The Petaluma Experience

By Eric Moya

The problem is an opportunity.
—Permaculture Design Principle

On the evening of June 29, a small group of Esalen workscholars made their way up to the Institute of Noetic Sciences near Petaluma, California. Without exception, this group of workscholars had made plans to be at Esalen for the July workscholar month and were unable to create other arrangements once the workscholar month had been postponed for a week. With a group of people coming into the area and no place for them to be housed, Esalen was faced with the ethical obligation of taking care of the people to whom it had made arrangements. In an institution that values putting people first, the choice was clear to help find these people shelter until Esalen could open up once again. As we searched for enough beds to house everyone, the coincidence of the fourth of July weekend with the highway 1 road closure became an insurmountable obstacle to finding open beds. With Cheryl Fraenzl’s help, we exhausted every possibility we could think of including moderately priced hotel rooms.

Fortunately, on Saturday before people arrived, the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), called and offered support during our time of crisis. With some quick negotiations from a number of people including Cheryl Fraenzl, Marylin Schlitz, and Kathy Coleman of IONS, we were able to have a place to house the displaced workscholars. With some quick thinking/calling on Cheryl’s part we were able to locate Anthony Giacobbe and Alison Anderson to help with the cooking for this mini-workstudy group. Additionally, we were able to engage the willingness and support of long-time Esalen group leader Patrick Douce to provide some programming for the group.

The Institute of Noetic Sciences is a sister organization to Esalen that conducts and sponsors leading-edge research into the potentials and powers of consciousness-including perceptions, beliefs, attention, and intuition. IONS is located just south of Petaluma on an old college campus. Currently, it acts as research center, administrative offices for their publications, and retreat center for consciousness based groups.

When we arrived on Sunday, the rolling hills, hot air, blue skies, and yellow grasses interspersed with green trees provided a stark contrast to the cool temperatures and breezes of Esalen. Another stark contrast was the lack of people. Unlike Esalen, IONS only has one person who lives on property, Roger Hillson who quickly became our lifeline in this unusual experience. And so, the Petaluma experience began with the group coming together on an empty property, finding a restaurant in town, and getting to know each other over diner food and wondering what was happening with Esalen and what would happen with the entire workstudy month.

Within a few days, we had organized enough as a group to have a regular schedule. Anthony, Alison, myself or my wife Colleen would go grocery shopping and pick up the groceries for the week. On a daily basis, we had three meals a day with people participating in the cooking and cleanup. Before breakfast, Kyla Biegun would lead the group through a morning yoga session. After breakfast we would have a daily community meeting which consisted of a check in, a download of information about what was happening at Esalen, and then work together as a group to solve whatever problems we had in front of us. After the community meeting, Patrick Douce would would lead the class through a spinal awareness session. From there we would eat lunch, participate in some work projects for IONS. In the evenings, we often organize an outing. Outings we participated in were traveling to Spirit Rock to hear Jack Kornfield speak. We also went to the Sonoma County farmer’s market one night and on one of the days made a day excursion to Point Reyes beach. During the heat of the day, we had a baby pool (purchased by Shae, Anthony, and Alison) which they had put behind the dorm and affectionately became known as “the baths.”

As the program went on, we had more people join us and we gradually witnessed our group grow from 10-19 people. With more people, we had more challenges, but we also had more energy for cooperation, problem solving and friendship. On the fourth, fifth, and sixth of July, Maryanne Will came up and gave the workscholars an opportunity to meet and work with the head of our beloved workscholar program. During her time with them, Maryanne also gave the group their first “process” where they got an opportunity to work through some interpersonal problems which were starting to surface, as well as receive another “Esalen” experience.

One of the most difficult parts of the Petaluma experience was the uncertainty about the future. Every day we would read the news from Esalen. And we never forgot the fact that the ultimate purpose that brought us to Petaluma was the hope of being able to go down to Esalen. Feelings that we had as a group were frustration, uncertainty, feelings of ungroundedness. We also had feelings of cohesion, bonding, wonder, and joy. And although the strength of the group and the uniqueness of the Petaluma experience was increasingly being able to stand on its own as a valuable experience, we never lost sight of the fact that we were hoping the road would open and that we might try to come down to Esalen before the end of the month.

On the morning of July 4th, I had to deliver some bad news to the group. As the fire grew worse, it became increasingly unlikely that we would be able to go down to Esalen at any point during the workscholar month. The day before, the Esalen management team had decided that the best choice was to end the program and encourage people to make other arrangements. The idea of stringing a group of people along without a reasonable hope of seeing Esalen became extremely distasteful. As I left the morning meeting that day, I had the sad feeling that we had given it our best shot, but that it was all going to end without the completion of going to Esalen.

On the afternoon of July 6th, when I rejoined the group from a 48 hour trip back home, I was surprised to find that the group had largely chosen to remain together throughout the month anyway. There were plans to negotiate with IONS and to continue the meetings and to pool their money and to continue to pay Patrick for his educational skills. The group had become self-generating, self-contained! Their experience, although built around wanting to go to Esalen had taken a purpose and meaning on its own terms. The group now had a reason-for-being outside of the hope of seeing Esalen.

In my final two days there, most of my efforts were focused around helping the group attain enough structure and empowerment that it would run itself for two weeks without a leader overseeing all aspects of the group. On the final afternoon before leaving, we had a two hour workshop on “Creating an Intentional Community”. During the workshop, we discussed basic group dynamics and how some tendencies of a group would cause it to fracture and some tendencies of the group would cause it to come together. Among the recommendations were to decentralize power (having various members empowered to lead in separate areas), to have boundaries around their process and problem solving, and to share facilitation of morning meetings in order to train each other how to facilitate groups.

Finally on Tuesday night, I had my final dinner with the group. I left that evening, knowing that the group would have wonderful classes with Patrick until Thursday, and be in good hands to take care of itself beyond that.

It was with Joy and unexpected pleasure that the fire at Esalen turned around quickly and on Friday, July 11th, I was able to call the group and let them know that as of Monday, Esalen would not only be able to welcome them, but would also need their help for the final two weeks of the July workscholar month.

As of now, the workscholar’s have eagerly entered into the Esalen community. They are happy to work wherever necessary in order to help Esalen recover and rebuild from this latest crisis. As the entire Esalen community begins to integrate the experience of this fire and learn from each other, I believe that a lot of heros will emerge. The heroic efforts of those on property will continue to be told for years to come. I am also hoping the heroic efforts of these workscholars are a vivid opportunity to see how the Esalen legacy can extend far beyond the physical borders of Esalen itself.

The Petaluma Group:

• Alison Anderson
• Anthony Giacobbe
• Bruce Nerad
• Christopher Schultheiss
• Colleen Logan
• Danilo Simoni
• Franciska Voemel
• Helga Tilden
• Kyla Biegun
• Logan Moya and Dad
• Maggie Webster
• Mary Holbrook
• Maryanne Will
• Neil Gong
• Patrick Douce
• Ruth Barry
• Shae Cameron
• Simee Adhikari
• Tom Kruijswyk