Word: esalen
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...Esalen, the sudden and over-whelming knowledge had come to the boy, when he was climbing up the mountain, that he had his breathing. "I am safe in my breathing." And he laughed and laughed because it was that easy. Until the very moment of death, he would always be safe in his breathing, always secure. He could always take a deep breath and say, "I am safe there, that is my breathing, that is my life, that is me." His breathing was his anchor, it was his starting point. And he thought that it was not by coincidence that...
...condition of total body-mind cut off has been aptly labeled "mind-fuck." The boy had felt this before going to Esalen. There were nights when he would lie awake in bed, unable to sleep, his whole body shaking, because the thoughts flew through his mind in a frenzy. He could not stop them. Harvard had started his mind going, and he could not stop it. It was like HAL the computer, and it threatened to destroy...
When he went to Esalen, he had worried that it would be anti-intellectual. There would be no plays, no novels, no poetry: how would be relate to anyone? And if he did relate, would he have to abandon his mind, give up the parts of it that were good and strong, give up thinking and writing...
...thought, going to Esalen, that people were unhappy because they were trapped in themselves and could not break out. No one was talking to anybody. But he saw, coming back, that is was just the opposite: everyone was talking and on one was listening. No one would let anyone in. For at Esalen, he had learned that it was possible to listen not just with his ears, but to listen with his eyes, and his face, and his entire body. To listen with his entire body--that was very beautiful...
...known that before. He also knew that John had been through a severe three-month breakdown during his training at Esalen...