Eckankar or ECKANKAR is a new religious movement founded in the United States in 1965. It focuses on spiritual exercises enabling practitioners to experience what its followers call "the Light and Sound of God." The personal experience of this spiritual Light and Sound is a primary goal of the teaching. It claims to provide a personal, unique and individual spiritual inner path to understanding of self as soul, and development of higher awareness "consciousness" and God.

According to the Eckankar glossary, the term Eckankar means "Co-Worker with God". "Eckankar" derives from Ekankār or Ik Oankār (Sanskrit Eka Omkāra), a name for God given by Guru Nānak and the very first word of the Mūl Mantra (recited everyday by Sikhs), the Japjī Sahib, and the Sri Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh holy scriptures). Since 1985 followers of Eckankar have described it as "The Religion of the Light and Sound of God". Prior to 1985, Eckankar was known as "The Ancient Science of Soul Travel," "The Science of Total Awareness," and "A Way of Life".

Christopher Lane is an author whose books include the Inupiat Eskimo Mystery series.

Dr Derek Blake was, until 2007, the Isobel Laing Post-Doctoral Fellow in Biomedical Sciences, and the Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow in Basic Biomedical Science, Oriel College, Oxford.

He holds a doctorate (D.Phil.) and a Bachelor's (B.Sc. from Liverpool). Dr Blake graduated in Biochemistry and worked on his D.Phil. studies in the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, Oxford, taking post-doctoral research on the molecular basis of muscular dystrophy.

His research interests lie in the molecular basis of neuronal dysfunction in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and congenital muscular dystrophies (CMD). This led to the discovery of components of the dystrophin protein complex in neurons and identified new genes and pathways that are involved in the pathogenesis of CMD. He was awarded a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship in 1996 and a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellowship in Basic Biomedical Science in 2000. Dr Blake is a Member of the American Society for Cell Biology and an editor of the Journal of Nanobiotechnology. Blake's research interests include molecular aspects of neuronal function in muscular dystrophies, glycosyltransferases in neurons and muscle cells, the neuromuscular junction and molecular architecture of the sarcolemma.