Esalen

Jeffrey Kripal here recounts the spectacular history of Esalen, the institute that has long been a world leader in alternative and experiential education and stands today at the center of the human potential movement. Forged in the literary and mythical leanings of the Beat Generation, inspired in the lecture halls of Stanford by radical scholars of comparative religion, the institute was the remarkable brainchild of Michael Murphy and Richard Price. Set against the heady backdrop of California during the revolutionary 1960s, Esalen recounts in fascinating detail how these two maverick thinkers sought to fuse the spiritual revelations of the East with the scientific revolutions of the West, or to combine the very best elements of Zen Buddhism, Western psychology, and Indian yoga into a decidedly utopian vision that rejected the dogmas of conventional religion. In their religion of no religion, the natural world was just as crucial as the spiritual one, science and faith not only commingled but became staunch allies, and the enlightenment of the body could lead to the full realization of our development as human beings. “An impressive new book. . . . [Kripal] has written the definitive intellectual history of the ideas behind the institute.”—San Francisco Chronicle “Kripal examines Esalen’s extraordinary history and evocatively describes the breech birth of Murphy and Price’s brainchild. His real achievement, though, is effortlessly synthesizing a dizzying array of dissonant phenomena (Cold War espionage, ecstatic religiosity), incongruous pairings (Darwinism, Tantric sex), and otherwise schizy ephemera (psychedelic drugs, spaceflight) into a cogent, satisfyingly complete narrative.”—Atlantic Monthly “Kripal has produced the first all-encompassing history of Esalen: its intellectual, social, personal, literary and spiritual passages. Kripal brings us up-to-date and takes us deep beneath historical surfaces in this definitive, elegantly written book.”—Playboy

The world-renowned Esalen Institute, located on the cliffs above the ocean in Big Sur, California, is a place of peace and beauty, a place to contemplate, think, and discover. Filled with beautiful photographs, this cookbook features dozens of recipes for delicious dishes that emphasize healthy, fresh, and organic ingredients--food made to satisfy the soul as well as the stomach.

This is an interview of Seymour Carter by Ken Dychtwald at Esalen Institute.

In Beyond Words, Kurt Back offers a critical analysis of the modern pilgrims who journey on weekends and summers to centers for group processes, encounter, and personality growth. He uses biography, sociological analysis, and current history to complete a picture of the intensive group process, sensitivity training, T-groups, encounters, and their off-shoots. The book, first published in 1972, emphasizes the social movement aspect of sensitivity training—what it means for today's society, its promises, and its threats. It is an enlightening examination of a development in the science of humankind at the climax of its career as a social movement.

Northern California offers places to visit away from tourist areas, including the Whiskey Flat Saloon (established in 1862) in Volcano; Vikingsholm, a Scandinavian style mansion near Lake Tahoe; and Niles, the movie-making capital of California before Hollywood was on the map.

Yoga. Humanistic Psychology. Meditation. Holistic Healing. These practices are commonplace today. Yet before the early 1960s they were atypical options for most people outside of the upper class or small groups of educated spiritual seekers. Esalen Institute, a retreat for spiritual and personal growth in Big Sur, California, played a pioneering role in popularizing quests for self-transformation and personalized spirituality. This “soul rush” spread quickly throughout the United States as the Institute made ordinary people aware of hundreds of ways to select, combine, and revise their beliefs about the sacred and to explore diverse mystical experiences. Millions of Americans now identify themselves as spiritual, not religious, because Esalen paved the way for them to explore spirituality without affiliating with established denominations The American Soul Rush explores the concept of spiritual privilege and Esalen’s foundational influence on the growth and spread of diverse spiritual practices that affirm individuals’ self-worth and possibilities for positive personal change. The book also describes the people, narratives, and relationships at the Institute that produced persistent, almost accidental inequalities in order to illuminate the ways that gender is central to religion and spirituality in most contexts.

Part of the Key Figures in Counselling and Psychotherapy series, this text chronicles the life, contributions and influence of Fritz Perls on the practice of counselling and psychotherapy.

This book uncovers a holistic sensibility in post-World War II American culture that challenged Cold War logic and fed some of the century's most powerful social movements. This impulse is illustrated by focusing on Rachel Carson, Buckminster Fuller, Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Maslow, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and the Esalen Institute.