ABOUT ESALEN: OUR MISSION AND HISTORY
Original LinkMission Statement
The Esalen Center for Theory & Research supports essential philosophic, academic, and research aims of the Esalen Institute. It evaluates frontier inquiry, creates networks of pioneering individuals, and works to catalyze new discoveries that promote personal and social transformation. It carries forward projects at the growing edge of philosophy, psychology, comparative religious studies, education, sociology, somatics, the arts, ecology, and related disciplines that bear upon transformative practice and the continued evolution of humankind. Among these projects are an archive of extraordinary human functioning and a bibliography of scientific research on meditation.
Esalen History
Esalen was founded in 1962 by Michael Murphy and Richard Price as an educational center for the exploration of unrealized human capacities. It soon became known for its blend of East/West philosophies, its experiential workshops, the steady influx of leading philosophers, psychologists, artists, and religious thinkers, and its breathtaking grounds blessed with natural hot springs. Once home to a Native American tribe known as the Esselen, Esalen is situated on some 200 acres of spectacular Big Sur coastline with the Santa Lucia Mountains rising sharply behind.
The Esalen Institute has often been in the public spotlight, most notably for its role in encouraging new understandings of human nature in the sixties and initiating citizen diplomacy with the Soviet Union in the eighties. However, it has also sponsored an array of programs out of the public eye, some of which have had far-reaching effects. The following, though by no means complete, highlights some of these initiatives. Click on a topic for detail.
Evolutionary Theory
Economics and Globalization
International Relations
Empirical Study of Frontier Topics
Physics and Consciousness
Sports Psychology
Integral Practice
Intuition/Psychical Phenomena
Creativity & Imagination
Social Outreach
Theology
Shamanism
Publishing
Miscellaneous
Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology
Education
Somatic Education
Holistic and Complementary Medicine
Environmental Studies
New Approaches to Psychiatry
Governance
Philosophy
Race Relations
Women's Issues/Studies