Voices of Esalen

Dr. Stephen Finley, associate professor at Louisiana State University, where he teaches a host of courses that center around African American religious thought and culture, including Black Religion and Film, Race in the Age of Obama, and Black Intellectual Thought. He is the co-editor of “There is a Mystery: Esotericism, Gnosticism, and Mysticism in African American Religious Experience” and the author of “In and Out of this World: Material and Extraterrestrial Bodies in the Nation of Islam,” and together we discussed the pitfalls of diversity, including the very real risks of tokenization, UFOs and their relation to African American culture, and the history of racial terror.

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.

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.

Dr. Han Ren is a practitioner of decolonial mental health: she offers liberation-oriented, anti-oppressive, culturally informed therapy, and practices from a justice-oriented, systems-informed framework. Some of her specialties include Asian-American mental health, anxiety, perfectionism, high achievers, children of immigrants/third culture kids, anti-racism, and parenting. Dr. Ren is also a force to be reckoned with on TikTok, amassing a large following on a platform she uses in an attempt to make therapy accessible and applicable to our everyday lives. Together we talked about how white supremacy can be internalized, what it looks like when you center BIPOC mental health in treatment, how one decolonizes language, the conceptual shift from a dyadic trauma perspective to a more collective, societal notion of trauma, and her struggles as a recovering perfectionist. Upcoming at Esalen: Money should never be a barrier to transformation. Our scholarship program features up to 90% coverage of workshop tuition and accommodations, travel expenses, and a mission to increase diversity. If you’re interested in coming to Esalen to learn, be, and explore, we’re accepting applications now. We’ll also accept support of this amazing program if you want to give and support personal transformation for others. Apply or Give Visit: https://www.esalen.org/visit/scholarships Do you seek answers about the meaning of life… or what it means to be happy from the broadest possible perspective? R.D. Laing in the 21st Century is a workshop exploring the practical aspects of Laing’s legacy August 30 - September 3rd. This workshop is best suited for those familiar with Laing - at one time the most widely-read psychiatrist in the world. His take on altered states, the nature of love, authenticity, and spirituality forms the foundation for workshop leaders Michael Guy Thompson, Nita Gage, and Fritjof Capra. Explore fundamental happiness through experiential exercises for modern life and an ongoing journey of self. Register now: https://www.esalen.org/workshops/r-d-laing-in-the-21st-century-what-is-happiness What’s your number? If you apply the numbers theory of personality, you may be able to do more profound inner work for a big impact on the world. Together, Russ Hudson - renown enneagram expert - and Dr. Deborah Egerton - diversity and inclusion specialist, who’s known as the Enneagram Jedi - launch an incredible new program at Esalen August 15 - 20. You’ll cultivate a deeper understanding of the Enneagram process of self-observation to free yourself from the roots of your own biases to become a true agent of healing in the world. Register: https://www.esalen.org/workshops/the-enneagram-social-justice-and-racial-healing

Dr. Mellody Hayes is an evidence-based and spiritually-centered medical expert in the emerging clinical science of Psychedelic Medicine. Dr. Hayes is a graduate of Harvard and UCSF medical school and is an anesthesiologist, leader, public speaker and founding member of Decriminalize Nature. She’s also the founder of a Bay Area clinic that offers psychedelic ketamine therapy. Dr. Hayes is the creator of How We Heal, an online community of healers and leaders committed to creating belonging, safety, and health for all people, particularly those from historically marginalized communities. We discussed the mechanics and science of ketamine-based psychedelic therapy, the need for diversity within the psychedelic community, her optimism for the practice of psychedelic medicine in creating cultural change and cultural healing within contemporary society, and the healing power of story. To learn more about Dr. Hayes's work, please visit www.drmellody.com and howweheal.net.

