Voices of Esalen Podcast

Dr. Emily Silverman came to Esalen to help facilitate Through Our Own Eyes, a retreat for and by women physicians. She’s the host and creator of the Nocturnists, a medical storytelling live show and podcast whose aim is to demystify doctorhood and bring to light the real people who toil behind the mask as our modern-society healers.

We discussed what it means to be a woman and a physician in our contemporary health care system, how the inner world of a doctor continues to change in an increasingly capitalistic society, how health care and human connection may interact in the near future, and more.

In this episode of Voices of Esalen On the Road, our intrepid correspondent Greg Archer took a jaunt to the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, where the film "Fantastic Fungi: The Magic Beneath Us" was having its California premiere.

While he was there, he spoke to renowned filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg about the mysteries and magic of mycology. Together they discussed Louie’s unique stop-motion filmmaking technique he's been employing for the better part of 40 years, the healing potential of mushrooms, how psychedelic mushrooms may be our allies, and much more.

We’re pleased to introduce Voices of Esalen Archive Edition, where we dive deep into the history of Esalen Institute and focus on a lecture previously recorded here in Big Sur. The subject of this episode is Terence McKenna and his talk entitled “Tryptamine Hallucinogen Consciousness”, recorded in December, 1982.

McKenna was an American ethnobotanist, author, lecturer and widely-respected psychonaut known internationally for his work with shamanism, metaphysics, consciousness, and of course, psychedelic medicines. He is the author of The Invisible Landscape, The Archaic Revival, Food of the Gods, and True Hallucinations.

His playful yet highly powerful mode of intellectual inquiry around the topic of plant medicines made him a well-loved and highly-respected countercultural figure. While Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey, and Ram Dass were better well-known in psychedelic circles for their pioneering and often rebellious leadership during the first psychedelic wave of the 1960’s, McKenna rose to prominence later, first enjoying notoriety during the 1980’s.

One of the most frequent stops on his lecture circuit was Big Sur and Esalen Institute, where he lectured nearly 100 times over the years on subjects as diverse as “Dynamics of Hyperspace,” “Reflections on Eros,” “Our Cyberspiritual Future,” and “Biotech and Nanonfungal Futures.”

Further commentary is provided by the author and environmentalist Allan Badiner, who is also the convener of the 2019 Psychedelic Integration conference at Esalen. Badiner knew Terence McKenna intimately, and thus was able to shed some light on the man behind the message.

Yoga Nidra is a conscious relaxation process intended to induce physical, mental, and emotional restoration. It has been shown to ease anxiety, heighten awareness and focus, transform negative habits, and foster feelings of peace, calm, and clarity.

John Vosler is a senior teacher at the Amrit Yoga Institute, where he leads Yoga Nidra certification programs. His infectious humor and compassionate heart make working with him a joy-filled experience. In this podcast, he leads us through a conscious relaxation.

Look for upcoming workshops with John Vosler.

Gordon Wheeler is the president of Esalen. He's also a licensed clinical psychologist, as well as the author of numerous books on Gestalt psychology, including Gestalt Reconsidered, Beyond Individualism, and The Heart of Development.

He is noted for his work integrating the Gestalt tradition with relational and developmental psychology. Gordon teaches and trains clinicians around the world, also serving as editor and director of GestaltPress. Today we invited him to educate us about the history of Gestalt psychology at the Esalen Institute.

This episode is part three of a series of panels presented at the 9th annual Blue Mind Summit at Esalen in the summer of 2019. Representing the "mind" in Blue Mindfulness is Dr. Dan Siegel, clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and the founding co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA.

An award-winning educator, he is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and recipient of several honorary fellowships. Dr. Siegel is also the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute, an educational organization that focuses on how the development of mindsight in individuals, families and communities can be enhanced by examining the interface of human relationships and basic biological processes.

Dr. Siegel's unique ability to make complicated scientific concepts exciting and accessible makes him an entertaining and useful resource.

This episode is part of a series of panels presented at the 9th annual Blue Mind Summit at Esalen Institute in the summer of 2019. Representing Mindfulness in the summit, Dr. Shauna Shapiro is a professor, author, and internationally recognized expert in mindfulness and compassion.

She has published over 150 journal articles and co-authored two critically acclaimed books translated into 14 languages: The Art and Science of Mindfulness, and Mindful Discipline. Her newest book, to be released in late 2019, is Good Morning, I Love You: Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Practices to Rewire Your Brain for Calm, Clarity, and Joy.

Dr. Shapiro's work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Wired Magazine, USA Today, The Huffington Post, Yoga Journal, and the American Psychologist. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Duke University and a Fellow of the Mind and Life Institute, co-founded by the Dalai Lama.

This episode is part of a series of panels presented at the 9th annual Blue Mind Summit at Esalen Institute in the summer of 2019. The Blue Mind summit is the brainchild of Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, whose stated mission is to create the new story of water and share it with the world, focusing on the cognitive, emotional, psychological, social, physical, and spiritual benefits that we can derive from healthy waters throughout our lives.

By connecting neuroscientists and psychologists with aquatic experts and artists, Dr. Nichols advocates for the health and well-being of people and planet earth. He is currently Chief Evangelist for Water (CEH2O) at Bouy Labs, a Senior Fellow at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies, a Research Associate at California Academy of Sciences and co-founder of Ocean Revolution, an international network of young ocean advocates.

He is also the author of the national bestseller Blue Mind, published in 2014, and the upcoming book, Live Blue.

This year at Esalen, he partnered with Dr. Shauna Shapiro and Dr. Dan Siegel to explore the topic of Blue Mindfulness.

Marsha Rosenbaum (director, Drug Policy Alliance, and author of Kids, Drugs, and Drug Education: A Harm Reduction Approach), Kristi Panik (chief of Psychiatric Services of the University Student Health Services at UC Berkeley), and Martin Lee (Project CBD) discuss reasonable, realistic and comprehensive drug-education for minors.

Mycologist Paul Stamets, UC Berkeley Professor of Neurobiology David Presti, and Dr. Ben Sessa explore the contemporary landscape of psilocybin mushrooms, touching upon how mushrooms can help treat depression and other chronic illnesses, the concepts of synchronicity and hyper-focus, how the intravenous administration of psilocybin functions in a clinical setting, and the interconnected nature of the mind and body.

Paul Stamets then proposes a mycologically-based solution to help combat bee colony collapse disorder.