Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/456364
al property of Dr. Murphy, a progressive Salinas physician who bought the land in 1910 for the healing springs, which by carbon dating artifacts such as arrowheads and abalone shells, appear to have been used by the Esselen Indians dating back to thousands of years ago. Without a road to the property for 25 years, Dr. Murphy died without realizing his dreams to share the waters with the public. His grandson, Michael Murphy, along with Esalen co-founder and frustrated fel- low Stanford grad Richard Price, opened the grounds as a healing spa and to address issues that were being overlooked in society and not taught in their classes. "In those days, it was a pretty neglected prop- erty at the end of the beyond," Wheeler says. "They decided to invite the teachers they want- ed to hear from and everyone who had inter- esting ideas in advancing human potential. They believed other people would pay for it even though it wouldn't be an academic course and they wouldn't get any credit or any help in their career," he explains. What's amazing is the "business model" took fire immediately, and what Murphy and Price thought would last a year thrived, and eventual- ly spawned hundreds of centers around the same model. "Coming out of the '50s, things were pretty damped down in the Post War period," Wheeler says. "There was a lot of post trau- matic stress and a huge hunger to talk about spiritual practices outside of mainstream churches, and psychological needs outside of psychopathology and medicine, and healing outside of taking a pill." Aldous Huxley, Paul Tillich, Buckminster Fuller and Alan Watts were some of the original visi- tors who accepted the invitation to speak, to the founders' "damn surprise." Today, initiatives are created out of talks at Esalen, sustainability is emphasized, and books and films about and by the institute, including Esalen's Center for Theory & Research, continue to be released. Esalen, it is stressed, exists to "serve the world" not to be a "refuge from it." "Mind-body exploration was not a topic 50 years ago," Wheeler says. "You went to school, you had a career, you retired and then you died. Nothing was supposed to be happening inside you as far as personal growth. Psychotherapy was for sick people." Through workshops, extended study pro- grams, internships, apprenticeships and volun- teering, participants engage in art, meditation, personal and relationship exploration, living in community, cultivating the garden, working in the kitchen, and yes, soaking in those famous baths. Children are welcome too: the one-acre Gazebo Park School cares for kids up to age 6 in an off- the-grid, outdoor-based learning center. Currently undergoing a three-year renewal program that includes an updated energy-effi- cient Lodge, which houses the bookstore, office and eating facilities, the Institute is more relevant than ever, according to Wheeler. He says we live in an age of integration between ideas and gen- erations and he's optimistic that what seem like insoluble world problems can, in fact, be solved by the youth of today. "Esalen is a 52-year-old conversation across boundaries," he says. "It's about breaking things down." For more information on Esalen Institute, please go to www.esalen.org or call 888/837-2536. Esalen is located at 55000 Highway 1 in Big Sur, by reservation only. Esalen is currently undergoing a major renovation based on environmental principles. Up to 17,000 people a year take courses at the Institute. "Youth leadership training is the most exciting to me," says Wheeler. "It includes activism, personal growth, sustainability…" 168 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 1 5