Gay Hendricks

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Gay Hendricks (1945-) is a psychologist, writer and practitioner in the field of personal growth, relationships, and the mind body connection. He is best known for his work in relationship enhancement and in the development of conscious breathing exercises, which proponents believe increase awareness, energy levels, and relaxation. He was born in Leesburg, Florida in 1945.

As a young child, Hendricks states he was able to see the auras of people around him. However, as he grew older, this ability went away. Due to a thyroid problem he spent the first 25 years of his life obese. Now at a normal weight, he considers obesity to be the best thing to ever happen to him, teaching him lessons on compassion and awareness he might have otherwise never learned. Intent on becoming a successful writer, he decided to major in English as he began college. Later, at the age of 24 and in a time of great personal turmoil, he slipped on ice, violently knocking his head on the ground. This experience had a dramatic effect on him, revealing a spiritual dimension of life he had not known existed; he claimed to see auras once again, and also decided to transfer to counseling from English. At the time of the slip on the ice, he weighed 320 pounds, had poor vision and smoked heavily. After the slip, he made a commitment to find his own spiritual path in life; within a year he had lost 100 pounds, quit smoking and made many other positive changes. Ultimately his vision even changed to the degree that he no longer needed to wear glasses.

After receiving his Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University in 1974, Gay began teaching at the University of Colorado. He spent 20 years at the University of Colorado before moving on to found The Hendricks Institute. He now conducts workshops on various mind and body topics with his wife of more than 25 years, Dr. Kathlyn Hendricks. Together they have authored over 25 books on personal growth topics. Gay and Kathlyn have appeared on numerous radio and television shows, including Oprah where their work was first introduced to a wide audience.

Around the turn of the century, he developed an interest in writing and producing movies with inspirational content. He and veteran producer, Stephen Simon, founded The Spiritual Cinema Circle, which delivers inspirational movies on DVD to subscribers in more than 80 countries. He also served as producer and writer on the Louise Hay movie, You Can Heal Your Life.