Chronic pain. For decades doctors considered it almost untreatable. If you are one of the millions of Americans who live with it, you can finally do something about it. Now a pioneer in the practice of integrative medicine presents the first comprehensive program for relieving chronic pain, based on innovative and proven therapies from sources ancient and modern, East and West.

The Pain Cure

Have you suffered from persistent pain so severe that sometimes you feel that you have lost control of your own life?

If your answer is yes, help is here-from a doctor who combines the expertise of modern medical science with the most timeless healing arts. Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D., an innovative force in the field of pain management, will show you his comprehensive and effective program to help end incessant pain. Whether your problem is arthritis or back pain, migraine or fibromyalgia, TMJ or PMS, cancer pain or carpal tunnel syndrome, The Pain Cure will introduce you to the single greatest force against the ravages of chronic pain-the inner healing power of your own body, mind, and spirit.

In an approach that brilliantly unites therapies from both conventional and alternative medicines, The Pain Cure reveals a four-level strategy of treatment that has already worked for thousands of patients, now pain-free and happy:

Nutrition: Most therapies simply tell you what nutrients cause pain. The Pain Cure tells you what nutrients stop pain.

Physical therapies: From exercise to acupuncture, massage to magnetherapy, The Pain Cure will show you how to rebuild your body and stop the hurting.

Medication: From herbs to aspirin, homeopathy to hormones, The Pain Cure will show you how the right combinations create the best pain-busting synergies.

Mental and spiritual pain control. By helping to focus the forces of your mind and spirit, The Pain Cure will give you stunning control over your pain-and a new awareness of your true self.

The Pain Cure is your blueprint for personal power over pain. Many others have benefited from its insights. Today it's your turn.

Chapter 1

Pain is a more terrible Lord of mankind than even death itself.
- Albert Schweitzer

Torture Victims

If you are in chronic pain, you probably feel alone and frightened. You may feel helpless. You might even feel as if life's no longer worth living. I understand. I understand completely. You have the worst medical problem a person can have.

Chronic pain is the most devastating physical malady that exists. It's even more overwhelming than having a terminal illness, according to patients of mine who have suffered from both conditions.

Being in pain, hour after hour, day after day, rips away your strength, your hope, your personality, and even your love.

Chronic pain is a demonic force that can destroy everything it touches.

But people are strong. I'm constantly amazed by their courage. When life knocks them down, they struggle back up. They do it again and again, all their lives.

If you're a pain patient who is reading this page right now, you must certainly be strong, because you're still trying to find a way out of your suffering. Despite everything, you still have hope. I salute your bravery. In my eyes, you're a hero.

But you can only stand so much, right? You're human: that's your blessing, but it's also your vulnerability. You probably suffered stoically for months or even years, but after a while your endurance gave out and the pain took over. Finally, you probably began to feel alone and helpless.

By now, you may even feel like a victim of torture. Researchers have found that torture victims and chronic pain patients endure a very similar experience - a horrific experience that can kill the will of even the strongest person.

Right now, you may be hoping that I'll say, "The good news is, I can help you."

It's true. I can help you. Your pain can probably be cured.

But I have even better news than that: You can help yourself. If you read this book carefully, and put its advice into your life, you'll no longer need me. Your own body has a healing force that will enable you to rise above your pain, and feel whole and happy once again.

When I tell this to my patients, some are thrilled - but others are disappointed. They want me to tell them that I'm the hot new medical pioneer with the miraculous new potion for their pain. That attitude is understandable, because modern medicine has packaged itself as a purveyor of technological miracles. Many of today's doctors enjoy being seen as latter-day sorcerers who can fix every ill with a magical pill.

That may be good marketing, but it's not good medicine - because it's just not true.

There is "magic" in medicine. But this magic - this almost supernatural force - won't come to you in a bottle. It will come to you when you do the honest hard work of tapping into your own inner resources.

When you do this, you will conquer your pain.

The human body performs the greatest miracles of modern medicine all by itself. As physicians, we will never be able to replicate the body's natural healing force. The body's own power lies far beyond the pale mimicry of human engineering.

Your body can heal the pain it now feels. When you cut your finger, you fully expect your body to heal the injury, don't you? You should not expect less of your body in its fight against pain. Your body's inner healing power is unimaginably strong.

