The Esalen Journal

For many people who grew up before the digital revolution, free play outdoors was a standard part of childhood. Today, increased screen time, more indoor extra-curricular activities and even diminished school recess have changed the landscape of childhood.

As a founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California, and creator of Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to a Happier Life, James Baraz has helped thousands of people open their minds and hearts to more awareness, authenticity and yes, joy. Together with his wife Jane, James has developed mindfulness-based courses for families, and now teaches with his son, Adam.

With spring in full bloom, now is the perfect time to get outside, soak up the sunshine and get your hands dirty! Gardening with children of any age is a wonderful way to connect with the seasons and each other while cultivating flowers, herbs and vegetables for the whole family to enjoy.

After a year of experimentation and exploration, including piloting programs at Esalen and Big Creek Reserve, Big Sur Park School began its spring 2019 session on April 1st. The early childhood program with a relational, ecological-based curriculum has secured an agreement with Esalen at Gazebo Park, the one-acre outdoor meadow that was home to Gazebo Park School for 40 years.

Writer and filmmaker Annabel Teal has joined Esalen’s Board of Trustees with a desire to help envision new ways for Esalen to engage with storytellers. In addition to Teal’s appointment, Esalen also announced trustees Chip Conley and Ben Tauber have concluded their tenure on the board as each pursue new ways to advance human potential.

Born in Big Sur and raised at Nepenthe, her grandparents’ iconic restaurant located just north of Esalen, painter and Esalen faculty member Erin Lee Gafill grew up in a household where creativity reigned. From making holiday ornaments out of tin cans and building her own toys out of scrap wood to writing plays, painting and dancing, Erin continues to weave the creative process into all layers of her life.

I am a painter of nature and have had the pleasure of teaching painting at Esalen for the past 16 years. I have thought a great deal about the dance between the poles of limitations and the limitless as it pertains to creativity, and Esalen is a good place to contemplate both.

Here in coastal California, heavy rains characterize the winter months. This year, they extended well into March, which has influenced spring activities in the Farm & Garden. In addition to harvesting overwintered greens and planting trays of seed starts, Esalen farmers have been cultivating one of the intangible qualities at the heart of sustainable agriculture.

As a third-generation Big Sur native and an Esalen staff member, Kyle Evans sees creativity as a natural part of life. “It’s no coincidence there’s a high concentration of artists in Big Sur,” says Kyle. “Here, art is more than any one ‘thing;’ it’s a way of living and a way of being.”

Cinema is a powerful creative art form that transports viewers to new realms, both real and imagined. Films entertain, of course, but they also have the potential to educate and inspire. From An Inconvenient Truth and The Cove to Waiting for Superman, films can expand our horizons and encourage us to take action in our lives and communities.

In 1968, philosopher Sam Keen was a straight-laced professor from Kentucky with Calvinist tendencies. When he read about a “human potential” movement happening in California, immediately he felt a call to adventure. “These were modes of thought that emphasized present-moment awareness and body therapies,” Sam says. “This was very alien to me, and I was fascinated; I felt compelled to investigate.”

Initiated in the healing and spiritual traditions of the Andes and Amazon, Marcela Lobos is no stranger to mythic journeys. As a medicine woman, her passion is guiding others toward wholeness through ceremony, archetype and the sacred energies of nature. As a senior teacher with the Four Winds Society, she has helped usher in a new generation of shamanic practitioners at a time when she believes the world needs them more than ever.

Whether in a heart-shaped box or a steaming mug, chocolate is a universal pleasure. But beyond its pure deliciousness, cacao is packed with mood-enhancing compounds including serotonin, dopamine and other neurochemicals. It also has been used ceremonially for millennia.

Although they were born well after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a group of Russian and U.S. college students gathered in St. Petersburg last September in an attempt to find common ground in a world reverberating not only with echoes of the Cold War, but also new media-fueled disinformation.

Brothers Miguel Jr. and Jose Ruiz belong to a lineage of spiritual teachers called naguales in their Toltec tradition. Both apprenticed with their father, Miguel Ruiz, author of The Four Agreements, as well as their grandmother, Madre Sarita. Now, the generations intertwine with the Ruiz family teaching and co-authoring books together while also pursuing individual callings.

