In 1962 Michael Murphy and Richard Price open the Esalen Institute at Big Sur, California, on the hot springs where Aldous Huxley's generation had already gathered. Esalen becomes the human potential movement's headquarters: Gestalt therapy, encounter groups, massage, and Eastern practice under one redwood roof, and a principal bridge between the counterculture and the New Age.
Tagged: New Age
The Event
- Date
- 1962 (exact)
- Era
- The Countercultural Bloom; Standard periodization of New Age history
- Location
- Big Sur; today Big Sur, California
- Traditions
- New Age Spirituality
- Streams
- New Age
- Key figures
- Michael Murphy, Richard Price
Primary Sources
- The founding documents of the Esalen Institute, Big Sur, 1962.
Secondary Sources
- Hanegraaff, Wouter J. New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought. Leiden: Brill, 1996.
- Heelas, Paul. The New Age Movement. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996.
- York, Michael. The Emerging Network: A Sociology of the New Age and Neo-Pagan Movements. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 1995.
Provenance: HIST-1472; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-30.
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World View
New Age Spirituality
New Age spirituality is an eclectic search for the divine within: through healing, meditation, and ancient wisdom, each person awakens to their own sacred power.