Spirit

When two people reveal who they really are — their authentic selves, not just their curated and perfected versions — there is possibility and open space for a soul connection.

The interfaith couple and workshop leaders of this fall's "Turning Your Heart to Love" workshop discuss maintaining their work — including their non-profit school in Israel — and the importance of exploring spirituality in a fractured world: "Otherwise, we're lost.”

The welcoming mighty pine guarding the Bookstore, the manzanita providing nectar for hummingbirds, the towering cypress standing for centuries, and more. Esalen staff remembers some majestic and comforting natural guardians fallen by the devastating winter storms of 2024.

Esalen scholar and teacher Marleen Thaler, who has dedicated her academic research to exploring modern interpretations of the enlightenment experience of kuṇḍalinī, shares some of the history of spiritual energy — and Esalen’s role in sharing it with Western minds and bodies.

We asked some of our upcoming workshop leaders to share their favorite spots on campus — where they feel Esalen’s mystique and beauty most acutely.

By going to Esalen, our former Community & Advancement Associate Lacy Shannon's life changed direction. Leaving the city and her corporate life behind, she knew it was time to pivot to something more grounding.

When someone who teaches the skills on navigating change shares what helped her most, the best thing we can do is listen. Jennifer Ward also explains the difference between change…and transition.

Out of the dark and into the light… a journey we have all experienced once, and perhaps many times. Jovinna Chan shares her dark night of the soul and the journey to the light as we kick off #myEsalen.

We can never get rid of the myths that have made us who we are, but we can re-vision them and imagine new possibilities? Get ready to play and gain profound insights into your journey with Bob Walter, President of the Joseph Campbell Foundation and Campbell’s editor for years.

Can you put into words what happens when your heart beat comes alive just by stepping onto the land at Esalen? All of it just flowed out of Cara Chandler — words like unfolding, wild, seeker. What would you say?

This question is harder than it may seem: are you at home within yourself? The Divine Abodes — brahmavihārās — is one approach to bring you home.

Is it true that the Esalen land is a maṇḍala unto itself? Through the lens of Tantra and her own Hindu and Buddhist studies, Sravana Borkataky-Varma (Board Member and Lecturer at Harvard Divinity School) explains why the answer is undoubtedly yes.

The mother knot… how much are you tied to memories, images, or traumas related to this critical relationship? Author Laura Davis graced us with a story of her own bond with her mother, and the power of obsession when it comes to healing.

Is it possible to design your life? Make it exactly what you want it to be? According to executive coach Mark Nicolson, if you can align your head and heart, you might be getting very close.

Big Sur experienced an unexpected visitor this January: a winter wildfire. One of our Friends of Esalen witnessed it in the first few hours and took to words in a moment of inspiration and reflection. We share her poem — “The World Flipped On Its Head” — in our latest post in The Journal.

One of our staff members shares the story of learning about the relationship of her community’s trauma in relation to the local, Indigenous community. Learn how you can help us be committed to this work and be contextual stewards of this land.

The first time Sarana Miller experienced kirtan, she felt like she had found a piece of herself. Learn how chanting changed her life and how she honors this ancient practice as a person from the Jewish faith.

When you say “I’m going to be present,” is this a demand of yourself, a practice, or a way to bring it into your body so you actually embody the present? Russell and Linda Delman eloquently describe both and share why it’s more important than ever to understand the difference.

One family’s baby blessing, a ceremonial fire, and the ritual of connecting to the spirit world became kindling for a new collaboration with a California woman. Her artistry with nature frames a ritual to honor family, friendship, and self-nourishment.

Do you have an awe practice? It can help us heal now, but beyond the pandemic, awe has huge benefits for the greater good. Dacher Keltner, Founding Director of the Greater Good Science Center at U.C. Berkeley, explains his latest research and what awe feels like, each day of your life.

How are you caring for your heart today? A spin on the expected “how are you,” we asked our Friends of Esalen this question. Their inspirational answers were practically a master class in self-care, self-awareness, and human connection.

Did you know you start midlife in your 30s? Tackling midlife in transitions versus crisis helps us live authentically and honestly through the decades. September is National Healthy Aging Month. Learn more from Chip Conley, Esalen “elder” and founder of the Modern Elder Academy.

