I have not told many people about this, but last year I attended a yoga nidra retreat at Esalen with John Vogler and Laura McKinzie with the support of Esalen’s scholarship fund. There are not many first person accounts online about trips to Esalen, much less about the scholarship experience, and so I am posting about it in case anyone googling “esalen scholarship” or “is esalen expensive” can benefit from my good luck.
I think the scholarship covered something like 70% of my expenses, I didn’t really pay attention. Because it was during COVID, I had a private room, which I certainly would never have been able to afford otherwise. It was amazing.
Private cabins.
There were no obvious signals that I was there on a scholarship, and there were obviously other people there who had some sorts of creative financing deals going on. It was a great experience. The food was good, it seemed possible to accommodate allergies and other dietary needs there, and the only issue was getting transportation to and from the airport if you cannot afford a car rental. Another person at the retreat told me that it is possible to make arrangements for a car, but there was staff turnover so the only thing I heard about was a Google sheet of people who volunteer to drive people to and from Esalen, which I did not feel comfortable with.
I imagine that other people do not write about their experiences at Esalen for the same reasons I have not posted anything. I still do not completely believe that I had the opportunity to visit, and the trip was very affecting for personal reasons. I experienced significant physical healing that I attribute mostly to the yoga programming but that I’m not sure would have been possible in the same way in a different location. Big Sur is a sacred place.
I bought two books related to this trip. The first was a book of a conference proceedings from a workshop about Esalen’s role in American spirituality. The second I found after wondering whether Thomas Merton ever visited: Woods, Shore, Desert, a journal of his journey up the Pacific Coast, which is apparently out of print and now expensive.
Readers of the blog may enjoy this photo I found from Merton’s travels, from the an article where I learned about Woods, Shore, Desert:
I wish next to visit the Monastery of the Redwoods, where Merton took a series of extended retreats detailed in this charming book. I was so surprised by the return of my curiosity and most of all, that I returned with a more relaxed countenance. My default facial position seems to have changed. While occasionally I can slip back into my usual grimace, sometimes now I find myself with a look of peace that D calls my Esalen face.
Watching the moon rise above the mountains from a cliff side hot tub (and from a heated pool) was among the single most pleasant experiences of my life. There were several days full of a series of unrivaled perfect moments. I hope everyone has the opportunity someday to rest somewhere so beautiful.
The baths at Esalen.