Shared ideas create community, and this June, we are presenting four extraordinary evenings with thinkers and artists working at the cutting edge of consciousness and culture. This month, the Esalen tradition of Wednesday Evening Programs (WEP), an open format to present new insights, features Voices of Esalen’s Sam Stern, professors Ramzi Fawaz and Charles Stang, and ceremonial leader Erika Gagnon.
Each Wednesday evening here on campus, something very special unfolds. As the sun sinks into the Pacific and the coastal air cools, a quiet current draws fellow seekers up from their dinner in the Lodge to Huxley. For workshop participants, self-guided explorers, faculty, and staff alike — no matter what programming experience brought you here — the Wednesday Evening Program consistently offers a moment of collective pause, inquiry, and inspiration.
This June, that tradition continues with a remarkable lineup. For many, these evenings become the heartbeat of the week — a place where something real, potent, and often transformative happens for all to experience together.
But how did this tradition begin?
Believe it or not, there was a time when evenings at Esalen didn’t compete with screen scrolling. Yes, the sun still was setting over the Pacific, but something else would arise: spontaneous music jams, late-night deep dives into consciousness, barefoot dancing, and philosophical stargazing. (Actually, all of that frequently still happens!)
But let’s flashback to a stimulating and exciting period of the previous century, when a not totally irrelevant little relic known as the VCR caused some community disruption.
“It was the advent of VHS that stopped a lot of the hanging out,” recalls former Programs Director Nancy Lunney-Wheeler. “Everyone was suddenly turning in to be in their homes, on their couches watching movies. It got really quiet at night.”
Esalen’s legendary after-dark vibes needed a reboot. So, in the early 1980s, the Wednesday Evening Program (WEP) was born — a weekly call to bring everyone together for a singular shared experience.
Initially called the “Wednesday Night Program,” the name got a gentle glow-up thanks to Esalen Massage practitioner Deborah Anne Medow, who thought “evening” vibed better. What didn’t change was the intention to create a space where everyone on campus could come together, unplug, and tune into something real.
“It was more than a job,” says Deborah, who booked the Wednesday programming for years. “It was about asking: What can we do here that inspires people? That educates them? That brings people together?”
There were no rigid guidelines, just an open format where facilitators, visiting scholars, artists, and CTR fellows could offer something of themselves. One week, you might hear Tibetan monks chanting and dancing. Another, you’d find veterans and Esalen Massage trainees healing together through music and movement in Huxley. Deborah produced “mini raves” long before the Dance Dome (Leonard Pavillion) was built — just people moving across a deck under the big night sky.
“Everybody really fed each other,” Deborah remembers. “Those were deeply moving nights. People were just happy and open.”
Today, the WEP continues to be a cherished Esalen tradition, a campus-wide convergence point that acts as a space for exploring the innovative, the soulful, and the unexpected. This June, we’re thrilled to present four extraordinary evenings with thinkers, artists, and ceremonialists exploring at the precipice of consciousness and culture.
Wednesday, June 5 — AI BFFs: Intimate Relationships in the AI Era with Sam Stern
Voices of Esalen's Sam Stern led the evening with a provocative inquiry into the emotional and philosophical dimensions of our relationships with artificial intelligence. As digital companions become increasingly sophisticated, what does it mean to form real bonds with non-human entities? Can AI offer us love, therapy, healing — or are we just projecting onto clever code?
The talk will touch upon the legacy of humanistic psychology's relational therapies, like Gestalt and Encounter Groups, and the strange terrain of contemporary techno-intimacies, from AI lovers and therapeutic chatbots to robot caregivers and digital twins. The goal is not to provide easy answers but to stretch our collective thinking about what it means to relate, to be seen, and to be real in an increasingly synthetic world.
