The Esalen Journal

Esalen-born author and educator Jasmine Star Horan shares her thoughts on Gestalt, the Gazebo Learning Project, looking past the good guy/bad guy model, and following the words of Baba Hari Das: “Work honestly, meditate every day, meet people without fear, and play.”

Tom “Little Bear” Nason, Tribal Chairman of the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County, takes us back to a moment in time when arriving at Esalen was like entering a tribal village.

Janne Larsen guides fellow seekers in cultivating intimate bonds with the diverse flora thriving across the Esalen campus — and honors them through art. “Communing with plants, finding those elusive pigments and seeing what gifts they have gives me so much joy,” says Janne. “Finding that joy is so essential to living life as an artist.”

Systemic coach Zita Tulyahikayo has trust and faith these days: "There is so much potential ripening beneath what some might see as terrible times." As an experienced transgenerational healing, hypnotherapy, and storytelling facilitator, she draws exercises from Systemic Constellations and the Orders of Love to lead her workshops. Here, Zita shares her heroes ("my parents"), her joys, and a perfect image of bliss: "Heart openings under a clear lavender blue sky."

Born and raised at Esalen, Lucia Horan received lifelong direct training with Gabrielle Roth in the 5Rhythms® moving meditation practice. With mastery in the fields of somatic meditation and dance, she teaches skills and strategies that help her students become better emotional and physical athletes of life. Here, she shares her thoughts on authenticity, love, and the ever-evolving, holy nature of the dance: “It never gets old. It is always inspirational.”

Kimberly Lee wants to help you harness the magic of images, imagination, and intuition using clippings, scissors, and glue: “One of my favorite ways to decompress is to turn on some chill music and sit with a stack of magazines to tear striking images for use in collages.” The writer and creativity coach tells us about starting her mornings with a “glow up,” why this is a time for resilience, and how she’d conduct her orchestra — “while wearing a great dress!” 

Esalen has always been a place where unlikely things come together — where boundaries blur, where ancient wisdom meets modern inquiry, where the edges of what we think we know dissolve into something richer, wilder, and more alive. It’s a place built for experimentation, for transformation, for the kind of creative collisions that leave you altered. And that’s exactly what’s happening here: a pop icon and a Carnatic virtuoso, two seemingly divergent worlds, fusing into something unexpected. It’s music as medicine, music as reinvention. It’s also a story about homecoming — the way Esalen has a way of calling people back to themselves.

Gather your family and loved ones around the dining room table for the delicious flavors of Esalen made right in your own home! We asked sous chef D3 for step-by-step instructions to make an Esalen favorite that happens to be the ultimate comfort food.

Our first female general manager on her friendship with Fritz Perls and ushering in her brand of equality: “I realized how much power men seemed to have. Or, more accurately, how much of my own power I had been giving away. I learned to tap into my own power and speak up without hesitation.” Beverly Silverman takes us back to Esalen’s early days for a story of personal discovery and growth.

Restoring the divine feminine brings us back into harmony with ourselves and one another. It places collaboration, nurturing, and creativity at the center of our lives. In anticipation of her spring workshop, Embracing the Divine Feminine, Elizabeth Philipose shares thoughts on how to awaken the compassion, wisdom, and strength needed to heal and liberate humanity.

Our March slate of workshops is packed with brilliant opportunities for growth, resolution, self-reflection, and emotional connection. Since we can’t partake in them all, we’re enjoying recommended reads by (and suggested by) workshop leaders to absorb some knowledge from the page as the next best thing.

There’s a new feature recently installed on campus designed for you to engage with nature under a canopy of redwood branches. Next time you’re with us, climb on and gaze up at the world above.

Daniel Gloyd shares his thoughts on fatherhood, Andy Warhol, and how Mr. Fred Rogers incorporated belonging and trust into his beloved neighborhood. The designer and research expert talks about the causal relationship between inspiration and creativity, along with the concept of warmth as an essential principle of connection: “We need it now more than ever.”

Hawah Kasat on why nature is his greatest love and what makes witnessing transformation “pure joy.” The celebrated teacher, author, and documentary filmmaker imagines the mind of a jellyfish, considers the language of music, and explains that returning to ritual and community during challenging times is more than a solitary act: “[It’s] something woven into the people and spaces that support me.”

A self-described "introverted plant person" follows his guiding light to the Esalen Farm & Garden. "From my first day as a volunteer walking through the garden, I knew I wanted to work there more than anything." James House, farm and garden lead, shares his Esalen story with enthusiasm and deep affection for the natural wonders he feels privileged to experience.

In anticipation of her upcoming workshop, Embodying Joy: Black Wisdom Traditions of Liberation and Healing, Buddhist mental health therapist, clinical educator, and professor of social work Kamilah Majied shares about her work, achievements, and current state of mind: “Joyfully determined to advance justice.” To that end, the author of Joyfully Just shares personal heroes (both in life and fiction), mantras, and more — including one inspiring quote from Sojourner Truth about “going home.”