Working with my patients - today's true medical pioneers - I have developed a comprehensive, proven program for chronic pain that gives them access to their own inner healing power. I believe that helping patients reach this power is the greatest thing a doctor can do.

About fifteen years ago, when I first began to develop this approach, it was considered very avant-garde. My pain program at the University of Arizona's teaching hospital in Phoenix was the first holistic pain management program in the southwestern United States.

Since then, though, many of the most prominent pain clinics in America have adopted the therapies I employ and have enjoyed superb results.

However, even though my approach has been accepted by many mainstream pain clinics, most of the individual physicians in America are still uninformed about this approach to pain, and therefore they often fail to cure pain. One reason they fail is that they do not address the role that the brain plays in pain. That's a big mistake. The brain helps start chronic pain - and the brain can help stop it.

If you read my first book, Brain Longevity: The Breakthrough Medical Program that Improves Your Mind and Memory, you know that I consider the brain one of the most amazing entities in the universe. In that book I showed that if the human brain is properly nurtured and medically supported, it can overcome terrible chronic conditions - even Alzheimer's disease.

In this book I will show you how your brain can help you cure your chronic pain.

Your brain, in fact, has virtually no limits, other than those you impose with your own human frailty.

I can show you ways to overcome that frailty. I can show you a path that will lead to your mastery over pain.

But it's up to you to walk that path. It won't be easy. But good things never are.

On this path, you'll have to give up many of the special indulgences that your pain may have granted you: a sedentary lifestyle, a sense of privilege, drugs that temporarily make you feel good, and the pity of others.

But all of your sacrifices will be repaid many times over. You will regain your sense of personal power, and your ability to control your own life. You'll once again have the energy to do the things you love, and to do things for the people you love. You'll even get reacquainted with a very special person: your own true self.

I have seen this happen many, many times. In fact, when patients work hard, it happens most of the time. I have helped cure many hundreds of "hopeless" cases of chronic pain.

I have been able to achieve "impossible" victories against pain for one central reason: my pain program has evolved far beyond the old-fashioned, traditional approach to pain. Unlike many doctors who treat pain, I don't rely on just pills, injections, and surgery. That limited approach, which I and many other doctors now consider outdated, often gives temporary relief but rarely stimulates the permanent healing of chronic pain.

My program is different. It battles chronic pain on every level: the biochemical level, the structural level, the psychological level, and the spiritual level. This thorough approach is absolutely essential - because if you have chronic pain it has probably invaded every part of your life.

To get your life back, to get your true self back, and to overcome the pain that has violated your body, mind, and spirit, you will need to engage in a comprehensive, coordinated program.

My program can be your path to recovery. It will oppose every possible aspect of your pain, and help you reach new heights of mental, physical, and spiritual well-being.

My program, as you will soon see, is unique. It still has components that are not yet commonly used by even the best pain clinics. For example, my program employs many advanced brain-enhancing modalities - some of which were described in Brain Longevity - that will give you the extra brain power you'll need to defeat your pain.

In addition, my program draws upon not only the very latest discoveries from modern technological medicine but also employs ancient healing methods that have withstood the test of time.

This combination of modern medicine and ancient healing is still not widely used in America, but it's incredibly potent. It will enable you to marshal your own healing power, and cure your pain.

If you're suffering now, it might be hard for you to imagine feeling whole and happy again. But that feeling - though deeply buried - already exists within you. It's waiting for you.

You can return to a life of feeling great. Others have. Others will.

Now it's your turn.

Pain Is Not Suffering

Let's begin!

Pain Is Not Suffering

Pain and suffering are different things.

Pain is a physical sensation. Suffering is one possible reaction to that sensation. But suffering is not the only possible reaction to pain.

It's possible to experience pain without suffering from it.

When you learn to experience pain without suffering, you will be set free. You will be able to love your life again, even though your life may still contain some pain, as all lives do.

When you reach this point, your chronic, disabling pain, for all practical purposes, will be cured.

In addition, when you achieve the ability to experience some pain without suffering from it, you will gain much more than just freedom from constant hurt. You will attain a power of mind and spirit that is rare in this world. Generally, this power is achieved only by enlightened yogic masters and by other people who are very spiritually evolved. Why just them? Because, as a rule, only they are motivated enough to do the hard work that creates this power.

But you have your pain for motivation, and pain is the most powerful motivator of all. Your pain may now be a curse, but when you learn to harness it as a motivator, you will transform your curse into a blessing.

