For decades the Esalen kitchen has been a place for community gathering, a meeting place — an energy source where meals are prepared by and for the Esalen community. Like the baths heal the body and mind after each day of growth and transformation in workshop, those uniquely nourishing and soulful meals satiate minds, bodies, and spirits within the Esalen Lodge.
Over the years, the Esalen kitchen, and by extension the farm and garden, has broadened its reach and impact — cooking and sharing meals with the larger Big Sur community. Bringing part of the Esalen experience to those living along stretches of Highway 1 north and south of Esalen: the homes nestled into the mountains, tucked up windy dirt roads, and an hour’s drive from the closest major grocery store. This effort, in partnership with our fellow Big Sur neighbors, speaks to collective potentiality and a commitment to community.
Currently, our outreach provides fresh produce and from-scratch meals from our Farm & Garden to The Big Share. Starting in the spring of 2020 as a pandemic project, this organization distributes 3,500 lbs of fresh, local, sustainable produce weekly to more than 200 Big Sur families, creating a local, sustainable shared food culture. Esalen entered the mix during lockdown to share the bounty of the Esalen Farm & Garden and Esalen kitchen. And in April 2022, with chef de cuisine Abi Collomb heading the Esalen kitchen and Ana Gadban directing the institute operationally, we expanded and deepened our commitment to our neighbors beyond 55000 Highway 1.
In addition to fresh produce, Chef Abi’s kitchen donates and sends over 240 meals per week to the local community– repurposed from its original offerings to plates and bowls on nearby kitchen tables. Her personal ethos aligns beautifully with The Big Share’s inspiring goal of encouraging “a sharing culture in which the health and wellness of our community becomes sustainable.” While the Big Share is a community-created organization where founders Joseph and Helen present the actions of the collective as a daily mantra. “What if we woke up every day and asked: What do I have to share today? We believe there is an abundance to be shared right here, everyday, within our community.”
Chef Abi, already well-seasoned as a leader of kitchens run by and for the community, is growing Esalen’s commitment to share widely. As a disaster relief volunteer, a Burner, and a chef, she thrives under limitations and scarcity and knows how to whip up nutritious and tasty delights from the most basic ingredients, such as her heirloom curried squash soup created from this fall’s mega squash growth.
“Everybody should eat good food no matter who they are or where they are,” says Chef Abi. “When I can offer nourishment, I do my best to make that happen. And when there’s an overabundance like we had with squash, lemons, and greens, it’s important to share that wealth.”
Since nourishment as a basic human right is a shared value for Chef Abi and the creators of The Big Share — as well as a core component of Esalen forefather Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs — it is inevitable the partnership will continue to grow. As Chef Abi looks to the future, she’s excited by the myriad possibilities for the kitchen and the Farm & Garden to collaborate as the institute integrates more biodynamic farming practices. The vision for 2023, following the leadership of Esalen CEO Camille Allen Jeffries, is to sustainably and consistently replenish the land as part of a three-year, forward-looking plan. Chef Abi plans to increase the kitchen’s capacity and hopes for, well, just more cooking! To create an environment of constant evolution with a teaching and learning kitchen. In every Esalen kitchen recipe, compassion is an essential key ingredient, and that sentiment is sure to flourish under Chef Abi’s leadership.
The kitchen is now dreaming up special offerings for the winter holidays: all the classics and other homey familiar favorites sourced from the Farm & Garden that Chef Abi will share with the Big Sur community. (She’s already planning a traditional casserole with fresh green beans — currently growing on-campus! — and a lemon caper salmon dish for the festivities.)
So this holiday season, as you dream up, create, and share nourishing meals with family and friends, we invite you to think about all that is possible with a kind, compassionate kitchen and if you have one, your own home or community garden. Each morning you too can awaken and ask, What do I have to share today?
“Remembering to be as self compassionate as I can and praying to the divine that we're all a part of.”
–Aaron
“Prayer, reading, meditation, walking.”
