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In an emerald expanse of California's majestic
Central Coast, a series of intense human
explorations are underway. In a large white yurt,
several yogis are breathing, bending and meditating to
deepen awareness of their Divine Inner Self. Next door,
artists are painting doves, dolphins and goddesses as they
create mandalas, an ancient symbol of the psyche, in
search of self-understanding. Down the road, another
group is propped against pillows, shoes kicked off as they
analyze one another's dreams and unlock long-buried
memories.
At one time, these scenes at the fabled Esalen Institute
would have been considered avant-garde. Esalen once
stood as the nation's leading laboratory of the human
potential movement, the freewheeling center of social
outlaws who experimented with LSD, Eastern meditation
and in-your-face encounter groups to explore and expand
themselves.
Today, as Esalen enters its fifth decade, it has settled into a
comfortable middle-aged mainstream. Google turns up 7.7
million results for "human potential," including yoga
retreats, art therapy classes and other self-help offerings
commonplace around the country. The hippies and seekers
who once made the place a youth paradise have aged, with
just 14.5% of its 10,000 annual visitors younger than 35.
What's more, Latinos, Asians and blacks, who compose the
majority of Californians, are comparatively scarce at the
institute. Along the way, longtime observers say, Esalen's
creative spark has dimmed. Among other things, critics
say, it has failed to explore in-depth many of the trends on
the horizon today that are rooted in science and
technology.
"When Esalen started, it was definitely the flagship of the
human potential movement," says Marion Goldman, a
University of Oregon professor of sociology and religious
studies who is writing a book on the institute. "It will
continue to be one of the major pilgrimage centers in the
U.S . . . but it no longer dominates the market."
Put simply: Is Esalen passé?
The seed that eventually grew into esalen was planted
in 1950, when Stanford University student Michael
Murphy accidentally stumbled into what would
become a life-changing lecture on Hinduism by
religion scholar Frederic Spiegelberg. His passion for
Eastern religions stoked, Murphy went to India in 1956,
after graduating from Stanford and serving in the U.S.
Army, to spend 16 months at the ashram of Sri Aurobindo,
an Indian yogi and philosopher. He returned to the Bay
Area, where he worked odd jobs and meditated as much as
eight hours a day. In 1960, he met Richard Price, a fellow
seeker and Stanford graduate who would become Esalen's
other founder.
Two years later, in October of 1962, Murphy and Price
formally opened the doors to a philosophical and literal
paradise. In its youthful heyday, Esalen was renowned for
its alternative education, attracting some of the greatest
thinkers of the 20th century: Historian Arnold Toynbee,
theologian Paul Tillich and two-time Nobel Prize winner
Linus Pauling all came to speak. Brilliant gurus presented
provocative workshops in psychotherapy and spirituality.
Esalen leaders took aim at social and political taboos,
holding marathon encounters in race relations during the
civil-rights struggle.
The place was edgy and hip, the talk of the town even in
the New Yorker and other East Coast media. It attracted
Hollywood stars and Sacramento politicians. It provided
the stage for concerts by Joan Baez and Bob Dylan,
George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, Simon & Garfunkel. It
became grist for books and films, including such parodies
as "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice." It was emulated by
a profusion of spiritual growth centers around the nation.
When it opened, Esalen offered only a dozen or so
programs a season, but they tended to be intellectually
dense explorations of the latest ideas in subjects such as
evolutionary theory and psychotherapy. Seminars on major
religious traditions featured study of the Upanishads,
Tantra and Christian contemplative life decades before
religious pluralism became commonplace.
A string of ground-breaking teachers soon brought international attention to Esalen. Timothy Leary preached a gospel of enlightenment through psychedelic drugs and physicist Fritz Capra explored the mysticism of science. Frederick Perls helped launch Gestalt therapy and Will Schutz made confrontational encounter groups famous. Abraham Maslow developed a hopeful view of human psychology by studying high-performers rather than the neurotics favored by Freudian analysts. Ida Rolf made "rolfing" a household word in self-help circles with her deep-tissue bodywork.
