Inspired by 20th-century French writer Marcel Proust, we here at Esalen have created our own version of his favorite parlor game to dig just a little deeper — and differently — into our incredible faculty and staff.
To celebrate Pride Month, we’re getting to know Udim Isang and Adam Clark, leaders of this summer’s Queer Liberation: Setting Your Inner Child Free Through Creative Expression. The pair share thoughts about their groundbreaking new workshop, being “pro-selfishness,” tolerance, healing through expression, their favorite mutant superhero, and much more. Read on to find out why authenticity—“every damn day! Even when it’s hard” — is critical to Udim’s happiness and how a month at Esalen (“a divine alignment reset”) changed Adam’s life: “I moved across the country, changed my career, and never looked back.”
What is Esalen to you?
Adam Clark: Esalen is my sacred refuge. Esalen is where my ego evaporates, my authenticity evolves, and my spirit elevates through divine encounters.
Udim Isang: Esalen is a mirror. Quite honestly, it's a space that I didn't know existed because it's not heard about in my communities. Esalen is an example of what an educational healing space looks like.
What do you do/are you doing at Esalen?
AC: First a student, then an assistant, and now a workshop facilitator. In August, I will be co-leading a week-long workshop on queer liberation, a first of its kind at Esalen.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
AC: Peace. There are moments in my transcendental meditations when I veer from the distraction of thought to the spaciousness of mantra, and I recognize the rewiring of my brain; my lungs fill with air, my nervous system experiences relief and I remember that everything I need is already within me.
UI: Being authentically free and me, every damn day! Even when it's hard. Even when I want to give up. When someone says they feel empowered to be themselves because they see me doing the same equals pure happiness.
What is your greatest fear in your work?
AC: I am often reminded that as a teacher, I don’t need to know everything. The experience of learning is more expansive with spaciousness. Creating space for divine unfolding supports the teacher becoming the student and the student becoming the teacher.
Which living or dead person do you most admire in your field?
AC: Desmond Tutu, who left his physical body in 2021. Beyond his role in dismantling apartheid, he was an outspoken advocate for the dignity and equality of LGBTQ individuals, highlighting the intersection of human rights and love. His conviction against homophobia, grounded in his faith and commitment to justice, inspired many within religion and beyond to embrace a more inclusive understanding of human rights.
UI: Snoop Dogg (my baby daddy)! He is so swaggy, and I admire how he embodies Abasi (God) by using his many talents!
What is your current state of mind?
UI: I am imperfectly perfect. I am always where I need to be, when I need to be there. I will meet who I need to meet, see who I need to see.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
AC: The efficacy of a virtue is subjective. For me, tolerance can be disempowering. Universally, I recognize that the morality societies assign to virtues is most overrated.
UI: Selflessness. I am pro-selfishness. If everyone exercised their agency and prioritized themselves, this isong (earth) would be so much better.
What is the quality you most like in a human?
AC: Relativism.
UI: Our neuroplasticity.
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
AC: My inner child. When I challenge myself to explore discomfort, my inner child shows up in my brightest form and surprises me in ways that remind me how unique I am. I fall more and more in love with the person I am as I explore my curiosity with acceptance.
What about your work brings you the most happiness?
AC: Creating sacred containers for myself and others to heal through expression brings me the most happiness.
Which talent would you most like to have?
AC: I would enjoy speaking more languages fluently. I have been in situations where I recognized there were opportunities for greater intimacy if I had spoken the language of the environment.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
AC: Each time I rewrite my story, by not repeating a generational cycle of trauma that previously manifested through me, I feel a deep sense of achievement.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
AC: I have been pondering this question lately. I hope to have many more years of life to explore my heart's desires, and if, for some reason, my dream to be a father does not come to fruition in this life, I hope to come back as a beloved mother of children.
What would living at Esalen for a month be like for you?
AC: Having done this before, I can attest that living at Esalen for a month is a divine alignment reset. During my first month at Esalen, I remember being told not to make drastic changes immediately after returning to our lives. I took that to heart and also appreciated that my downloads while at Esalen only solidified over time. Within the year following my month, I moved across the country, changed my career, and never looked back.
What is your most treasured possession?
AC: Autonomy.
UI: My memories. They tell the story of my journey.