Inspired by a walk through the Farm & Garden as farmers harvested for Thanksgiving dinner, this spiced nut milk is infused with the spirit of Esalen. Warm and nourishing for the body and mind, Harvest Milk is luxuriously creamy on its own, makes a great base for smoothies and is wonderful in a latte.

The capacity to feel the experiences of others — whether grief or joy — can open your mind to a greater sense of belonging in the world, and close the divide that separates those you might otherwise consider irreconcilably different from yourself.

Something special happens when you spend time at Esalen. Everyday habits fall away, senses awaken and the mind and heart open. One of the most immersive experiences is coming up in February: the Esalen Massage School’s six-week-long, 250-hour Esalen Massage®️ Certification program.

In 2006, neurobiologist and cognitive scientist David Presti was at Esalen giving an evening presentation on the human mind and brain. By that time he’d been teaching Esalen workshops for nine years, leading seminarians deep into the confluence of neuroscience, psychopharmacology and more elusive aspects of mind studies.

Whether Baby Boomer, Generation X, Millennial or Generation Z, we are all reckoning with a tech-filled world. Right now the screen seems to reign supreme, serving as news source, workplace, community center and movie theater all rolled into one.

Compassion might not be the first quality you think of when considering what it takes to succeed at work. Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it — not exactly the stuff of water cooler conversation. But for researcher, consultant and author Leah Weiss, who teaches leadership in the Stanford Graduate School of Business, compassion is one of the keys to a fulfilling professional life.

One year ago, Esalen launched a redesigned month-long Residential Study program that synthesizes a new configuration of study, service, community building and inner growth. Steeped in Esalen’s mission to catalyze deep change in self and society, the program invites students to co-create an immersive experience that facilitates learning and inner transformation.

In 2015, Esalen joined a small group of other nonprofits to co-create the Wellbeing Project, a global initiative to shift the social change field culture from one of frequent burnout to supporting inner well-being. The Project structures its approach around four pillars: experiential programs, research and evaluation, convening and storytelling.

From its earliest days, Esalen served as a Western gateway for Eastern philosophies and practices through the teachings of such visiting scholars as Alan Watts and Chungliang Al Huang as well as Esalen’s own co-founder Michael Murphy and former president, the late George Leonard.

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.

After working in robotics at MIT and NASA, engineer and Stanford University lecturer Mikey Siegel heeded a different calling: to create technology that helps people on their path toward self-actualization and awakening. Tech is here to stay, says Mikey, and now is the time to shift the paradigm and start using it in ways that support deep human connection.

What happens when we give ourselves the gift of unstructured time? Inspiration, healing and peace of mind have room to blossom when we unwind everyday stress and let ourselves truly relax into inner stillness. Out of that spaciousness come daydreams, new ideas and clarity about what’s true now and what lies ahead.

Given Big Sur’s mild coastal climate, signs of autumn in the Esalen Farm & Garden can be subtle. Yes, there are tables of winter squash curing in the sun, but all around them are bins of ripe tomatoes, rows of strawberries and innumerable bright flowers buzzing with insect life.

Sylvie Rokab is an acclaimed filmmaker whose love of the natural world led her on an odyssey to create the award-winning film, Love thy Nature. She is also a nature therapy guide, a growing field that integrates nature education with the holistic benefits of forest therapy in areas including personal coaching, team-building, and counseling. Sylvie, who will be leading Forest Bathing: Deepening Connection with Mother Nature, Each Other and Ourselves at Esalen next spring, shares what inspires her about this emerging practice.

Author, therapist, and yoga teacher Ira Israel often speaks of the transformative nature of mindfulness and yoga at his popular Esalen workshops. He recently shared an inspirational story of a struggling student who attended his workshop, Cultivating Meaning and Happiness through Mindfulness and Yoga, a year ago and returned this year to help him teach it. He shares this remarkable transformation in his own words...

Gopi Kallayil, author of The Internet to the Inner-Net and the soon-to-be released The Happy Human, is blending his passions for yoga, sacred music, and meditation in a self-described experiment set against the backdrop of Shangri La.

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.

