In February 2026, Deepak Chopra’s emails with Jeffrey Epstein were released publicly. I had been following Deepak since 1989, when I saw him on The Oprah Winfrey Show. I had already read books on the Vedic body of knowledge, a vast and incredible record of insights from thousands of years ago.
Within a few years, he and Dr. David Simon formed the Chopra Center. By 2002, I began attending their programs, flying to La Costa in Southern California about once a year, and traveling to other cities where they taught. I eventually took their certification courses to teach Ayurveda and meditation. The material also included teachings from most religious traditions.
I soaked it up. The information was mind-expanding. Deepak and David had a way of distilling the teachings into perspectives and practices anyone in the modern world could absorb and use. So positive and reassuring. A true treasure trove of his teachings, as he mixed the Vedic knowledge with scientific findings. He would ask us questions that made us think, such as, “How does a bee see reality? Each being sees a different world because they perceive from different attributes.”
The Chopra staff was warm, kind, and so supportive. I could always get help and questions answered from them.
I love teaching the courses, and I still have all of Deepak’s books, as well as many other teachers’ books, including those by Michael Singer, Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie, Dr. David Frawley, Dr. David Hawkins, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, and Paramahamsa Yogananda, to name a few. But I knew Deepak. His books are represented in my library most of all.
Many Chopra teachers did what I would consider radical actions after they learned about Deepak’s emails. Some burned his books; some took all references to the Chopra Center off their websites or buried his books.
I read this on the Chopra teachers’ social media page until I couldn’t read it anymore, so I left that page. I am not willing to accept Deepak’s guilt of wrongdoing solely on a few vague emails. Of course, I do not know what really happened, as none of us do at this point. I’m not in defense of or blaming him, because it is unclear.
A group of our teachers formed a new organization to support us and make our teaching supplies available. Yet I didn’t find it a home for me.
I’ve been in an unfamiliar place, grieving the loss of being part of something so wonderful and so much a part of my life. It has knocked me for a loop.
It is a big lesson for me. I have learned (once again!) that all our answers come from within, not from another human being, another book, or another course. By bumping around in life, we are challenged over and over again. Therein lies our fertile ground for spiritual growth, if we apply them as lessons with deep introspection; asking ourselves, “What does this mean?” “How am I to use this experience for my good?” “How can I surrender to this?” and be still.
Everything that happens to us can be an opportunity for our evolution, even when it seems so dark, so sad. They are moments in time we move through and transcend. How it changes us is up to us.
