Voices of Esalen Podcast

Mark Coleman is the author of Make Peace with Your Mind: How Mindfulness and Compassion Can Help Free You from the Inner Critic and Awake in the Wild: Mindfulness in Nature as a Path of Self-Discovery.

Mark is a senior meditation teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and has taught there since 2000. He also holds a MA in Clinical Psychology. We spoke about the unique path that brought Mark to mindfulness meditation and how presence awareness lies at the heart of the work he does.

Look for upcoming workshops with Mark Coleman.

In this episode Dustin DiPerna, Harvard-trained scholar of world religions, meditation teacher, and author of several books, including Streams of Wisdom, Evolution's Ally, and Earth is Eden, takes on the concept of transpersonal psychology and Ken Wilber's Integral Theory with host Sam Stern.

The interview covers a host of topics, including Dustin's brief foray into the fashion industry as a young man, which led to his attempt to become a monk, which then lead to his years of study with philosopher and creator of Integral Theory, Ken Wilber, and a prosperous career as a heart-centered intellectual.

Dustin leads a short and beautiful meditation to close the conversation.

Look for upcoming workshops with Dustin DiPerna.

Dr. Rick Hanson is a psychologist and author whose interests lie in the confluence of modern neuroscience and ancient contemplative practices.

Hanson is the author of Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing, Hardwiring Happiness, and most recently, Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength, and Happiness, which discusses using positive neuroplasticity to develop vital inner strengths like grit, gratitude, and compassion.

Rick is a Senior Fellow at the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and is basically a wise, compassionate, and thoughtful resource.

Mikey Siegel is the founder of the Consciousness Hacking movement. Siegel studied computer engineering at UC Santa Cruz, then worked at NASA in the field of Intelligent Robotics.

He’s also worked at the MIT Media Lab, focusing in part on social robotics. He uses technology to facilitate a path toward higher consciousness, self-realization, awakening, and transcendence.

Look for upcoming workshops with Mikey Siegel.

Perry Holloman is an internationally renowned massage instructor—he has been a teacher and practitioner of Esalen Massage, Deep Bodywork, and body-oriented approaches to Relational Gestalt Process work for more than 30 years.

He and his wife Johanna Holloman teach in the U.S., Asia, and Europe, and enjoy legions of faithful followers with their brand of Deep Bodywork. Together we explored a bit of the history of the last 40 years of the Esalen institute, from dishwashing to dancing, to his mentors at Esalen, and the tribal nature of the community in the 1980's.

He's one of the more articulate people running around the good state of California, so sit back, relax, and enjoy.

Look for upcoming workshops with Perry Holloman.

Suzanne Scurlock-Durana is one of the world’s leading authorities on conscious awareness. A longtime leader at Esalen, Suzanne is a Craniosacral therapist and an instructor with the Upledger Institute.

She created the comprehensive Healing From the Core training curriculum, empowering her audience with practical tools that enable them to experience joy in each moment without burning out. She also teaches a popular women-only course at Esalen called Healing the Pelvic Floor.

Suzanne is about using full body presence to improve every aspect of your life, from your health and well-being to your relationships, your career, your creativity, and your financial health.

Look for upcoming workshops with Suzanne Scurlock-Durana.

Steve Paulson is the Executive Producer and one of the founders of the beloved NPR radio show, To The Best Of Our Knowledge. He is a master interviewer, having conducted many thousands of interviews over the course of a 27-year career.

Steve has been a contributing writer for Salon.com, Slate, Huffington Post and The Atlantic. His radio reports have also been broadcast on NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

His book, Atoms and Eden: Conversations on Religion & Science, was published by Oxford University Press in 2010. He’s working on another book exploring the intersection between science, philosophy and spiritual experience, which will probe the edges of science and such oddities as psychedelics and near-death experiences.

Look for upcoming workshops with Steve Paulson.

Janet Stone is a beloved yoga teacher and longtime faculty at the Esalen Institute. Janet grew up on a self-described “slightly crazy hippie farm” in Northern California, where she ate tofu, baled hay, and cleaned rabbit cages.

As an adult she spent eleven inspiring years in film and TV production, then traveled the world, visiting New Zealand, Egypt, and then northern India, where she began her yoga journey. Janet lives in San Francisco and continues to travel the world, teaching and leading.

Some of her favorite things, per her website, include "Tantric Shaivism (go, Hareesh), Egyptian Licorice Mint Tea, the search for the perfect whoopie-pie (found many times), the New Yorker, great stretchy jeans (no, not jeggings), tall boots, long boards, flip-flops, warm toes, KCRW, inner exploration, curiosity, carpooling, that spot under the tree in Golden Gate Park, sunsets from Bingin, Bali, bath time, story time, snack time, picnic time, anytime with my girls."

She is an articulate and passionate speaker about yoga, life, humility, the concept of "enoughness," meditation, why Esalen works, and more.

Look for upcoming workshops with Janet Stone.

Pico Iyer is a British-born essayist and novelist, known for his outstanding travel writing. Iyer was a King's Scholar at Eton College, and was awarded a Congratulatory Double First in English Literature at Oxford University, then received his second master's in literature at Harvard.

Iyer has known the 14th Dalai Lama since he was in his late teens, when he accompanied his father to Dharamshala, India, in the early 1970s. Iyer taught literature at Harvard before joining Time magazine in 1982 as a writer on world affairs. After his home in Santa Barbara burned to the ground in 1990, Iyer was left without any possessions. In 1992 he relocated to Nara, Japan, where he has lived since, with his wife Hiroko Takeuchi.

Some of his notable books include Global Soul: Jet Lag, Shopping Malls, and the Search for Home; The Open Road: the Global Journey of the 14th Dalai Lama; and most recently, The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere.

Stanislav Grof is not only one of the godfathers of psychedelic psychotherapy—not only one of the founders of the field of transpersonal psychology—not only a renowned researcher into the use of non-ordinary states of consciousness to gain insights into the human psyche—he was also an integral part of the fabric of Esalen Institute during the 1970's and 1980's, helping to shape the culture in Big Sur via his popular workshops and month long programs.

In this interview, we talked about his relationship with Esalen co-founder Michael Murphy and how Stan came to be invited to live and teach at Esalen in the 1970's (where he created the practice of holotropic breath work, in part out of necessity to abide with the law), his abiding affection for Esalen co-founder Dick Price, and his collaborations with Fritjof Capra, Gregory Bateson, Rupert Sheldrake, as well as many more legendary teachers.

Definitely tune in to the man, the myth, the legend—Stan Grof.