Opening the American mind to Eastern mysticism,
onetime Episcopal priest Alan Watts blended East and
West in a synthesis of Zen Buddhism and Western
psychology. Murphy promoted the mind-body movement
in sports, while institute president George Leonard
published radical visions of educational reform.
ut that was then. the buzz has died down. mention
you're writing about Esalen and the two most
common reactions are: Is Esalen still around? Or,
isn't that the place where hippies do drugs and get
naked?
On its website, Esalen lists 47 noteworthy
accomplishments in psychology, education, bodywork and
holistic medicine. But 75% of them took place in the 1960s
and '70s. Its U.S.-Soviet initiatives, which included Boris
Yeltsin's first visit to the United States, took place
primarily in the 1980s.
Still, many of the initiatives have stood the test of time.
"We're all different because of Esalen," says Kevin Starr,
former California state librarian and historian. He
particularly credits the institute for popularizing Eastern
teachings and making them part of a California sensibility
that would eventually influence the nation: a respect for
mind-body connections, holistic health, explorations of
interior spiritual and psychological landscapes.
Other ideas, however, have fizzled. Murphy says Esalen
leaders no longer endorse the sometimes vicious encounter
groups or experimentation with illegal drugs, he adds.
William Coulson, a retired Northern California
psychotherapist, says that Maslow himself came to regret
his own influential teachings on "self-actualization" that
promoted the freedom to pursue your own destiny and
potential. Central to Esalen's philosophy, such ideas were
important four decades ago to help unshackle oppressed
spirits—women shoehorned into domesticity, blacks
denied equal opportunities, men afraid of intimacy. But
Coulson, who studied Maslow's ideas with famed
psychologist Carl Rogers at the La Jolla-based Western
Behaviorial Sciences Institute, says they are "potential
civilization killers" for their excessive individualism at the
cost of community.
Esalen leaders also acknowledge the shortcomings of
navel-gazing and say they are switching gears. "It's not
enough to look at ourselves; we have to see how we are
connected with others,'" says Andy Nusbaum, Esalen's tall
and lanky executive director. "We're moving from 'me' to 'we.' "
But now, like other baby boomers, Esalen is aiming to
recapture its faded glory. As it enters its fifth decade, it is
embarking on a 10-year face- lift—improvements prompted by a disastrous storm four years ago. With a
stunning new bathhouse, plans to refurbish much of the
rest of the 163-acre property, a first-time capital campaign
to raise $25 million and six new program initiatives,
Esalen's leaders hope to rebound with a roar.
"We're on the edge of what could amount to a second birth
for Esalen," Murphy says.
Esalen is tucked between the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Lucia Mountains 45
miles south of Monterry, and has five acres of organic gardens in addition to large
stands of California cypress and Monterey pines.
At first glance, all seems perfect in paradise. enter
the property, tucked on a ribbon of jagged
coastline between the Pacific Ocean and the Santa
Lucia Mountains 45 miles south of Monterey, and
you are immediately swept up in its ethereal, almost
mystical beauty. California cypress and Monterey pines,
twisted by powerful winds, dot the landscape. The senses
come alive with the smell of mint here and sulfur there, the
sounds of gurgling mountain streams and chirping birds,
the sensation of cool ocean breezes against your cheek.
Hinting of hidden realities, fog rolls in and out to reveal a
mysterious play of shadow and light across the land. Five
acres of lush organic gardens splash the grounds with the
bright colors of violet lobelia, red poppies, magenta
snapdragons, yellow sunflowers and rows and rows of
green vegetables.