Wednesday, June 12 — A Water Prayer with Erika Gagnon
Praying to the waters is a practice found in many world cultures. As a ceremonial leader, wisdom keeper, and healer, Erika will share about traditional medicine and healing ceremonies in her lineage and offer the community a special water blessing prayer and sound healing “doctoring” ceremonies. Erika carries waters from hundreds of lakes, rivers, hot springs, glaciers, waterfalls and oceans from around the world, including all seven continents. This will beis a particularly powerful prayer made upon these sacred lands of the original Esselen Tribe, where three sacred waters meet: stream, ocean and hot springs.
Wednesday, June 19 — Sky Water: An Elemental Meditation on Walden Pond with Charles Stang
What does water know, and what might it teach us about perception, presence, and the soul? In this talk, scholar Charles Stang offers a glimpse into a book-in-progress co-authored with artist Sarah Schorr: a contemplative inquiry into the nature of water. Rooted in their shared immersion— both literal and literary — in Walden Pond, the project draws inspiration from the ancient pre-Socratic philosopher Thales, who declared that all things are water, and from the enduring reflections of Henry David Thoreau.
Part philosophical meditation, part sensory experiment, the talk asks: What does water have to do with the sky, with the sun and stars? How do we contemplate water not just as a fluid, but as a mirror, and what, or who, does it reflect? How do we train the senses for such contemplation? What can plants and animals teach us about encountering water differently? And what might immersion — in body or in spirit — teach us about the soul? At once inquiry and invocation, Sky Water is an invitation to reimagine our elemental entanglements, and to listen more closely to what water has to say.
Wednesday, June 25 — Strange Kin: New Blueprints for Belonging with Ramzi Fawaz
What happens when we meet the unfamiliar not with fear, but with imaginative presence? In this immersive session, writer, professor, and relational visionary Ramzi Fawaz invites us to explore four liberatory frameworks for navigating identity, belonging, and otherness in a world increasingly shaped by division. Drawing from mestiza consciousness — the ability to move fluidly at the intersections of complex identities; the indigenous kinship worldview — a relational cosmology rooted in reciprocity and care; democratic freedom as a collective and embodied practice; and the expanded perceptual field opened by psychedelic experience, we’ll learn to stretch beyond inherited boundaries and practice becoming with one another. Through brief, potent exchanges with strangers, participants will experiment with putting each of these frameworks into motion — activating new ways of relating across difference. This is a space for soul-stretching, perceptual recalibration, and embodied connection across worlds.
In a culture of increasing disconnection, the Wednesday Evening Program is our way of all coming together. Whether you’re here for a weeklong workshop, staff immersion, research residency, or just passing through, Wednesday nights are a reminder that something magical happens when we share time, space, and presence.
See you Wednesday!
(A big thank you to Weston Bering for his work in coproducing and editing this video)
“Remembering to be as self compassionate as I can and praying to the divine that we're all a part of.”
–Aaron
“Prayer, reading, meditation, walking.”
–Karen
“Erratically — which is an ongoing stream of practice to find peace.”
–Charles
“Try on a daily basis to be kind to myself and to realize that making mistakes is a part of the human condition. Learning from our mistakes is a journey. But it starts with compassion and caring. First for oneself.”
–Steve
“Physically: aerobic exercise, volleyball, ice hockey, cycling, sailing. Emotionally: unfortunately I have to work to ‘not care’ about people or situations which may end painfully. Along the lines of ‘attachment is the source of suffering’, so best to avoid it or limit its scope. Sad though because it could also be the source of great joy. Is it worth the risk?“
–Rainer
“It's time for my heart to be nurtured on one level yet contained on another. To go easy on me and to allow my feelings to be validated, not judged harshly. On the other hand, to let the heart rule with equanimity and not lead the mind and body around like a master.”
–Suzanne
“I spend time thinking of everything I am grateful for, and I try to develop my ability to express compassion for myself and others without reservation. I take time to do the things I need to do to keep myself healthy and happy. This includes taking experiential workshops, fostering relationships, and participating within groups which have a similar interest to become a more compassionate and fulfilled being.“
–Peter
“Self-forgiveness for my own judgments. And oh yeah, coming to Esalen.”