–Karen
“Erratically — which is an ongoing stream of practice to find peace.”
–Charles
“Try on a daily basis to be kind to myself and to realize that making mistakes is a part of the human condition. Learning from our mistakes is a journey. But it starts with compassion and caring. First for oneself.”
–Steve
“Physically: aerobic exercise, volleyball, ice hockey, cycling, sailing. Emotionally: unfortunately I have to work to ‘not care’ about people or situations which may end painfully. Along the lines of ‘attachment is the source of suffering’, so best to avoid it or limit its scope. Sad though because it could also be the source of great joy. Is it worth the risk?“
–Rainer
“It's time for my heart to be nurtured on one level yet contained on another. To go easy on me and to allow my feelings to be validated, not judged harshly. On the other hand, to let the heart rule with equanimity and not lead the mind and body around like a master.”
–Suzanne
“I spend time thinking of everything I am grateful for, and I try to develop my ability to express compassion for myself and others without reservation. I take time to do the things I need to do to keep myself healthy and happy. This includes taking experiential workshops, fostering relationships, and participating within groups which have a similar interest to become a more compassionate and fulfilled being.“
–Peter
“Self-forgiveness for my own judgments. And oh yeah, coming to Esalen.”
–David B.
“Hmm, this is a tough one! I guess I take care of my heart through fostering relationships with people I feel connected to. Spending quality time with them (whether we're on the phone, through messages/letters, on Zoom, or in-person). Being there for them, listening to them, sharing what's going on with me, my struggles and my successes... like we do in the Esalen weekly Friends of Esalen Zoom sessions!”
–Lori
“I remind myself in many ways of the fact that " Love is all there is!" LOVE is the prize and this one precious life is the stage we get to learn our lessons. I get out into nature, hike, camp, river kayak, fly fish, garden, I create, I dance (not enough!), and I remain grateful for each day, each breath, each moment. Being in the moment, awake, and remembering the gift of life and my feeling of gratitude for all of creation.”
–Steven
“My physical heart by limiting stress and eating a heart-healthy diet. My emotional heart by staying in love with the world and by knowing that all disappointment and loss will pass.“
–David Z.
Today, September 29, is World Heart Day. Strike up a conversation with your own heart and as you feel comfortable, encourage others to do the same. As part of our own transformations and self-care, we sometimes ask for others to illuminate and enliven our hearts or speak our love language.
What if we could do this for ourselves too, even if just for today… or to start a heart practice, forever?
Lacy Omer is a former Community & Advancement Associate at Esalen. She lives in Big Sur with her partner, whom she met at Esalen. Lacy also teaches yoga and is exploring healing through various modalities.
For decades the Esalen kitchen has been a place for community gathering, a meeting place — an energy source where meals are prepared by and for the Esalen community. Like the baths heal the body and mind after each day of growth and transformation in workshop, those uniquely nourishing and soulful meals satiate minds, bodies, and spirits within the Esalen Lodge.
Over the years, the Esalen kitchen, and by extension the farm and garden, has broadened its reach and impact — cooking and sharing meals with the larger Big Sur community. Bringing part of the Esalen experience to those living along stretches of Highway 1 north and south of Esalen: the homes nestled into the mountains, tucked up windy dirt roads, and an hour’s drive from the closest major grocery store. This effort, in partnership with our fellow Big Sur neighbors, speaks to collective potentiality and a commitment to community.
Currently, our outreach provides fresh produce and from-scratch meals from our Farm & Garden to The Big Share. Starting in the spring of 2020 as a pandemic project, this organization distributes 3,500 lbs of fresh, local, sustainable produce weekly to more than 200 Big Sur families, creating a local, sustainable shared food culture. Esalen entered the mix during lockdown to share the bounty of the Esalen Farm & Garden and Esalen kitchen. And in April 2022, with chef de cuisine Abi Collomb heading the Esalen kitchen and Ana Gadban directing the institute operationally, we expanded and deepened our commitment to our neighbors beyond 55000 Highway 1.
