At Esalen, we’ve long explored what it means to be in relationship with ourselves, each other, and the living world. In this piece, Dr. Lindsay Branham asks us to consider a more intimate inquiry: the possibilities of connecting with the Earth as a living, loving presence.
I’m thinking of eucalyptus arms and moss laps, tidal hips and night flower kisses. Contact and caress. Touch and tenderness. Embrace and enfoldment. I’m thinking of erotic ecology. What if the most lavish lover is the living world? What if that bond could satiate our ache for connection?
The Earth is always reaching for us. Nature is constantly drawing us, summoning us, inviting us into intimacies. What wants to come to life in you? Could the Earth be your partner in that discovery?
The path of erotic ecology saved my life in many ways. I had an unexplainable onset of chronic health symptoms six years ago, and this descent became fertile ground for an odyssey of healing to begin. But with nature. I was drawn into an erotic connection with the forest along the Maroon Creek River in Colorado. Through the eyes of a poet, I could sense that healing was happening from the inside. Trained as a scientist, I wanted to understand that transformation from the outside.
Erotic ecology is a synthesis between the science of embodiment and nature connection, and the ancient wisdom of Buddhist deep ecology rooted in experiencing the holy ordinary in every living being.
It all starts in the landscape of our bodies, waking up there. From there, it extends into relationship with all of life, reviving connection there, too. The promise, the possibility, is that we could find our way back into belonging with the Earth, our first home.
I hold a PhD in environmental psychology and my first book, Heartwood: The Wisdom and Healing Kinship of Trees (Hachette) is out now. The first Erotic Ecology retreat I held at Esalen in October 2025 was a wonderful and transformative weekend. I can’t wait to spend a full week in curiosity, exploration, and sensual attunement to the magnificent trees, waters and lands of Esalen again.
Esalen is a land that is loved very well. The eros makes my entire body exhale. This place has long asked essential questions: Who are we? What are we here for? How can we radically love the world?
Terrence McKenna, the free thinker and ethnobotanist who gave dozens of talks at Esalen in the 80s, said, “Nature is ourselves, to be cherished and explored.” If we are nature, then erotic ecology must begin with loving our own bodies radically. And then waking up into the animacy of the multi-voiced world around us. In this connection is an overflow of goodness so true, pure and potent it could upend dominant cultural norms that have led to the degradation of the Earth. I believe reciprocal love between humans and the Earth could heal what’s broken. And there is much that is broken.
Yet there is a free, broad-band medicine available to us. We have a technology that can heal humans and heal the earth. Erotic ecology. So, how do we turn ourselves on to the Earth? We begin in the body. Our portals of sensory perception through which to contact and caress the living world. As we deepen our embodied awareness, we become more erotically connected to the Earth. Just like in a love affair, we first pay attention to our own yearnings: What am I attracted to? Is it safe to explore that desire with the Earth?
I felt like a delighted animal when I visited Esalen for the first time. Lying on the grass, I watched the purple lupines gracefully extend their faces to feel the salt on their lips. I felt the impossible delicacy of a monarch butterfly land on my arm. I inhaled the salty air, the pungent amber forest, the ripe scents from the garden. A golden poppy bowed its luscious petals just as a sea lion sang in the afternoon’s refracted sunlight. I was bewitched. The land wanted me.
I walked through the garden overlooking the sea. Rows of fresh vegetables were fat and juicy. Tomatoes, kale and squash in technicolor. I’d forgotten that food is a rainbow. A little round mirror swung from a branch on a tree. I caught my reflection. The slate gray sea behind me, the yellow flowers exploding next to me. My eyes filled with tears. Here we were together, human and Earth. Right relationship. This land was content. I was, too. What if our sensual aliveness could be revived through the Earth?
My workshop, Erotic Ecology: Awakening the Senses and Healing Through Nature is May 11 – 15, 2026 will explore this inquiry of seduction. I am offering the tools and practices I have spent a decade developing that support the discovery and practice of your own erotic connection with the Earth. A live-wire of transformative power for yourself and for the world. Romantic trysts will occur. Tired bodies and over-anxious minds will be held. Ecological grief will be composted. Intimacy will awaken. This weekend is an opportunity to let yourself be loved, and to return home with a kindled flame of love for the Earth — an enduring resource in a fractured world.
“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?
Join Lindsay for Erotic Ecology: Awakening the Senses and Healing Through Nature, May 11 – 15, 2026.