–David B.
“Hmm, this is a tough one! I guess I take care of my heart through fostering relationships with people I feel connected to. Spending quality time with them (whether we're on the phone, through messages/letters, on Zoom, or in-person). Being there for them, listening to them, sharing what's going on with me, my struggles and my successes... like we do in the Esalen weekly Friends of Esalen Zoom sessions!”
–Lori
“I remind myself in many ways of the fact that " Love is all there is!" LOVE is the prize and this one precious life is the stage we get to learn our lessons. I get out into nature, hike, camp, river kayak, fly fish, garden, I create, I dance (not enough!), and I remain grateful for each day, each breath, each moment. Being in the moment, awake, and remembering the gift of life and my feeling of gratitude for all of creation.”
–Steven
“My physical heart by limiting stress and eating a heart-healthy diet. My emotional heart by staying in love with the world and by knowing that all disappointment and loss will pass.“
–David Z.
Today, September 29, is World Heart Day. Strike up a conversation with your own heart and as you feel comfortable, encourage others to do the same. As part of our own transformations and self-care, we sometimes ask for others to illuminate and enliven our hearts or speak our love language.
What if we could do this for ourselves too, even if just for today… or to start a heart practice, forever?
Shared ideas create community, and this June, we are presenting four extraordinary evenings with thinkers and artists working at the cutting edge of consciousness and culture. This month, the Esalen tradition of Wednesday Evening Programs (WEP), an open format to present new insights, features Voices of Esalen’s Sam Stern, professors Ramzi Fawaz and Charles Stang, and ceremonial leader Erika Gagnon.
Each Wednesday evening here on campus, something very special unfolds. As the sun sinks into the Pacific and the coastal air cools, a quiet current draws fellow seekers up from their dinner in the Lodge to Huxley. For workshop participants, self-guided explorers, faculty, and staff alike — no matter what programming experience brought you here — the Wednesday Evening Program consistently offers a moment of collective pause, inquiry, and inspiration.
This June, that tradition continues with a remarkable lineup. For many, these evenings become the heartbeat of the week — a place where something real, potent, and often transformative happens for all to experience together.
But how did this tradition begin?
Believe it or not, there was a time when evenings at Esalen didn’t compete with screen scrolling. Yes, the sun still was setting over the Pacific, but something else would arise: spontaneous music jams, late-night deep dives into consciousness, barefoot dancing, and philosophical stargazing. (Actually, all of that frequently still happens!)
But let’s flashback to a stimulating and exciting period of the previous century, when a not totally irrelevant little relic known as the VCR caused some community disruption.
“It was the advent of VHS that stopped a lot of the hanging out,” recalls former Programs Director Nancy Lunney-Wheeler. “Everyone was suddenly turning in to be in their homes, on their couches watching movies. It got really quiet at night.”
Esalen’s legendary after-dark vibes needed a reboot. So, in the early 1980s, the Wednesday Evening Program (WEP) was born — a weekly call to bring everyone together for a singular shared experience.
Initially called the “Wednesday Night Program,” the name got a gentle glow-up thanks to Esalen Massage practitioner Deborah Anne Medow, who thought “evening” vibed better. What didn’t change was the intention to create a space where everyone on campus could come together, unplug, and tune into something real.
“It was more than a job,” says Deborah, who booked the Wednesday programming for years. “It was about asking: What can we do here that inspires people? That educates them? That brings people together?”
There were no rigid guidelines, just an open format where facilitators, visiting scholars, artists, and CTR fellows could offer something of themselves. One week, you might hear Tibetan monks chanting and dancing. Another, you’d find veterans and Esalen Massage trainees healing together through music and movement in Huxley. Deborah produced “mini raves” long before the Dance Dome (Leonard Pavillion) was built — just people moving across a deck under the big night sky.
“Everybody really fed each other,” Deborah remembers. “Those were deeply moving nights. People were just happy and open.”