Today our episode centers on a talk given at Esalen in 1985 by Dr. Andrew Weil. Dr. Weil is a prominent figure and a trailblazer in the field of integrative medicine, which combines conventional medical practices with alternative and complementary therapies such as herbal medicine, acupuncture, and mind-body techniques. (All of this of course used to be rather fringe; Esalen in the 1980’s, was a bit fringe, too. Nowadays, things like acupuncture and herbal medicine raise nary an eyebrow, and Esalen, to be honest, is pretty darn mainstream too.) On this date in 1985, Dr. Weil speaks about various drugs and psychedelics, as well as the cultural attitudes attached to them. Weil to this point had had a curious relationship to psychedelics: in the early 1960s, while a student at Harvard, he observed the infamous Harvard Psilocybin experiments conducted by Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, and then reported on them in the Harvard Crimson, ultimately leading to the academic downfall and subsequent dismissal of Leary and Alpert. Later in his life, Weil would reconnect with Alpert, who had by then assumed the moniker of Ram Das, and he would finally taste the forbidden fruit, and henceforth become an advocate of psychedelics. Weil speaks a great deal during this talk about the drug MDMA, otherwise known as Ecstasy, which on June 1st of that very year was made illegal and classified as a Schedule 1 substance. MDMA had been widely used as a therapy drug for nearly 15 years since its rediscovery in the 1970s by chemist Sasha Shulgin, but in the early 1980s, it also became quite popular in dance subcultures, particularly in the gay community, and most notably in Dallas, Texas. Of course, in the mid 1980’s, Ronald Reagan’s war on drugs was raging, and it provided the perfect storm for MDMA to be made unlawful. So given this context, it’s both interesting and informative to hear Weil, the former psychedelic whistleblower turned hippie physician, speak at length and quite intelligently about MDMA. He also addresses a host of other topics, including whether or not marijuana causes brain damage, peyote, how DEA scheduling works, the so-called new physics , how belief interacts with the physical mechanisms of the body, hypnotherapy, fire-walking, coffee, chocolate, and more. It's a fun episode. By the way . . . Esalen Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing human potential and promoting positive social change. Your support helps us continue to offer transformative programs and retreats that promote personal growth and collective wellbeing. To learn more about Esalen and how you can support our mission, visit our website at esalen.org.

Dr. Adele Lafrance is a clinical psychologist, research scientist, and a leader in the research and practice of psychedelic medicine. Currently, she is the clinical investigator and strategy lead for the MAPS-sponsored MDMA-assisted psychotherapy study for eating disorders and a collaborator on the Imperial College study for psilocybin and anorexia nervosa. We talked about her history as a clinician, and why she believes psychedelics may offer a different and perhaps more successful way of treating eating disorders than traditional methods. We also spoke about a system she developed known as emotion-focused family therapy. Dr. Lafrance believes emotion focused family therapy can used effectively in conjunction with psychedelic therapy to treat eating disorders. https://dradelelafrance.com/ Coming soon at Esalen - The new LEEP program. Live and learn at Esalen for 4 weeks as part of our Live Extended Education Program, or L.E.E.P.  Under the guidance of our skilled faculty and surrounded by a cohort of twelve other learners, students will be challenged to expand their personal growth edges and open up to greater discoveries of self and community. THE STUDY COMPONENT Engage in a rigorous course of study, up to 26 hours per week over the span of four weeks. Daily deep dives led by world-class faculty members allow you to learn heartfully about the essential teachings and practices of Esalen. Areas of study may include Gestalt practices, massage, somatics, yoga, leadership, and more. THE SERVICE COMPONENT As a cement to your studies into body and mind, you will be required to dedicate 26 hours of service each week in one of Esalen’s operational departments. The campus is rugged and students should anticipate robust physical activity. Areas of service are assigned and hours are typically performed in the kitchen or housekeeping. https://www.esalen.org/learn/live-extended-education-program

Leah Song is one half of the musical duo Rising Appalachia - alongside her sister Chloe, they are an internationally touring folk ensemble steeped in the soul of the South that blends Americana music with lyrics, rhythm and poetry to form a unique sound influenced by a blend of Appalachian, Irish, Latin and world roots music. Leah was at Esalen Institute for a week this summer to dance and make music with Lucia Horan and Douglas Drummond’s 5 Rhythms workshop, and she was kind enough to do a live interview on a Wednesday evening for a rapt audience of more than a hundred lucky souls. She spoke wisely about her history with activism, her love of 90's hip hop, her dynamic relationship with the festival scene, what slow music means to her, and a lot more. She even played several songs. What a gem!

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/