our bodies need is medicine for our awareness" (p. 109). If we develop our awareness, then: "Instead of unconsciously creating disease, we could be consciously creating health" (p. 110). One of the most powerful ways that you can develop your awareness is to recognize that your desire for control, which motivates your critical thinking that makes you see yourself and others as flawed, needs to be changed. "If you can let go of imperfection, perfection will appear by itself" (p. 116). To a significant degree, if you will but follow this letting go exercise, you are far more likely to find balance in your life.

More specifically, Chopra has eight techniques that are designed to help you move toward balance and self-healing. They are:

1. Panchakarma---this is a wonderfully sensate process that basically is for the rich. He states that everyone needs this treatment as an inpatient for a week, three times a year to stay healthy. Hey! If he gets you to believe this, then he automatically is rich, because he gets you suckered into a very very expensive process. In this process the patient gets laxatives to clean their system out, oil massage, sweat treatments, and medicated enemas, you inhale medicinal oils or herbal mixtures and all of this is done in pleasant surroundings

---away from all the stress of family and work. Mind you, just getting away from the stress is what most of us need. Instead we take vacations and design them to have all the stress possible, only different from the stress we are used to. I would argue that we all need to "retreat" at times, to be alone and relaxed, but you don't need to pay some quack a lot of your money to achieve this. Lots of retreat centers now exist that will help you without charging an arm and a leg.

2. Meditation---this is an old idea that is clearly of value.

3. Primordial sound---as he often does in his effort to sell himself, Chopra blends his knowledge of science with his ancient ideas to lend them substance. Charlatans often use this trick. Dress up your ideas with scientific knowledge, mind you, the knowledge does not have to prove your ideas are sound, just your pretending they support your ideas is sufficient.

"The quantum revolution made it inevitable that our worldview would change. Quantum physics proved that the infinite variety of objects we see around us---stars, galaxies, mountains, trees, butterflies, and amoebas---is connected by infinite, eternal, unbounded quantum fields, a kind of invisible quilt that has all of creation stitched into it. Objects that look separate and distinct to us are in fact all sewn into the design of this vast quilt. The hard edges of any object, such as a chair or table, are an illusion forced upon us by the limits of our sight. If we had eyes tuned to the quantum world, we would see these edges blur and finally melt, giving way to unlimited quantum fields. Finding this quantum level of nature has had practical applications; it gave us X rays, transistors, superconductors, and lasers, things that were inconceivable until science delved deeper into the fabric of creation.

"It is now believed that a single superfield, called the unified field, exists; it is the ultimate reality that underlies all of nature. Like a tree whose twigs lead to stems, stems to branches, and branches to one main trunk, the whole multiplicity of nature comes together in this one all-embracing field. Since we too are part of nature, we must be part of the unified field. It is in and around us all the time.

"It is possible to experience this all-encompassing field in your own mind, via meditation. A meditator describes the experience:

'I feel the boundaries of the mind being pushed out, like the ever widening circumference of a circle, until the circle disappears and only infinity remains. It is a feeling of great freedom, but also one of naturalness, far more real and natural than being confined to a small space'" (p. 132).

"The obvious question arises: How are we connected to the unified field? By invisible 'threads' composed of faint vibrations, what Ayurveda calls primordial sound" (p. 133). Note how Chopra ties science into his theology, mixing fact with fiction or, at best, his untested theory.

Untested theories don't bother me. What does bother me is his effort to sell them to us at the same time that he is living his own life in ways that are inconsistent with those theories. If we are really all connected and equally vital parts of the whole, then why is he not sharing his wealth as he must know that inequalities of wealth are the greatest evil in this world? My answer is that he really doesn't believe in what he is selling.

I think that is a tragedy, because much of what he is selling is very valuable and worth our attention. However, the parts of his story that are worth remembering are not HIS ideas, not NEW ideas, rather the profound truths that great minds have discovered throughout the millennia.

4. Pulse diagnosis---which is an essential part of the mystery.

5. Marma therapy---a marma is a junction point between consciousness and matter (107 marmas on the skin are accessible through the sense of touch).

6. Bliss technique---hey, don't we all want some bliss?

7. Aroma therapy---what you smell impacts your health and with aroma therapy you use aromatic oils with a massage.

8. Grandharva music therapy---what you hear impacts your health and music can make your body resonate with feelings that help heal your body and soul.

In short, all your senses need to be incorporated into a way of relating to your environment so that you maximize the pleasure you experience. These are old ideas and clearly are important if you are trying to maximize your potential for living a healthy and long life.

DRUG ADDICTION

"The essence of quantum healing is that the memory of perfection cannot be lost, only covered over. Looking at someone who is addicted to alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs, it is apparent that a serious loss of balance is present, and that clear, healthy messages from the quantum mechanical body are either extremely distorted or non-existent. What can Ayurveda do to improve this situation? First, we explain addictions in a new way, as a distortion of intelligence existing at a very deep level in the addict.

"Instead of arguing over whether addiction is physical or mental, acquired or inherited, we point out that at the quantum level, all of these influences merge" (p. 160).

"As it stands now, typical programs for treating addicted people employ highly confrontational tactics, emphasizing the need for constant vigilance to guard against the possible return of the all-powerful habit. 'The monkey is on your back,' the addict is told, 'and he'll be there for the rest of your life.' The rationale for this insistence is that compulsive addicts will never be cured until they are turned into compulsive abstainers.

"In Ayurveda, our emphasis is exactly the opposite. The cornerstone of our addiction program is that the addict will give up his habit automatically when offered a greater source of satisfaction. We hold that the source of addiction is a search for satisfaction...By removing the distractions of stress, meditation renews the nervous system's memory of balance. Repeated meditation, day after day, jogs the memory again and again, until in time the cells return to a normal state, exchanging their abnormal receptors for a more normal pattern. Once the pathways of intelligence are repaired, the cells will automatically select the body's healthy signals, as once they automatically accepted the distorted ones. The circle broken by addiction has been repaired" (pp. 161-2).

"People who smoke or drink to excess, or who use drugs, have conditioned themselves away from the body's natural desire for balance" (p. 164). (See Frost's handout entitled SMOKE for more on this topic by Chopra and others.)

AGING IS A MISTAKE

"Each of your arteries contains the same DNA that formed the arteries in Stone Age humans fifty thousand years ago. If DNA can manage to make perfect arteries for five hundred centuries, each one containing millions of perfectly operating cells, there is no intrinsic reason why YOUR DNA should botch the job after sixty years" (p. 175).

CONCLUSION

From the title on, promise anything to get the reader's attention. Then give them basically old-time, tested ideas that others have effectively used. But, dress up your presentation by adding modern "scientific" ideas that at least appear to support your ancient wisdoms. Throw in some new words to describe what you are doing so it sounds new and so you can claim to be an innovator.

You can do this just like Chopra has done it. You can be rich and successful! All it takes is some slick marketing. However, if you don't do it, at least you should be aware that others are doing it and don't get taken in by their efforts. What has successfully helped people down through the ages has not significantly changed. It is all about empathy, about caring about others, about building trust, about empowerment built on a person's strengths. If you learn the basics, then Chopra, and others like him, have nothing new to teach you. At best, they will provide you with an up-to-date review of what you already know.