Better communication makes for a better sex life which in turn helps to calm the mind and nourish the body and soul. Check out this batch of workshops for "when you get that feeling," designed to help you feel oh-so-fine — both with a partner and without.

For those missing the culinary comforts at the Lodge, here are step-by-step instructions to enjoy a gastronomically delightful Esalen lunch.

To welcome in the new year, we recommend reads on embodied practices to connect to your authentic self, contemplative wisdoms to battle injustice, and the secrets to long-lasting love. To build community and grow together, we can strive to make all the chapters of our own stories full, with equal parts honesty and humor.

Explore a landscape of human possibility beyond the traditional frameworks with our transformative 2025 workshops! As we launch into the new year, we are dissolving familiar categories and conventions — and we invite you to join this intentional journey of discovery.

Cultural sociologist and Gomti River ceremonialist Roksana Badruddoja tells us about connecting to hir (pronoun of choice) ancestors through ritual, drawing strength from decolonial feminist teachings, and remembering that “spirituality is an act of resistance and reclamation.” 

Check out some "on-growing" projects the Farm & Garden cultivated last year and learn about how these sustainability and regenerative practices planted the seeds for what we anticipate will be an abundant 2025.

"Here, I was allowed to break open, reframe, and begin again," said Ariv. As our last LEEP cohort of 2024 concluded their four weeks of healing, growing and transforming we asked a few seekers to share their experience. While this program takes a pause in 2025, we share the moving testimonials that articulate the intimate journey this life-changing extended stay offers.

“I love conflict. It's where the truth is.” Josef London, Esalen’s current safety manager and beloved longtime resident, tells us about his three-plus decades (and counting) on campus, including an epic love story that began on his very first day: “I'm a very lucky man. I just saw her, and I fell in love with her immediately.”

International speaker and award-winning author Mirabai Starr shares some real-life heroes, explains how she maintains her practice with a weekly Sabbath, and talks about bringing together those who have experienced great loss: “...the fragrance of the sacred fills the broken-open heart and connects us with unexplainable beauty, even joy.”

“I am proud of so many things here,” says Head of Farm & Garden Candice Isphording, who shares her excitement for full-circle compositing, seasons to come, and the healing power of the land. “It gives so much beauty, nourishment, medicine, but it also holds me and accepts me however I show up.”

Perry and Johanna Holloman, intimate partners and friends for over three decades, open up about their current state of being and what it’s like to teach at "the most beautiful retreat center on earth."

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 for some non-denominational holiday yum. “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.

In shaping the workshop calendar, we ask ourselves, what does the American countercultural movement look like in 2025? Who is midwifing that which our society is ready to birth? What topics and teachers does the human potential movement beckon in now? What alchemical experiments are underway, transforming and transmuting individuals, communities, societies, and beyond?

We pop into the Bookstore to learn what inspires Merchandising Manager Heather Martin as she curates the Esalen swag “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 books to help us discover, calm, expand, and reach our centennial birthdays. This quintet of titles by workshop leaders, wellness giants, cutting-edge philosophers, and intrepid explorers will inspire you to transform inside and out through some 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 of Angels and Aliens and The UFO Paradox tells us how he went from being a senatorial staffer to helping to coordinate a series of annual think tank-style conferences packed with new intellectual and spiritual energies.

Danny Angelo Fluker, Jr, the founder of Black Boys OM, talks on expansiveness, sadhana, and why participating with Black American culture “through the unique lens of mind-body-spirit health” brings him the most happiness. The meditation and yoga instructor reveals some personal heroes, reminds us that the divine is all there is, and shares the very best personal motto we’ve ever heard.

Traditional African cosmologist, independent scholar, and multimedia artist Marques Redd tells us about the film that emerged from his spiritual practice and the African healer who wrote his “touchstone” book. With a sense of expansive appreciation, Marques shares a few of his heroes, both historical and literary, and reveals a powerful lesson for persevering through difficult times by “remembering my divine identity and who I truly am.”

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.

Michael Murphy completes his 94th turn around the sun today. Over many decades, Eslen’s co-founder has established himself as a leading voice in the evolving fields of human potential and consciousness studies, and he’s still working today. Find out what Michael is working on now!

Michael Murphy, who will celebrate his 94th on September 3, 2024, shares tales of the Institute’s earliest days — the “bohemian gathering place” he created with Dick Price. It’s the Esalen origin story only Esalen’s co-founder could tell, complete with genius ideas, psychedelics, and legendary figures such as Aldous Huxley, Abraham Maslow, Paul Tillich, Alan Watts, Fritz Perls, Dick Alpert, Tim Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Henry Miller, Anais Nin, Hunter S. Thompson, Gia-Fu Feng, Arnold Toynbee, and the Monterey sheriff who told Michael to get some guns. “It was that wild,” he recalls.

