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  PRAISE FOR

  Warrior Pose

  “Brad Willis’ life is the background for this extraordinary tale that provides compelling and essential lessons for anyone wanting a more fulfilled life. Warrior Pose is more than just one man’s journey of healing and transformation. This book is a bright beacon of practical wisdom and guidance, inspiring us to reach for greatness and reminding us that we each possess an amazing capacity to achieve a more healthy and joyful life as well as our most heartfelt dreams. Read it and you too will be emboldened to soar.”

  —Rod Stryker, Para Yoga

  “Brad Willis leads us on an amazing life journey of courage, passion, hope, despair, and never-die spirit. His war stories, tender moments with his son, and transformative lifestyle are beacons of light for everyone seeking to find their path of well-being.”

  —Dr. Suhas G. Kshirsagar BAMS, MD (Ayurveda, India), Director, Ayurvedic Healing, California Integrative Medicine

  “Remarkable recoveries and miraculous healings of incurable cancers and other terminal disease have been the topic of many recent books. Bhava, born Brad Willis, has written the most exciting, original, and vividly relevant book yet on this topic. Its concise, hard-hitting prose makes a page turner about the shockingly grim world behind the nightly news as revealed to a top television reporter. Ram ignores his progressive physical collapse, stuffing his feelings and internal life to focus entirely on his macho career. Using his fierce will to survive and strong intellect to question medical authority, Bhava, draws inspiration from the miracle of his son Morgan, halts his self-sabotaging habits, chooses ‘right living,’ and heals himself via a selfless emotional life dedicated to teaching and healing others.”

  —Candace Pert, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, RAPID Laboratories, Inc.; author, Everything You Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d and Molecules of Emotion: The Scientific Basis Behind Mind-Body Medicine

  “This amazing book is a must read for all seekers. Brad Willis has lived the very deepest principles of Yoga and Ayurveda, healed against all odds, and become an inspiration to people worldwide. Warrior Pose not only takes us through an amazing journey through war zones and global crises, it leads us on an inner journey of profound self-healing and personal transformation that reminds us all of our own potential to access our inner power and live our truth.”

  —Felicia Tomasko, Editor-in-Chief, LA Yoga Magazine

  “Warrior Pose is another important and insightful book by Bhava Ram. He has made many profound and original contributions to the field of Yoga, and we look forward to many more!”

  —Dr. David Frawley (Pandit Vamadeva Shastri)

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  Copyright © 2013 by Bhava Ram

  BenBella Books, Inc.

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  Printed in the United States of America

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this title.

  eISBN: 978-1-937856-70-0

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  Copy Editing by Eric Wechter

  Proofreading by Rachelle Sparks and Cape Cod Compositors, Inc.

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  Photo on page 118 courtesy of Tara Eby, In-Sight Photography, www.tfortara.com

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  To my son, Morgan,

  who inspired me to find my way from

  the darkness back into the light

  Contents

  Foreword

  Introduction

  SECTION ONE: DISPATCHES

  1 Afghanistan

  2 Beginnings

  3 Moving Up

  4 Tropical Storm

  5 Apartheid

  6 Drug Wars

  7 30 Rock

  8 Miami Bureau

  9 The Persian Gulf War

  10 The Gulf War Aftermath: Kurdistan

  11 Asia Stories

  12 Fusion

  13 Pyongyang

  14 Puncture

  15 Final Season

  SECTION TWO: THE ABYSS

  16 First Prayer

  17 Shining Light by the Sea

  18 Radiation

  19 The Journal

  20 Get Up, Daddy

  21 Intervention

  22 Sailboats and Treasure

  23 Dark Night of the Soul

  24 Lifeline

  25 The Pain Center

  26 Body, Mind, and Soul

  27 The Visits

  SECTION THREE: YOGA

  28 Stretching the Limits

  29 Fanatical

  30 Closure

  31 Homecoming

  32 Himalayan Cave

  33 The Story Bench

  34 Bayside Healing

  35 Going Deeper

  36 The Studio

  37 Organic Chemotherapy

  38 Sacred Science

  39 A Demon Departs

  40 Warrior Pose

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  Acknowledgments

  Lead Me from the Unreal to the Real

  From the Darkness into Light

  From Death to Eternity

  BRHADARANYAKA UPANISHAD: I.III.28

  Foreword

  As a young man, I was drawn to mathematics, science, and medicine. The exactness of a complex calculation, the explicit conclusion of a well-constructed lab experiment, the predicted impact of a pharmaceutical medication, the precise slice of my surgeon’s scalpel as I moved toward an infected organ—these things resonated with me. A led to B. One plus one equaled two. Facts were facts, outcomes could be predicted, and ultimately, logic prevailed.

