Enlightenment Through Golf and Dr. Deepak Chopra -- Terra Wellington's Balanced Living

An interview with Dr. Deepak Chopra
about his Golf For Enlightenment book.
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Originally Published March 31, 2003 -- Your Wellness Guide

Enlightenment Through Golf and Dr. Deepak Chopra

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Being a non-golfer at the time I was preparing to talk to Dr. Deepak Chopra about his new book on golf, I turned to www.momsguide.com.

I read up on Vicki Poretta’s section of “Golf – Basics of the Game!”

Then, I plunged into Dr. Chopra’s new book, Golf for Enlightenment: The Seven Lessons for the Game of Life, and was easily transported into his analogies and concepts that deserve a second reading.

I met up with Dr. Chopra in Phoenix on his book tour, accompanied by Golf Analyst and PGA Member Tina Mickelson. Here’s a portion of that interview:

For many people who have followed you, your books, and philosophies, why have you chosen to focus on golf?

I met this LPGA professional, Wendy Werley. She was having severe migraine headaches. One day we went to the golf course, and I saw why she was having the headaches. She was having performance anxiety.

I realized this is a very common problem with performers of any kind. In Hollywood it’s a huge problem because self image is totally tied into (an actor’s) last performance.

So, I said, “Is there a way to get to people and explain to them that their self image is not their self?”

You talk about nourishing your relationship to the golf ball and how that is called “mindfulness.”

There’s a meditation technique that is taught by advanced yogis and includes three things: focused attention, stillness of mind, and union with the object of your perception. So, when this combination exists, anything is possible.

In your book, you make a suggestion to play golf every once and while without taking score. How can that be applied to life?

In life you should enjoy the process. Walk the road because the road is interesting to walk on. The journey is the destination. If you are constantly measuring your self-worth, or measuring the quality of your relationship, or measuring whether you’re having a good time or not, then you lose the joy and the spontaneity of life.

Photo: Angela Daley/Wellington Media

Dr. Deepak Chopra speaking to an audience at Changing Hands bookstore in the Phoenix area about his new book.

I know a lot of people who work very hard to have a good time on vacation. But, vacation is not work. We’re there to have a good time.

You don’t subscribe to “work hard play hard?”

I have never subscribed to work hard at all. You can do less and accomplish more.

You talk about how when blind people play golf they benefit from not seeing the hazards on the course, relieving them of the jitters and nerves that “dunk so many balls.”

That chapter came to me after watching a program on television on (blind people) playing golf. It’s quite interesting to see that (golf) is a game of feeling and intuition.

Just like these blind golfers, how can you turn off fear in our lives?

For example, I was on this show in L.A., and it was so melodramatic about the showdown in Iraq. And the (announcer) said to me “So, Dr. Chopra how do you handle the stress of what’s going on.” I said “I don’t listen to guys like you.”

So, how can people cope with this uncertainty of the times?

I think what you have to do is start living your life from the level of your soul. It’s something I’ve taught forever. And, when you live life from the level of your soul, then you are sober. You don’t get caught up in the melodrama.

You see things clearer, do you think?

Yes. It’s called witnessing. One of the highest forms of human intelligence is the ability to observe yourself without judging yourself. When you observe what you’re doing, then in the mirror observation of your own behavior you start to transform.

If you were to pin it down, what is the genuine nature of what the game of golf offers?

Ecstasy. There’s a certain exaltation that happens with the perfect shot.

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