In addition to fresh produce, Chef Abi’s kitchen donates and sends over 240 meals per week to the local community– repurposed from its original offerings to plates and bowls on nearby kitchen tables. Her personal ethos aligns beautifully with The Big Share’s inspiring goal of encouraging “a sharing culture in which the health and wellness of our community becomes sustainable.” While the Big Share is a community-created organization where founders Joseph and Helen present the actions of the collective as a daily mantra. “What if we woke up every day and asked: What do I have to share today? We believe there is an abundance to be shared right here, everyday, within our community.”
Chef Abi, already well-seasoned as a leader of kitchens run by and for the community, is growing Esalen’s commitment to share widely. As a disaster relief volunteer, a Burner, and a chef, she thrives under limitations and scarcity and knows how to whip up nutritious and tasty delights from the most basic ingredients, such as her heirloom curried squash soup created from this fall’s mega squash growth.
“Everybody should eat good food no matter who they are or where they are,” says Chef Abi. “When I can offer nourishment, I do my best to make that happen. And when there’s an overabundance like we had with squash, lemons, and greens, it’s important to share that wealth.”
Since nourishment as a basic human right is a shared value for Chef Abi and the creators of The Big Share — as well as a core component of Esalen forefather Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs — it is inevitable the partnership will continue to grow. As Chef Abi looks to the future, she’s excited by the myriad possibilities for the kitchen and the Farm & Garden to collaborate as the institute integrates more biodynamic farming practices. The vision for 2023, following the leadership of Esalen CEO Camille Allen Jeffries, is to sustainably and consistently replenish the land as part of a three-year, forward-looking plan. Chef Abi plans to increase the kitchen’s capacity and hopes for, well, just more cooking! To create an environment of constant evolution with a teaching and learning kitchen. In every Esalen kitchen recipe, compassion is an essential key ingredient, and that sentiment is sure to flourish under Chef Abi’s leadership.
The kitchen is now dreaming up special offerings for the winter holidays: all the classics and other homey familiar favorites sourced from the Farm & Garden that Chef Abi will share with the Big Sur community. (She’s already planning a traditional casserole with fresh green beans — currently growing on-campus! — and a lemon caper salmon dish for the festivities.)
So this holiday season, as you dream up, create, and share nourishing meals with family and friends, we invite you to think about all that is possible with a kind, compassionate kitchen and if you have one, your own home or community garden. Each morning you too can awaken and ask, What do I have to share today?
“Remembering to be as self compassionate as I can and praying to the divine that we're all a part of.”
–Aaron
“Prayer, reading, meditation, walking.”
–Karen
“Erratically — which is an ongoing stream of practice to find peace.”
–Charles
“Try on a daily basis to be kind to myself and to realize that making mistakes is a part of the human condition. Learning from our mistakes is a journey. But it starts with compassion and caring. First for oneself.”
–Steve
“Physically: aerobic exercise, volleyball, ice hockey, cycling, sailing. Emotionally: unfortunately I have to work to ‘not care’ about people or situations which may end painfully. Along the lines of ‘attachment is the source of suffering’, so best to avoid it or limit its scope. Sad though because it could also be the source of great joy. Is it worth the risk?“
–Rainer
“It's time for my heart to be nurtured on one level yet contained on another. To go easy on me and to allow my feelings to be validated, not judged harshly. On the other hand, to let the heart rule with equanimity and not lead the mind and body around like a master.”
–Suzanne
“I spend time thinking of everything I am grateful for, and I try to develop my ability to express compassion for myself and others without reservation. I take time to do the things I need to do to keep myself healthy and happy. This includes taking experiential workshops, fostering relationships, and participating within groups which have a similar interest to become a more compassionate and fulfilled being.“
–Peter
“Self-forgiveness for my own judgments. And oh yeah, coming to Esalen.”
–David B.
