Larry Payne, Ph.D., Selected as First Yoga Teacher to Participate in The World Economic Forum

Yoga Offered to 2,000 World Leaders in Davos, Switzerland

LOS ANGELES - Larry Payne, Ph.D., prominent international Yoga author and instructor, recently attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (Jan. 27- Feb. 2, 2000), where he was the first invited participant to address the field of Yoga to more than 2,000 world leaders.

In addition to teaching Yoga to a diverse audience of business, political and various global leaders, Payne served as a moderator of, and participated in, several panel discussions on subjects ranging from the basics of CEO Health and Western vs. Eastern medicine to Managing Stress and Improving Performance. Payne also offered his popular presentation on "User Friendly Yoga," introducing many world leaders to their first experiences with the practice of Yoga.

Payne pointed out in his presentations that in the U.S. Yoga is now entering the mainstream health care industry. In the late 1990s, several American medical insurance companies, such as Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Consensus Health and Mutual of Omaha have introduced Yoga or Yoga related options to their wellness programs.

Upon returning from Davos, Payne said: "I was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm expressed for Yoga and complementary health at the World Economic Forum.  It is a great acknowledgment that complementary medical techniques, including Yoga, are entering the mainstream as a way to cope with a wide variety of prevalent medical conditions. Yoga is now being used in conjunction with Western medicine for stress related ailments, such as high blood pressure and heart conditions, as well as chronic muscular skeletal problems."

Among the other presenters in the field of health were Dean Ornish, MD, President and Director of the Preventive Medicine Institution; Ken Dychtwald Ph.D., President and CEO of Age Wave; Mehmet Oz, MD, Cardiothoracic Surgeon; and David Heber, M.D. Ph.D., Director of UCLA Human Nutrition.

Larry Payne, Ph.D. is co-author of Yoga For Dummies, Director of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, co-founder of the Yoga curriculum at UCLA Medical School, and President and CEO of samata Yoga and Health Center in Los Angeles.

Fact Sheet about Larry Payne and Yoga

*Larry Payne, Ph.D, is an internationally respected Yoga teacher and back pain specialist. Dr. Payne is director of the International Association of Yoga Therapist; co-founder of the Yoga curriculum at the UCLA Medical School; founder of the Yoga program at the J. Paul Getty Museum; and director of the samata Yoga Center in Los Angeles since 1981.  Dr. Payne is co-author of  Yoga for Dummies with Georg Feuerstein, Ph.D., and is featured in two new "User Friendly Yoga" videos, released in 1999.

*Some of the renowned speakers and participants at The World Economic Forum included President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, Yassir Arafat, The King of Jordan, prime ministers, presidents and finance ministers from more than 30 countries, CEO's from the leading Fortune 500 companies, Bill Gates and numerous other cyber gurus, as well as leading contributors to the arts, such as Quincy Jones, Umberto Eco and Benjamin Zander.

*According to a 1998 Roper study, there are 18 million people practicing Yoga globally. It is projected that 28 million people will be doing Yoga by 2002.

*The American Medical Association has stated that 80 percent of all illnesses are stress related. (One of Yoga's greatest benefits is stress reduction.)

*According to Herbert Benson, MD, Director of Mind/Body Center at Harvard Medical School, 60 to 90 percent of doctor visits, for everything from the common cold to cancer, are stress related.

*There are more people in California practicing Hatha Yoga (postures) today than in all of India.

*The National Institute of Health has stated that there are currently more office visits to complementary/alternative medicine practitioners than to western doctors.

For more information, please contact Chris Fletcher at (310) 306-8845, or at samatayoga@earthlink.net.

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