True Esalen : What was it Really like?

Yes D, tell us, what "really" happens at Esalen? You'd be surprised how often I got this question, both from those who came to visit and those who had dreamed about it for ages but never got the chance, or had the resources to make it here. Being someone with a flare for the dramatic, my answer is usually one shrouded in mystery, in half answers, or most commonly, with a question of my own. "What do you think it's really like?" was one of my favorite responses. More often than not this would reveal much of their preconceived notions, a fascinating study in and of itself. But no matter how many different answers I got, it seemed to me that there we're bits and pieces of my own experience found within them.

Early on in my experience I found that the underlying mythos of Esalen was freedom of expression, and the ability to drop the façade of society to be what we truly are, divine beings, on a divine world, this I was to experience for myself, on the day I met people for the first time out at the cliffs edge, eating my breakfast, when a family of people eating beside me started talking about things I was interested in, and feeling a good vibe all around I jumped into the conversation. We immediately got along and they invited me for a hike through the canyon that splits the Esalen grounds into two parts.

We hiked in for about 20 minutes and stopped in a large open grove beside the river. Little did I know it was actually the solstice, or would be in only a few short minutes. The family and I huddled together on a mound, our heads all touching, and prayed together, looking up into the sun in the exact moment of the solstice, and embracing once more. The next thing I knew we were all naked, bathing in a small waterfall of the river. All this and with people I had only met an hour ago! I titled this moment Solstice Surrender in my journal, and for me it typifies much of my Esalen Experience. An almost seamless stream of surrender to the moment, to new and unknown things. I suppose If I boiled it all down that would be the best way to answer people when the ask what it was really like there, but even if I had the perfect words to explain, they would be hallow to those who had never experienced it, so why try? It's just something you had to have experienced on your own.

The very act of explaining my experience to guests often brought it to life in them. My solstice experience is a perfect example, for the next day I went to JJ's dance awake class and started up a conversation with a girl who was there for the month long student program. She was curious about what I had done for Solstice and I told her about the people I had met and how we went naked into the freezing cold river. She loved the idea and asked If I would show her the place. I did and we ended up reliving the experience on our own. It's almost like there is a doubling effect for every person that comes to Esalen in search of new and profound releases from the ways they had lived before. They come with an expectation somewhat rooted in the stories they hear and are eager to have them too. For people like me who enjoy guiding people its a natural progression. After we returned to the lodge she took her other friends there the next day, and so it goes, day after day, year after year.

But it's not just the everyday experiences available to the guests that people are curious about, many if not most want to know what its like to live and work at Esalen. This, much like the first answer, is not something one can explain without having lived it yourself. But a good example of what it was like living and working at Esalen is the following tale.

During my first few months working the night shift in the kitchen, I got to know the Mexican night crew who trained me, showed me the ropes. They were dedicated, highly skilled men who loved to sing as they worked, always telling jokes and showing me pictures of their families and friends, of their lives away from work. The oldest among them was the father and uncle to the two youngest, he was very open and loving, so gracious and kind. Going out of his way to offer you food and comfort. After a short time I found out he had been in a mariachi band for over 20 years, playing all over Monterey county, and even having several of his own records, one of which had Big Sur in the title, but I forget the specifics. He loved to play guitar on his off hours, coming to the fireplace outside the lodge and singing Mexican songs while playing them on the guitar. He looked very much like my father, and I took a liking to him quickly. The memory I will never forget is when he brought me into the office at midnight, when our shift had ended, and he played me, "My way." By Frank Sinatra, in his broken English. I was actually in tears, much in part because he reminded me so much of my deceased father, but also because it anchored me into the new reality I had been spirited away to from the hell I had created for myself. Apparently redemption is a thing.

These two stories as well as many more make up the intricate web of experiences that both the guests and the staff have access to. Of course there are many tiers of influence, ranging from the lowest day pass guests, to the week longers and then the month long resident students. After that you get into murky waters taking into consideration the almost if not actual religious adoration and following that many of the workshop teachers have, some of which have been having classes at Esalen for decades and have long standing relationships with the staff, enjoying access to what I was eventually told were, the hidden perks of the Esalen old guard.

You see Esalen is a very complicated situation, not just in its history but also in its organizational and financial structure. If I were in possession of facts instead of a literal plethora of rumors and slanders I would be more apt to speak on the subject. Needless to say there are, or were, many embattled groups within the Hierarchy, the three main factions, going from bottom to top are, 1: The regular staff and the guests, which can be anything from a year long employee, to work study individuals who attend so often they are practically staff. 2: The old guard, those who have lived and breathed Esalen for decades. and are the most radical as well as the most True to the old ways of Esalen, those now nearly extinct to do a variety of factors, not the least of which is the near bankruptcy of the institute. and 3: The General Manager and the Board those who reign supreme over everyone below them. There are two more groups worth mentioning, which is 4: Human Resources, the enforcement arm of the institute, not exactly everyone's favorite no matter which company your working in, but in a place like Esalen where the rules are so wildly different than anywhere else on Earth, its impossible to manage without hurt feelings and bitterness, and 5: the money donors, the story goes they cannot gain any favors from the institute no matter how much money they give, I'm in no position to confirm or deny the validity of that though.

All in all the list of experiences each member of the Esalen family could share would take up endless volumes, having a thrill for every kind of person, many of which would be beyond belief, for I can hardly believe my own. As for me I will endeavor to share some of the experiences I had while living and working at Esalen, something I felt I could not do while there, but now, after almost a year after my last day in that magical land, I feel called to share. I hope you are as excited to hear it, as I am to write it.