Deepak Chopra in Naples this weekend

Deepak Chopra. Submitted photo

The doctor is “in” this weekend in Naples.

Deepak Chopra has written more than 50 books, is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, a member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, adjunct professor at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and senior scientist with the Gallup Organization. He’s speaking at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts at 8 p.m. on Sunday, March 7, 2010.

Daily News: Where are you speaking to us from today?

Deepak Chopra: I’m outside of space and time (He laughs.) But my body right now is in San Diego.

Daily News: How did your career in medicine begin?

Chopra: At the age of 14, I read some fiction where all the heroes were doctors. I wanted to be a hero. That was a trick on my father’s part. My father wanted me to be a doctor, I wanted to be a journalist and a writer, so he tricked me by giving me these books about doctors, and being 14 … I changed my mind. I went to medical school in India. Then I came to the United States.

Daily News: How did you become involved in alternative medicine?

Chopra: I finished my residency in Boston in internal medicine, then I did endocrinology and neuroendocrinology, I became aware that, although we knew everything about the human body, we knew nothing about the human spirit, the human mind and everything else that made a person either healthy or unhealthy. I was also intrigued by the fact that you could have two patients who had the same illness, saw the same doctor had the same treatment and could have two different outcomes. My field was endocrinology — the study of brain chemicals — and I realized that with brain chemicals, we were studying the molecules of emotion as well.

All of that led me to say, “I want to integrate what I have learned. I’m a good technician, but I’m not a healer.” So I started to look elsewhere.

Daily News: What do you think of the term “alternative medicine?”

Chopra: I think it should be called integrative or wholistic medicine, because alternative implies this or that, whereas integrative means all of it. If you have a broken bone you’d better get it fixed before you start meditating on it.

Daily News: How has your philosophy changed over time?

Chopra: I’m beginning to really now probe deeper into the nature of consciousness, which answers questions like, “Who are we? Where do we come from? ... How do we harness the power of our spirit in order to create a better life?”

Daily News: What are the keys to a healthy life?

Chopra: I think the fundamental key is to realize that there’s no separate self. Who you are is a web of relationships.

There are six components to wellbeing, not necessarily in order: Financial, career, social, community, physical and emotional, spiritual. They’re all interdependent.

Daily News: What do you think the biggest health problems we face today, and how can your ideas help?

Chopra: The biggest health problem we face today is that we give up our well-being to a “medical deity,” otherwise known as an MD.

Daily News: What advice would you give to people who are struggling to cope with today’s uncertain world?

Chopra: Look at this as an opportunity to transform yourself. Nietzsche has a beautiful saying: “When there is chaos and uncertainty there is the birth of a dancing star.” It’s a time for us to re-evalvuate our lives to see what the opportunities are, to improve our relationships, to improve our own emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

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