Today, the WEP continues to be a cherished Esalen tradition, a campus-wide convergence point that acts as a space for exploring the innovative, the soulful, and the unexpected. This June, we’re thrilled to present four extraordinary evenings with thinkers, artists, and ceremonialists exploring at the precipice of consciousness and culture.
Wednesday, June 5 — AI BFFs: Intimate Relationships in the AI Era with Sam Stern
Voices of Esalen's Sam Stern led the evening with a provocative inquiry into the emotional and philosophical dimensions of our relationships with artificial intelligence. As digital companions become increasingly sophisticated, what does it mean to form real bonds with non-human entities? Can AI offer us love, therapy, healing — or are we just projecting onto clever code?
The talk will touch upon the legacy of humanistic psychology's relational therapies, like Gestalt and Encounter Groups, and the strange terrain of contemporary techno-intimacies, from AI lovers and therapeutic chatbots to robot caregivers and digital twins. The goal is not to provide easy answers but to stretch our collective thinking about what it means to relate, to be seen, and to be real in an increasingly synthetic world.
Wednesday, June 12 — A Water Prayer with Erika Gagnon
Praying to the waters is a practice found in many world cultures. As a ceremonial leader, wisdom keeper, and healer, Erika will share about traditional medicine and healing ceremonies in her lineage and offer the community a special water blessing prayer and sound healing “doctoring” ceremonies. Erika carries waters from hundreds of lakes, rivers, hot springs, glaciers, waterfalls and oceans from around the world, including all seven continents. This will beis a particularly powerful prayer made upon these sacred lands of the original Esselen Tribe, where three sacred waters meet: stream, ocean and hot springs.
Wednesday, June 19 — Sky Water: An Elemental Meditation on Walden Pond with Charles Stang
What does water know, and what might it teach us about perception, presence, and the soul? In this talk, scholar Charles Stang offers a glimpse into a book-in-progress co-authored with artist Sarah Schorr: a contemplative inquiry into the nature of water. Rooted in their shared immersion— both literal and literary — in Walden Pond, the project draws inspiration from the ancient pre-Socratic philosopher Thales, who declared that all things are water, and from the enduring reflections of Henry David Thoreau.
Part philosophical meditation, part sensory experiment, the talk asks: What does water have to do with the sky, with the sun and stars? How do we contemplate water not just as a fluid, but as a mirror, and what, or who, does it reflect? How do we train the senses for such contemplation? What can plants and animals teach us about encountering water differently? And what might immersion — in body or in spirit — teach us about the soul? At once inquiry and invocation, Sky Water is an invitation to reimagine our elemental entanglements, and to listen more closely to what water has to say.
Wednesday, June 25 — Strange Kin: New Blueprints for Belonging with Ramzi Fawaz
What happens when we meet the unfamiliar not with fear, but with imaginative presence? In this immersive session, writer, professor, and relational visionary Ramzi Fawaz invites us to explore four liberatory frameworks for navigating identity, belonging, and otherness in a world increasingly shaped by division. Drawing from mestiza consciousness — the ability to move fluidly at the intersections of complex identities; the indigenous kinship worldview — a relational cosmology rooted in reciprocity and care; democratic freedom as a collective and embodied practice; and the expanded perceptual field opened by psychedelic experience, we’ll learn to stretch beyond inherited boundaries and practice becoming with one another. Through brief, potent exchanges with strangers, participants will experiment with putting each of these frameworks into motion — activating new ways of relating across difference. This is a space for soul-stretching, perceptual recalibration, and embodied connection across worlds.
In a culture of increasing disconnection, the Wednesday Evening Program is our way of all coming together. Whether you’re here for a weeklong workshop, staff immersion, research residency, or just passing through, Wednesday nights are a reminder that something magical happens when we share time, space, and presence.
See you Wednesday!
(A big thank you to Weston Bering for his work in coproducing and editing this video)
“Remembering to be as self compassionate as I can and praying to the divine that we're all a part of.”
