Luminous places.com                           Paul C Adams  (aka Prem das)                                                  home

   Paul (Prem Das) worked in electronics technology, and as a seminar teacher, percussionist, wilderness guide, art collector-salesman; he haS also worked in self storage, retail grocery and hardware . During teen years he designed and built ham radio transmitters, receivers, and set up antenna systems used for worldwide amateur communications. In the field of electronic air purification technology, age 30,  he received a patent, for a unique air purifier-ionizer design: operational prototypes of this device gained endorsements from distinguished professionals.

    In his youth Paul was a falconer, hiking in wilderness areas searching for falcons and hawks. At this time he volunteered for a series of hypnosis experiments at Stanford University. Later he learned self hypnosis at a YMCA course, and attended private sessions by the instructors who were exploring age regression, past lives and “in-between life time states”. Self hypnosis revealed inner dimensions, and he further explored similar avenues with psychedelics. This led to yoga, travel to India, and instruction from a yoga master about life force power, known as prana, prakriti and shakti.

    Baba Hari Dass (Ram Dass' yoga teacher) gave Paul the yogi name Baba Prem Dass in 1970, while studying yoga in India. After returning to the United States  he was known as Prem Dass, and then later when he married, changed the name to Prem Das, the name of a house holder, rather than a monk-sadhu. In Mexico the Huichol Indians called him "Prenda", a Spanish word meaning "turn on".

    After returning from India, he went to Mexico, into the remote Sierra Madre mountains. Following a path similar to that of Carlos Castaneda, he spent years apprenticing with an elder shaman of the Huichol Indian tribe, don Jose Matsuwa.  Pilgrimage to natural places of power, to find "kupuri" (vital energy) formed a substantial portion of this experiential education. The DeYoung Museum in San Francisco used field research, photos, recordings, and art in exhibits, which went on to The Museum of Man in San Diego, Fields in Chicago, the New York Museum of Natural History, and the Hauge in Amsterdam, Holland. The exhibit catalog was published as a book  called “Art of the Huichol Indians”- Harry Abrams Publisher, NY.

    Prem Das (Paul) shared his research with the public via workshops, lectures and seminars and articles. This has included teaching at: Esalen Institute, Joy Lake, Westerbec Ranch, Mt. Madonna, The California Institute of Integral Studies, Antioch West, JFK University, and at Cold Mountain Institute in B.C., Canada. Also, New Dimensions Radio and Big Sur Recordings interviewed Prem Das on multiple occasions between l973 and l985.

    1987 to present, he has been interested in exploring the wilderness to find places of natural luminosity. He has hiked more than 25,000 miles (avg. 3 miles day for 25 years) through open spaces, national forests and parks. Using digital photography and field notes, he has produced a book and website which reveal beautiful, exotic and extraordinary luminous-places in the wilderness.

    Paul Adams was born in Berkeley, California, and went to school in Palo Alto, CA. He has three children and three grand-children.

                           luminous-places.com                                                                                  c) Paul C Adams 2012