Contacted yesterday on the Australian leg of his tour, John Pepper (81), of Cape Town, said he had discovered how to overcome his Parkinson's through conscious thought.
Mr Pepper said he had gone on tour to show audiences how to control the neurodegenerative condition without medication.
Mr Pepper's story has been challenged by some medical professionals, but he believed scepticism arose because of the influence of the pharmaceutical industry.
It was also hard to get people to understand how such a simple thing could control the disease.
"Once you get used to it, it becomes easy, but some people just can't understand what I'm doing.
"Nobody seems to know what I mean by consciously doing it.
"Most people don't realise that they still have a conscious brain, and that conscious brain is very powerful.''
He said the method was not hard once mastered, but it took concentration, making it hard to perform other tasks.
"When I see a bird ... I then lose my concentration and I immediately feel I [could] have a fall.
"I can't do it and do two things at the same time.
"If I have to think about something else I have to stop walking, and then I can think of something else.''
Mr Pepper has had Parkinson's symptoms for more than 50 years, but was not diagnosed until 1992.
He has taken no medication for Parkinson's for 13 years. On Wednesday, Mr Pepper will give two talks at the University of Otago, followed by a public meeting in the Quaker Meeting House at 7pm.
