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• 1976: Michael Murphy inaugurated TheTransformation Project to systematically studyextraordinary bodily transformations that occur insuch areas as religious practice, mind-assistedhealing, biofeedback, sensory isolation, sports,acupuncture, physical therapy and mental illness.

• 1982: Esalen sponsored a four-week interdisciplinarytraining program on "Paranormal Intelligence:Explorations of the Limits of Human Capacities." Itsfocus areas included: 1) Paranormal experience andabilities 2) Modern parapsychological research 3)Psychosis: Disease or spiritual emergency? and 4)New approaches to self-exploration. Leaders:Christina and Stanislav Grof, Fritjof Capra, RupertSheldrake, Russell Targ

• 1981-1987: seven invitational conferences on"Psychic Research." Participants: Charles Tart, RussellTarg, Keith Harary, Helmut Schmidt, Daniel Benor,Herbert Benson, William Braud, Marilyn Schlitz, JacobZighelboim, Alyce Green, Elmer Green, StephanSchwartz, Rand DeMattel, Janet Quinn, Bernard Grad,Charles Spence, Ed Brame, Nancy Lunney, MichaelMurphy, David Deamer, Bruce Pomeranz, and LynnTrainor. As a result of the first meeting on Time andPsi, the Parapsychological Association held asymposium on the subject with many of the sameparticipants, providing the nucleus for aninety-minute BBC television program, "The Case ofESP."

• 1983-1984: two invitational conferences on the"Scientific Investigation of Subtle Energies" convenedby George Leonard. Participants: Fred Lorenz, CharlesTart, Chris Cullander, Tod Mikuriya, Julian Isaacs,Bernard Grad, and Tim Scully.

• 1987: invitational conference on "Science and theTranspersonal," designed to explore issues relating tothe development of scientific methodologies, stylesand concepts which accept and adequately address

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the implications of a transpersonal realm.Participants: Julian Isaacs, Charles Honorton, RexStanford, Michael Murphy, Stuart Twemlow, RowenaPattee, Ruthann Corwin, Charles Tart, Rachel Bagby,Rodger S. Jones, Shinzen Young, Arthur Hastings, andMichael Hamer.

• 1987: conference on "New Directions in BiologicalResearch and Evolutionary Theory," led by DavidDeamer, a prominent origins-of-life researcher.

• 1988-1995: seven conferences on "New Directions inMeditation Research," convened by Tom Hurley andco-sponsored by the Institute of Noetic Sciences.Participants: Joan Borysenko, Jon Kabbat-Zinn, DanielBrown, Beverly Rubik, Roger Walsh, Frances Vaughan,Elmer Green, Stanley Krippner, Charles Tart, WillisHarman, Charles Alexander, Etzel Cardena, MichaelWashburn, Stephen LaBerge, Kenneth Pelletier, RonKurtz, Michael Murphy, Steve Donovan, and MichaelMahoney.

• 1992: publication of The Future of the Body, MichaelMurphy's comprehensive scholarly guide tometanormal abilities and a wide range ofextraordinary human experiences. This volume wasthe fruit of work begun in 1976 with TheTransformation Project and continued throughinvitational conferences and scholarly exchanges.

• 1993-1998: conference series on "Direct Mental andHealing Interactions," which then became "DistantMental Influences on Living Systems," convened byMarilyn Schlitz and co-sponsored with the Institute ofNoetic Sciences. Participants: William Braud, SharonThom, Richard Bierman, Dean Radin, Stephen Braude,Deborah Delanoy, Robert Morris, Bruce Pomeranz,Helmut Schmidt, Richard Wiseman, Dennis Stillings,Elisabeth Targ, Fr. Sean O'Laoire, Ellen Levine, andGarret Young.

• 1996: publication of the scholarly resource book ThePhysical and Psychological Effects of Meditation: AReview of Contemporary Research with aComprehensive Bibiliography: 1931-1996, by MichaelMurphy and Steve Donovan, updated by EugeneTaylor. This remains the most complete survey ofempirical research into the effects of meditation.

• 1998: invited conference on "The Survival of BodilyDeath," gathered leading researchers in the fields ofreincarnation, near-death, out-of-body, channeling,mediumship, multiple personality, and cross-cultural

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studies to address the empirical evidence for someform of survival of bodily death. Participants: AdamCrabtree, Bruce Greyson, Michael Grosso, ArthurHastings, Emily Kelly, Ed Kelly, Sukie Miller, MichaelMurphy, and Charles Tart. Summary of proceedings atwww.esalenctr.org.

• 1999: invited conference on "Subtle Energies and theUncharted Realms of Mind," brought into collaborationresearchers studying telepathy, precognition, subtleenergies, martial arts, lucid dreaming, remoteviewing, and distant mental healing. Participants:Kathy Dalton, Bernard Grad, Wayne Jonas, Mary EllenKlee, Stephen Laberge, George Leonard, Fred Luskin,Roger Nelson, Dean Radin, Beverly Rubik, MarilynSchlitz, and Russell Targ. Summary of proceedings atwww.esalenctr.og.

