The Esalen Journal

These are just some of the suggestions by Esalen staff who, as artists themselves, embrace Esalen’s natural beauty to foster and spark their creativity. Some, like longstanding community member Daniel Bianchetta and technology specialist Kyle Evans, express their creativity through photography. Their work can be seen in the latest Esalen catalog and is also available for purchase in the bookstore.

Years ago, visitors to the area where the Esalen Lodge now stands would have been greeted by a landscape of northern coastal scrub and sage scrub – much of it subsequently cleared for cattle grazing. What they wouldn’t have seen, according to Esalen Grounds Manager Christina Dauenhauer, were pine trees.

In 1995, I had just sold my first company and needed to recharge and renew myself. I decided to attend a workshop at Esalen with Dr. Joan Borysenko, the noted brain scientist. The first evening of her workshop, Joan asked each of us to state our intention for the weekend.

Sierra Botanica founder Rachel Berry has a passion for both herbal medicine and empowering others to live a healthier life. This past month she celebrated her fourth year teaching at Esalen, returning to the Farm & Garden to guide others in identifying and harvesting plants to make into oils, creams, and salves for “do it yourself” organic skin and body care.

Many of us have experienced the power of music to influence our mood; now new research points to the positive impact listening to music can have on reducing the level of the stress hormone cortisol. Many of us have experienced the power of music to influence our mood; now new research points to the positive impact listening to music can have on reducing the level of the stress hormone cortisol in our brain.

Summer Lall is a board certified music therapist who works at Optimist Youth Homes and Family Services in Los Angeles. She is also the founder of the organization Rhythm & Truth Music Therapy which seeks to empower at-risk youth. We recently spoke to Summer about what her Esalen experience has meant to her and how scholarship made it possible for her to be at Esalen.

This year’s Benefit Weekend will feature performances by a variety of artists including award-winning vocalist Geeta Novotny (http://www.geetanovotny.com). Geeta, which means song of life in Hindi, is a musician and classical singer who has performed at Carnegie Hall and The Metropolitan Opera House. Today she maintains a voice studio in Los Angeles and offers a unique Vocal Immersion Sound Bath experience that promotes healing and wellness.

For years, renowned mythologist and lecturer Joseph Campbell would celebrate his March 26th birthday at Esalen. Known for his groundbreaking book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, the former Sarah Lawrence College professor’s research in mythology and comparative religions would inspire multiple generations as well serve as the creative catalyst behind such blockbusters as Star Wars and Watership Down.

Regeneration, rebirth, resilience, revival, relationship… Elders and youngers of the farming persuasion circled round for a week of connecting and spinning yarns around these themes and more late January at Esalen. These agrarians, like anyone else involved in the burgeoning food movement, fuel their work with a passion for creating positive change that ripples outward and effects virtually every big issue we as a species currently grapple with: climate change, world peace, social justice, biodiversity, physical, spiritual, and mental health… the list goes on.

More than 20 years ago, Mary Anne Will came to Esalen as a work scholar and has remained a vibrant member of the community ever since. This month marks Mary Anne’s – or MAW as she is known to many – departure from Esalen, though she plans to continue to facilitate groups and open seats.

What if the building you worked in was designed to optimize your health and wellbeing while also producing enough renewable energy to meet its own annual energy consumption requirements? The latter is the definition of a zero energy (or net zero) building. The number of zero energy commercial buildings has doubled from 2012 to 2014, according to the New Buildings Institute, and speaks to a growing awareness of a different approach to building design.

There’s a gathering happening, according to entrepreneur Alison Raby, a tribe of tribes where circles are coming together to touch and connect. “There’s a quote by Thich Nhat Hanh that says, 'It is possible that the next Buddha will not take the form of an individual. The next Buddha may take the form of a community, a community practicing lovingkindness, a community practicing mindful living. This may be the most important thing we can do for the survival of the Earth.' I believe that the next Buddha may be community of communities. That’s what I’m really seeing happening with Shift2016.”

