Rudolph Ballentine, MD, received his medical degree from Duke University and served on the faculty of the Louisiana State University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry. He studied the Ayurvedic and homeopathic systems of medicine in India. For 12 years he served as president of the Himalayan Institute, and for 18 years as director of its Combined Therapy Program where, under the guidance of Swami Rama, he was instrumental in developing models of holistic medical care that have been adopted around the world. Retired from the practice of medicine, Dr. Ballentine lives in the Carolinas, where he practices and teaches permaculture and tantra.