  As my practice as a physician progressed, however, I witnessed how some patients healed and thrived as a result of specific treatments while others worsened and succumbed even though their conditions and therapies were identical—A did not always lead to B. One plus one did not always add up to two. I came to see that the patient could not be approached as merely a body composed of interchangeable parts, as in the Cartesian model so prevalently taught in our schools of Western medicine. There was a far greater complexity to the human organism, and all its aspects needed to be addressed for true and lasting healing to occur.

  A major key to healing, I soon realized, was the mind. Our thoughts not only determine our actions but they also play a major role in the neurochemicals we create in our bodies as well. These chemicals, in turn, impact the integrity of all our systems, from organs, bones, and blood to our immunological, cardiovascular, and even emotional health. Beyond this is also a deeper realm: that of the Soul. The more connected a patient is with his or her inner truth and authentic self, the greater his or her capacity to face the most formidable of life’s challenges.

  As a result of these realizations, I put my scalpel down in the early 1970s and was fortunate to become one of the pioneers of the science and art of mind-body medicine. I devoted my professional life to exploring the profound human capacity to heal through mastery of our minds. As I verbally guided patients into deep states of physical and emotional relaxat
ion and then provided them with positive imagery and affirmations, I began to see them effect profound change in their lives. It’s a process I came to call Deep Healing.

  As the years passed, I continued to see scores of people achieve remarkable results, even when faced with life-threatening conditions. I have witnessed people overcome emotional and psychological challenges as well, achieving optimal performance in their lives through positive thought. In the early years, mind-body medicine was met with great skepticism by most mainstream scientists and medical practitioners. Today it’s an accepted and proven fact. Once you take charge of your thoughts, your inner chemistry is altered. You are empowered to take positive action, to find the light at the end of the tunnel. Your capacity to heal, and ultimately to thrive, is greatly enhanced.

  Those of us in the healing profession don’t always get to see the positive fruits of our work, but when we do, it is very pleasurable and, on rare occasion, truly remarkable. When Bhava Ram, at the time known as Brad Willis, came to my workshop at Esalen Institute in 2004, he told me he had come to pay homage, for it was upon hearing the voice and the words on one of my guided imagery tapes that he found himself awakening mentally and emotionally to a deep truth and inner power. It was at that moment that he began to realize he could take charge of his life, remake his inner landscape, and heal the surgically irreparable broken spine that had led to his total disability, as well as overcome his stage IV throat cancer.

  Willis’s journey led him into the greatest depths of the ancient and profound healing sciences of Yoga and Ayurveda, which arose thousands of years ago and comprise the foundations of mind-body medicine along with the essence of self-healing and self-realization. But it was his remarkable life and near demise that set the stage for such an inspiring transformation. Like the Buddha, Willis was a seeker, a man driven by some deeper force to repeatedly put his life on the line to honestly express his inner truth, someone whose heart seemed to know the world had something to teach him, and whose mind was determined to learn. The impulse struck him early in his life. In the midst of the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War, the world around him seemed to offer only conflict and hypocrisy, but his heart pushed him to look deeper for meaning, authenticity, and purpose. As a result, he found himself hurtling through some of life’s most challenging experiences.

  Most of us know, at least at the intellectual level, that when we run into adversity it compels us to experience ourselves at a deeper level, and that which does not kill us makes us stronger. If only we could recall this when the next tragedy is upon us and have faith in ourselves and in the world we live in! How courageous we would all be, and how honest we would be with ourselves, and with what integrity we would live our lives every day! Each of us comes to the world with our own dharma, the path we are meant to walk in life. But far too few of us ever discover what that path is, how to be faithful to this deeper purpose, or even that such a thing might be. This is always to our tragic detriment. However, each of us also has the capacity to be who we truly are, who we came here to be, just like the hero of the enlightening story that you will soon be enjoying.

  As I read Warrior Pose, I discovered myself thrilling to the adventures of a journalistic Indiana Jones, a young man following his heart and living a soldier-of-fortune lifestyle that every kid imagines for himself from time to time. It reminded me of the kind of life I would have wanted, or gone after, had I possessed the courage. By taking himself to some of the most dangerous and hotly contested areas of the world, Brad Willis exposed himself to humanity in a uniquely stark and unflinching way. Again and again he was able to see beyond the curtain, reveal the grisly political machine that has been controlling the destiny of our world, and bring focus to the underlying humanity within us all.

  Some might read this account and think they are just reading a fascinating memoir. They will miss an important truth: Warrior Pose is about your life, my life, all our lives, and even the history of our world—a history we often fail to learn from and that therefore seems to repeat itself. You and I may never have been to all his extremes, but the author’s story is our story. The unpredictability of life, the betrayal of our political system, the inhumanity of our social interactions, and the importance of love to our healing and wholeness, these are the same for all of us. Willis’s journey is your journey, and my journey—writ large. It’s the story of someone who was powerfully guided, even driven, one might say, to receive the deepest of teachings. To read this book properly, you must be open to receive this teaching as well. Don’t read with just your head—allow your heart to participate in the journey.