The land, long sacralized by Spanish missionaries and the
indigenous Esselen Indians for whom the center is named,
features testaments to myriad spiritual traditions. The
grounds include a stone Buddha, a garden goddess, a
Native American sweat lodge, a circular meditation hut, a
Judeo-Christian Tree of Life, a picture of the Virgin Mary
and a Taoist inscription on a large stone next to a burbling
creek:
Tao follows the way of the watercourse
The rhythms of life here harken to simpler days. Workers
tend and harvest more than 100 varieties of vegetables and
edible flowers, which are used to prepare more than 600
meals a day, on average. The leftovers are composted,
helping to nurture a new cycle of growth.
The distracting beeps, rings and clatter of modern society
are largely absent. There is no cellphone reception, no
high-speed computer lines, few TVs. The nights are black
and the stars brilliantly clear, owing to the near absence of
street lamps in the vicinity. With few lures of electronic
isolation, people congregate in the lodge for lively
conversation. With few means to multi-task, the mind can
rest.
In 1998, however, Mother Nature savagely intruded on
Esalen's idyllic existence. A fierce El Niño storm
destroyed the outdoor mineral baths, depriving the institute
of its most famous physical attraction. Mudslides closed
Highway 1, the main route to Esalen, for three months,
causing a serious decline in revenues.
The crisis prompted a moment of truth for Esalen's
backers. Could they raise the millions of dollars needed to
rebuild? Could they muster the engineering talent to
overcome the formidable challenges of securing new baths
on the side of 50-foot-tall cliffs? Could they craft a solid
business plan and implement it in a place accustomed to
freewheeling management? Should they even try?
"There was a question as to whether Esalen could survive
at all," recalls Nusbaum.
But Leonard, the institute's president and an aikido master,
stepped in with advice gleaned from three decades of
martial-arts practice: "Take the hit as a gift."
The believers in unlimited human potential have begun to
do just that. For starters, they have revived the glorious
baths. The rebuilt bathhouse, designed by award-winning
architect Micky Muennig, has drawn rave reviews. The
airy and elegant concrete structure features arched
doorways, a mosaic fountain, sandstone floors and the
hushed ambience of an outdoor temple. On a clear day,
bathers can see otters, seals, birds and migratory whales
with their young.
The baths are central to Esalen's legend and lore. It
was the hot springs that lured Michael Murphy's
grandfather, Henry, to first purchase the property in
1910. A Salinas doctor who delivered novelist John
Steinbeck, Henry Murphy envisioned a therapeutic spa and
resort; eventually the family turned it into a modest tourist
establishment called Slate's Hot Springs. By the time the
younger Murphy took over in 1962, the baths were haunts
for bohemian writers such as Henry Miller and gay men
from San Francisco. Big moments include Yeltsin's 1989
visit to Esalen to relax and rethink U.S.-Soviet relations in
what came to be known as "hot tub diplomacy."
Beyond the bathhouse, Esalen plans to reposition some of
its buildings for increased solar energy use and ultimately
dreams of getting off the electrical grid. Plans are also in
the works to upgrade its aging buildings, add more private
rooms and build a new 200-person conference room and
meditation center.
To pay for the improvements, Esalen has launched a
capital campaign for the first time in its history. Elements
include benefit events by celebrities, such as actor John
Cleese, and appeals to 20,000 former workshop
participants to become "Friends of Esalen" donors. The
nonprofit institute, governed by a nine-member elected
board of trustees, has no endowment. Its budget—$10.2
million this year—has relied almost entirely on workshop
fees. But the storm forced a reappraisal.
"When El Niño hit, we realized we had to do something to
reestablish our plant and make ourselves more sustainable
for the future," Nusbaum says. "We can't do it by
ourselves. No way."
How to actively solicit support, however, is a question
Esalen is grappling with for the first time, never having
overtly marketed itself. But a plan is in the works that will
allow the institute to reach specific audiences, starting with
the launch of an e-mail campaign to previous visitors, with
dreams of an expansion.
"I think there is a sense of urgency to get the knowledge
about Esalen out to a more mainstream audience—people
who aren't necessarily into alternative medicine or yoga,
like someone in Topeka," Nusbaum says.