I remember once telling an elderly arthritis patient that his pain need not cause suffering, and he blew up at me. "That's easy for you to say," he snapped, waving a gnarled finger in my face, "but if your hand hurt like this hand hurts, I don't think you'd say that. You don't know how this feels!"

He was right about one thing: I didn't know how he felt. If you're free of pain, you can never really imagine the dark cruelty of chronic pain. That's one of the reasons chronic pain is so shattering. It separates people. It obliterates understanding and creates isolation. One result of this psychological isolation is that the divorce rate among people with chronic pain is almost 80 percent.

"I don't know how you feel," I told the elderly man, "but I do want to help you, and I think I can. So let's start right now. I'd like you to imagine a hypothetical situation. Let's say you're a kid again, and you're attending a very strict, old-fashioned school. Imagine that you have a mean teacher who constantly singles you out for punishment. One day he asks you a question, and you give the wrong answer. So he stands you in front of the class, makes you hold out your hand, and slaps your palm with a ruler. Smack! It really stings! On this day he dishes out the punishment again and again, and you're powerless to stop it. Pretty soon you're so depressed and angry that when lunchtime comes, you don't even feel like eating your lunch or playing with your buddies. All you can think about is how much your hand is throbbing, and the more you think about it, the more it hurts. You're really suffering.

"Finally, you're saved by the bell - school's out. You go to your Little League baseball game, but you don't even feel like playing. You do play, though, because you're a tough little kid who won't give up.

"You're the catcher. You're a good catcher, the only one who can handle your team's best fastball pitcher. The first time he zings one in, though, your poor hand feels like it's going to explode. But the batter is way behind the pitch and he strikes out. Everybody cheers. So you keep calling for fastballs, and you start to dominate the hitters. Three up, three down! Boom, boom, boom! You could call for some curves or change-ups - to give your hand a break - but your pitcher's fastball is really hopping, so you stick with the hard stuff. Pretty soon you own the batters, and you feel great. Every time the ball slaps into your mitt, you feel like a hero. You're not thinking about your hand anymore, or your teacher, or anything except how good it feels to be in the game. You love the cheers from the crowd, and the smell of the grass, and the friendship of your teammates. Nothing else exists.

"Finally, last out. Game's over. Your coach comes over and pats you on the back. He says, 'Great game! How's your catching hand?' You tell him it's fine, but when you pull off your mitt, your hand looks like a pink balloon. Your coach says, 'Better put some ice on that.' You tell him you will, but then you start playing a pickup game with your buddies. Your hand is hot and sore. But you want to keep playing. You have pain, but you're not suffering."

The elderly arthritis patient nodded. He got my point, and looked encouraged. He was a strong man, and that was good, because he was in for the fight of his life.

"My pain program," I told him, "can help you feel good enough to get back in the game, so to speak. Then your own spirit is going to take over. And when that happens, I don't think anything is going to stop you."

"What will happen if I don't get back into the swing of things?" he asked.

"If you don't, you'll continue to suffer. It might get worse."

I was understating. In fact, if he didn't get back into a proactive, take-charge lifestyle, he would probably fall victim to the worst nightmare that pain patients face: chronic pain syndrome.

Chronic Pain Syndrome: Your Worst Nightmare

Chronic pain syndrome is the terrible force that turns chronic pain into constant suffering. It is the biggest threat pain patients face.

Chronic pain syndrome is a group of physical and mental characteristics that often accompany chronic pain. It consists of negative behaviors and attitudes that gradually pull pain patients away from their lives, into a ceaseless whirlpool of pain.

Chronic pain syndrome is highly destructive, in and of itself. It also greatly magnifies the physical sensation of pain.

To find out if you have chronic pain syndrome, complete the following questionnaire. Do you have chronic pain syndrome?

