Meeting Deepak Chopra

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Meeting Deepak Chopra

By Todd | October 8, 2007

This is a story of motivation for those if you who have a burning desire to meet someone influential; someone who you know could make a positive impact on your life if you just got 5 minutes with them!

For me one of those people is Deepak Chopra, and I did get the chance to meet him. To make these encounters a reality, it is often necessary to a) recognize coincidences and b) just go for it! I did both of these things, and here is a brief re-cap of what transpired:

A few years ago I graduated from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, a school which certifies people as “holistic health counselors”. One of the great features of IIN’s curriculum is the guest lecture component, where top thought leaders from many areas of the mind-body-spirit continuum are invited to come and speak to the students.

During Dr. Andrew Weil’s talk, I had a moment of clarity. It happened after he was done with his lecture and Joshua Rosenthal (the school’s founder) came on stage to thank him.

Joshua said: “Thank you Dr. Weil that was truly enlightening. There are so many people and organizations doing wonderful things, and it bothers me that there is no universal connection between us. After today you will go back and do your thing and we will stay here and do our thing. I wish we could all just get together more, and have a more formal arrangement”.

The idea came to me instantly after hearing this statement, and I embarked on a path to create what I eventually called The International Coalition of Wellness. The organization’s mission was to create a platform and bring together the top minds in various wellness-related industries.

During the process of writing a business plan for the “ICW”, Deepak Chopra’s name kept surfacing. At first I did not pay much attention, but then I came across an article written by him which said “Deepak Chopra, President for The Alliance for a New Humanity” in the by-line.

This Alliance sounded curiously similar to what I was trying to accomplish, and after some research I learned the organizations were indeed alike. At this point I knew that I HAD to meet Deepak Chopra. But how?

The very next morning, I stumbled upon an interesting sounding conference called “World Wellness Weekend” taking place in Austin, TX. Upon further inquiry, I learned that World Wellness was an organization that goes from city to city promoting wellness practices, and that DEEPAK CHOPRA was giving the keynote address in Austin in 10 days!

The coincidence was too much, and even though it made no sense I booked a flight, got a ticket for World Wellness, and reserved a very cheap hotel room by the conference center. My plan was to go to the meeting, hear Deepak speak, and the approach him during his book signing (after the lecture) and pitch him my concept! No problem…

After spending 12 hours at a fairly interesting show, Deepak was ready to come on. What I had NOT considered was more than 4,000 Texans showing up. After the first 90 minutes, Deepak took a break and went outside to sign books. It was absolute mayhem; he was not talking to one person as he perfunctorily signed book after book.

At the end of his invigorating speech, he went out to continue the book signing and there were now hundreds of people on line, each getting no more than 5 seconds in front of the great orator/writer.

As I waited (and watched the 5-10 second intervals of people handing him a book, him signing it, them leaving) I simply COULD NOT believe that I was going to come all this way only to fail in my mission. In fact, there were a few moments where I began to rationalize the trip: “well, I learned a lot here, and I got to hear Deepak speak; that’s good enough I suppose” I said to myself.

BUT, as I approached him a different voice popped in my head. This one was telling me that I had absolutely NOTHING to lose, to say what I had to say, and if nothing else I would leave feeling fulfilled for having tried!

I liked this voice much better and when I approached Deepak (sweating from nerves) I said: “Thank you for the wonderful talk Dr. Chopra, and I was wondering if you ever thought about combining an event like this [World Wellness] with what you are doing with the Alliance for a New Humanity”?

He was in the midst of signing my book, stopped, and then looked up at me. He told me that he had indeed thought of something like this and I went on to explain a little bit more about my idea. I began to hand him my “business overview” but he shook his head and said “no, not now, let me give you my personal email address and email me directly on Monday”.

What a feeling of elation! Traveling all this way (on a whim) and waiting 15 hours for a 10 second opportunity…and succeeding! It gave me the feeling I could do anything.

In the subsequent 9 months I have been in contact with Deepak via email, and he has provided some very helpful advice. In fact, I firmly believe that my experience in Austin put me on a path to start We The Change. Soon, I will ask Deepak to grant me an interview on this blog, an occurrence that would certainly make the story come full circle.

I posted this anecdote because I think it is a clear-cut example of how coincidences DO mean something. Furthermore, I hope this tale shows how beneficial it can be to act irrationally (at times) and the power of just going for it!