He added that the new development plan will not increase
room capacity, reassuring those who initially worried that
Esalen leaders would turn it into a high-priced tourist
resort. (Weekend rates covering a three-day workshop,
lodging, three meals a day and unlimited use of the mineral
baths range from $545 per person for shared rooms to
$260 for sleeping bag space in meeting rooms.)
Esalen's spectacular setting, which the capital
improvements will only enhance, offers the most
compelling argument for why the institute is likely to
remain a singularly special retreat center. Esalen fans say
magic is made here, thanks to an alchemic confluence of
so many natural "power" elements—the ocean, the mineral
hot springs, freshwater creek and rising mountains. The
result, they say, is an experience that cannot be found at
the local gym or urban self-help center.
In today's troubled world, says psychologist Ken
Dychtwald, Esalen's healing environment has assumed a
new urgency.
"We need Esalen now more than in the 1960s and '70s,"
says Dychtwald, who heads the institute's alumni network.
"With the world becoming increasingly distressed, and
conflicts building at every level, there is a need for a
peaceful, beautiful, magical environment where people can
talk and share and interact with the great thinkers of our
times."
Esalen, however, faces other questions, ones that are
voiced by people such as Asher Padeh. The Miami Beach
psychiatrist has been coming annually to Esalen with his
wife, Ilonka, for the last 25 years. He adores the center's
rugged beauty, sacred energy, organic meals, welcoming
staff and opportunities to grow through workshops that
include dream analysis and Chi Gong training. But he says
the place has lost its genius gurus and bold, questing
quality.
"There's no place like Esalen," Padeh says, with an
affectionate sigh. "But it was more avant-garde in the early
days. Personal freedom was paramount. Today it seems
more mainstream. People do not dare come up with contraestablishment
ideas. I believe freedom is the only
environment where new ideas can come up."
In contrast to the programs of the early years, esalen's
offerings today are more varied and less startling. They
have multiplied to 500 workshops a year spanning
religious studies, dance, health, psychology,
relationships, bodywork and yoga. Seekers can learn to
"Garden for the Soul," "Get the Love You Want" or
explore their inner selves through golf while studying
principles of psychosynthesis as they play the Monterey
Peninsula's world-class golf courses. The largest offerings,
however, are creative art classes. They include workshops
such as "Vision Painting: Evoking the Light," "Basic
Acting: Setting the Spirit Free" and "Floral Arts as
Spiritual Practice."
Such workshops, popular though they may be, fail to offer
the kind of intellectual breakthroughs that once
characterized Esalen, according to Pierre Grimes, a
Huntington Beach philosophy professor who leads dream
analysis workshops here.
"People are seeking different spiritual directions but are
avoiding the mind," he says.
Grimes is urging Esalen leaders to recapture the cutting
edge by exploring the most interesting innovations in
science—for instance, he says, cellular biologist Bruce
Lipton's research into the innate intelligence of cells. He
also says Esalen should present more speakers who flout
conventional wisdom—political activist and MIT linguist
Noam Chomsky, say, or archeologists whose discoveries
are challenging biblical claims.
Walter Truett Anderson, a futurist and author of a 1983
book about Esalen, says the institute's proximity to Silicon
Valley could position it to play a larger role in exploring
the latest technological research. "To my knowledge,
Esalen is not seriously out front in talking about genetics,
biotechnology or the various convergences of technology
to improve human performance," he says.
The debate over direction is not new. From the earliest
days, Esalen was a breeding ground of powerful egos and
intellects who competed for control. The most notorious
rivalry was between Perls, who wanted Esalen to
champion the self-introspection of his Gestalt therapy, and
Schutz, who pushed group dynamics through encounters,
according to David Price, Esalen's information services
manager and son of the co-founder. (Richard Price was
killed by a falling boulder during a hike in 1985.)