How do you maintain your practice(s) during challenging times?
AC: Life has a way of directing me into alignment when things become challenging and my wellness takes a hit. When this happens, I am quick to make it known to the people who rely on me that space is needed to ground and clear myself. Sometimes, it can be as easy as getting out of bed the next day when I feel ready to or as deep as screaming in my car to release the tension in my nervous system. I often find relief during challenging times from witnessing a stranger’s grace through their beauty or empathy. Putting down my walls and opening myself to receive in times of challenge can have a powerful impact on my growth. Once I experience relief from the challenge, I have greater hope and faith to rededicate myself to my regular wellness practices.
What is your favorite component of your work?
AC: Service. I am greatly fulfilled when something that is very natural to me serves the highest good of another and others. An example of this is my adversity. There is great power in the wisdom of experience in our testimonies. Often, testimony alone can change the trajectory of someone's life, whether through feeling seen in relation to experience or by spreading valuable tools for recovery and resilience that had yet to be known. Being of service to the greater good of my environment is the purpose that sustains my well-being and motivates me to expand.
What is your most marked characteristic?
AC: From what I observe, my empathy leaves a mark. I think empathy and intuition are closely related, and the ability to recognize the needs of others without them having to articulate their needs creates sacred opportunities to offer direct and indirect support. When we authentically answer the voice within us to love others, the potential for collective rejuvenation is limitless.
Who are your inspirations?
AC: I am inspired by anyone who pursues a life of liberation. It can take courage, faith, humility, forgiveness, and perceived risk to step out of a life learned into a life of alignment, and witnessing these acts lived out inspires me to continue challenging myself to surrender and accept my own limitlessness.
UI: Snoop Dogg. Miya Bailey. My parents. My grandma. A plethora of Black women (e.g., Portia Richardson, Candice Napper, Tonetta Landis-Aina) doing their thing, who inspire me to keep doing my thing!
Who is your hero of fiction?
UI: Storm from the X-Men.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
UI: Jesus.
What is your greatest regret?
AC: I do not have a regret. However, I do honor that there are periods of my life when, if I had access to the information that I have now, I may have made decisions with fewer emotional and spiritual consequences.
How would you like to die?
AC: In the ecstatic dance community, when it is someone’s birthday, there is something called an angel lift. One person lays flat on the floor, and everyone in the room places a hand under their body and slowly lifts them as high as they can go up into the air while sending the person well wishes. I would choose for my last breath to be when I reach the highest point of an angel lift, supported by anyone aligned to be in that space at that point in time.
What is your motto?
AC: “The best is yet to come.” Occasionally, when I say this, I also accept gratitude for the magnitude of power in the present moment and my desire for peace for what is. However, this motto continues to resonate with me and the great love, light, and adventure ahead in this life and my next.
“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?
Inspired by 20th-century French writer Marcel Proust, we here at Esalen have created our own version of his favorite parlor game to dig just a little deeper — and differently — into our incredible faculty and staff.
To celebrate Pride Month, we’re getting to know Udim Isang and Adam Clark, leaders of this summer’s Queer Liberation: Setting Your Inner Child Free Through Creative Expression. The pair share thoughts about their groundbreaking new workshop, being “pro-selfishness,” tolerance, healing through expression, their favorite mutant superhero, and much more. Read on to find out why authenticity—“every damn day! Even when it’s hard” — is critical to Udim’s happiness and how a month at Esalen (“a divine alignment reset”) changed Adam’s life: “I moved across the country, changed my career, and never looked back.”
What is Esalen to you?
Adam Clark: Esalen is my sacred refuge. Esalen is where my ego evaporates, my authenticity evolves, and my spirit elevates through divine encounters.
Udim Isang: Esalen is a mirror. Quite honestly, it's a space that I didn't know existed because it's not heard about in my communities. Esalen is an example of what an educational healing space looks like.
What do you do/are you doing at Esalen?
AC: First a student, then an assistant, and now a workshop facilitator. In August, I will be co-leading a week-long workshop on queer liberation, a first of its kind at Esalen.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
AC: Peace. There are moments in my transcendental meditations when I veer from the distraction of thought to the spaciousness of mantra, and I recognize the rewiring of my brain; my lungs fill with air, my nervous system experiences relief and I remember that everything I need is already within me.
