Deepak Chopra To Talk On Brain Self-Regulation

Oregon State University is hosting doctor, author and New Age spiritualist Deepak Chopra in collaboration with the I Am Genie Foundation at the LaSells Stewart Center across from Reser Stadium in Corvallis Feb. 23.

“I’ll be speaking about the topics from my last two books, which were called Super Genes and Super Brain,” Chopra tells EW from the Chopra Center for Well Being in Carlsbad, California.

Chopra’s latest two New York Times bestsellers are coauthored with Rudolph Tanzi, the Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Neurology at Harvard University. Chopra is the author of more than 80 books and advocates for alternative medicine with a focus on the connection between the body and mind.

The India-born American author may be familiar from his appearances on television, and he frequently teams up with Oprah Winfrey on projects, including a recent 21-day meditation weight-loss challenge. Chopra has millions of followers around the world, but he also has a host of detractors. “Scientists and doctors have criticized his views about science and medicine as being unscientific,” according to Valerie Strauss of The Washington Post, who has written about Chopra’s scientific controversies.

Chopra says that at OSU he’ll be talking about neuroplasticity, “how you can rewire your brain for optimal well-being and higher consciousness” and on expanding the relationship between our genes and microbiology for self-regulation and healing.

“I’ll also be speaking about a broader aspect of being,” he says. “How to be more fulfilled with your work, spiritual well-being and self-awareness.”

“You will always have the genes you were born with, but genes are dynamic, responding to everything we think, say and do,” Chopra writes in Super Brain. “Suddenly they’ve become our strongest allies for personal transformation.”

Chopra adds, “When you make lifestyle choices that optimize how your genes behave, you can reach for a state of health and fulfillment undreamed of even a decade ago.”

He will also speak in Corvallis about medication meditation, movement, emotions, sleep and food as social interaction, about how they can all be understood as changing our biology. He will also discuss “self-direct gene expression in the brain through lifestyle changes.”

According to Chopra, this is the first time the author has visited Oregon in 15 years. He says it’s important to reach the students at OSU because students are the nation’s future leaders.

“Our leadership is in crisis,” Chopra says. “We need younger people to have a higher vision, to be action oriented, to take responsibility for their lives, to understand things with context and creativity.”

The event is 7:30 pm Tuesday, Feb. 23, and tickets can be found at picatic.com/deepakatOSU. Prices range from $49 to $175 for Gold Circle seats with the opportunity to attend a meet-and-greet with the guest speaker.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Chopra says about the event. “It’s a new audience for me and I’m really excited.”

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