Tuesday, Nov. 12, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Call the 7,000 folks at the recent Whole Life Expo wackos if you want to.
But consider this:
* Americans spend $27 billion a year on alternative medicine, and one in three adults uses at least one "alternative" healing method a year, often paying out-of-pocket, according to Time magazine.
* The New England Journal of Medicine reported that Americans make more visits to alternative therapists (425 million) than to primary-care physicians (388 million).
* New Age spiritual and self-help books like the "Celestine Prophecy" regularly find their way to the lucrative, mainstream best-seller lists.
That fact is that New Age is big business. And there's plenty of room for enterprising entrepreneurs.
Like Abbas Nadim, founder of Los Angeles-based Visions Travel and Tours Inc., who specializes in guided tours to sacred places around the globe.
"There are a lot of business opportunities in the New Age arena, but in order to be successful you must be a believer, but it's not about religion," he said. "You must believe in searching for the answers to what we are doing here, why are we here and what can we learn from being here. Otherwise it won't work."
Nadim said he got into the New Age travel business after ending his career as an officer in the Egyptian military and coming to America in 1979. While in Egypt, he'd heard a tour guide who explained attractions on the metaphysical rather than just the tourist level.
"That made sense to me. There's so much more to things than we usually learn," he said.
So in 1979, he hired two well-known authors to lead two trips to Egypt. The January trip attracted 28 people and the February trip had 34.
In 1996, 4,000 are experiencing Visions Travel tours at an average price of $2,500 each, according to Nadim.
Each trip has a guide experienced in the deeper levels of history, archeology, spirituality and metaphysics of the destination. Accommodations aren't necessarily in famous hotels, meals are mainly vegetarian and airfare and all gratuities are included.
"These trips are not built on sight-seeing," Nadim said, adding that the make-up of his customers has changed over the years.
"Fifteen years ago, these tours used to be mostly single, divorced middle-aged women. Now, every trip crosses all age brackets from young to old. And although there's always more women than men, the ratio is more like seven men to 10 women instead of three or four to 10. Many of our customers are professionals like lawyers, doctors and teachers. Educated people," he said.
"No. These are not just a bunch of weirdos. It's hard to understand why people continue to think like that."
Sure. Laugh at sea algae, pyramid energy, crystals, massagers and magnetic jewelry.
But the alternative marketplace offers other ways to combat aging, pain and illness for those who aren't interested in mainstream America's bill of goods.
"And you don't have to work for $10 an hour for someone else. There's a freedom you'd never have," said Jacquie Viktori who runs a local distributorship selling Wild Yam skin cream. "This is as good a product as you'll find anywhere and our customers love it. You'll notice that more and more mainstream cosmetic companies are including natural ingredients. But with us, it's not just about making money."
It's about making a right livelihood and doing something positive, according to corporate bail-out Daniel Ortez, who said he was one of the first to laugh at the "Birkenstocks-and-beads" types of the New Age movement.
"People want to feel better and there are many ways to do that. There are many people out here who truly want to help others, ' he said.
A few years ago, the former First Interstate Bank investment officer attended a seminar that changed his life. He quit his banking career in Santa Fe, N.M., and fulfilled his lifelong dream of visiting Spain.
He returned to Las Vegas in December with "$200 and a borrowed credit card" and got involved in the personal growth industry by establishing Infinity Training Inc.
He raised $17,000 to get the business started and now offers a three-day seminar followed up by a six-month personal action management system called Consider It Done. The seminar costs $495 and the complete program is $1,200.
"This program reminds people of their hopes and dreams and helps them discover their goals and missions. It makes a real difference in people's lives. It works for them and is gratifying to us because we're contributing to making things better," he said.
Whole Life Expo Regional Director Doug Belscher said the New Age market follows the usual laws of supply and demand.
"There's incredible opportunity available," said Belscher. "And as the time goes on, you're going to find hundreds of thousands of people looking for information like an alcoholic who looks for a bottle. There's a lot of pain and dissatisfaction in our society and people are looking for answers."
Which is why Paul Andrews founded the Whole Life Expo in San Franciso in 1982. The expo now travels to New York City, Albuquerque, Denver, Seattle, Ashland, Ore., and Las Vegas every year.
Belscher said the largest show in Los Angeles attracts 20,000 visitors. Las Vegas is the smallest show, with about 135 exhibitors and 7,000 visitors.
The Whole Life Expo is also going through some changes. Belscher said he couldn't discuss the plans, but said that the company is bringing in investment and management "to give it movement."
"To date, we have engaged a limited sector of the population. Our goal is to bring the other segment so that they can discover what we have to offer and that we're not 'weirdos,' as the media seem fond of calling us," he said.
New Age is a melding of ancient and modern knowledge. But it doesn't mean old-fashioned -- Web sites, cellular phones and pages abound with the alternative marketplace.
Locally, the alternative marketplace is alive and well. Products, publications, travel and services abound. Many are listed in Maille's Directory, available at various holistic businesses and health food stores around town.
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