If you feel guilty feeling happy, you may suffer from Weltschmerz. The remedy may be choosing gratitude over guilt. Is it rational? Is it possible? Esalen Faculty Ira Israel guest blogs in August for Admit You’re Happy Month.

Your story can be told in three sentences. Darnell Walker, Rituals Writing Workshop teacher, shows us how to get started. If you think you’ve lost your groove and need to realign/reconnect, grab a journal and a pen, breathe deeply, and get started.

What’s your favorite way to relax? Regular, intentional relaxation helps us manage stress and supports our nervous systems. Learn more about how humans of Esalen relax in our latest Journal post for National Relaxation Day.

Treat yourself to a beautifully curated selection of our favorite restorative sleep-enhancement tools, available now in the Esalen Store.

If you intentionally practice noticing your body sensations, your thoughts, current emotions, and what’s happening around you, you may very well be practicing Gestalt. Learn more about the practice from legacy teacher Dorothy Charles in our Esalen Spotlight interview.

As we emerge and adjust back to a new normal, how can we reflect more deeply on our relationship with ourselves, the outdoors, and the earth? Esalen's Christine Chen talks with Mark Coleman about his take on earth, screens, being in nature, pandemic healing, and more.

To be sure, 2020 will go down as one of the most memorable times of our modern era. As COVID-19 and racial unrest affect us globally, we are receiving many opportunities to re-examine our lives—and life itself. As Esalen moves through these changes with you and beyond its temporary closure, its spirit remains intact: working with individuals and institutions to integrate heart, mind, body, spirit and community in a nurturing relationship with the environment.

Esalen faculty and award-winning author of channeled texts Paul Selig has repeatedly been asked: “What comes next during these challenging times?”‍“I don't know what will come next during the pandemic, but I think what has begun will be going on for some time,” says Paul, who leads I Am the Word: The Energetics of Consciousness July 31 through August 2, and in a campus-wide workshop August 2-7 at Esalen.

Esalen faculty, author and artist Day Schildkret believes connecting more with nature can be one of the most valuable opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Internationally known for his morning altars, a stunning array of sublime mandalas he creates daily from natural materials, as well as his of book, Morning Altars: A 7-Step Practice to Nourish Your Spirit through Nature, Art and Ritual, Day has inspired people across the globe to be awed with impermanent earth art.

“One of the teachings of Relational Mindfulness is turning towards rather than away,” says Esalen faculty, dharma teacher and author Deborah Eden Tull. “That principle really addresses the conditioned tendency in our world to turn away from all forms of difficulty, pain, discomfort and challenging emotion because we may not feel adequate to meet it. Instead, we can learn how to turn towards it, welcome it and everything that arises.”

This month marks what would have been Joseph Campbell’s 116th birthday. A revered mythologist who spent many of his birthdays teaching at Esalen, he once said, “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.”

“Dying is the most important thing you do in your life; it’s the great frontier and love is the art of living as a preparation for dying,” says Mirabai Bush, who was a frequent collaborator with the late Ram Dass and is founder and senior fellow at the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society. “Ram Dass taught me that allowing ourselves to dissolve into the ocean of love is not just about leaving this body, it is also the route to Oneness and unity with our own inner being while we are still here. If you know how to live and to love, you know how to die.”

Esalen faculty Peter Bregman got into leadership coaching in a serendipitous way. He attended a college camping trip “by mistake” and became so intrigued with the concept of outdoor leadership that he went on to form his own company. Culling from some of the wisdom he learned outdoors, Peter is now a coach, teacher and best-selling author, assisting successful people to become better leaders and build more effective teams.

If mindfulness is being in love with the present moment, then play is the most fun access point to that state. In their upcoming workshop, The Power of Play and Human Connection in the Digital Age, Adam Smiley Poswolsky (pictured right) and Brady Gill (below) create a tech-free “playshop” designed to awaken our creative potential and illuminate the wisdom and grace available when we intentionally bring play and playfulness into our lives and our work. Adam, a millennial workplace expert and the best-selling author of The Quarter-Life Breakthrough and Brady, a writer/performer and camp director of Camp Anywhere, a summer camp for grown-ups, share more with Esalen News.