At Esalen, we’ve long explored what it means to be in relationship with ourselves, each other, and the living world. In this piece, Dr. Lindsay Branham asks us to consider a more intimate inquiry: the possibilities of connecting with the Earth as a living, loving presence.
I’m thinking of eucalyptus arms and moss laps, tidal hips and night flower kisses. Contact and caress. Touch and tenderness. Embrace and enfoldment. I’m thinking of erotic ecology. What if the most lavish lover is the living world? What if that bond could satiate our ache for connection?
The Earth is always reaching for us. Nature is constantly drawing us, summoning us, inviting us into intimacies. What wants to come to life in you? Could the Earth be your partner in that discovery?
The path of erotic ecology saved my life in many ways. I had an unexplainable onset of chronic health symptoms six years ago, and this descent became fertile ground for an odyssey of healing to begin. But with nature. I was drawn into an erotic connection with the forest along the Maroon Creek River in Colorado. Through the eyes of a poet, I could sense that healing was happening from the inside. Trained as a scientist, I wanted to understand that transformation from the outside.
Erotic ecology is a synthesis between the science of embodiment and nature connection, and the ancient wisdom of Buddhist deep ecology rooted in experiencing the holy ordinary in every living being.
It all starts in the landscape of our bodies, waking up there. From there, it extends into relationship with all of life, reviving connection there, too. The promise, the possibility, is that we could find our way back into belonging with the Earth, our first home.
I hold a PhD in environmental psychology and my first book, Heartwood: The Wisdom and Healing Kinship of Trees (Hachette) is out now. The first Erotic Ecology retreat I held at Esalen in October 2025 was a wonderful and transformative weekend. I can’t wait to spend a full week in curiosity, exploration, and sensual attunement to the magnificent trees, waters and lands of Esalen again.
Esalen is a land that is loved very well. The eros makes my entire body exhale. This place has long asked essential questions: Who are we? What are we here for? How can we radically love the world?
Terrence McKenna, the free thinker and ethnobotanist who gave dozens of talks at Esalen in the 80s, said, “Nature is ourselves, to be cherished and explored.” If we are nature, then erotic ecology must begin with loving our own bodies radically. And then waking up into the animacy of the multi-voiced world around us. In this connection is an overflow of goodness so true, pure and potent it could upend dominant cultural norms that have led to the degradation of the Earth. I believe reciprocal love between humans and the Earth could heal what’s broken. And there is much that is broken.
Yet there is a free, broad-band medicine available to us. We have a technology that can heal humans and heal the earth. Erotic ecology. So, how do we turn ourselves on to the Earth? We begin in the body. Our portals of sensory perception through which to contact and caress the living world. As we deepen our embodied awareness, we become more erotically connected to the Earth. Just like in a love affair, we first pay attention to our own yearnings: What am I attracted to? Is it safe to explore that desire with the Earth?
I felt like a delighted animal when I visited Esalen for the first time. Lying on the grass, I watched the purple lupines gracefully extend their faces to feel the salt on their lips. I felt the impossible delicacy of a monarch butterfly land on my arm. I inhaled the salty air, the pungent amber forest, the ripe scents from the garden. A golden poppy bowed its luscious petals just as a sea lion sang in the afternoon’s refracted sunlight. I was bewitched. The land wanted me.
I walked through the garden overlooking the sea. Rows of fresh vegetables were fat and juicy. Tomatoes, kale and squash in technicolor. I’d forgotten that food is a rainbow. A little round mirror swung from a branch on a tree. I caught my reflection. The slate gray sea behind me, the yellow flowers exploding next to me. My eyes filled with tears. Here we were together, human and Earth. Right relationship. This land was content. I was, too. What if our sensual aliveness could be revived through the Earth?
My workshop, Erotic Ecology: Awakening the Senses and Healing Through Nature is May 11 – 15, 2026 will explore this inquiry of seduction. I am offering the tools and practices I have spent a decade developing that support the discovery and practice of your own erotic connection with the Earth. A live-wire of transformative power for yourself and for the world. Romantic trysts will occur. Tired bodies and over-anxious minds will be held. Ecological grief will be composted. Intimacy will awaken. This weekend is an opportunity to let yourself be loved, and to return home with a kindled flame of love for the Earth — an enduring resource in a fractured world.
“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?
Join Lindsay for Erotic Ecology: Awakening the Senses and Healing Through Nature, May 11 – 15, 2026.
