Michael Murphy, Co-Founder of the Esalen Institute

Michael Murphy (0:00)

We have to respect the need in all of us at times for a timeout.

Whether it's during the day, or it's for on weekends, or it's for sabbaticals, we have to learn to be skillful in living in the two worlds, the world of being and the world of becoming. Coming.

Michael Gervais (0:23)

All right, welcome back or welcome to the Finding Mastery podcast. I'm Michael Gervais. And by trade and training, I'm a sport and performance psychologist and the co-founder of Compete to Create. And the whole idea behind these conversations, behind this podcast, is to learn from people who are on the path of mastery, to better understand what they're searching for, the deep stuff, the true stuff, their authentic path. We want to understand their psychological framework, which is how they make sense of themselves and the world and explain events. And then we also want to dig to understand the mental skills that they've used to build and refine their craft.

I want to take a minute here to announce a really exciting event that we have coming up. As you continue to navigate the challenges and opportunities of 2024, I want to pose a question. What are you doing right now to be great with stress? How are you working with stress on your pursuit towards your most important ambitions and goals? And I just want to get right to the heart of the key elements, one in particular, for what it takes to excel in today's high heat, high stakes world. Because stress is not the problem that we think it is. Stress is a synonym for change. And our ability to be agile with change, that is the real opportunity at hand. So if you're wanting to unlock extraordinary results and sustainable performance in your life, it's not about avoiding or reducing stress. And as simple as that sounds, it's very tricky to do, but it is about fundamentally changing your relationship with it.

And that's why I'm so thrilled to invite you to a special event. It's a free virtual event that we're offering, and it's called The Power of Embracing Stress. It's on Wednesday, March 6th at 2 p.m. Pacific. So to sign up, just head over to findingmastery.com/training. Whether it's advancing in your career or improving your health or cultivating stronger relationships, I think a new approach to stress can be one of the most powerful unlocks for you in your life. So join us for this free virtual training, The Power of Embracing Stress, on Wednesday, March 6th at 2 p.m. Pacific. Go to findingmastery.com/training to sign up. Once again, that's findingmastery.com/training. And I'm really excited to see you there.

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E-S-A-L-E-N dot org. That's www.esalen.org. And it's a center that's tucked away on the coast of Big Sur in California. And Michael Murphy and Esalon have been ground zero for the human potential movement, including exploring consciousness and the Eastern philosophies meeting Western frameworks. It's known as the birthplace for gestalt therapy, including generating scores of mind-body interventions.

In the 50s, Michael was a pre-med student at Stanford, and he wandered into a class discussing East-West philosophies and religions. And that miscue, it changed his life. Soon he was meditating, understanding and exploring mindfulness in the inner domain. And after earning a bachelor's degree in arts and psychology and serving in the US. Army, he lived on an ashram in India for 18 months to really become immersed in what he was fascinated by. Upon returning back to the States, he and the late Richard Price started Esalen on the property that Murphy's family owned. And over its 50-plus years of existence, it's been described as a personal growth think tank. Like this really rich ideas have come and sprung from the origins and the grounds of the Esalen Institute. And the organization is focused on personal growth and meditation and massage and ecology and yoga and psychology and spirituality. And there's really nothing quite like it at the time in the 50s and 60s. And it still holds that position now in modern times. And so just as a quick glimpse of the spirit of the Esalen Institute, this is what it reads on their website. The people, more than 750,000 people who have come from all over the world to participate in Esalen's 50 year long Olympics of the mind, heart, body, spirit and community, committing themselves not so much to stronger, faster and higher as to deeper, richer, more enduring in the fellowship of other seekers.