“Hmm, this is a tough one! I guess I take care of my heart through fostering relationships with people I feel connected to. Spending quality time with them (whether we're on the phone, through messages/letters, on Zoom, or in-person). Being there for them, listening to them, sharing what's going on with me, my struggles and my successes... like we do in the Esalen weekly Friends of Esalen Zoom sessions!”
–Lori
“I remind myself in many ways of the fact that " Love is all there is!" LOVE is the prize and this one precious life is the stage we get to learn our lessons. I get out into nature, hike, camp, river kayak, fly fish, garden, I create, I dance (not enough!), and I remain grateful for each day, each breath, each moment. Being in the moment, awake, and remembering the gift of life and my feeling of gratitude for all of creation.”
–Steven
“My physical heart by limiting stress and eating a heart-healthy diet. My emotional heart by staying in love with the world and by knowing that all disappointment and loss will pass.“
–David Z.
Today, September 29, is World Heart Day. Strike up a conversation with your own heart and as you feel comfortable, encourage others to do the same. As part of our own transformations and self-care, we sometimes ask for others to illuminate and enliven our hearts or speak our love language.
What if we could do this for ourselves too, even if just for today… or to start a heart practice, forever?
Lacy Omer is a former Community & Advancement Associate at Esalen. She lives in Big Sur with her partner, whom she met at Esalen. Lacy also teaches yoga and is exploring healing through various modalities.
For decades the Esalen kitchen has been a place for community gathering, a meeting place — an energy source where meals are prepared by and for the Esalen community. Like the baths heal the body and mind after each day of growth and transformation in workshop, those uniquely nourishing and soulful meals satiate minds, bodies, and spirits within the Esalen Lodge.
Over the years, the Esalen kitchen, and by extension the farm and garden, has broadened its reach and impact — cooking and sharing meals with the larger Big Sur community. Bringing part of the Esalen experience to those living along stretches of Highway 1 north and south of Esalen: the homes nestled into the mountains, tucked up windy dirt roads, and an hour’s drive from the closest major grocery store. This effort, in partnership with our fellow Big Sur neighbors, speaks to collective potentiality and a commitment to community.
Currently, our outreach provides fresh produce and from-scratch meals from our Farm & Garden to The Big Share. Starting in the spring of 2020 as a pandemic project, this organization distributes 3,500 lbs of fresh, local, sustainable produce weekly to more than 200 Big Sur families, creating a local, sustainable shared food culture. Esalen entered the mix during lockdown to share the bounty of the Esalen Farm & Garden and Esalen kitchen. And in April 2022, with chef de cuisine Abi Collomb heading the Esalen kitchen and Ana Gadban directing the institute operationally, we expanded and deepened our commitment to our neighbors beyond 55000 Highway 1.
In addition to fresh produce, Chef Abi’s kitchen donates and sends over 240 meals per week to the local community– repurposed from its original offerings to plates and bowls on nearby kitchen tables. Her personal ethos aligns beautifully with The Big Share’s inspiring goal of encouraging “a sharing culture in which the health and wellness of our community becomes sustainable.” While the Big Share is a community-created organization where founders Joseph and Helen present the actions of the collective as a daily mantra. “What if we woke up every day and asked: What do I have to share today? We believe there is an abundance to be shared right here, everyday, within our community.”
Chef Abi, already well-seasoned as a leader of kitchens run by and for the community, is growing Esalen’s commitment to share widely. As a disaster relief volunteer, a Burner, and a chef, she thrives under limitations and scarcity and knows how to whip up nutritious and tasty delights from the most basic ingredients, such as her heirloom curried squash soup created from this fall’s mega squash growth.
“Everybody should eat good food no matter who they are or where they are,” says Chef Abi. “When I can offer nourishment, I do my best to make that happen. And when there’s an overabundance like we had with squash, lemons, and greens, it’s important to share that wealth.”