In conversation, Marianne Williamson sparks a mix of intrigue and inspiration, often honing in on such deeper questions as: how do we become our best selves? The longtime activist, former 2020 presidential hopeful and bestselling author of A Return To Love and A Politics of Love, joins leaders in business, mindfulness and social change at this year’s Wisdom 2.0.

Ron Frederick and Timothy J. Beyer are on a mission to enhance the lives of gay men who find it challenging to feel present in their lives and closer to the people they love. In their upcoming workshop, Emotional Mindfulness, Connection and Healing for Gay Men, Ron (pictured right) and Timothy (below) explore the origins of certain fears inherent in gay men, how those fears create a sense of detachment from the wisdom and power within and present guideposts toward empowerment.

A new month, a new year and a new decade all converge in January. Collectively, the human race enters brand new territory (a more soul-filled Roaring Twenties, perhaps?) and many people may be seeking ways to invigorate their spirit and experience their true human potential. Questions abound: What new practices can I implement? What new actions can I take? Culling from Esalen’s lineage of teachers, we reveal five ways to truly let the spirit shine even brighter.

David Kessler has spent much of his life assisting others cope and move through grief and his breadth of knowledge has made him one of the world’s foremost experts on healing and loss. In his latest book, Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief, David adds another stage (meaning) to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s five grief stages (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance), which he believes is vital after the loss of a relationship.

Three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee Scilla Elworthy is a vibrant example of what we are capable of doing when we see clearly — and take action. When Scilla was just 11 years old, her four older brothers were teaching her how to fire a shotgun at their home in Galashiels, England. In one quick moment, young Scilla did something that forever changed her life path.

The quest to live an awakened life is filled with numerous discoveries that allow us to become present, mindful of our mental activity and more deeply in touch with our physical being. After reaching that initial state of awakening, another desire may emerge: sustaining it. Leaning in that direction is a lovely goal, but understanding what awakening is also vital.

Mark Nicolson, an executive coach specializing in leadership and team development for visionary entrepreneurs and catalysts for social change, made it his mission to help people and systems large and small discover the concept of renewal and become re-enchanted with their place and calling in the world. As the co-founder of T12N, an innovative program for realigning self and career, he also helped create pathways for sustaining the changes individuals truly wanted to create. Mark sheds light on this rich topic in his upcoming workshop, Designing the Life We Want: Self-Renewal in the New Year, where he creates a space for us to be vulnerable, undistracted and present.

How do people gather today when they are not tied to a specific religion or belief system? Esalen faculty Jeff Kripal and Dana Sawyer have long been intrigued by this subject and will explore it at length in Conversations on the Edge: America, Spiritual But Not Religious, during the weekend of December 6-8 at Esalen.

Byron Katie created The Work, a simple yet powerful process of inquiry that teaches us to identify and question the thoughts that can cause suffering, as an opportunity to sink into our vast inner world, notice what we discover there and emerge from it with insights that create personal freedom.

After being displaced by numerous California wildfires and landslides, naturalist/educators and longtime Esalen community members Noël Vietor and Fletcher Tucker asked themselves how they could be in service to a new paradigm in which people are a reparative and beneficial force of nature. Their answer is Wildtender, which they launched in 2017.

Earlier this month, Esalen welcomed some of the most exciting voices in mindfulness today for two week-long workshops: The Art and Science of Mindfulness, Compassion and Awe and Loving Awareness. We recently spoke with Dan Siegel, author of the upcoming Aware: The Science and Practice of Mindfulness, and Dacher Keltner, founder of the Greater Good Science Center, who co-led with Shauna Shapiro the first workshop from August 5-10.

Anne Watts carries the human potential movement in her DNA. As the daughter of pioneering author and philosopher Alan Watts, she grew up with people like Aldous Huxley, Charlotte Selver, and Ram Dass discussing the nature of human consciousness around the dinner table. While deeply influenced by her father, Anne forged her own path to become an educator, mediator, and counselor devoted to helping people live life from a place of authenticity and love.

Against the backdrop of the Himalayan foothills, two great spiritual masters and good friends came together to celebrate a birthday. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and Archbishop Emeritus of Southern Africa Desmond Tutu spent a week in friendship and conversation, culminating in what they now describe as a birthday gift to the world and an invitation to joy: The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World.