In his upcoming book, Wisdom @ Work: The Making of a Modern Elder, best-selling author, hospitality entrepreneur, and self-described business rebel Chip Conley challenges us to liberate “elder” from the word “elderly” and rethink life after 50. He captures his own experience coming out of “retirement” after serving as founder of the boutique hotel brand Joie de Vivre to join as an advisor/intern for the then-tech start-up Airbnb.

As a Ministry Innovation Fellow at Harvard Divinity School and now as a contributor to the popular public radio show and podcast On Being, Angie Thurston is exploring the boundaries of meaningful community. She will be a featured speaker at Esalen’s unique lecture series Conversations on the Edge: How We Gather—The Rise of the Unaffiliated Community, taking place August 8-10.

The most common request received by the professional massage and bodywork practitioner sounds something like this: “Could you please do something for my back?” Many of the most valuable tools that I have developed over the last 38 years focus on relieving the pain that many people experience at some point in their life along the back and spine.

Esalen Institute has announced that Executive Director Ben Tauber will be shifting roles, stepping away from daily management of the nonprofit organization and returning to his role as a member of the Board of Trustees. This change will be made effective the end of this month. General Manager Terry Gilbey will oversee operations as well as workshop programming and fundraising moving forward.

As one of the founders of the popular public radio show To the Best of Our Knowledge, Steve Paulson has made a career of asking thoughtful questions of fascinating thinkers and curating conversations to expand our perspective on the world. ‍

Travel can be transformational. The practice of writing about our travels — those "best trips" that continue in our memories long after we've returned home — can both deepen our experience and help to generate lasting insights. In their upcoming workshop The Traveler's Practice: Journey and Journal, renowned writers Pico Iyer and Janet Fitch will guide you through an exploration of your inner and outer worlds through the lens of travel writing.

Christina Dauenhauer is a landscape designer and artist living off the grid near Hood River, Oregon. Between 2009 and 2016 she was Esalen's Grounds Manager and specialized in succulent design. Christina recently returned to Esalen to lead Inspired by Nature: Creative Expression in Esalen’s Big Sur Landscape. We recently spoke with her on how nature inspires and informs her art.

Jay Ogilvy has recently stepped down from the Esalen Board of Trustees but, thankfully, will not be abandoning his association with us. We are immensely grateful for this association because he brings an extremely broad perspective to Esalen’s thinking about its future activities and a deep familiarity with our aims and capacities.

For decades, Esalen's Farm and Garden has offered students a rich forum for experiential learning. This tradition continued recently when Farm and Garden Manager Thomas Leahy along with Chris Omer and Neil Howe welcomed high school students from Marin Academy for a day visit to Esalen.

One of the unique offerings at Esalen, for learners of all ages, has been the opportunity to extend the typical week-long or weekend workshop experience and engage in a more immersive month-long study experience. Previously known as Work Study, the Residential Study program was paused during Esalen’s temporary closure last year and recently re-emerged with a new focus on creating stronger connections, offering more study hours, and developing deeper awareness of Esalen practices.

Our earliest attachment experiences serve as models for relationships throughout our lives. Without realizing it, our attachment patterns influence our attractions, how we relate to partners, and even whether or not a relationship lasts. This helps explain why we keep winding up in the same relationships.

A scientist, educator, activist, and author of many bestsellers including The Tao of Physics, Fritjof Capra has helped to connect conceptual changes in science with broader changes in society. His most recent book, The Systems View of Life, integrates the biological, cognitive, social, and ecological dimensions of life into one unified vision.

In the middle of a career shift, WisdomWomen founder Michelle Stransky took a huge leap into the unknown. As she navigated the transition, she followed her curiosity and soon pinpointed her next endeavor: to create an experimental space for women to develop and share their gifts as leaders. WisdomWomen was born, and Esalen — with its long history as fertile soil for breakthrough ideas and social movements — was a natural place for it to emerge.

When Esalen Massage School Director Brita Ostrom arrived at Esalen in 1967, massage already was a part of the Institute’s culture. “It was blossoming out of collaborations among visionary faculty of the time including Charlotte Selver, Bernie Gunther, Molly Shackman, Ida Rolf, and Moshe Feldenkrais, to name a few,” recalls Brita.

