Esalen (day one)

Ken is from New York. Says that tonight’s activity was “..way too West Coast” for him. Thought he could be just an observer. Says he’s unsure if he can participate in the workshop this way. Mary asks what bothered him about tonight’s activity. He says he doesn’t know. Mary suggests that maybe he’s afraid. Ken says he guesses so. The instructions were to scan the room, then when Mary says “go” ..walk over to someone, take their hand and sit down with them. Everybody (including myself) reads way too much into these simple instructions. Some of us wander confused ..especially when the one we had chosen ..gets taken. Mary never said we couldn’t be a “threesome”. I read “form a couple” ..with all its connotations. I chose another wanderer ..Brita. Next we’re revealing something about ourselves to each other. I forget what I said, but I remember what Brita said. She lives in Big Sur, works at Esalen as a bodyworker and does whatever else she can to contribute. She also has a job in Monterey. I forget what. I also met my roommate, Michael, this evening. He’s on a month-long retreat ..with weekends free. This week he’s hiking with Steven Harper’s group. He’s from Toronto.

(posted October 31st at UC Santa Cruz)