UI: Being authentically free and me, every damn day! Even when it's hard. Even when I want to give up. When someone says they feel empowered to be themselves because they see me doing the same equals pure happiness.
What is your greatest fear in your work?
AC: I am often reminded that as a teacher, I don’t need to know everything. The experience of learning is more expansive with spaciousness. Creating space for divine unfolding supports the teacher becoming the student and the student becoming the teacher.
Which living or dead person do you most admire in your field?
AC: Desmond Tutu, who left his physical body in 2021. Beyond his role in dismantling apartheid, he was an outspoken advocate for the dignity and equality of LGBTQ individuals, highlighting the intersection of human rights and love. His conviction against homophobia, grounded in his faith and commitment to justice, inspired many within religion and beyond to embrace a more inclusive understanding of human rights.
UI: Snoop Dogg (my baby daddy)! He is so swaggy, and I admire how he embodies Abasi (God) by using his many talents!
What is your current state of mind?
UI: I am imperfectly perfect. I am always where I need to be, when I need to be there. I will meet who I need to meet, see who I need to see.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
AC: The efficacy of a virtue is subjective. For me, tolerance can be disempowering. Universally, I recognize that the morality societies assign to virtues is most overrated.
UI: Selflessness. I am pro-selfishness. If everyone exercised their agency and prioritized themselves, this isong (earth) would be so much better.
What is the quality you most like in a human?
AC: Relativism.
UI: Our neuroplasticity.
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
AC: My inner child. When I challenge myself to explore discomfort, my inner child shows up in my brightest form and surprises me in ways that remind me how unique I am. I fall more and more in love with the person I am as I explore my curiosity with acceptance.
What about your work brings you the most happiness?
AC: Creating sacred containers for myself and others to heal through expression brings me the most happiness.
Which talent would you most like to have?
AC: I would enjoy speaking more languages fluently. I have been in situations where I recognized there were opportunities for greater intimacy if I had spoken the language of the environment.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
AC: Each time I rewrite my story, by not repeating a generational cycle of trauma that previously manifested through me, I feel a deep sense of achievement.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
AC: I have been pondering this question lately. I hope to have many more years of life to explore my heart's desires, and if, for some reason, my dream to be a father does not come to fruition in this life, I hope to come back as a beloved mother of children.
What would living at Esalen for a month be like for you?
AC: Having done this before, I can attest that living at Esalen for a month is a divine alignment reset. During my first month at Esalen, I remember being told not to make drastic changes immediately after returning to our lives. I took that to heart and also appreciated that my downloads while at Esalen only solidified over time. Within the year following my month, I moved across the country, changed my career, and never looked back.
What is your most treasured possession?
AC: Autonomy.
UI: My memories. They tell the story of my journey.
How do you maintain your practice(s) during challenging times?
AC: Life has a way of directing me into alignment when things become challenging and my wellness takes a hit. When this happens, I am quick to make it known to the people who rely on me that space is needed to ground and clear myself. Sometimes, it can be as easy as getting out of bed the next day when I feel ready to or as deep as screaming in my car to release the tension in my nervous system. I often find relief during challenging times from witnessing a stranger’s grace through their beauty or empathy. Putting down my walls and opening myself to receive in times of challenge can have a powerful impact on my growth. Once I experience relief from the challenge, I have greater hope and faith to rededicate myself to my regular wellness practices.
What is your favorite component of your work?
AC: Service. I am greatly fulfilled when something that is very natural to me serves the highest good of another and others. An example of this is my adversity. There is great power in the wisdom of experience in our testimonies. Often, testimony alone can change the trajectory of someone's life, whether through feeling seen in relation to experience or by spreading valuable tools for recovery and resilience that had yet to be known. Being of service to the greater good of my environment is the purpose that sustains my well-being and motivates me to expand.
What is your most marked characteristic?
AC: From what I observe, my empathy leaves a mark. I think empathy and intuition are closely related, and the ability to recognize the needs of others without them having to articulate their needs creates sacred opportunities to offer direct and indirect support. When we authentically answer the voice within us to love others, the potential for collective rejuvenation is limitless.
Who are your inspirations?