More than 25 years ago, Wisdom 2.0 founder and author Soren Gordhamer came to Esalen as an Extended Student from Lubbock, Texas. He was introduced to Esalen by way of his father, a single parent who made annual treks to Big Sur as his one trip away from the family. Today Soren is the catalyst behind Wisdom 2.0, an annual event where 3,000 people from more than 20 countries and a variety of sectors and disciplines come together with a shared desire to live with greater wisdom and meaning using technology to create a more open and healthy culture. Past speakers have included the founders of Facebook, Twitter, and eBay, along with spiritual teachers like Eckhart Tolle.

For Republic of Georgia native Mzia Dalakishvili, Esalen’s Gazebo Park School felt like home the first time she stepped foot in the outdoor school. She had been working as a Gestalt therapist when an educational program brought her to the U.S. and to a tour of Esalen. Her teacher, Felicia Carroll, had been a Gazebo teacher.

Gourmet organic chef, author, and Esalen faculty Leslie Cerier shares a vegetarian twist on sushi.

Food is a powerful tool for change. So much of who we are relates to it. As a species, major benchmarks in our evolution are linked to changes in our relationship with food.

This month Nora Bateson and Mark Watts lead a unique journey into Esalen’s audio archive which holds the voices of many of the Institute’s most pioneering minds, including those of their own fathers: anthropologist Gregory Bateson and philosopher Alan Watts. Nora directed an award-winning documentary about her father, An Ecology of Mind, and is president of the International Bateson Institute. She spoke with Esalen about her workshop with Mark entitled Radical Thinkers Breakout! A Journey into the Archives with Bateson and Watts.

How can we as individuals transform society? How can film entertain, uplift, and enlighten? How can we build community around transformation?

For the first time in its history, Esalen will host a property-wide gathering for women in January as a call to action for participants to advance their vision for a life-affirming world. The gathering is led by Michelle Stransky, formerly with Wisdom 2.0, as part of her brainchild WisdomWomen. Joining Michelle is Konda Mason, co-founder and CEO of Hub Oakland, and Sally Kempton, an internationally known spiritual teacher, and other women leaders.

This December marks a significant milestone in the Campus Renewal efforts as Esalen opens the doors to the new Huxley meeting room. Now located on the new second floor addition to the Lodge, Huxley offers a number of thoughtful features to welcome seminarians and guests including geo-thermally warmed bamboo flooring and a skylight that casts light on the north wall every day at solar noon. Materials from the original Huxley meeting room have been incorporated in ongoing construction throughout the Lodge.

Ask any organic farmer or gardener the key to growing healthy crops and they will reply with some variant of the phrase: “Start with the soil.” Abundant, healthy crops are truly an outgrowth of vibrant soil ecology; with the exception of oxygen and carbon (which plants absorb from the air), plants uptake all of the nutrients they need to build stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits from the soil through their root systems. In order for plants to thrive, it is essential that they have access to all the requisite building blocks for their development, such as nitrogen, potassium, phosphorous, magnesium, calcium, and sodium. Trillions of microorganisms live in every handful of healthy soil, and these microorganisms effectively “store” nutrients in their bodies until they die, at which time those nutrients become available for the plants in their subterranean neighborhood.

When social entrepreneur Aaron Pereora was named a Fellow with the Ashoka organization – a worldwide network of more than 3,000 change makers leading positive social change – he was struck by how many of his peers struggled with their own well-being and the effect this struggle had on their work. Having completed an extensive sabbatical himself after serving as co-founder of CanadaHelps and Vartana, Aaron knew the transformative effect of personal development. From this experience, he and several colleagues created the Wellbeing Project to connect inner work with social change.

Esalen is a place where diverse elements come together to create something new. And much like a mosaic, at any given moment it’s more than the sum of its parts. A new workshop in February 2016, led by artists Wilma Wyss and Carol Bevilacqua, will use mosaic as a creative celebration of Esalen’s Campus Renewal project by inviting seminarians to co-create a large-scale mosaic mural to be placed in the Lodge’s downstairs restroom.

This month marks the 30th anniversary of the death of Esalen co-founder Dick Price, who died in a hiking accident in Hot Springs Canyon. “Dick Price’s influence lives on at Esalen in countless ways, among them our emphasis upon psychophysical healing, intelligent risk taking, independence from cult, and regard for each person’s uniqueness,” said Michael Murphy, co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of Esalen’s Board of Trustees. “He embodied a wondrous combination of strength and compassion, skepticism about extravagant claims, and freedom from dogma. He was a great partner when the going got tough. For me, he was a comrade for the ages.”

