Esalen Blog Post 11/6/17 Rosalinda

For many new religious movements, the media has not been a friend to them. Due to the rise of new religious groups in the 60s and 70s, there were groups forming all over the country and many had no idea what they were about. When any negative attention would be given to one group it was placed on all of the groups and then everyone would just assume that every cult was like that. Many of the groups, however, did not deserve this negative attention.  
The Esalen Institute is a retreat center famous for it hot springs and magical scenery. In February it was shut down due to a massive mudslide that closed the road leading to the retreat center. Now more than six months later the retreat center is opening up again and this time the retreat center and the people who work there are leading their lives in a new diffraction. Many of the leaders took the closure as a chance to revamp many of the programs and teaching that have been part of the retreat center for 50 years. They have incorporated new philosophies and technically as a way to outreach and bring in new members and people who are searching for a new spiritual path in life. Irs goal is to teach people all over the world and reach people of all courses of the world. The Mercury News who wrote an article about the retreat center was more confused on the amount of money that is being spent to reopen the center and I found this interesting. For a few years now it seems that the retreat center has been in dept and that it has been trying to rebuild and upgrade its center. With the mudslide that forced the center to close all together this past year, the center took it as a chance to change the way they were operating. However, it came at a big cost. They laid off many of the staff and the staff they did keep had to live on the site and could not leave. One of the big problems that the center was running into however was how old fashion their site was. Because everything is so mainstream now and you can see and act on anything you see online the retreat center was having trouble to appeal to the youth. Social media has helped the group in maintained a presence but also outreaching to those who wish to visit the center.




"Big Sur's Esalen Re-Opens After Damaging Storms." Mercurynews.com. N. p., 2017. Web. 12 Nov. 2017.http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/07/21/esalens-survival-story-a-tale-of-transformation/

Comments

  1. UnknownDecember 12, 2017 at 10:25 PM

    I found it interesting how Esalen used the mudslide to re-evaluate their business operations. Also found it interesting how Esalen was so far behind in terms of technology. I would have assumed they would have wanted to be as appealing as possible.

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