Darnell Walker is Esalen's artist in residence for Spring 2021. Darnell is a writer and creator of children’s media, as well as a powerful documentary filmmaker - his efforts include 2015’s Seeking Asylum, which explored Black Americans’ desires to escape American tyranny and widespread police violence for safer lands, Outside the House, which focuses on Black mental health, and Set Yourself on Fire, a film about sexual violence, . His work investigates education and revolution, with a strong first-person point of view informed by an inspiring DIY ethic. Together we explored his body of work, modes of creativity, and the kind of change he hopes to affect in the world. And a new offering from Esalen Institute: Are you looking for support in navigating the unique challenges that middle age brings when it comes to navigating relationships, career, finances and health? On June 5th, Modern Elder Academy begins an 8-week online Transitions course on navigating profound life changes in middle age and beyond. You’ll be part of a small, Esalen-only cohort learning from home, doing one-on-one calls with other group members, and tapping into MEA’s pool of thought leaders. Learn more at modernelderacademy.com, and use the coupon code “Esalen” when you enroll to save 10%. Also: Explore powerful, practical techniques to identify and heal unresolved traumas blocking the energy of the sacred feminine with Esalen Healing Arts Presents: Moon Lodge Honoring the Sacred Feminine Sisterhood, June 18th to June 20th in Big Sur. Holistic doctor Julie Von and Master Teacher of Buddhist Dharma Lucia Horan will support participants in unlocking  rituals to support  their empowerment, inner balance, and well-being during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This workshop is open to all those who identify as women. Learn more at esalen.org/workshops.

Chef Elle Simone is a well-known American chef, culinary producer, test cook, and food stylist. In 2013, after realizing that women and persons of color were underrepresented among chefs, she founded SheChef, a mentoring and networking organization for women of color in the culinary field. She can be seen on PBS on America’s Test Kitchen and is the first African American woman to appear as a regular host on that show. Chef Elle is also a survivor of ovarian cancer and shows up as an activist and representative in that space. Chef Elle is interviewed by S. Rae Peoples, Associate Director of Diversity & Inclusion Education at Tufts University. She has over 25 years of experience serving in leadership roles that revolve around social justice in the arts, education, political, and nonprofit sectors. She advises organizations on how best to create internal conditions that allow equity, diversity, inclusion, and justice to flourish. Her opinions and writings have been featured in The Washington Post, Oakland Post, BlogHer, and YFS Magazine. S. Rae is currently rooted in motherhood, love, and community in Somerville, MA.

Dr. Brian Pace is a lecturer who teaches Psychedelic Studies at The Ohio State University. He is trained as an evolutionary ecologist, specializing in phytochemistry, ethnobotany, and ecophysiology. He believes in grassroots drug decriminalization efforts and hopes to find alternative policies to the imperial drug war. For more than a decade, Brian has worked on agroecology and climate change. Dr. Nese Devenot is a Postdoctoral Associate at the Institute for Research in Sensing (or IRiS) at the University of Cincinnati; an Affiliate Scholar at the Center for Psychedelic Drug Research & Education at Ohio State University; and the Medicine, Society & Culture Research Fellow with Psymposia. She also researches and teaches bioethical approaches to psychedelic medicine. She was a Research Fellow with the New York University Psilocybin Cancer Anxiety Study, where she participated in the first qualitative study of patient experiences. Dr. Pace and Dr. Devenot are authors of a paper entitled “Right-Wing Psychedelia: Case Studies in Cultural Plasticity and Political Pluripotency,” a piece they created to rebut the common cultural assumption that psychedelics have the potential to improve society because of inherent characteristics that tend to point their users to a liberal, free-thinking ideology. in the discussion that follows, they suggest that psychedelics are non-specific amplifiers of their set and setting, which, they take pains to remind me, is within the capitalist realm, and that contrary to the de facto cultural credo, conservative, hierarchy based ideologies are quite able to withstand the face melting effects of a few hits of LSD. They speak about many cases where psychedelic users either remained authoritarian in their views or became conservatively radicalized after taking psychedelics. We also get into conservative thought leaders who happen to be psychedelic cheerleaders, like Jordan Peterson, as well as the moneyed individuals who are central players in the corporate psychedelic world, like Peter Thiel and Rebecca Mercer. I have taken the liberty of importing some clips that I found on YouTube of these famous folks up for discussion, in the hopes of better illustrating the points being made. Hope you enjoy. More information akin to this: https://www.psymposia.com

Akuyoe Graham is founder of the Spirit Awakening Foundation, an arts based non-profit dedicated to helping underserved youth in the juvenile justice system. Since its inception in 1995, SAF has been a pioneer in developing and offering restorative, trauma-informed, prevention and intervention programs to underserved, incarcerated and systems-involved youth in Los Angeles County. Akuyoe speaks about how difficult and broken the juvenile justice system is, what tools she gives the participants in her program to empower them, including meditation, writing, and dramatic arts, and how the young people of Spirit Awakening Foundation have come several times to Esalen institute for a leadership retreat of their own. This episode contains bonus material from a recent conversation that is a follow-up to the original 2021 interview. Spirit Awakening Foundation: https://www.spiritawakening.org/ Donate: https://secure.givelively.org/donate/spirit-awakening-foundation

