road less traveled: Esalen Big Sur

A trip of nurturing and the remembrance of wonder.

Recently, I had the gift of spending time nestled between the mountains, rivers, and healing hot springs of the Esalen Institute, a sanctuary cradled along the tender heart of California’s Big Sur coastline.

As with most of my visits to Esalen, I was called here by the love and devotion of dear friends walking their own sacred paths. This time, one of my closest friends was guiding a soulful, silent meditation retreat, and by some miracle, I carved out a sliver of time away from the constant rhythm of residency. It was an easy yes — a no-brainer of the heart.

If you’ve never heard of the Esalen Institute, allow me to widen your field of knowing. This sacred land is the ancestral home of the Esalen people and is known as the “land of the three waters,” where an alpine river, ancient hot springs, and the vast coastal ocean meet in elemental union. This place pulses with ancient memory — rich wildlife, lush gardens, and the resonance of being the very first retreat center ever built in North America. Esalen is a place for healing in every sense: a space for massage therapy and somatic training, for growing food in communion with the land, for deep meditation, yoga, and remembering how to be again. The presence of the Esalen people still lives and breathes here, as they continue to tend and steward this sacred ground, even though the retreat center holds the title.