AC: I am inspired by anyone who pursues a life of liberation. It can take courage, faith, humility, forgiveness, and perceived risk to step out of a life learned into a life of alignment, and witnessing these acts lived out inspires me to continue challenging myself to surrender and accept my own limitlessness.
UI: Snoop Dogg. Miya Bailey. My parents. My grandma. A plethora of Black women (e.g., Portia Richardson, Candice Napper, Tonetta Landis-Aina) doing their thing, who inspire me to keep doing my thing!
Who is your hero of fiction?
UI: Storm from the X-Men.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
UI: Jesus.
What is your greatest regret?
AC: I do not have a regret. However, I do honor that there are periods of my life when, if I had access to the information that I have now, I may have made decisions with fewer emotional and spiritual consequences.
How would you like to die?
AC: In the ecstatic dance community, when it is someone’s birthday, there is something called an angel lift. One person lays flat on the floor, and everyone in the room places a hand under their body and slowly lifts them as high as they can go up into the air while sending the person well wishes. I would choose for my last breath to be when I reach the highest point of an angel lift, supported by anyone aligned to be in that space at that point in time.
What is your motto?
AC: “The best is yet to come.” Occasionally, when I say this, I also accept gratitude for the magnitude of power in the present moment and my desire for peace for what is. However, this motto continues to resonate with me and the great love, light, and adventure ahead in this life and my next.
“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?
Inspired by 20th-century French writer Marcel Proust, we here at Esalen have created our own version of his favorite parlor game to dig just a little deeper — and differently — into our incredible faculty and staff.
To celebrate Pride Month, we’re getting to know Udim Isang and Adam Clark, leaders of this summer’s Queer Liberation: Setting Your Inner Child Free Through Creative Expression. The pair share thoughts about their groundbreaking new workshop, being “pro-selfishness,” tolerance, healing through expression, their favorite mutant superhero, and much more. Read on to find out why authenticity—“every damn day! Even when it’s hard” — is critical to Udim’s happiness and how a month at Esalen (“a divine alignment reset”) changed Adam’s life: “I moved across the country, changed my career, and never looked back.”
What is Esalen to you?
Adam Clark: Esalen is my sacred refuge. Esalen is where my ego evaporates, my authenticity evolves, and my spirit elevates through divine encounters.
Udim Isang: Esalen is a mirror. Quite honestly, it's a space that I didn't know existed because it's not heard about in my communities. Esalen is an example of what an educational healing space looks like.
What do you do/are you doing at Esalen?
AC: First a student, then an assistant, and now a workshop facilitator. In August, I will be co-leading a week-long workshop on queer liberation, a first of its kind at Esalen.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
AC: Peace. There are moments in my transcendental meditations when I veer from the distraction of thought to the spaciousness of mantra, and I recognize the rewiring of my brain; my lungs fill with air, my nervous system experiences relief and I remember that everything I need is already within me.
UI: Being authentically free and me, every damn day! Even when it's hard. Even when I want to give up. When someone says they feel empowered to be themselves because they see me doing the same equals pure happiness.
What is your greatest fear in your work?
AC: I am often reminded that as a teacher, I don’t need to know everything. The experience of learning is more expansive with spaciousness. Creating space for divine unfolding supports the teacher becoming the student and the student becoming the teacher.
Which living or dead person do you most admire in your field?
AC: Desmond Tutu, who left his physical body in 2021. Beyond his role in dismantling apartheid, he was an outspoken advocate for the dignity and equality of LGBTQ individuals, highlighting the intersection of human rights and love. His conviction against homophobia, grounded in his faith and commitment to justice, inspired many within religion and beyond to embrace a more inclusive understanding of human rights.
UI: Snoop Dogg (my baby daddy)! He is so swaggy, and I admire how he embodies Abasi (God) by using his many talents!
What is your current state of mind?
UI: I am imperfectly perfect. I am always where I need to be, when I need to be there. I will meet who I need to meet, see who I need to see.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
AC: The efficacy of a virtue is subjective. For me, tolerance can be disempowering. Universally, I recognize that the morality societies assign to virtues is most overrated.
UI: Selflessness. I am pro-selfishness. If everyone exercised their agency and prioritized themselves, this isong (earth) would be so much better.
What is the quality you most like in a human?
AC: Relativism.
