There’s a place on the Big Sur Coast that I’ve been before, and always love returning to, called the Esalen Institute.  They describe themselves as a nonprofit retreat center and intentional community focusing on humanistic alternative education.  There are workshops in meditation, art, massage and alternative healing, connecting with nature, yoga, and similar new-agey kinds of things.  To me, engineer that I am, some of it seems nice and useful, and some of it seems just a bit weird and airy-fairy.  But it doesn’t really matter to the atmosphere of the place.  Even in their advertising they state that “we wear our dogmas lightly,” and it’s mostly about accepting everyone as they are, on whatever journey they’re on, and asking nothing of them beyond what they’re able to give.

I was in Monterey a few days before my birthday, so decided to see if I could give myself a treat.  I called Esalen and found that they had last last minute availability in accommodation, and could fit me in at a discount for a ‘personal meditation retreat’ and a massage at the hot springs.  I jumped at the chance, and booked myself in.

I’ve never before driven down the entire length of the Big Sur Coast, but now that I have I’ve got to acknowledge it as one of the most beautiful places in the world.  There was a fair bit of traffic the day I was there, but there were plenty of places to pull over and enjoy the view of the rugged cliffs falling down into the varying blue hues of the Pacific.

Part of the reason for the traffic was that it was the last day of the long Labor Day weekend, but also there were fires in the forests along the coast, and I suspect that people came out for a bit of wildfire tourism.  There were plenty of staging areas and fire camps along the road for the firefighters, and a huge number of signs thanking them for their work.  As someone who lost property in the bushfires in Adelaide last year, I could certainly appreciate their efforts myself.  The map below shows the extent of the burn area, with a pin placed at Esalen.

There were helicopters flying overhead on a regular basis carrying water to the fires.

But Esalen itself wasn’t in any danger, and there wasn’t even a smell of smoke in the air.  I checked in to my accommodation, which was right behind the main gardens, full of late summer flowers.

My room had a lovely view of the ocean, and although not luxury accommodation (I had to make my bed myself), everything was provided and perfectly neat and peaceful.

It had been years since I’d visited, and I’d never stayed overnight before, so I spent most of the afternoon just wandering around the grounds.  The main lawn looked out over the ocean, where people were reading, or drawing, or just enjoying the day.

All of the produce used in the kitchens is produced by the Esalen Farm, with eggs contributed by their very content chickens, and other meats ethically sourced.  All of my meals were provided — dinner the day I arrived and breakfast and lunch the next day, plus breads and fruit and teas at all times — and everything was quite good.  The breads in particular were fantastic, and I think I could have survived on their seed loaf and chai tea alone.

They also had the most wonderful succulent gardens!!  I had never seen such colors in succulents before, and they used them in a number of ways, to make waterfall displays, or represent moon phases, etc.

Of course, ostensibly I was there on a meditation retreat, so I did spend some time in the meditation center.  I really want to be good at meditation, to reach these peaceful plateaus they talk about… but I’m just not.  Every now and then I get a glimpse of what it’s like done right… but I just can’t hang on to it.  It doesn’t bother me over much, and I guess I find my peace in movement and action, or just getting lost in my own thoughts, that’s when I feel most connected to the world.  So let’s just pretend that I spent much time in the meditation center here.

Which was actually filled with the lovely sound of falling water from the nearby stream.

When in fact I really spent several hours just lying in this round nest swing, swaying in the dappled light of the cypress tree it hung from, wrapped in a blanket against the cool ocean breeze, daydreaming and dozing, and listening to the sound of the surf crashing against the cliffs below me.

Maybe that’s one of the things I like about Esalen.  You’re free to find your peace in any way that works best for you, and to learn whatever lessons you’re there to learn.  No pressure.

But the main reason I go to Esalen is for the hot springs and the massage, which was developed there and is a specialty of the Institute.  I had a cup of tea at the lodge before heading down to the springs.  To protect everyone’s privacy there are no cameras allowed in the hot springs and massage area, but I spent several hours there, soaking in the warm sulphury water as I stared out over the ocean.  I got my 75 minute massage from Malachi, who has wonderful skills as a masseur.  I’m always a bit tense at the start of a massage because I’m rather lightly built and can be hurt if someone works a bit too hard on me, but he gave me confidence right from the start that I wasn’t going to feel any pain, and the pressure of his hands was perfect.  I was able to fully relax and enjoy, nearly falling asleep to the sound of the ocean, only coming back into focus when he whispered to me to turn over or to remember to breathe.

I soaked a bit longer in the springs, and then had a vegetarian lunch at the lodge before moving on down the Big Sur Coast.  I’ve always founds Esalen like that… I love being there, but I don’t really regret leaving either.  I go there for a purpose, and once I’ve achieved that, I can leave again.  The coastal views south of Esalen were if anything even more spectacular that further north.

It’s difficult to capture in pictures, but the many shades of blue in the water and the sky were stunning.  I found myself dragging this out, and stopping as often as possible just to listen to the breaking waves and soak up the warm sun.

More blues…

At the southern end of the Big Sur Coast, as I approached the town of Morro Bay, I saw signs for an elephant seal viewing area.  The beach was full of them, and they were great to watch.  They would occasionally squabble over space by doing something like neck wrestling, or move along the beach like huge ungainly inchworms, but mostly they were all about the basking.  Taking time out from life every now and then to bask and relax… yep, I approve.