But Esalen's hallmark has been a steadfast refusal to allow
any one guru to "capture the flag," Price says—an attitude
he says eventually drove followers of the Bhagwan Shree
Rajneesh from Esalen to Oregon to start their commune
there. To ensure that spirit remains after the founders pass
on, Esalen recently changed its bylaws to strengthen the
checks and balances on the board of trustees.
"Esalen has always tried to present as many different ideas
as possible," Price says. "It avoids things cultish or guruoriented."
Nancy Lunney-Wheeler, Esalen's program director, says
she is considering ideas such as Grimes' to bring in more
intellectually rigorous topics—but wonders aloud how
they would sell. In January, for instance, Esalen offered a
workshop on novelist Aldous Huxley's life and work that
drew fewer than 10 people, a third of what the more
popular classes attract. The biggest draws, Lunney-
Wheeler says, are yoga, arts, meditation and classes on
relationships.
"Esalen needs to keep ahead of the curve, but at the same
time keep popular," she says. "What's cutting edge is not
necessarily what's popular."
Esalen's edgiest programs are not found in the public
courses. They are offered by the institute's little-known
Center for Theory & Research, which organizes projects
and conferences on what it calls "frontier inquiry." Among
other things, the center held "citizen diplomat" conferences
with Soviets during the Cold War, explored more
sustainable methods of capitalism with leading CEOs;
launched early programs in alternative and holistic heath;
and taught meditation and mindfulness to AIDS patients
and inner-city youth. The center has compiled an archive
of 10,000 cases studies of supernormal human functioning,
such as acts of telepathy and extraordinary strength, and a
bibliography of scientific research on meditation.
And now the center, as part of Esalen's overall
rejuvenation, is set to unveil six new research initiatives.
They include programs on Western esoteric studies,
supernormal human capacities and whether consciousness
survives bodily death. Other initiatives will seek to
improve the effectiveness of environmental groups and
gauge methods to improve human performance, including
raising IQ, known as Integral Transformative Practice.
In addition, just as Murphy and others reached out to
Soviet thinkers during the Cold War, they are now
exploring similar "citizen-diplomat" initiatives with
Islamic mystics.
"We're in outlaw country, the road less traveled," Murphy
says.
Murphy, 73, believes that Esalen is overly identified with
the 1960s and unfairly lampooned as the vanguard of
California's touchy-feely New Agers. Too often, he says,
the institute's solid intellectual achievements are ignored.
Whatever changes have transformed Esalen over time,
Murphy says, the mission to help people fulfill their
potential remains evergreen.
Bill Schier, 43, is a case in point. The New York native
says he was a hard-driving prosecutor in Northern Virginia
when his world suddenly fell apart a few years ago. A 14-
year marriage ended in divorce. Shortly afterward, his
uncle and best friend died.
"What am I doing with my life?'' he asked himself.
At his therapist's recommendation, he visited Esalen in
October 2000. During a workshop, "Experiencing Esalen,"
he sat in a circle and studied his feet, as instructed during a
sensory awareness session. He says he found the whole
thing ridiculous—and blurted that out to the group.
Then, Schier says, a startling thing happened. People
offered support and companionship. Total strangers who
cared? Clearly, he thought, this was not New York.
After a weekend of art, deep conversations, steaming baths
and nourishing organic food, Schier says he felt
transformed. In 2001, he quit his job and enrolled in the
institute's extended student program. Working jobs in the
kitchen and at the entry gate, Schier says he's resolving
lifelong problems stemming from a troubled childhood.
"I'm a lot less stoic than I used to be," Schier says. "I'm
less afraid of my emotions. I'm more able to express my
disappointments and joys, and deal with the disappointments of others."
Such testimonies suggest that Esalen maintains its value as
a self-help mecca. Nusbaum, the institute's executive
director, says, "Everyone who comes here leaves different
than when they arrived."
Now all they have to do is get more people to come.
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