–Aaron
“Prayer, reading, meditation, walking.”
–Karen
“Erratically — which is an ongoing stream of practice to find peace.”
–Charles
“Try on a daily basis to be kind to myself and to realize that making mistakes is a part of the human condition. Learning from our mistakes is a journey. But it starts with compassion and caring. First for oneself.”
–Steve
“Physically: aerobic exercise, volleyball, ice hockey, cycling, sailing. Emotionally: unfortunately I have to work to ‘not care’ about people or situations which may end painfully. Along the lines of ‘attachment is the source of suffering’, so best to avoid it or limit its scope. Sad though because it could also be the source of great joy. Is it worth the risk?“
–Rainer
“It's time for my heart to be nurtured on one level yet contained on another. To go easy on me and to allow my feelings to be validated, not judged harshly. On the other hand, to let the heart rule with equanimity and not lead the mind and body around like a master.”
–Suzanne
“I spend time thinking of everything I am grateful for, and I try to develop my ability to express compassion for myself and others without reservation. I take time to do the things I need to do to keep myself healthy and happy. This includes taking experiential workshops, fostering relationships, and participating within groups which have a similar interest to become a more compassionate and fulfilled being.“
–Peter
“Self-forgiveness for my own judgments. And oh yeah, coming to Esalen.”
–David B.
“Hmm, this is a tough one! I guess I take care of my heart through fostering relationships with people I feel connected to. Spending quality time with them (whether we're on the phone, through messages/letters, on Zoom, or in-person). Being there for them, listening to them, sharing what's going on with me, my struggles and my successes... like we do in the Esalen weekly Friends of Esalen Zoom sessions!”
–Lori
“I remind myself in many ways of the fact that " Love is all there is!" LOVE is the prize and this one precious life is the stage we get to learn our lessons. I get out into nature, hike, camp, river kayak, fly fish, garden, I create, I dance (not enough!), and I remain grateful for each day, each breath, each moment. Being in the moment, awake, and remembering the gift of life and my feeling of gratitude for all of creation.”
–Steven
“My physical heart by limiting stress and eating a heart-healthy diet. My emotional heart by staying in love with the world and by knowing that all disappointment and loss will pass.“
–David Z.
Today, September 29, is World Heart Day. Strike up a conversation with your own heart and as you feel comfortable, encourage others to do the same. As part of our own transformations and self-care, we sometimes ask for others to illuminate and enliven our hearts or speak our love language.
What if we could do this for ourselves too, even if just for today… or to start a heart practice, forever?
Shared ideas create community, and this June, we are presenting four extraordinary evenings with thinkers and artists working at the cutting edge of consciousness and culture. This month, the Esalen tradition of Wednesday Evening Programs (WEP), an open format to present new insights, features Voices of Esalen’s Sam Stern, professors Ramzi Fawaz and Charles Stang, and ceremonial leader Erika Gagnon.
Each Wednesday evening here on campus, something very special unfolds. As the sun sinks into the Pacific and the coastal air cools, a quiet current draws fellow seekers up from their dinner in the Lodge to Huxley. For workshop participants, self-guided explorers, faculty, and staff alike — no matter what programming experience brought you here — the Wednesday Evening Program consistently offers a moment of collective pause, inquiry, and inspiration.
This June, that tradition continues with a remarkable lineup. For many, these evenings become the heartbeat of the week — a place where something real, potent, and often transformative happens for all to experience together.
But how did this tradition begin?
Believe it or not, there was a time when evenings at Esalen didn’t compete with screen scrolling. Yes, the sun still was setting over the Pacific, but something else would arise: spontaneous music jams, late-night deep dives into consciousness, barefoot dancing, and philosophical stargazing. (Actually, all of that frequently still happens!)
But let’s flashback to a stimulating and exciting period of the previous century, when a not totally irrelevant little relic known as the VCR caused some community disruption.