1. I've had persistent pain for at least three months, despite my doctor's treatment. T F

2. I frequently act as if I'm in pain, by groaning, crying, wincing, or massaging the area that hurts. T F

3. I'm not physically able to do as many things as I was before my pain started. T F

4. I'm not as interested in my hobbies as I was before my pain began. T F

5. I often feel very depressed, or have considerable anxiety. T F

6. My nutritional habits have deteriorated. I either have no appetite, or I eat too many "fun foods" to make myself feel better. T F

7. People don't seem to enjoy my company as much as they did before my pain began. T F

8. It often takes real willpower for me to control my irritability. T F

9. My pain interferes with my work at some point during almost every day. T F

10. I'm frequently tired. T F

11. My medication is my most powerful weapon against pain. T F

12. My pain often interferes with my ability to concentrate. T F

13. I wish I could take better care of the people in my family, but it's hard enough for me just to take care of myself. T F

14. My sleeping patterns are often disrupted by pain. T F

15. My nerves are so touchy that I tend to overreact to minor things, such as sudden loud noises. T F

16. I've gone from doctor to doctor, looking for someone who can help. T F

17. When I have an important day coming up, I worry that my pain will interfere.

18. I've lost the feeling of control over my life. T F

19. I've begun to feel that my life has been ruined by my pain. T F

20. I spend more time thinking about my pain than any other single aspect of my life.

If you answered "true" to only questions one, two, and three, you are suffering from chronic pain, but not from chronic pain syndrome. If that's the case, you are a person of unusual courage and wisdom.

If you answered "true" to at least ten of the twenty questions, you have moderate chronic pain syndrome. If you answered "true" to fifteen questions, you have advanced chronic pain syndrome. If you answered "true" to eighteen or more questions, you have severe chronic pain syndrome.

If you have any degree of chronic pain syndrome, you will almost certainly need help to overcome it. I can provide much of that help with this book.

You probably developed chronic pain syndrome gradually. When you first began to suffer from chronic pain, you may have consciously chosen to adopt some of the chronic pain syndrome behaviors, thinking that they would spare you further pain. For example, you might have decided to limit your involvement with your work or hobbies, to save your energy, and to save yourself from extra pain.

But most of the syndrome's characteristics probably invaded your life against your will. You didn't choose to become depressed, irritable, or tired. It just happened, because of your pain's biological and psychological impact.

One of the awful things about chronic pain syndrome is that it makes the physical feeling of pain much more intense. It increases the brain's perception of pain. Just one example: Arthritis patients who suffer from depression are approximately twice as sensitive to painful stimuli as nondepressed arthritis patients.

Thus, chronic pain syndrome - which is caused by pain - also causes further pain. It contributes to a physical phenomenon called the "cycle of pain," which haunts the lives of many pain patients.

To break this insidious cycle, you will need to follow a careful, constructive program, such as the one I describe in this book. It's up to you to actively implement this program in your own life, and to defeat chronic pain syndrome (which is also called "Pain Disorder with Psychological Features").

There are many elements in my pain program that intervene in the cycle of pain, and you can start the program by engaging in almost any of them.

My pain program consists of four fundamental treatment modalities, or levels. Each of them helps break the cycle of pain and eliminate chronic pain syndrome.

The four levels are: (1) Nutritional Therapy (including dietary modification, and ingestion of specific nutrients); (2) Physical Therapies (including exercise therapy, acupuncture, massage, light therapy, magnetherapy, chiropractic, and advanced yogic mind-body exercises); (3) Medication (including use of pain medications, nerve blocks, injections, and brain-enhancement medications); and (4) Mental and Spiritual Pain Control (including stress reduction, treatment of anxiety and depression, psychological therapies, and spiritual development).

The vast majority of the pain patients I have treated over the past fifteen years have reported a dramatic reduction in the pain that created their chronic pain syndrome. Their pain diminished to the point where it was no longer a significant element in their lives. Many of them still had occasional pain, as all people do, but their debilitating chronic pain, and the suffering it caused, was cured.

In many other patients the pain disappeared entirely.

In some cases this disappearance of pain occurred because of the successful treatment of the neurological problems that were perpetuating the cycle of pain.

In other cases, though, the pain disappeared because the underlying problems that caused the pain were eliminated. For example, I have treated arthritis patients whose pain vanished because their arthritis went into remission. This type of occurrence is very rare among patients of conventional "allopathic" (or anti-disease) medicine, because allopathic medicine is generally ineffective at reversing long-standing degenerative diseases, such as arthritis. However, the form of medicine that I practice is not solely anti-disease, but is also strongly pro-health. It stimulates the body's own natural healing force. This form of medicine combines conventional Western medicine with Eastern medicine, and is known as "complementary medicine" or, as I now prefer to call it, "integrative medicine."

Integrative medicine can be quite effective against degenerative diseases. A slowly developing degenerative disease is often caused by mistakes in lifestyle; when those mistakes are corrected by integrative medicine, the patient's body is often able to overcome the disease.

