Born in 1948, Eckhart Tolle lived in Germany, Spain and England before settling as a Canadian resident. He says that his early life alienated him and he was generally unhappy growing up in the war-ravaged town of Lünen, near Dortmund. In his teens and young adulthood, he suffered from bouts of depression. However, also at this time, Tolle moved to Spain and began to read works by the German mystical teacher, Bo Yin Ra, otherwise known as Joseph Schneiderfranken. His words had a profound and long-lasting impact on him. Later still, while working in the UK, Tolle started to study spirituality and philosophy more deeply, enrolling - but not completing - a postgraduate course on it at the University of Cambridge. In 1977, Tolle would experience something of an epiphany, or realisation, that helped him to overcome his negative thoughts. He has since devoted much of his life to explaining this 'inner transformation' to others in the form of books, DVDs and lectures.