Duane Elgin is an author, speaker, educator, consultant, and media activist. He pioneered the Voluntary Simplicity movement with his now classic first book, titled by the same name, published in 1981. Elgin has co-founded three non-profit organizations concerned with media accountability.
Deepak Chopra was born in New Delhi, India in 1946. He was educated as a medical doctor, specializing in endocrinology, at All India Institute of Medical Sciences. He served as Chief of Staff at Boston Regional Medical Center, and has taught at Tufts and Boston University Medical Schools. He recognized limitations in the ways that his medical education approached treatment of individuals. Introduced to the ancient methods of Hindu healing, known as Ayurveda, by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, he saw a way to add a spiritual dimension to treatment of illness. Chopra's thinking led him to develop a theory that he called Quantum Healing, which combines Western and Hindu medical practice. In 1984,… Chopra brought Ayurvedic medicine to the United States, and within a year he established the Ayurvedic Health Centre of Stress Management and Behavioral Medicine in Lancaster, Massachusetts. He is also the founding President of the American Association of Ayurvedic Medicine and eventually founded the Chopra Center for Wellbeing. He has written more than 55 books including Ageless Body, Timeless Mind: The Quantum Alternative to Growing Old; Creating Health: How to Wake Up the Body's Intelligence; Creating Affluence: The A-to-Z Steps to a Richer Life; The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams; The Shadow Effect and Muhammad: A Story of the Last Prophet; Spiritual Solutions: Answers to Life's Greatest Challenges; and Super Brain: Unleashing the Explosive Power of Your Mind to Maximize Health, Happiness, and Spiritual Well-Being. He has won numerous awards including a Quill Award for Peace Is the Way and the grand prize at the 2005 Nautilus Book Awards for The Book of Secrets. He also writes novels including The Return of Merlin; Soulmate; and Jesus: A Story of Enlightenment.