Physics and Consciousness

• 1974: public lecture for Esalen San Francisco by NickHerbert on "Physics, Consciousness, and PsychicPhenomena."

• 1976: Esalen and the Physics ConsciousnessResearch Group of San Francisco conduct amonth-long invited conference on the conceptual gapsand possibilities in theoretical physics and therelevance of modern physical thought forconsciousness transformation on the planet.Participants: Jack Sarfatti, Saul-Paul Sirag, MichaelMurphy, Fred Alan Wolf, Nick Herbert, Peter Hesse!,Ralph Abraham, Michael Karnov, and John King

• 1976-1988: eleven annual invited conferences on"Quantum Physics and the Nature of Reality"convened by Nick Herbert. Special attention wasdevoted to Bell's Theorem and its implications.Participants: Gary Zukav, Charles Brandon, NickHerbert, Ariadna Chernavska, John Clauser, RalphAbraham, Saul-Paul Sirag, Bernard d'Espagnat, andHenry Stapp.

• 1979: Gary Zukav publishedThe Dancing Wu LiMasters , which explored the implications and originsof quantum physics for a popular audience, and wonthe American Book Award for Science. I t was partiallyinspired by the Esalen conferences

• 1987: Nick Herbert published a popular science bookQuantum Reality: Beyond the New Physics, inspiredpartially by Esalen work and subsequently publishedElemental Mind : Human Consciousness and the New

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Physics to expand these ideas further.

Sports Psychology

• 1972: Michael Murphy, co-founder of Esalen,published Golf in the Kingdom, destined to becomeone of the classic works on the inner game of sports.

• 1973: Esalen created the Esalen Sports Center,designed to foster an orientation to sports beyondmere competition and physical activity. Formerprofessional football player David Meggyesy, BobKriegel, a group leader and sports coach, and MikeSpino, an innovative running coach, joined withMichael Murphy to build programs that saw sports asvehicles for self-development and avenues to a highernature. The first weekend program was so successfulthat Esalen launched a two-week summer program.Prominent faculty: Stewart Brand, Judith Aston, JohnBrodie, Tim Galway, George Leonard, StanleyKeleman, Dave Meggyesy, Eleanor Metheny, DanMillman, Robert Nadeau, Mike Murphy, Al Huang, WillSchutz, Jack Scott, Mike and Dyveke Spin°.

• Apri l 15, 1973: New York Times article on the EsalenSports Center stated that, "Such is the cloutgenerated by Esalen that the occasion may be to achange in sports what the storming of the Bastille wasto the French Revolution."

• 1975: George Leonard published The UltimateAthlete, which presented a theoretical framework forthe kind of work the Sports Center was fostering.

• 1976: the Esalen Sports Center began a six-mothprogram in mind/body development, coordinated byMike Spino, featuring running, meditation, yoga, andother disciplines.

• 1978: Michael Murphy and Rhea White published Inthe Zone: Transcendent Experience in Sports, themost comprehensive scholarly effort to date onmetanormal experience in sport.

• 1993: Esalen hosted a major conference at StanfordUniversity, entitled "Toward the Further Reaches ofSport Psychology," in which prominent coaches,athletes, and sport psychologists from the formerSoviet republics and the United States discussedcurrent trends in theoretical and applied sportpsychology.

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Integra l Practice

• 1983: George Leonard gave the first of three LeonardEnergy Trainings at Esalen, a rigorous eight-weekintegral program of physical, mental and spiritualdisciplines.

• 1992: George Leonard and Michael Murphy initiated atwo-year experimental class in what they calledIntegral Transformative Practice (ITP), whichcombined meditation, imaging, affirmations,intellectual study, physical discipline, nutrit ion, andgroup work to create a comprehensive program fordevelopment. This experiment led to the publicationof Leonard and Murphy's The Life We Are Given in1995 and to the creation of numerous ITP groups inthe U.S. and overseas. (web site: www.itp-life.com)

Environmental Studies

• 1966: Gerard Haigh and William Zielonka led aworkshop entitled "Man in Confrontation with Nature"to explore how modern humans distance themselvesfrom the natural world and how best to remedy thisseparation.

• 1968: Ralph Metzner led a series of dialogues onecology and psychology at the Esalen San Franciscocenter.

• 1971: lecture by Alan Watts and Lynn White on the"Ecological Crisis" at the Esalen San Francisco center,a lecture which inaugurated a joint effort by Esalenand Friends of the Earth to develop apsycho-ecological approach to human problems.

• 1987: invitational conference on "Thinking AboutBiotechnology: Environment, Public Health, SocialPriorities," convened by Walter Truett Anderson.

• 1990: invitational conference on "TropicalEthno-Medicine," gathering botanists, phytochemists,ethnologists, and ecologists working to preserve andunderstand rain forest plants with healing andpsychotherapeutic potential.

• 1991: invitational conference on "EcologicalTransformation," bringing together environmentalistsand activists to explore the confluence of ecological,cultural, and personal transformation, with a focus ona local project.