Since nourishment as a basic human right is a shared value for Chef Abi and the creators of The Big Share — as well as a core component of Esalen forefather Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs — it is inevitable the partnership will continue to grow. As Chef Abi looks to the future, she’s excited by the myriad possibilities for the kitchen and the Farm & Garden to collaborate as the institute integrates more biodynamic farming practices. The vision for 2023, following the leadership of Esalen CEO Camille Allen Jeffries, is to sustainably and consistently replenish the land as part of a three-year, forward-looking plan. Chef Abi plans to increase the kitchen’s capacity and hopes for, well, just more cooking! To create an environment of constant evolution with a teaching and learning kitchen. In every Esalen kitchen recipe, compassion is an essential key ingredient, and that sentiment is sure to flourish under Chef Abi’s leadership.
The kitchen is now dreaming up special offerings for the winter holidays: all the classics and other homey familiar favorites sourced from the Farm & Garden that Chef Abi will share with the Big Sur community. (She’s already planning a traditional casserole with fresh green beans — currently growing on-campus! — and a lemon caper salmon dish for the festivities.)
So this holiday season, as you dream up, create, and share nourishing meals with family and friends, we invite you to think about all that is possible with a kind, compassionate kitchen and if you have one, your own home or community garden. Each morning you too can awaken and ask, What do I have to share today?
“Remembering to be as self compassionate as I can and praying to the divine that we're all a part of.”
–Aaron
“Prayer, reading, meditation, walking.”
–Karen
“Erratically — which is an ongoing stream of practice to find peace.”
–Charles
“Try on a daily basis to be kind to myself and to realize that making mistakes is a part of the human condition. Learning from our mistakes is a journey. But it starts with compassion and caring. First for oneself.”
–Steve
“Physically: aerobic exercise, volleyball, ice hockey, cycling, sailing. Emotionally: unfortunately I have to work to ‘not care’ about people or situations which may end painfully. Along the lines of ‘attachment is the source of suffering’, so best to avoid it or limit its scope. Sad though because it could also be the source of great joy. Is it worth the risk?“
–Rainer
“It's time for my heart to be nurtured on one level yet contained on another. To go easy on me and to allow my feelings to be validated, not judged harshly. On the other hand, to let the heart rule with equanimity and not lead the mind and body around like a master.”
–Suzanne
“I spend time thinking of everything I am grateful for, and I try to develop my ability to express compassion for myself and others without reservation. I take time to do the things I need to do to keep myself healthy and happy. This includes taking experiential workshops, fostering relationships, and participating within groups which have a similar interest to become a more compassionate and fulfilled being.“
–Peter
“Self-forgiveness for my own judgments. And oh yeah, coming to Esalen.”
–David B.
“Hmm, this is a tough one! I guess I take care of my heart through fostering relationships with people I feel connected to. Spending quality time with them (whether we're on the phone, through messages/letters, on Zoom, or in-person). Being there for them, listening to them, sharing what's going on with me, my struggles and my successes... like we do in the Esalen weekly Friends of Esalen Zoom sessions!”
–Lori
“I remind myself in many ways of the fact that " Love is all there is!" LOVE is the prize and this one precious life is the stage we get to learn our lessons. I get out into nature, hike, camp, river kayak, fly fish, garden, I create, I dance (not enough!), and I remain grateful for each day, each breath, each moment. Being in the moment, awake, and remembering the gift of life and my feeling of gratitude for all of creation.”
–Steven
“My physical heart by limiting stress and eating a heart-healthy diet. My emotional heart by staying in love with the world and by knowing that all disappointment and loss will pass.“
–David Z.
Today, September 29, is World Heart Day. Strike up a conversation with your own heart and as you feel comfortable, encourage others to do the same. As part of our own transformations and self-care, we sometimes ask for others to illuminate and enliven our hearts or speak our love language.
What if we could do this for ourselves too, even if just for today… or to start a heart practice, forever?
Lacy Omer is a former Community & Advancement Associate at Esalen. She lives in Big Sur with her partner, whom she met at Esalen. Lacy also teaches yoga and is exploring healing through various modalities.
Esalen Institute
55000 Highway 1
Big Sur, CA 93920
US: 1-831-667-3000
info@esalen.org
