Voices of Esalen

Known to the masses as simply "JJ," JJ Jeffries is a recognizable figure on the Esalen campus, meeting and greeting arrivals with a kind and pleasant vibe, as well as a memorably dry sense of humor. Mentor, Gestalt and Embodied Awareness practitioner, musician, and memory-keeper, JJ teaches a host of classes at Esalen, including "How to Drop Into Esalen" and his suite of "Pathways to Joy" offerings. JJ describes his pre-Esalen self as a “clueless yokel from Indiana” — the middle child of six boys, “born poor, perpetually confused, raised on corn and really bad TV.” Until he hit his stride at 22, when “I joined the privileged ranks of bartenders and ne’er do wells and never looked back.”  Says JJ, "Eventually, at Esalen, I was asked to lead meditation, which I crafted to include music, sensory awareness, and the chakras. Then, when asked to do a dance, I chose to delve into my studies of early childhood development, attachment theory and many other somatic arenas as vehicles to transform dance into a format that put these theories into practice. The intention was "how do we connect without words and how do we discover our deepest desires by taking risks and being vulnerable together" - letting the body and experiences be our pathways to joy.

Vivian Rosenthal is co-founder of Frequency Breathwork and Diamond Rose Sanctuary, where she combines Kundalini, breathwork, and energy medicine to create profound shifts in consciousness. Vivian has guided over 10,000 people through therapeutic breath work sessions. In this episode, we’ll split our time between Vivian speaking about how breath work can elicit non-ordinary states of consciousness that can help combat anxiety and stress, and an actual full length breath work session. Vivian's is doing a lot in the world: her commitment to mental health has led her to collaborate with scientists on groundbreaking research, including a pilot study on using breathwork to treat PTSD, depression, and anxiety in veterans. She's also created the ambitious immersive symphonic breath work journey, “Symphony of the Soul” which debuted in Flint Michigan, bringing together hundreds of people to embark on a communal and transcendent experience. Get ready for an illuminating and experiential hour that might just change the way you think about your own body and the simple act of breathing. Please visit these links to learn more about Vivian's offerings: https://www.vivianrosenthal.com/ https://frequencybreathwork.com/ https://diamondrosesanctuary.com/ https://www.thesymphonyofthesoul.org/

Snow Raven, also known as Suor, a performer from the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in Arctic Siberia, now residing in the United States, performed live at Esalen Institute this winter, during our Go Within Series. Snow Raven is renowned for her unique blend of traditional shamanic practices and modern electronic music, which she uses to connect with and teach about her indigenous culture. Snow Raven's artistic practice is rooted in neo-shamanism. She believes in the interconnectedness of all things. This philosophy extends to her use of technology, which she views as a natural extension of human innovation. She has collaborated on various projects that blend traditional shamanic elements with modern technology, including creating an algorithmic generator of her vocal sounds. She stunned the crowd at Esalen with her riveting performance. Esalen's Sadia Bruce joins us today in this episode to talk about how she came to bring Snow Raven to Esalen. To conclude the episode, Bruce gives us a preview of Esalen's Summer Groove series,an exhilarating celebration of sound, creativity, and movement nestled amidst the breathtaking beauty of Esalen Institute. To learn more, and get tickets, please visit https://www.esalen.org/learn/summer-groove-2024. Some of the artists at Summer Groove: EARTHTONES - a multi-faceted Musician/DJ, who crosses cultures in electronic music from Ambient to House & Cumbia to Hip Hop. As a DJ & international vinyl collector, Earthtones has been one of the forces behind acclaimed global rhythm parties such as International Sunshine & Beat Tropíc, ambient hi-fi events such as The Listening Garden, and the Commune Festival. AMY SECADA - a multi-disciplinary visionary artist of the Monacan Indian Nation specializing in neo-ritual audiovisual works and performance art to spread awareness of environmental injustice and Indigenous cultural and social rights. HRISHI an Indian songwriter and artist based out of Washington, DC. Trained in South Indian classical music (Carnatic music) for over 10 years, he blends his cultural influences with his love for pop song-writers such as Jon Bellion, Lauv, and Chris Martin. NALA SINEPHRO a Caribbean-Belgian composer, producer and musician living in London. Her music fuses meditative sounds, jazz sensibilities, folk and field recordings. Her musical practice is rooted in the study of frequency and geometry and guided by the premise that sound moves matter. SECULAR SABBATH an alternative educational institution and intentional community, born out of an ambient music experience that first took place in 2016, hosted and designed by founder Genevieve Medow Jenkins, who was born and raised at Esalen. LAVENDER DIAMOND Magical, whimsical songsmith Becky Stark will pull at your heart strings and tune your spirit. It's gonna be a good time!!