The change in seasons can bring about a sense of wonder, of noticing the details of nature’s colorful palette. There are many ways to enjoy our natural surroundings, including this gratitude practice incorporating creativity and our senses of sight, sound, smell and touch.

If you’ve ever been at Esalen during Thanksgiving week, you’ve probably noticed that our Thanksgiving feast is the best, ever. That’s because we love Thanksgiving. We put tons of love into sharing our favorite dishes, from our own traditions, with the Esalen community.

More than 100 self-described thinkers and doers in social media, digital strategy, and social change converged at Esalen in October for an innovative annual conference called Web of Change. Founded in 2001, Web of Change alumni have gone on to lead transformational change in such organizations as Greenpeace, Presente.org, 350.org, and the National Counsel of La Raza. This year’s conference attracted more than 400 applicants.

Jeremy Tarcher, founder of one of the first publishing companies solely dedicated to topics related to human evolution and potential, died on September 20, 2015, at the age of 83.

The Esalen Kitchen, led by Chef Phillip Burrus, shared their world-class Kale salad as part of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s annual Seafood Watch fundraiser Cooking for Solutions on October 3rd. As a partner for Seafood Watch, Esalen only purchases seafood that is sustainably and responsibly sourced. The Esalen kitchen crew has participated in the annual fundraiser, hosted at the Aquarium, for the last 10 years.

In the course of one year, there are more than 300 students participating in Esalen’s residential education program. Ranging in ages from 18 to 70-plus, they come from across the country and around the world to study, work, and live at Esalen for 28 days, a summer, or an entire year depending on which program they choose to pursue.

Singer and songwriter, artist and teacher, mother and activist, Alanis Morissette is used to bridging different worlds. She recently returned from co-teaching a weeklong workshop at Esalen, entitled Hurtling toward Wholeness, and shared her thoughts on what it means to explore and deepen your connection with self, spirit, and other.

As the creator of the Gokhale Method®, Esther Gokhale's mission is to provide posture and movement re-education to help people eradicate unnecessary pain and live life to the fullest. After experiencing crippling back pain during her first pregnancy and the subsequent, unsuccessful back surgery, Gokhale decided to devote her professional life to vanquishing back pain. Her studies at the Aplomb Institute in Paris and years of research in non-industrial cultures led her to develop the Gokhale Method, a unique, systematic approach to help people find their way back to pain-free living.

It's that time of year again when our children and grandchildren head back to school. While many parents may be (literally) sighing in relief, the transition to a more structured schedule may cause some anxiety for kids. According to Esalen's own Gazebo Park School director, Jessica Tamayo, we can help alleviate stress for even young children by introducing — and modeling — mindfulness practices.

Since construction began at the end of March, we've seen rapid progress on the Lodge remodel. "We've been encouraged by feedback from our visitors and faculty that construction has had minimal impact on their experience," said Cheryl Fraenzl, Director of Programs. "There is genuine excitement for the renewal of the Lodge and how it will enhance our community."

This versatile dish is a staple at lunch-time and tapas-time at bars and in homes everywhere in Spain. The trick to making a really good tortilla is to avoid the temptation to slice the potatoes into straight, uniform slices. Doing so robs the resulting omelet of the nooks, crannys, and voids that are necessary for the eggs to do their thing.

Esalen has been considered a place of sacred waters for thousands of years. Here, three water sources converge to heal and nourish the web of all life. The canyon stream that cascades through the Esalen property is fed by a spring that provides us with water for our daily use. The hot springs are heated by the earth’s inner fires, and this water is a source of both healing and energy. The ocean here is pristine, wild, and remote. This section of the pacific coastline is a haven for wild life, including sea otters, birds, and fisheries.

The EcoFarm Conference is a revered winter tradition for thousands of farmers—one of few good excuses to leave the lonely farm behind and join the larger community of allies in sustainable agriculture. This year’s conference, in January 2015, marked EcoFarm’s 35th year of bringing together farmers, ranchers, educators, researchers, and other food system stakeholders for education, networking and celebration.

Beloved by Esalen guests and staff alike, these are quite possibly the best pancakes in creation.