Keith Thompson is an author, independent journalist, talk radio host, and former U.S. Senate staff member. Keith’s work has appeared in the New York Times, Esquire and the San Francisco Chronicle. He’s the author of the new book, The UFO Paradox: The Celestial and Symbolic World of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, in which he reveals how the UFO phenomenon ultimately represents a call from the cosmos for humanity to open to greater dimensions of reality and recognize that our understanding of the universe is still far from complete. Together we talked about how he discovered Esalen in 1975 from a New Yorker article, his friendship with Esalen co-founder Michael Murphy, how he became involved in the earliest incarnations of Esalen’s Center for Theory and Research, the genius of Esalen’s "no one captures the flag" approach, the "Tuesday morning phenomenon," and the links between the paranormal and the aims of the human potential movement.

Today we have a special episode. We're bringing you something unique and powerful: a real Esalen check-in. This practice, rooted in the Gestalt therapy that evolved at Esalen over the years, has become a cornerstone of the Esalen experience, often described as a catalyst for self-awareness, connection, and personal growth. Our check-in features an incredible group of people: full-time staff members Nani Almanza, Jess Siller, Alex Shepherd, Sam Stern, and Shira Levine, as well as Faith Blakeney, a participant in the LEEP and REEP residential programs. What you'll hear is real. It is authentic and unscripted. While our participants were aware of being recorded, they spoke from the heart. We've made every effort to preserve the intimacy and rawness of the experience with only minimal editing. This episode offers a rare glimpse into the heart of what makes Esalen truly special. This is the secret sauce - the open, honest sharing that forms the foundation for personal transformation. I invite you to listen with an open heart and mind, as we explore this fundamental Esalen practice together.

Erik Davis stands tall at the intersection between mysticism, technology, and counterculture. He's one of my favorite writers, the author of many stupendous books, among them "TechGnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information," "Nomad Codes," as well as "High Weirdness" a highly entertaining book that explores 1970s counterculture and its relationship with altered states of consciousness. Erik is also an Esalen faculty member, having recently taught a course on Embodied Writing and Spiritual Practice. In this conversation, we went into his new book, "Blotter," an extended meditation on LSD blotter art and the culture that surrounds it. We also found time to veer off into a host of topics, including Terence McKenna, John C. Lilly, Dick Price, madness, Stan Grof, the spiritual emergency network, prep-school deadheads, the Village Voice, the Internet and Erik's theory that it kills subcultures, the phenomenon of what Erik calls "cannabis thinking," how he was never much of a "cannabis writer," tape machines and their place in the counterculture, the Merry Pranksters, Phillip K. Dick, Bay Area Poster art, the DEA and its own little zine - and much more. Erik is one of the cofounders of the Berkeley Alembic - a nonprofit bodymind center committed to experiments in transformation. https://berkeleyalembic.org/ You can also find his collected works at Techgnosis: https://techgnosis.com/

Dr. Biko Gray is an Assistant Professor of Religion at Syracuse University whose work and research focuses primarily on the connection between race, subjectivity, religion, and embodiment. Dr. Gray is currently working on a book that explores how contemporary racial justice movements, like Black Lives Matter, demonstrate new ways of theorizing the connection between embodiment, religion, and subjectivity. Together we discussed white guilt, anti-Black violence, how corporations co-opt diversity and anti-racism, what an equitable Esalen may look like, how scholarships function, tokenism, Hegel, subjectivity, and much more. He's amazing, and this episode is a must-listen.

Richard Schwartz, Ph.D., is the founder of Internal Family Systems, a unique and astoundingly effective modality of psychotherapy that focuses on the various parts within a person. Internal Family Systems, or IFS, views multiplicity of mind as our natural state and our “parts” as sub-personalities that may be healed and transformed by bringing the Self into its rightful role as leader of the internal system. In this interview, he guides Sam through some transformational trauma work.

Nkechi Deanna Njaka - @ndnlifestylist - is a neuroscientist, meditation teacher, modern dancer, multi-disciplinary artist, and the co-host of the podcast "Dating White," where she and her co-host, sex and dating coach @myishabattle, speak about being women of color and their nuanced experiences in interracial dating. ⁠ Nkechi is 2017 YBCA Truth Fellow, and an upcoming 2020 Kennedy Center Artist in Residence whose practice is a vehicle for radical presence and progressive wellness. She speaks about her experience of race growing up in a predominantly white neighborhood in Minnesota, what it's like to be a woman of color in the space of wellness, and how her podcast is a lens to speak about larger issues of race and racism in today's America. Visit her at her website www.nkechinjaka.com.