No matter how we are feeling right now, let’s take a collective inhale and a collective exhale. Surrender. Let go. Build faith.
In this shared world, increasingly divided by ideology, politics, and fear, spaces that foster learning, connection, and healing remain invaluable catalysts for a bright future. With each era, Esalen has evolved and adapted with expansive vision-building. We may not see the world the same right now, but we are all still very much a part of it.
We stand on the shoulders and in the embrace of electrifying freethinkers. Our curiosities are our greatest resource. The Esalen Institute of today honors the Esalen of the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and into the 21st century by looking ahead. Our mission remains resolute: We are committed to presenting you with pioneering initiatives and offering personal, spiritual, and social transformational programming. Together, we are the architects of compassion and cultivation and can hold great capacity for harmonious understanding of one another — including of our differences.
When we seek out nature and environments that help us shed of the seemingly endless external distractions, we rediscover a shared humanity for rebuilding. While you’re with us in person, walk the south side of campus and check out the recently installed Esalen Origin Story panels. They link us to our iconic past and remind us of the dazzling potential of our tomorrows. (Find a digital version here.) Nothing is the same as it was (nor has it ever been). We don’t try to hold onto what once was. We evolve and we adapt to explore an up-close-and-personal confrontation with our “one wild and precious life.”
As part of this relentless pursuit, we welcome the breakthrough thinkers of this age, many of whom you’ll read about below. As we look ahead to 2025, we enthusiastically announce a number of new workshops that speak to Michael Murphy and Dick Price’s self-actualizing, founding vision.
By investing in ourselves, we pave the way for a more compassionate world — where we can lift one another up, regardless of our disagreements. Together, we will find the stories that can hold us all!
Where does Esalen fit in, and how can we serve a world that welcomes all? When we share our aspirations for connection and growth, our differences become less daunting. Watch this trailer on Esalen’s significance and potential in the world today.
As we shape the workshop calendar, we ask ourselves, What can the American countercultural movement look like in 2025? What topics and teachers does the human potential movement beckon in now? And what alchemical experiments are underway, transforming and transmuting individuals, communities, societies, and beyond?
Both the Esalen Bookstore and our online shop have received glow-ups to be go-to destinations for your seasonal shopping. To help steer your present journey with meaningful presents, we present our 2024 Holiday Gift Guide! Here are ten special items perfect for sharing some Esalen joy with your loved ones.
Holiday season, whether you celebrate or not, can be a time of community gathering and delicious meals. We checked in with our talented kitchen and culinary team after their wildly successful stint with Big Sur Food & Wine. Chefs D3 and Quinton and baker Camilla open their recipe notebooks to us for some non-denominational holiday joy. “We take care of you by nourishing you so you can focus on the things that you came to Esalen to do,” says Esalen Food and Beverage Manager Chloe Scott.
How might we create Esalen experiences beyond Big Sur? If you’re in the Bay Area, stop by the Berkeley Alembic on January 31 for “From Cosmic Quest to New Age: Esalen in the 1970s and 80s,” with Sam Stern. If you’re in LA, swing by the Philosophical Research Society on January 29 for “A History of Altered States at Esalen.” If you’re digitally connected, join us via Atlas Obscura’s online programming from anywhere in the world over three sessions starting December 3 to explore “Altered States & Expanding Horizons: Exploring the Legacy of Esalen.”
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“Vast ideas like this were in the air, and my windows were wide open,” says Keith Thompson, recalling his days at Esalen in the late ’70s. The acclaimed journalist and author tells us how he went from senatorial staffer to coordinating a think tank-style conference series packed with new intellectual and spiritual energies — which would later officially be named The Center for Theory & Research.
The founder of Black Boys OM on expansiveness, sadhana, and why participating with Black American culture “through the unique lens of mind-body-spirit health” brings him the most happiness. In anticipation of his 2025 workshop, Healing, Rest, and Embodied Liberation for Men of Color, the meditation and yoga instructor reveals some personal heroes and shares the very best personal motto we’ve ever heard.
The curation of the Bookstore is about love. We pop into the cozy and curious retail space to learn what inspires Merchandising Manager Heather Martin as she curates thoughtful collections “that the land speaks through” — and how this former fashionista found meaningful purpose through Esalen’s mission.
As the nights grow chilly, we’re cozying up with five titles to help us discover, calm, expand, and reach our centennial birthdays. This quintet of books by workshop leaders, wellness giants, cutting-edge philosophers, and one intrepid explorer can inspire transformation inside and out through life-sustaining practices and recipes.
“Vast ideas like this were in the air, and my windows were wide open,” says Keith Thompson, recalling his days at Esalen in the late ’70s. The acclaimed journalist and author tells us how he went from senatorial staffer to coordinating a think tank-style conference series packed with new intellectual and spiritual energies — which would later officially be named The Center for Theory & Research.
The founder of Black Boys OM on expansiveness, sadhana, and why participating with Black American culture “through the unique lens of mind-body-spirit health” brings him the most happiness. In anticipation of his 2025 workshop, Healing, Rest, and Embodied Liberation for Men of Color, the meditation and yoga instructor reveals some personal heroes and shares the very best personal motto we’ve ever heard.
The curation of the Bookstore is about love. We pop into the cozy and curious retail space to learn what inspires Merchandising Manager Heather Martin as she curates thoughtful collections “that the land speaks through” — and how this former fashionista found meaningful purpose through Esalen’s mission.
As the nights grow chilly, we’re cozying up with five titles to help us discover, calm, expand, and reach our centennial birthdays. This quintet of books by workshop leaders, wellness giants, cutting-edge philosophers, and one intrepid explorer can inspire transformation inside and out through life-sustaining practices and recipes.
“Vast ideas like this were in the air, and my windows were wide open,” says Keith Thompson, recalling his days at Esalen in the late ’70s. The acclaimed journalist and author tells us how he went from senatorial staffer to coordinating a think tank-style conference series packed with new intellectual and spiritual energies — which would later officially be named The Center for Theory & Research.
The founder of Black Boys OM on expansiveness, sadhana, and why participating with Black American culture “through the unique lens of mind-body-spirit health” brings him the most happiness. In anticipation of his 2025 workshop, Healing, Rest, and Embodied Liberation for Men of Color, the meditation and yoga instructor reveals some personal heroes and shares the very best personal motto we’ve ever heard.
The curation of the Bookstore is about love. We pop into the cozy and curious retail space to learn what inspires Merchandising Manager Heather Martin as she curates thoughtful collections “that the land speaks through” — and how this former fashionista found meaningful purpose through Esalen’s mission.
As the nights grow chilly, we’re cozying up with five titles to help us discover, calm, expand, and reach our centennial birthdays. This quintet of books by workshop leaders, wellness giants, cutting-edge philosophers, and one intrepid explorer can inspire transformation inside and out through life-sustaining practices and recipes.
Esalen Institute
55000 Highway 1
Big Sur, CA 93920
US: 1-831-667-3000
info@esalen.org