UI: Our neuroplasticity.
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
AC: My inner child. When I challenge myself to explore discomfort, my inner child shows up in my brightest form and surprises me in ways that remind me how unique I am. I fall more and more in love with the person I am as I explore my curiosity with acceptance.
What about your work brings you the most happiness?
AC: Creating sacred containers for myself and others to heal through expression brings me the most happiness.
Which talent would you most like to have?
AC: I would enjoy speaking more languages fluently. I have been in situations where I recognized there were opportunities for greater intimacy if I had spoken the language of the environment.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
AC: Each time I rewrite my story, by not repeating a generational cycle of trauma that previously manifested through me, I feel a deep sense of achievement.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
AC: I have been pondering this question lately. I hope to have many more years of life to explore my heart's desires, and if, for some reason, my dream to be a father does not come to fruition in this life, I hope to come back as a beloved mother of children.
What would living at Esalen for a month be like for you?
AC: Having done this before, I can attest that living at Esalen for a month is a divine alignment reset. During my first month at Esalen, I remember being told not to make drastic changes immediately after returning to our lives. I took that to heart and also appreciated that my downloads while at Esalen only solidified over time. Within the year following my month, I moved across the country, changed my career, and never looked back.
What is your most treasured possession?
AC: Autonomy.
UI: My memories. They tell the story of my journey.
How do you maintain your practice(s) during challenging times?
AC: Life has a way of directing me into alignment when things become challenging and my wellness takes a hit. When this happens, I am quick to make it known to the people who rely on me that space is needed to ground and clear myself. Sometimes, it can be as easy as getting out of bed the next day when I feel ready to or as deep as screaming in my car to release the tension in my nervous system. I often find relief during challenging times from witnessing a stranger’s grace through their beauty or empathy. Putting down my walls and opening myself to receive in times of challenge can have a powerful impact on my growth. Once I experience relief from the challenge, I have greater hope and faith to rededicate myself to my regular wellness practices.
What is your favorite component of your work?
AC: Service. I am greatly fulfilled when something that is very natural to me serves the highest good of another and others. An example of this is my adversity. There is great power in the wisdom of experience in our testimonies. Often, testimony alone can change the trajectory of someone's life, whether through feeling seen in relation to experience or by spreading valuable tools for recovery and resilience that had yet to be known. Being of service to the greater good of my environment is the purpose that sustains my well-being and motivates me to expand.
What is your most marked characteristic?
AC: From what I observe, my empathy leaves a mark. I think empathy and intuition are closely related, and the ability to recognize the needs of others without them having to articulate their needs creates sacred opportunities to offer direct and indirect support. When we authentically answer the voice within us to love others, the potential for collective rejuvenation is limitless.
Who are your inspirations?
AC: I am inspired by anyone who pursues a life of liberation. It can take courage, faith, humility, forgiveness, and perceived risk to step out of a life learned into a life of alignment, and witnessing these acts lived out inspires me to continue challenging myself to surrender and accept my own limitlessness.
UI: Snoop Dogg. Miya Bailey. My parents. My grandma. A plethora of Black women (e.g., Portia Richardson, Candice Napper, Tonetta Landis-Aina) doing their thing, who inspire me to keep doing my thing!
Who is your hero of fiction?
UI: Storm from the X-Men.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
UI: Jesus.
What is your greatest regret?
AC: I do not have a regret. However, I do honor that there are periods of my life when, if I had access to the information that I have now, I may have made decisions with fewer emotional and spiritual consequences.
How would you like to die?
AC: In the ecstatic dance community, when it is someone’s birthday, there is something called an angel lift. One person lays flat on the floor, and everyone in the room places a hand under their body and slowly lifts them as high as they can go up into the air while sending the person well wishes. I would choose for my last breath to be when I reach the highest point of an angel lift, supported by anyone aligned to be in that space at that point in time.
What is your motto?
AC: “The best is yet to come.” Occasionally, when I say this, I also accept gratitude for the magnitude of power in the present moment and my desire for peace for what is. However, this motto continues to resonate with me and the great love, light, and adventure ahead in this life and my next.
“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?
Esalen Institute
55000 Highway 1
Big Sur, CA 93920
US: 1-831-667-3000
info@esalen.org