At Esalen, we’ve long explored what it means to be in relationship with ourselves, each other, and the living world. In this piece, Dr. Lindsay Branham asks us to consider a more intimate inquiry: the possibilities of connecting with the Earth as a living, loving presence.
I’m thinking of eucalyptus arms and moss laps, tidal hips and night flower kisses. Contact and caress. Touch and tenderness. Embrace and enfoldment. I’m thinking of erotic ecology. What if the most lavish lover is the living world? What if that bond could satiate our ache for connection?
The Earth is always reaching for us. Nature is constantly drawing us, summoning us, inviting us into intimacies. What wants to come to life in you? Could the Earth be your partner in that discovery?
The path of erotic ecology saved my life in many ways. I had an unexplainable onset of chronic health symptoms six years ago, and this descent became fertile ground for an odyssey of healing to begin. But with nature. I was drawn into an erotic connection with the forest along the Maroon Creek River in Colorado. Through the eyes of a poet, I could sense that healing was happening from the inside. Trained as a scientist, I wanted to understand that transformation from the outside.
Erotic ecology is a synthesis between the science of embodiment and nature connection, and the ancient wisdom of Buddhist deep ecology rooted in experiencing the holy ordinary in every living being.
It all starts in the landscape of our bodies, waking up there. From there, it extends into relationship with all of life, reviving connection there, too. The promise, the possibility, is that we could find our way back into belonging with the Earth, our first home.
I hold a PhD in environmental psychology and my first book, Heartwood: The Wisdom and Healing Kinship of Trees (Hachette) is out now. The first Erotic Ecology retreat I held at Esalen in October 2025 was a wonderful and transformative weekend. I can’t wait to spend a full week in curiosity, exploration, and sensual attunement to the magnificent trees, waters and lands of Esalen again.
Esalen is a land that is loved very well. The eros makes my entire body exhale. This place has long asked essential questions: Who are we? What are we here for? How can we radically love the world?
Terrence McKenna, the free thinker and ethnobotanist who gave dozens of talks at Esalen in the 80s, said, “Nature is ourselves, to be cherished and explored.” If we are nature, then erotic ecology must begin with loving our own bodies radically. And then waking up into the animacy of the multi-voiced world around us. In this connection is an overflow of goodness so true, pure and potent it could upend dominant cultural norms that have led to the degradation of the Earth. I believe reciprocal love between humans and the Earth could heal what’s broken. And there is much that is broken.
Yet there is a free, broad-band medicine available to us. We have a technology that can heal humans and heal the earth. Erotic ecology. So, how do we turn ourselves on to the Earth? We begin in the body. Our portals of sensory perception through which to contact and caress the living world. As we deepen our embodied awareness, we become more erotically connected to the Earth. Just like in a love affair, we first pay attention to our own yearnings: What am I attracted to? Is it safe to explore that desire with the Earth?
I felt like a delighted animal when I visited Esalen for the first time. Lying on the grass, I watched the purple lupines gracefully extend their faces to feel the salt on their lips. I felt the impossible delicacy of a monarch butterfly land on my arm. I inhaled the salty air, the pungent amber forest, the ripe scents from the garden. A golden poppy bowed its luscious petals just as a sea lion sang in the afternoon’s refracted sunlight. I was bewitched. The land wanted me.
I walked through the garden overlooking the sea. Rows of fresh vegetables were fat and juicy. Tomatoes, kale and squash in technicolor. I’d forgotten that food is a rainbow. A little round mirror swung from a branch on a tree. I caught my reflection. The slate gray sea behind me, the yellow flowers exploding next to me. My eyes filled with tears. Here we were together, human and Earth. Right relationship. This land was content. I was, too. What if our sensual aliveness could be revived through the Earth?
My workshop, Erotic Ecology: Awakening the Senses and Healing Through Nature is May 11 – 15, 2026 will explore this inquiry of seduction. I am offering the tools and practices I have spent a decade developing that support the discovery and practice of your own erotic connection with the Earth. A live-wire of transformative power for yourself and for the world. Romantic trysts will occur. Tired bodies and over-anxious minds will be held. Ecological grief will be composted. Intimacy will awaken. This weekend is an opportunity to let yourself be loved, and to return home with a kindled flame of love for the Earth — an enduring resource in a fractured world.
“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?
Join Lindsay for Erotic Ecology: Awakening the Senses and Healing Through Nature, May 11 – 15, 2026.
Esalen Institute
55000 Highway 1
Big Sur, CA 93920
US: 1-831-667-3000
info@esalen.org