Maddy Dychtwald is the author of the new bestselling book “Ageless Aging: A Woman’s Guide to Increasing Healthspan, Brainspan, and Lifespan.” Maddy has been recognized by Forbes Magazine as one of the top fifty female futurists globally. With her husband Ken Dychtwald, she is the co-founder of Age Wave, a world leader in understanding and addressing the far-reaching impacts of longevity and our aging population. She’s a member of The Wall Street Journal’s Expert Panel and has been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek, Newsweek, Time, Fox Business News, CNBC, and NPR. Her book Ageless Aging provides an insider’s guide to living better longer, covering everything from fitness and nutrition to hormones and ageism. Some pieces of the book: -Make use of your longevity bonus years with maximum impact and purpose -Learn the truth about your hormones and their impact on ageless aging -Clear up the confusion about nutrition and supplementation -Supercharge your immunity and find more energy in every day -Take steps to potentially prevent or delay cognitive decline - Explore key strategies for improving your sleep - Successfully navigate the healthcare system -Fight back against youth-obsessed culture that conspires against women in particular -Create more financial freedom and security for a longer, better life https://maddydychtwald.com/books-and-blogs/ageless-aging-the-definitive-womens-guide-to-live-better-longer/

Sravana Borkataky-Varma is a historian, educator, and social entrepreneur. As a historian, she studies Indian religions focusing on esoteric rituals and gender, particularly in Hindu traditions (Goddess Tantra). As an educator, she is the Instructional Assistant Professor at the University of Houston. At present, she is a Center for the Study of World Religions fellow at Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University. In the past, she has taught at Harvard University, the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, the University of Montana, and Rice University. Sravana is currently working on no less than four book projects: Divinized Divas: Superwomen, Wives, Hijṛās in Hindu Śākta Tantra, The Serpent’s Tale: Kuṇḍalinī and the History of an Experience, Living Folk Religions, and Religious Responses to the Pandemic & Crises: Isolation, Survival, and #Covidchaos. Details of her published works can be found on this website, under the “Written” tab. As a social entrepreneur, she is the co-founder of a nonprofit, Lumen Tree Portal. Sravana invests in building communities with individuals from various faith backgrounds who believe in kindness, compassion, and fulfillment. We are proud to have her as a Board of Trustee member for Esalen Institute. She also serves as an Advisory Board member for Compassionate Houston. Coming up at Esalen: Sravana will be teaching Embodied Writing and Spiritual Practice with Erik Davis https://www.esalen.org/workshops/embodied-writing-and-spiritual-practice-071524 Workshop description: Part writing workshop and part tantric retreat, this unique practice week explores the relationship between personal writing and subtle body practices. Religious historian and Tantric practitioner Sravana Borkataky-Varma will lead experiential sessions largely stemming from Hindu Goddess Tantra practices. Award-winning author and scholar Erik Davis will then guide the group in reading and writing exercises, developing skills and techniques that will help us creatively express our embodied experiences. Exercises and opportunities will include: Chakra and subtle body meditations. Reading short texts to understand how writing engages subtle embodied experience. Using elements of writing, including metaphor, poetry, and spontaneous language, to capture and express your own inner work. Techniques to develop an ongoing writing practice that supports a deepening engagement with meditation and embodied life. Over the days, we will collectively cultivate a feedback loop between writing, discussion, and inner work. Through this alchemical process, participants will learn to more intimately and poetically clarify their subtle experiences, while at the same time using the power and energy of such practices to fire up and inspire their writing life.

Dr. Andrea Juhan is a revered figure in the realms of somatic psychotherapy, dance, and yoga. With over forty years dedicated to exploring embodiment through diverse avenues—be it bodywork, somatic psychotherapy, or dance—Dr. Juhan has profoundly impacted the fields of mindful movement and therapeutic practices. Andrea is not only a licensed Marriage and Family Psychotherapist but also holds a Ph.D. in Dance and Movement Therapy. Her commitment to the development of body awareness and embodied movement practices has guided hundreds of movement teachers, psychotherapists, and healthcare professionals. As a co-founder of Open Floor International, Andrea has helped foster a global community dedicated to using conscious movement and dance to promote creativity, social justice, and well-being. Her journey reflects a deep devotion to the felt sense of life, blending the transformative qualities of presence, compassion, and spiritual union. In our conversation, Andrea shares her experiences from those formative years at Esalen—how the dynamic and expressive environment fostered her deep interest in the embodied movement practices that would define her career. She reflects on the support of pivotal figures like Janet Ledterman, Dick Price, Chris Price, Dean Juhan, Gabrielle Roth, her father, Dr. Jack Rosenberg, and the Esalen massage crew of the 1980's. We also get into catharsis, trauma, holotropic breathwork, Open Seats, the original encounter groups, the genesis of Open Floor, and much more. Join us as we delve into a thoughtful discussion on the healing powers of movement and the continuous journey of self-discovery.