Returning seminarians will be greeted by some new faces this winter, including new residential study students and a new Esalen kitchen chef. Meanwhile, workshops offer a mix of familiar names such as Byron Katie and Chungliang Al Huang – who celebrated 50 years of teaching at Esalen last month – and emerging voices such as Charles Eisenstein. While a recent article in the New York Times touched on new areas Esalen is exploring, there's much more to the story.

Esalen executive chef Nerina Perez has always been a bold adventurer in the realms of food. On Cape Cod at the age of seven, she dug her own clams, cracked them open herself, and slurped them down raw…and she hasn’t stopped since. After joining our staff during the tumultuous period of Esalen’s closure earlier this year, Nerina dived into the Esalen experience with the same enthusiasm and sense of adventure she brought to consuming mollusks.

Esalen faculty Paul Selig says he plays second fiddle in his courses, and he’s not just being humble. Paul is a channel; he receives teachings directly from sources he calls the Guides, and so far the Guides have a lot to say. Through Paul, they’ve produced six books of teachings, and Paul says that at least 100 pages of the two most recent books came through during Esalen courses. “Esalen has really become ground zero for the work that I do,” says Paul.

Note: During the height of the Cold War, Esalen launched the Soviet-American Exchange Program, and a series of Soviet-American citizen diplomacy gatherings, organized by Michael and Dulce Murphy and others. At these meetings held at Esalen, Joseph Montville coined the phrase "track-two diplomacy", which is now a well-recognized diplomatic method. This work led to the first spacebridges which enabled Soviet and American citizens to speak directly with one another via satellite communication, along with multiple other projects.

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.

Traveling to Esalen for the first time? Or the 10th time? Be sure to take a look at Esalen’s revitalized Experiential Program schedule when you arrive to see what’s offered during your stay. Posted on the bulletin board in the Lodge, the Experiential (previously “Movement”) Program schedule offers diverse and unique ways that guests can experience Esalen beyond the workshop.

Do you remember the moment you experienced Esalen for the first time? We’ll be sharing occasional stories from our greater Esalen family on their journey to Esalen and how they bring Esalen into the world. Vaishali Chadha is a transformational coach, inspired in part by her work at Esalen.

Not long after Hurricane Harvey made landfall last month as a Category 4 hurricane, caregivers throughout the Houston-area were reaching out to support others in need – even when many of their own homes were flooded. Esalen faculty David Kessler, an expert in grief and healing, went to Texas to assist a number of these caregivers. What he experienced, including a stranger delivering pizza, surprised even him.

Tensions between the United States and Russia are running high. The current political landscape, government investigations, economic sanctions, and media portrayals of both countries keep U.S.-Russia relations divisive. Continuing Esalen’s long tradition of creating new dialogue where walls once stood, the Institute is taking an active role to initiate and strengthen a more positive cultural exchange between Russia and the U.S.

Dance connects us to our bodies and hearts, and drumming creates a primal link to the pulse of all life. Esalen faculty Cida Vieira has made it her life’s work to share Brazilian traditions of dance and percussion through performance, choreography, and experiential teaching.

Life these days can be busy, to say the least. Even when we have a couple of hours to relax, our bodies may remain in “flight or fight” mode anticipating stress to come. Only by giving ourselves an extended break from daily routines can the body and mind really reset. Why not give yourself the gift of time at Esalen to unwind old patterns and rejuvenate your whole self?

The Esalen Kitchen feels like home to new General Manager Terry Gilbey. “If the Lodge is the heart of Esalen, the kitchen is the heart of the Lodge,” he says. During the Institute’s extended closure, Terry had been asked to step in as the kitchen’s manager – a role he will keep as he finds his zone of genius to be cooking up both delicious food as well as ideas. ‍

These days, we seem to live in a time of unprecedented challenge. Climate change, social and economic inequality, political turmoil, and other headline news can illicit feelings of worry and frustration that deplete our capacity for positivity.

Esalen's sturdy roots have been essential as Ben Tauber, an entrepreneur with an interest in somatic practices, assumed leadership at Esalen during an unprecedented closure resulting from landslides and a bridge failure. As founding partner of Velocity, an executive coaching company based in Silicon Valley, Ben has both the passion and experience for helping individuals and organizations realize their highest potential.