He tried a health improvement system called Motion Motive with little result. He heard of a philosopher, who had successfully treated an illness that had befallen Edison, using psychosomatic medicine. Through this philosophy, he formulated a theory of spiritual transformation and non-materialism that would stay with him for the rest of his life . . . but he was still plagued by a life-threatening illness.

Nakamura Tempu Sensei even traveled to England to study with H. Addington Bruce, who had evolved his own form of personal growth. Bruce encouraged him to transcend worry and forget useless things. It was, again, something that he would later transmit to his own students . . . but he was still coughing.

Since he was already in Europe, he decided to explore the depths of the newly developing field of psychology, general ideas from which he used in his later teaching of Japanese yoga. His study of psychology spanned France, Germany, and Belgium . . . but he still couldn't shake the tuberculosis.

Despite believing even more strongly in the possibility of a psychosomatic cure, he met with no success. Despondent, he decided to return to Japan. But he would stop in Egypt first.

A Turning Point
In Cairo, while staying in a local hotel, an Indian yogi named Kaliapa befriended him. Upon the urging of his new mentor, Nakamura Sensei decided to make a quick detour--a detour that resulted in him traveling to the Himalayas around 1916 at the age of 40. It would be three years--and a new life later--before he returned to Japan.

Nakamura Sensei and Kaliapa ended up on Mt. Kanchenjunga, at 28,146 feet, the third highest mountain in the world. He studied various yogic methods, but more than this, Kaliapa created an environment in which Nakamura Sensei ceased to look for answers in books, theories, or the belief systems of others. Kaliapa, using psychological techniques that Nakamura Sensei recalled as being severe, encouraged him to search for firsthand understanding that was not dependent on any authority or system.

To summarize Kaliapa's position is fairly simple. We are one with the Universe. We are therefore imbued with the Energy of the Universe (Ki in Japan, Prana in India). And as the result, we can learn directly from the Universe itself.

On a personal note, Kaliapa told him that he depended too much on the teachings of others, and his illness was actually a blessing in disguise, since it forced him to consider the real nature of his existence. Nevertheless, if he was to go any further in life, it was time forget about living and dying. Kaliapa observed that since it was impossible to know exactly when he would die, Nakamura Sensei should stop worrying about death and live each day fully.