Whenever Director of Communications & Storytelling Shira Levine is on campus, she deliberately pauses to make sure she is completely present: "I used to start writing the stories in my head in the moment — as I was experiencing something. Now, I stop myself to get out of the way of my buzzing brain to just Be.”

The nourishing breakfast for people ready to embrace the day and get things done! Here’s a much-requested repost with the kitchens’ exact measurements for the flavor and creamy texture enjoyed here on campus.

As the world faces massive challenges, we embrace childlike wonder as we charge ever forward. In that spirit, we’re finding wit, wisdom, whimsy, and inspiration through children’s books (and the lives of their authors) this September. Share this mix of new titles and classics with the youth in your life, or enjoy solo to lighten your spirit as you keep fighting for a better future for the next generation.

The Esalen check-in is decades old and is a direct outgrowth from Esalen’s Gestalt practice, a foundational cornerstone that shaped Esalen’s culture and continues today both departmentally (internally) and in workshops (externally).

Psychotherapist, researcher, poet, teacher, facilitator, and author Shannon Algeo talks about the poetic questions, curious minds, deep listeners, and great writers he admires and why he fears holding back most of all: “That something deep inside me would somehow fail to find its way forward into this wild and precious world.”

With this insightful and diverse assortment, we face the many tests before us and embrace them as a grand set of brilliant opportunities. Everything can be met with grace, and it can all become a chance for growth. And we can rise to any challenge — with support.

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.”

We take a retrospective soak at Esalen’s beloved healing space for a story that’s been flowing for 62 years — with Hunter Thompson, Warhol, McQueen, international relations, and more.

With a lifetime of learning and adventure, Esalen’s new head of programming is ready to curate experiences that bridge dualities, transcend prescribed narratives, and aid transformation: “I see the workshops at Esalen collectively as a kind of living organism with their own energy and agency, their own purpose to manifest in the world.”

Psychologist Lindsay Branham on reclaiming a deep and connected relationship with the Earth, erotic ecology as a pathway to rediscovering our lifeforce, and discovering the magic of Esalen: “I was seduced.”

Richard Horan began his journey at Esalen Institute in the early 1960s, cleaning up at night. An originator of Esalen’s first garden, the multifaceted Horan was also an early Esalen massage therapist who delved into pottery, jade jewelry making, and music while exploring altered states of consciousness and psychedelic experiences. His innovative spirit and deep connection to nature left an indelible mark on the Institute’s history and culture — and his wild, youthful memories bring us back to an early era of freedom and experimentation.

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.

Ever wonder about the humans who laid the foundations for some of the structures we enjoy on campus? We’re honoring Selig Morgenrath, Mickey Muennig, and Arkin-Tilt Architects.

Forty-six years after her first visit, Andrea Juhan remembers the Esalen of the late ’70s. The co-founder of Open Floor International on the personalities, the “pillow pounding,” the emphasis on the humanistic principle, and the entirely unique experience of not “making wrong.” (“I don’t know anywhere else that happened.”) The dedicated teacher and lifelong student shares some of the incredibly valuable lessons, including holding dual relations, that she learned right here on campus.

Those of us who live at Esalen and in Big Sur, who were “stuck“ on the island during the recent closure of Highway 1 due to a slip out at the Rocky Creek Bridge, produced some truly beautiful ways to come together in community. In the face of sudden calamity, we choose to embrace joy.

Renowned astrologer, author, and poet Heidi Rose Robbins shares about her first mentor, how she views both poetry and astrology as “languages of becoming," and about the four-step practice we should all adopt.

This time, we’re highlighting some classic Esalen texts along with a few hidden gems for an eclectic mix of staff favorites to stimulate curious minds and spirits. Here are a few of the titles being suggested at the bookstore these days whenever guests — especially those interested in Esalen history — ask, “What should I read next?”

After finding purpose and family here, Sam Stern now promotes and shares Esalen through his work as host of the Voices of Esalen podcast. A fantastic deal, he says: “Honestly, what more could I ask for?”

This healthy salad is one of our favorite farm-to-table recipes. Enjoy!

The Meditation Hut, or the “Roundhouse,” was first built in the 1950s as a secluded writer’s studio for Dennis Murphy, brother of Esalen co-founder Michael Murphy. By 1961, a young Dick Price had moved in. It wasn’t until the ’90s that the space was officially transformed into the Meditation Hut.

Boys and girls are frequently conditioned to behave in specific ways, but more traditionally for many, young girls are taught to be selfless — to want for others instead of themselves. Psychotherapist, author, interfaith minister, and Esalen workshop faculty Nancy Colier on showing up with your truth and letting your real self out.

Don Hanlon Johnson remembers his incredible journey from Jesuit seminarian to somatics pioneer, the Esalen of the 1960s, and the genius of Ida Rolf, Fritz Perls, Carl Rogers, Moshe Feldenkrais, Charlotte Selver, Michael Murphy, and more.