  Come to the battlefields with the author; peer into the smoking tanks and see the horrors of war up close. Breathe in the depleted uranium from the U.S. artillery shells that will cause stage IV throat cancer. Helicopter into the jungles of Bolivia as cocaine drug labs are uncovered and set ablaze. And be there as Willis travels undercover with freedom fighters into Soviet-occupied Afghanistan to document the atrocities of war visited upon the most innocent of victims.

  Let yourself feel how depressed he became after seemingly losing it all and ending up in a body brace with a prognosis of paralysis and death. Then, as his marriage was crumbling and all seemed lost, listen and hear the fervent words of his young son that echoed continuously in Willis’s head, touched the chords of love in his heart, and awakened his inner power to push on to heal and transform. Allow yourself to be touched. Be fully present as you read, and with a little luck, as you experience his turnaround you will learn something of great importance to your personal journey.

  As a scientist and a doctor, I can share with you that this book also lays out beautifully the essential philosophy that leads to the deepest healing. You will learn the power of profound relaxation, how to use guided imagery to impact your body and future, mantra to keep you present, and inspiration to keep you focused on your true goals. You will be inspired to reclaim a power that has been within you all along. A power that not only can transform your life but can help transform the world, because as Mahatma Gandhi said: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

  Perhaps Willis’s recount of his dark night of the Soul can help you quiet the distractions in your mind so you can remember this always, so that you can look honestly at your life and your world, and know your own truth. Perhaps, as you accompany him through his harrowing adventures, you will see a light that can bring extraordinary and unexpected richness, and a complete transformation of one’s life. If you can see it, you are most fortunate. You have arrived. Stay focused on it, follow it, and I am certain you will be richly rewarded.

  —Dr. Emmett Miller

  Self-Help for Mind, Body, Emotions and Spirit

  Dr. Emmett Miller is best known for his revolutionary work in creating the holistic approach to healing and the field of mind-body medicine and integrative (holistic) medicine. Dr. Miller has received special acclaim for his development of the field of guided imagery, a revolutionary tool for empowering people to use the power of their minds for self-healing and optimal performance. He is the author of numerous books on holistic and mind-body medicine and co-creator of DrMiller.com.

  Introduction

  Life’s greatest lessons usually sneak up on us when we least expect them. Some hit like hurricanes, turning our worlds upside down and wreaking havoc. It’s always confusing, chaotic, and challenging to understand why we’ve been chosen for such a fate, and in the midst of the maelstrom, it’s impossible to view our suffering as a blessing. But it almost always is.

  This is my personal story. But it’s about you, too. It’s about all of us. I say this because I’ve come to learn that there’s a power deep within every human being that can help us overcome great obstacles, deal with crisis and calamity, and turn our suffering into a catalyst for positive change and personal transformation. I know this is true because I am alive today even though all the experts said I should have passed away long ago.

  I was in the prime of
my life, traveling the world as a foreign correspondent for NBC News, when my storm hit and everything came crashing down around me. In what seemed like an instant, I was declared permanently disabled with a broken back. Then came a diagnosis of terminal cancer, with only two years to live. I was once capable of covering wars, crossing deserts, climbing mountains, and slipping in and out of battle zones with ease. Now I couldn’t sit up to eat a meal, walk without a cane, or speak without a voice box strapped around my neck. The career that had been my greatest joy and defined my life for more than two decades was gone forever. My identity was shattered. I no longer knew who I was or why I was alive.

  I became completely dependent on a medical system that didn’t help me heal. Chronic pain and heavy medications warped my mind and stole my Soul. I was angry, confused, frightened, and deeply depressed. As I approached death’s door, addicted to painkillers and alcohol, I fell into an abyss. Not a person on Earth could have told me that somewhere in this darkness was a glimmer of light.

  It was an overwhelming love for my two-year-old son that finally motivated me to transform my life. This realization was triggered one morning when he tearfully implored me to “Get up, Daddy.” Getting up required recreating myself in body, mind, and Soul. I had to move past my rational mind and journalistic cynicism, and find the courage to venture into a realm of self-healing and inner awareness I once dismissed as absurd. There, in the deepest reaches of my being, I discovered my own battlefield, with wounds to treat, conflicts to resolve, and peace to be made.

  It was the greatest challenge I have ever faced, but ultimately I overcame cancer and a broken back, forged a new life, and was able to be the father my son deserved. My healing journey taught me that there is an inherent power and natural intelligence within all of us. By tapping into these forces, we can move far beyond our perceived limitations and often achieve miraculous results. We see this in the mother who performs an astonishing feat of strength to protect her child, in the passerby who rushes into a natural disaster to save a life, and in the small children who flee war-torn villages and somehow manage to survive against staggering odds.