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• 1993-4: two conferences, convened by TheodoreRoszak, on "Ecopsychology: Theory and Practice"which helped create a new field of inquiry.Participants: Charlene Spretnak, James Hillman, MaryGomes, Allen Kanner, Sharon Thom, Margot McLean,Lane and Sarah Conn, Ellen Cole, Carl Anthony,Chellis Glendinning, Laura Sewall, Betty Roszak,Leslie Gray, John Seed, Elizabeth Ann Bragg, DoloresLaChapelle, Claire Greensfelder, Robert Greenway,Jeanette Armstrong, Steven Harper, Alan HuntBadiner, Harold Gilliam, Steve Beck, Danile Moses,Renee Soule, and Jerry Mander. These conferencesresulted in the publication of Ecopsychology,considered the defining work for the nascent field,and indirectly contributed to the formation of the firstDepartment of Ecopsychology at Hayward StateUniversity.

• 1995: conference on "Sustainability Consciousness,"designed to forge relationships between activists,journalists, scientists, artists, business people, andeducators, to encourage ecological thinking, and toweave together issues of sustainability, spirituality,and systems theory. Participants: Ralph Abraham,Rebecca Adamson, Andra Akers, Carl Anthony, AllanHunt Badiner, Andrew Beath, Steve Beck, MirabaiBush, Andre Carothers, Brother David Steindl-Rast,Christina Desser, Mark Dowie, Barbara Dudley, JoanHalifax, Pau! Hawken, Mark Hertsgaard, Bill Joy,Joshua Karliner, Jay Michael Levin, Amory Lovins,Terence McKenna, Miguel A. Reyna!, Catherine Sneed,Betsy Taylor, and Nina Wise.

• 1995: conference on "The Business of Restoration,"convened to envision the vital role business will playin the restoration of the Earth. Participants: ChristinaDesser, Allan Hunt Badiner, James Thornton, SteveBeck, Paul Hawken, Joshua Karliner, Amory Lovins,William McDonough, Elizabeth Pinchot, GiffordPinchot, Artemis Joukowsky, Ted Halstead, TamotsuYamaguchi, Michael Stewart, Laurance Allen, AnitaRoddick, Michael Totten, Daniel Ellsberg, ElisabetSahtouris, Vandana Shiva, William Irwin Thompson,James Thornton, Will Keepin, and Lester Brown.

Alternative Views and Approaches to Psychosis

• 1962: Richard Price co-founded Esalen with a strong

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personal commitment to finding ways to deal withpsychosis that were more humane than the prevalentpractices of institutionalization, medication, andelectroshock.

• 1968: series of workshops and seminars entitled TheValue of Psychotic Experience, designed to integrateand extend the theories of John Perry, R. D. Laing,Fritz Penis, and Kazimierz Dabrowski.

• 1969: Esalen launched the Agnews Project, athree-year study of alternative approaches topsychosis, in a California State mental hospital,drawing expertise from Esalen faculty and methodsand with support from the National Institute of MentalHealth and the California Department of Health. Dr.Julian Silverman, an eminent research psychologistfrom the National Institute of Mental Health, headedthe program, which had three main objectives: 1)Identify, via neurophysiological lab techniques, thoseindividuals who go through psychotic experiences andemerge as better integrated personalities. 2) Developa unique therapeutic milieu, including encountergroups and didactic seminars, where certain patientsare allowed to go through psychosis unmedicated. 3)Revise theories of acute schizophrenic reactions toinclude the possibility of positive, healing, orproblem-solving features of the state as well as themore ominous features.

• 1976: Stanislav Grof and Joan Halifax-Grof led anEsalen month-long seminar for professionals andadvanced students on "Schizophrenia and theVisionary Mind," including guest faculty such asGregory Bateson, Erik Erikson, Jean Houston, ClaudioNaranjo, Kenneth Pelletier, John Perry, Betty Fuller,and Will Schutz. Areas of focus included thebiochemical, psychological and cultural variables inschizophrenia, the study of mystical experience, andvarious techniques for personal self-exploration (e.g.sensory isolation tank, biofeedback, bioenergeticwork).

• 1980: creation of the Spiritual Emergence Network byStanislav and Christina Grof, with Esalen sponsorship.This organization is a referral and information networkwhich now has a worldwide presence and thousandsof members.

• 1981-1988: seven invitational conferences at Esalenon "Alternatives to Institutional PsychiatricTreatment" convened by Larry Telles.

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• 1984: month-long Esalen seminar for professionalsand graduate students on "Spiritual Emergency:Understanding and Treatment of TranspersonalCrises" led by Stanislav and Christina Grof.

• 1987: invitational conference on "SpiritualEmergence," convened by Stanislav and ChristinaGrof.

Governance

• 1981-1990: nine invited conferences on "AppropriateGovernance," convened by social psychologist andfutures planner Donald Michael, designed to explorethe nature of appropriate governance for nations andgroups that require both autonomy and increasingindependence, with special attention to the viability ofheterarchy as an organizing principle. Participants: M.Brian Murphy, Walter Anderson, Donald Michael, JackBallard, Patrick Ophuls, Lynton Caldwell, KeithThompson, James Ogilvy, Jack Fobes, and Elsa Porter.

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