October 17, 2016

Learning How To Find Our Inner Strength So We May Live The Life We Were Meant To Live

More than 23.5 million Americans abuse drugs or alcohol, and the fact is that addiction destroys lives. Just ask Howard Beckman. Beckman was the son of a Philadelphia lawyer and was fortunate to have a wide array of opportunities at arm’s length. Sadly, he was an out-of-control teenager and his bad decisions led him down the path of drug addiction and international drug smuggling, which ultimately landed him in a Thai prison. With all hardships, there are lessons to be learned and Beckman is sharing his journey in his memoir, Tempting the Devil in the Name of God: The Heavy Hand of Fate, which is available now.

Beckman’s travels were extensive, and with every stop around the globe there were setbacks. It was during some of his darkest days, while incarcerated in the underground Thai prison, that he was forced to look within for strength. He developed a meditation process that helped him find his inner strength, and he was able to not only survive the nightmare but to heal, both inside and out, and transform his body from a skinny junkie to muscular and fit!

At times his story reads like a psychological thriller and, at others, as a mysterious journey into exotic lands and people. He bounced from one extreme to another from prison and corruption to finding spiritual peace. His journey is one of survival and anyone who has directly or indirectly experienced the horrors of drug addiction will find his memoir meaningful on many levels.

Episode Segments:

Healing Conversations: Author Howard Beckman Just what is it about Howard Beckman that is so captivating, intriguing and inspiring? The answers are found in this book. During his life, he has run the full gambit from being an out of control teenager, a drug addict, an international drug smuggler to doing hard time in a Thai prison and subsequently a U.S. Federal Prison. However, the real story that is revealed here is how he survived all the horrors and devastating setbacks that came with the world he lived in. Anyone who has ever been involved in the drug culture and addiction, or cares about someone who is, will find Howard’s story meaningful on a multitude of levels.
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Guest(s) Appearing on this Episode

Howard Beckman Howard Beckman is a writer, speaker and spiritual counselor. Having spent years in India he shares his knowledge of the ancient sciences of Yoga, Ayurveda and especially Vedic Astrology . With his credentials as a gemologist and jewelry appraiser, he became a purveyor of extremely fine and rare precious gems from the latter 1980’s to the turn of the 21st century. Combining his knowledge of gems with that of their importance in Ayurveda and Indian astrology, in 1992 he hosted the Honolulu radio show “Romancing the Stone” on CBS’s affiliate station, KGU. During this time Howard was also a member of the board of directors of A Second Chance, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Honolulu. That same year, Beckman appeared several times on “The June Caine Miller Show” on cable network in Los Angeles. Then, in 1993, Beckman was invited to appear on “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” hosted by Robin Leach with Jay Bernstein, one of Hollywood’s grand-daddy agents, for his underwater wedding on the island of St. Martin. Since 1994, Howard has written three books: “An Introduction to Vedic Astrology”, “Mantras, Yantras & Fabulous Gems” and “Vibrational Healing with Gems.” His articles on these subjects and yoga philosophy were published in numerous magazines in the United Kingdom where he lived and taught between 1993 and 1998. Between the years 1998 and 2009, Beckman continued to write and teach meditation at the Yoga and Ayurveda Center run by he and his wife, Jennifer, in the mountains outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. Today Howard Beckman lives in Ocala, Florida; he is one of the directors of The Vedic Cultural Fellowship, as well as a director of “Ocala Equine Rescue”. Follow Howard on Twitter Follow Howard on Facebook Howard's Website