One of the simplest examples of this is the elimination of low back pain caused by obesity. When the patient sheds his or her extra pounds through an integrative medicine program that includes nutritional therapy and exercise therapy, the pain often vanishes. However, if the obesity is not corrected, conventional allopathic treatment generally fails.

As you can see, integrative medicine is not always magical or mysterious. Often it's just a good commonsense treatment.

Even if a patient's pain cannot be totally eradicated, though, the patient can still break the cycle of pain, overcome chronic pain syndrome, and begin to feel great. If you doubt that someone who experiences frequent pain can still feel great, consider the lives of professional athletes. Most pro basketball players, for example, feel an assortment of serious pains virtually every day, owing to the extreme rigor of their sport. As a matter of fact, when Michael Jordan first retired from basketball to play baseball, he cited pain as a major factor in his decision, noting that he was "tired of hurting all the time." And yet, Michael Jordan - despite his pain - had remarked throughout his career that he felt great on most of the days of his life. He was almost always able to rise above his pain and do what he loved to do. He loved it so much that he quickly ended his retirement, even though he knew he was returning to a life of daily pain. Like many people, including many of my own patients, he was master of his pain instead of its victim.

I recall clearly one patient of mine who was never able to totally eradicate his pain, but who still managed to reduce it dramatically, turn his life around, and feel great. The first time I saw him, though, I didn't feel very hopeful. The poor guy was really suffering. He was so overcome by chronic pain syndrome that I hardly knew where to begin.

Scott's Story

His name was Scott, and as he began to tell me his story, there was venom in his voice. Pure hatred. He said he hated his doctor. But I could see he hated life itself. Considering the life he was living, I could hardly blame him.

Every day he was being tortured. It lasted for hours and left him sick, weak, afraid, and hateful.

The source of his torture was a chronic disease called polymyositis, a widespread inflammation of the muscles that causes excruciating pain. Scott's doctor had told him that he would escape his torture only through death.

Scott hunched uncomfortably in a chair in my office, leaning slightly forward, his fingers clenched white, as he told me his story.

"Last time I saw my doctor, this doc said to me, 'You're dying, you know.' I said, 'Oh, thanks for telling me.'" Scott's face flushed with anger. He felt betrayed - by his own body, by the doctors he'd once trusted, and even by God. "So this doctor looks down his nose at me and says, 'What do you want me to do?'

"I said, 'That's what I'm supposed to ask you.'" Scott sighed and slumped. "I'm in bad shape," he said simply. "Look at my face." It was red, fat with water, and pitted with acne caused by the anti-inflammatory steroids he was taking. "My back is so thick with acne that I can't even lean back in this chair," he said. Scott was in his mid-forties, but he looked much older. He was withered, frail, and weak. His eyes were hollow with depression.

"The last thing this . . . esteemed physician . . . said to me was, 'Scott! Look at everything you've got in your life that's good. Your wife. Your kids. Your friends. Your work. The only bad thing you've got is your pain. Focus on the good.' I almost laughed out loud. But laughing hurts, too.

"So I said, 'The only bad thing, huh? The only thing? Okay, how about this? My wife can't stand me anymore, because all I do is bitch and moan. My kids are scared to death of me. My friends? What friends? To them, I'm the Elephant Man. My work, now that's funny. I've got no career left. I can't even think straight. The only job I've got now is fighting with my insurance company. I'm always tired, but I can't sleep. Food makes me sick, because of all the pills I'm taking. Forget about sex. Forget about fun. Oh yeah, I almost forgot - I'm also in agony all the time.'

He looked for a moment as if he would cry, then his face went cold. He hunched further forward, and his eyes froze into a thousand-yard stare.

Scott's responses clearly indicated that he suffered from intense chronic pain and severe chronic pain syndrome.

I looked him straight in the eye.

"I can help stop your suffering," I told him, "but you're going to have to work like an athlete training for the Olympics. Can you afford to make that commitment?"

"I can't afford not to,"he said.

"Good!" I liked this guy. He was a fighter. "Then let's begin where I always begin. With a goal. What do you most hope to achieve?"

Scott had apparently given this a great deal of thought, and he answered quickly. "My doctor told me that pretty soon I'm going to be in a wheelchair, and that then I'll contract pneumonia and die, because the muscles that support my breathing will fail.