“It was the advent of VHS that stopped a lot of the hanging out,” recalls former Programs Director Nancy Lunney-Wheeler. “Everyone was suddenly turning in to be in their homes, on their couches watching movies. It got really quiet at night.”
Esalen’s legendary after-dark vibes needed a reboot. So, in the early 1980s, the Wednesday Evening Program (WEP) was born — a weekly call to bring everyone together for a singular shared experience.
Initially called the “Wednesday Night Program,” the name got a gentle glow-up thanks to Esalen Massage practitioner Deborah Anne Medow, who thought “evening” vibed better. What didn’t change was the intention to create a space where everyone on campus could come together, unplug, and tune into something real.
“It was more than a job,” says Deborah, who booked the Wednesday programming for years. “It was about asking: What can we do here that inspires people? That educates them? That brings people together?”
There were no rigid guidelines, just an open format where facilitators, visiting scholars, artists, and CTR fellows could offer something of themselves. One week, you might hear Tibetan monks chanting and dancing. Another, you’d find veterans and Esalen Massage trainees healing together through music and movement in Huxley. Deborah produced “mini raves” long before the Dance Dome (Leonard Pavillion) was built — just people moving across a deck under the big night sky.
“Everybody really fed each other,” Deborah remembers. “Those were deeply moving nights. People were just happy and open.”
Today, the WEP continues to be a cherished Esalen tradition, a campus-wide convergence point that acts as a space for exploring the innovative, the soulful, and the unexpected. This June, we’re thrilled to present four extraordinary evenings with thinkers, artists, and ceremonialists exploring at the precipice of consciousness and culture.
Wednesday, June 5 — AI BFFs: Intimate Relationships in the AI Era with Sam Stern
Voices of Esalen's Sam Stern led the evening with a provocative inquiry into the emotional and philosophical dimensions of our relationships with artificial intelligence. As digital companions become increasingly sophisticated, what does it mean to form real bonds with non-human entities? Can AI offer us love, therapy, healing — or are we just projecting onto clever code?
The talk will touch upon the legacy of humanistic psychology's relational therapies, like Gestalt and Encounter Groups, and the strange terrain of contemporary techno-intimacies, from AI lovers and therapeutic chatbots to robot caregivers and digital twins. The goal is not to provide easy answers but to stretch our collective thinking about what it means to relate, to be seen, and to be real in an increasingly synthetic world.
Wednesday, June 12 — A Water Prayer with Erika Gagnon
Praying to the waters is a practice found in many world cultures. As a ceremonial leader, wisdom keeper, and healer, Erika will share about traditional medicine and healing ceremonies in her lineage and offer the community a special water blessing prayer and sound healing “doctoring” ceremonies. Erika carries waters from hundreds of lakes, rivers, hot springs, glaciers, waterfalls and oceans from around the world, including all seven continents. This will beis a particularly powerful prayer made upon these sacred lands of the original Esselen Tribe, where three sacred waters meet: stream, ocean and hot springs.
Wednesday, June 19 — Sky Water: An Elemental Meditation on Walden Pond with Charles Stang
What does water know, and what might it teach us about perception, presence, and the soul? In this talk, scholar Charles Stang offers a glimpse into a book-in-progress co-authored with artist Sarah Schorr: a contemplative inquiry into the nature of water. Rooted in their shared immersion— both literal and literary — in Walden Pond, the project draws inspiration from the ancient pre-Socratic philosopher Thales, who declared that all things are water, and from the enduring reflections of Henry David Thoreau.
Part philosophical meditation, part sensory experiment, the talk asks: What does water have to do with the sky, with the sun and stars? How do we contemplate water not just as a fluid, but as a mirror, and what, or who, does it reflect? How do we train the senses for such contemplation? What can plants and animals teach us about encountering water differently? And what might immersion — in body or in spirit — teach us about the soul? At once inquiry and invocation, Sky Water is an invitation to reimagine our elemental entanglements, and to listen more closely to what water has to say.