In recent times, an essential piece of our nation’s history is facing challenges and censorship across the country, making it all the more crucial we reaffirm our commitment to honoring and understanding our shared narrative. Our discussion today is not just a journey through the past; it's a conversation about the importance of preserving these narratives in the face of attempts to erase them. Historian Jan Batiste Adkin’s work meticulously documents the rich history of Black people in these regions, shedding light on the experiences of these communities. She is the author of "African Americans of San Francisco," "African Americans of Monterey County," and "African Americans of San Jose and Santa Clara County" and in this conversation she sheds light on the major trends and experiences of Black communities in the California Bay Area from the time of the establishment of the Golden State. This conversation was recorded live at Esalen in late February of 2024. Visit Jan Adkins at https://www.africanamericanhistories.com/

Bayo Akomolafe is an author, teacher, and modern philosopher whose work challenges the boundaries of conventional thought. Bayo was born in 1983 into a Christian home to Yoruban parents in western Nigeria. Soon after he was born, his family moved to Bonn, Germany, to accommodate his diplomat father. While in Zaire, Bayo’s father passed away suddenly, leaving a teenaged Bayo to grapple with the painful loss. As a young, restless academic, Bayo studied psychology and notions of healing, eventually meeting with scores of traditional shamans as a quest to better understand the notion trauma, healing and well-being. His concerns for decolonized landscapes congealed into a life spent exploring the nuances of a “magical” world he describes as “too promiscuous to fit neatly into our fondest notions of it.” I think you’ll find that Bayo's work is deeply rooted in the trickster archetype, which above all else encourages us to reconsider the solidity of things: of our understandings of reality, identity, and activism. He’s an advocate for a world beyond fixed boundaries, where his only clear allegiance is to emergence, to a perpetual becoming rather than being. I had such a wonderful time talking to Bayo - and I’ll mention that his ideas, so rich in density and expressed with a true poetic grace, might not unfold their meanings upon first listening. Let the buyer beware. Yet, as we navigate this conversation, the layers begin to reveal themselves, and in the end, they present a convincing argument for reconceiving reality, not as a static entity but as a dynamic unfolding of relations. https://www.bayoakomolafe.net/

Stephen Dubner is the New York Times best-selling author and host of the podcast Freakonomics. I met Stephen when he and his Freakonomics crew came to Esalen for an on-site interview that centered around deceased Nobel Prize winner and occasional Esalen lecturer Richard Feynman. Feynman assisted in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II; later in his career, he investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. During the 1980s, in Big Sur, three women who had experience with underground psychedelic therapy, Debby Harlow, Barbara Berg, and Cheryl Haley, initiated Feynman through the psychedelic experience. Now, the Freakonomics team was interested in interviewing these three women, at Esalen, where they had initially met Feynman. We gathered together in the famed Fritz room at the southern most tip of the Esalen property, and I got to see Stephen do his work. He seemed fascinated with Feynman, not just as an intellect, but as a human being. And in many ways, as a person, Feynman exemplified the human potential project — he pursued expansion and fulfillment, right up to the very end of his life. I am thankful for Feynman, if only because it linked me to Stephen Dubner, one of my favorite writers, thinkers and interviewers alive today. In our conversation, we delve into the life of Feynman, but save a little time to talk AI, job loss, storytelling, the future of work, and the critical role of community. In this episode, I play some short clips from one of the recent Freakonomics episodes: "Mr Feynman Takes a Trip — But Doesn’t Fall." I also play a few brief segments from one of Feynman’s talks at Esalen Institute in 1984, which he called Tiny Machines. Enjoy Freakonomics: https://freakonomics.com/series/freakonomics-radio/

In this particular moment, there is a call to reawaken our inherent belonging to the Earth and to cultivate a relationship with the land that is based on mutual respect, deep listening, and coexistence. Wildtender answers that call. Noël Vietor and Fletcher Tucker are co-founders of Wildtender. They offer immersive wilderness programs that cultivate intimacy with the natural world, connect with wisdom traditions, and nurture human wholeness. Today, in this conversation, Noël and Fletcher guide us through their philosophy, which is rooted in the ancient paths of kincentric animism, embodied awareness, and the deep, interconnected wisdom of living beings. They also dig into their history at Esalen Institute, including the deep influence that Gestalt had on them, and mention some of their most profound Esalen influences, including but not limited to the work of Dick Price, Dorothy Charles, and Steven Harper. Additionally, they acknowledge the Esselen Tribe. With great respect and admiration for the Esselen (ancestors and descendants alike), Wildtender vows to operate as reverent and respectful guests on their sacred tribal lands, and to honor them in action and intention. To learn more about Wildtender and to be up to date on their offerings, go to their site, https://www.wildtender.com/ Next Wildtender / Esalen offering: Backpacking Journey to Esalen April 29 - May 5, 2024 Embark on an intentional wilderness journey through the sublime and seldom-traveled backcountry of Big Sur, concluding at the coastal grounds of the Esalen Institute. Among the fleeting gifts of Spring – free-flowing creeks, boundless wildflower fields and vibrant wildlife – immerse in the wild with an intimate cohort (up to twelve participants), practice awareness and community, and learn fundamental skills to feel at home on the earth. Over the course of five nights and four full days on the trail, we will embody a contemporary form of pilgrimage, traveling as reverent guests through this sacred wilderness (historic Esselen tribal territory). Inspired by Esalen’s co-founder Dick Price, who found healing and transformation wandering the Big Sur wild, we will engage Gestalt practices from the Esalen lineage – including group check-ins to help us connect with ourselves, each other, and the land… https://www.wildtender.com/