"If I die,"he said, "I want to die on my terms. Which means no more drugs. I hate this damn stuff they're giving me. It makes my skin crawl. Can you get me off all these drugs? Even the pain medications?"

"You're not taking any pain medications."

"What about the tranquilizers? My doctor said they killed pain."

"They really don't."

Scott looked exasperated. "Then why would he tell me that?"

"Most people," I said, "don't really understand how pain works. Unfortunately, that includes many doctors."

I began to explain the physiology of pain to Scott. He listened intently - like an athlete listening to his coach.

How Pain Works

I had some wonderful news for Scott. The crux of it was this: Pain travels along a complex pathway in the nervous system, and all along that pathway - in the nerves and in the brain - there are biological "gates" that can be closed, to shut off pain.

When these biological gates are closed, the pain is reduced or eliminated.

This concept is called the "gate theory,"and it has revolutionized the field of pain management. I am proud to say that I was among the first doctors to clinically incorporate holistic modalities utilizing this theory into my treatment of pain patients.

This theory is now becoming increasingly accepted by pain specialists, but it's still relatively new. Therefore, many doctors who do not specialize in pain management don't really understand it, and don't incorporate it into their treatments of pain. Because of this, their treatments often fail.

In fact, many doctors don't even fully understand what chronic pain is. Some of them think that chronic pain is basically the same thing as short-term "acute"pain. They believe that chronic pain is just acute pain that lasts longer.

That's not true.

Chronic pain and acute pain are vastly different. Short-term acute pain is almost always a symptom. It's a warning that something is wrong. When you fix whatever is wrong, the pain usually goes away.

But chronic pain is generally not a symptom. Most often it is not a warning that something is wrong. For the most part, chronic pain is a disease. Most chronic pain is caused by a malfunction of the nervous system - the nerves and the brain. To a large extent, chronic pain is in the brain.

I explained this to Scott but assured him that it did not mean his pain was "all in his mind."Much of his pain was in his brain, but his brain was much more than just his mind. His brain didn't just think - it also governed every function of his body, including the processing of all his pain signals.

Processing pain signals is a very complicated task, and sometimes our brains make mistakes in this process, just as they do when we add numbers or play the piano.

But those mistakes can usually be corrected.

In Scott's case, I believed that only part of his pain was caused by the ongoing damage from his illness. The rest of it - probably most of his pain - was being caused by malfunctions of his nervous system.

Therefore, I believed that if I could correct those malfunctions, and close his pain gates, I could relieve his suffering.

During his previous treatment, his doctor had ignored these pain gates, and the results had been disastrous.

When all of the gates in the nervous system's pain pathway are allowed to remain wide open, pain can begin to "circulate"in a ceaseless cycle.

This cycle begins at the original site of the pain, generally because of an injury or illness. Then pain travels up the spinal cord to the brain. The brain processes the pain signals, then sends nerve impulses back down the spinal cord, to the original site of the pain, sensitizing that area, and causing inflammation. This sensitization and inflammation help protect the damaged area, by forcing us to favor it, and it also rushes healing chemicals to the area. But it magnifies the pain, and even creates more pain. This new pain then travels back to the brain&3151;and the cycle begins again.

The pain impulses can literally begin to have "a life of their own,"as pain itself continues to cause more pain.

As I've mentioned, this cycle of pain can be reinforced by many of the elements of chronic pain syndrome. Some of these elements tend to jam open the gates of the pain pathway and to magnify the sensations of pain.

Also, chronic pain syndrome often makes pain patients feel passive and defeated, and discourages them from doing the many things they must do to make their pain go away.

Now let's take a trip along the pain pathway, and I'll point out all the various gates where pain can be reduced, blocked, and eliminated.

Then, later in this chapter, I'll tell you about my pain program and show you how to close those gates.

© 1999 by Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D.

About the Author

Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D. was born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in Miami Beach, Florida. After travelling the USA for educational purposes (Omaha, San Francisco), he settled in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1978. In 1979 he started practicing Kundalini Yoga with Yogi Bhajan and in 1981 converted to the Sikh lifestyle replete with full beard and turban.

CAMERON STAUTH is the author of nine critically acclaimed books, a former editor in chief of the Journal of Health Science, and a journalist who has written more than a hundred articles for the New York Times Magazine, Prevention, Natural Health, and other publications.