THE dangers of stress to people's health, and how best to avoid them, will be explained as part of a series of wellness workshops open to the public next week.

American Lance Webb, a popular anti-aging specialist and chiropractic doctor, will conduct the workshops alongside his mentor, Ra Un Nefer Amen, an internationally renowned speaker and author.

Entitled Healing the Errors of Living - Part II, the lectures are a continuation of the principles of wellness expressed by Dr. Webb when he spoke at the Bermuda College last year, and partially based on a well-received book penned by Mr. Amen, Healing the Errors of Living.

In a workshop entitled Transcending Anger, Fear and Stress, Mr. Amen - a practitioner and teacher of homeopathy - will aim to teach individuals how to challenge their fears, while eliminating stress from their lives.

It's a practice which, he says, is often overlooked by doctors of traditional medicine in administering to their patients. Acording to the internationally renowned speaker and author, many who are sick would not be had they previously been able to eliminate stress from their lives.

"Many people have conditions that exist, but which would never have been brought to the front except that they were triggered by something," he said. "Anger, fear and stress - and by stress, I mean a hypertensive state of the nervous system where one is tense too much, too often and for too long - will trigger this state and are the leading causes of illness and/or making illness worse.

"What I tell people is that they have to eliminate the propensity for anger, fear and stress in one's life.

"It's been found that stress - in addition to the other problems it causes - lowers one's IQ and therefore one's capacity to be successful in one's life, in one's profession, in one's marriage and so on.

"When people are ill, they go to the doctor to be cured. The doctor prescribes medication but the patient can never really get well because stress is the major precipitator of the problem and one of the main elements that keeps the illness going.

"Medication fails to achieve healing because health is equivalent to a harmonious condition of the nervous system so unless (what's prescribed) puts the nervous system back in harmony, it can't be completely effective.

"(Doctors) might give you a drug for the nervous system but the thing that is making you afraid is not eliminated. So we encourage people to have a proper diet and live a proper lifestyle and follow our approach to eliminate stress from their lives."

Mr. Amen travels around the world presenting classes, workshops and seminars on how to improve one's health and quality of life through natural, non-toxic means. He is also the founder of the Nile Valley Mall, a distribution company he founded to promote various health and wellness products.

"It's an African-American owned company," he said. "It promotes the prevention of illnesses through good diet, and meditation to avoid and relieve stress. We now have chapters in many countries throughout the world."

Although he first studied to become a concert pianist, Mr. Amen later switched his focus to health; the two he believes are remarkably similar.

"Music is very healing, and as a concert musician you unwittingly use different techniques of meditation. There's a great deal of visualisation involved in memorising music. You have to focus and concentrate, both of which are the keystone to meditation which I believe, is extremely effective in achieving deep relaxation and helping individuals cope with situations which would normally cause anger and fear."

It was through his own illness, he said, that he became a firm believer in his current lifestyle.

"At one point in my life I became ill. (Traditional) doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong and it was through my own studies in homeopathy, vitamins and supplements that I was able to (recover).

"Since then, I've been an avid fan of the health sciences. I believe that through homeopathy, good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle, through these practices, a great deal of illnesses can be prevented and healed."

Although it's no longer taught in medical schools, Mr. Amen said homeopathy was widely regarded - even by traditional doctors - for the many benefits it had to offer.

"I have written several books and one of them, Healing the Errors of Living, has been used by many doctors to learn homeopathy. Many doctors are interested because they realise its benefits."

The principles of homeopathy, he admitted, are nothing new; they date back to the ancient Egyptians.

"But I popularised it among African-Americans in the late '70s. I was the first to put homeopathic medicines in a health food store. Although they were over-the-counter drugs, they were only available directly from manufacturers; they were kept behind the counter in pharmacies. In 1977, I put them in my store and now it's possible to buy them in health food stores in countries all over the world."

Today, he says, there is a mountain of evidence supporting the idea that people take supplements to ensure certain nutritional requirements are met.

"We can't just rely on food," he said. "We need to correct the level of toxins that we're subject to in today's environment."

Dr. Webb, an acupuncturist, naturopath and anti-ageing specialist, will speak this Sunday at the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) at 5 p.m. on how individuals can maintain cardiovascular health and reverse the side effects of heart diseases.

Mr. Amen speaks next Thursday at the BIU on the need for nutritional supplements and one's daily requirements at 7 p.m. The following day he will deliver a workshop entitled, Transcending Anger, Fear and Stress, at the Bermuda College at 7.30 p.m.

For details on the workshops, call 234-6083 or 236-8311 or e-mail bdanilevalley.com