Wednesday, June 25 — Strange Kin: New Blueprints for Belonging with Ramzi Fawaz
What happens when we meet the unfamiliar not with fear, but with imaginative presence? In this immersive session, writer, professor, and relational visionary Ramzi Fawaz invites us to explore four liberatory frameworks for navigating identity, belonging, and otherness in a world increasingly shaped by division. Drawing from mestiza consciousness — the ability to move fluidly at the intersections of complex identities; the indigenous kinship worldview — a relational cosmology rooted in reciprocity and care; democratic freedom as a collective and embodied practice; and the expanded perceptual field opened by psychedelic experience, we’ll learn to stretch beyond inherited boundaries and practice becoming with one another. Through brief, potent exchanges with strangers, participants will experiment with putting each of these frameworks into motion — activating new ways of relating across difference. This is a space for soul-stretching, perceptual recalibration, and embodied connection across worlds.
In a culture of increasing disconnection, the Wednesday Evening Program is our way of all coming together. Whether you’re here for a weeklong workshop, staff immersion, research residency, or just passing through, Wednesday nights are a reminder that something magical happens when we share time, space, and presence.
See you Wednesday!
(A big thank you to Weston Bering for his work in coproducing and editing this video)
“Remembering to be as self compassionate as I can and praying to the divine that we're all a part of.”
–Aaron
“Prayer, reading, meditation, walking.”
–Karen
“Erratically — which is an ongoing stream of practice to find peace.”
–Charles
“Try on a daily basis to be kind to myself and to realize that making mistakes is a part of the human condition. Learning from our mistakes is a journey. But it starts with compassion and caring. First for oneself.”
–Steve
“Physically: aerobic exercise, volleyball, ice hockey, cycling, sailing. Emotionally: unfortunately I have to work to ‘not care’ about people or situations which may end painfully. Along the lines of ‘attachment is the source of suffering’, so best to avoid it or limit its scope. Sad though because it could also be the source of great joy. Is it worth the risk?“
–Rainer
“It's time for my heart to be nurtured on one level yet contained on another. To go easy on me and to allow my feelings to be validated, not judged harshly. On the other hand, to let the heart rule with equanimity and not lead the mind and body around like a master.”
–Suzanne
“I spend time thinking of everything I am grateful for, and I try to develop my ability to express compassion for myself and others without reservation. I take time to do the things I need to do to keep myself healthy and happy. This includes taking experiential workshops, fostering relationships, and participating within groups which have a similar interest to become a more compassionate and fulfilled being.“
–Peter
“Self-forgiveness for my own judgments. And oh yeah, coming to Esalen.”
–David B.
“Hmm, this is a tough one! I guess I take care of my heart through fostering relationships with people I feel connected to. Spending quality time with them (whether we're on the phone, through messages/letters, on Zoom, or in-person). Being there for them, listening to them, sharing what's going on with me, my struggles and my successes... like we do in the Esalen weekly Friends of Esalen Zoom sessions!”
–Lori
“I remind myself in many ways of the fact that " Love is all there is!" LOVE is the prize and this one precious life is the stage we get to learn our lessons. I get out into nature, hike, camp, river kayak, fly fish, garden, I create, I dance (not enough!), and I remain grateful for each day, each breath, each moment. Being in the moment, awake, and remembering the gift of life and my feeling of gratitude for all of creation.”
–Steven
“My physical heart by limiting stress and eating a heart-healthy diet. My emotional heart by staying in love with the world and by knowing that all disappointment and loss will pass.“
–David Z.
Today, September 29, is World Heart Day. Strike up a conversation with your own heart and as you feel comfortable, encourage others to do the same. As part of our own transformations and self-care, we sometimes ask for others to illuminate and enliven our hearts or speak our love language.
What if we could do this for ourselves too, even if just for today… or to start a heart practice, forever?
Esalen Institute
55000 Highway 1
Big Sur, CA 93920
US: 1-831-667-3000
info@esalen.org
