Editing Dick Price (section)

== Founding Esalen Institute ==
In May 1960, Price returned to San Francisco and lived in the East-West House with Taoist teacher [[Gia-Fu Feng]]. That year he also met fellow [[Stanford University]] graduate [[Michael Murphy (author)|Michael Murphy]] at [[Haridas Chaudhuri]]'s Cultural Integration Fellowship where Murphy was in residence.<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|147}} Dick moved into the Cultural Integration Fellowship as well. The two men conceived of the idea of a place where individuals could become open to ways of thinking while avoiding the dogma often associated with groups organized around a single idea promoted by a charismatic leader. In 1961, Murphy and Price visited the oceanside property in [[Big Sur]], [[California]] owned by Murphy's family.<ref name="esalen.org"/> The property included natural [[hot spring]]s.

In 1962, using the Murphy property and capital that Dick had accumulated,<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|148}} along with assistance from [[Alan Watts]], [[Aldous Huxley]], [[Laura Huxley]], [[Gerald Heard]], [[Gregory Bateson]] and [[Frederic Spiegelberg]] (with whom both had studied at Stanford),<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|147}} Price and Murphy founded the [[Esalen Institute]]. Among other objectives, Price saw Esalen as an alternative to existing mental health practice, especially the practices of mental hospitals.<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|150–52}} Esalen was to be a place where inner process could move forward safely and without interruption.

Previously, the natural hot springs baths on the Murphy property were part of a run-down resort (known as [[Slate's Hot Springs]]). The security guard was a young [[Hunter S. Thompson]]. [[Joan Baez]] was also in residence. Thompson was soon fired by Murphy's grandmother, although Baez remained in residence through the beginnings of Esalen.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/453699.html|work=Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion |title=Totally on Fire The Experience of Founding Esalen|first=Jeffrey J.|last=Kripal|date=15 April 2007|publisher=University of Chicago Press|via=Google Books}}</ref> [[Henry Miller]] regularly visited the hot springs during this early period of Esalen's history.<ref name=kripalno/>{{rp|35–9}}<ref name=upstart/>{{rp|46–7}} In the middle of 1962, [[Abraham Maslow]] happened to drive onto the Esalen grounds and soon became an important influence on the development of the institute.<ref>Kripal, Jeffrey and Glenn W. Shuck (editors), On The Edge Of The Future: Esalen And The Evolution Of American Culture, Indiana University Press (2005) p.2</ref> Julian Silverman<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.esalen.org/page/julian-silverman|title=Julian Silverman - Esalen|publisher=}}</ref> came to Esalen in 1965, in order to work on the schizophrenia project at [[Agnews State Hospital]],<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|150–51}} and ended up serving as Esalen's general manager. [[Will Schutz]] came to Esalen in the 1960s and worked on aspects of his "[[encounter group]]" process.<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|152}} [[George Leonard]], [[Joseph Campbell]] and [[Ida Rolf]] were among the many people who had an impact upon Esalen's development. In 1974, Price married his second wife, Christine Stewart Price, who became his primary collaborator at Esalen.<ref name=kripalno/>{{rp|359–60}}<ref name=upstart/>{{rp|299}}<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|156}}

=== Altered state research ===
Price's interest in the expansion of human potentials led him to investigate many avenues of research, including the exploration of altered states of consciousness with psychotropic substances.<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|152}} In the early 1960s he experimented with [[LSD]] administered by a psychiatrist. Later he discovered that [[empathogens]], such as [[MDMA]], facilitated self-exploration and were helpful in psychological healing when used in conjunction with therapy.

In 1973, Price was instrumental in bringing [[Stan Grof|Stanislav Grof]] to Esalen in the capacity of Scholar in Residence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.holotropic.com/bio_stan-grof.shtml|title=Grof - Originators And Staff|access-date=2010-05-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100609051233/http://www.holotropic.com/bio_stan-grof.shtml|archive-date=2010-06-09|url-status=dead}}</ref> Grof was interested in the enhancement of human potentials through the induction of non-ordinary states of consciousness. He had conducted research with LSD at the Psychiatric Research Center in Prague, followed by similar research at Johns Hopkins University and the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center.<ref>Stanislav Grof, "Realms Of The Human Unconscious: Observations From LSD Research"</ref> At Esalen, Price encouraged Grof to develop the therapeutic technique of [[Holotropic Breathwork]], which functioned as a substitute for psychedelic drugs.<ref>Stanislav Grof, "Physical Manifestations of Emotional disorders:Observations from the study of non-ordinary states of consciousness" in ''Exploring Holotropic breathwork: Selected Articles from a Decade of the Inner Door''. Taylor, K [Ed.] Hanford Mead (2003)</ref>

=== Gestalt practice ===
{{main|Gestalt practice}}

In 1964, [[Fritz Perls]], the psychiatrist who developed [[Gestalt therapy]], arrived at Esalen.<ref>Fritz Perls, ''In and Out the Garbage Pail'', Real People Press, Lafayette, CA (1969)</ref> During Perls' time at Esalen, Price became one of his primary students. He was also influenced by the work of [[Wilhelm Reich]], who had been Perls' analyst.<ref name=kripalno/>{{rp|360}} Price worked with Perls for approximately four years, from 1966 to 1970. During this period Price experienced a second brief manic break, arising from the unresolved trauma of his commitment. Perls declared this episode fully resolved and then told Price that it was time for him to start teaching Gestalt on his own.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

During the time that Price ran Esalen, he educated himself widely in Western psychology and [[Eastern religions]], including [[Buddhism]] and [[Taoism]].<ref name="Goldman"/> He drew from the work of many teachers who came to Esalen over the years. Gestalt practice provided a humane approach that pulled together all these strands of ancient and modern knowledge into a coherent technique, similar to [[shamanistic]] methods of healing.<ref name=kripalno/>{{rp|172}} This practice allowed Price to work with other people as real people, not as objects that needed to be "fixed" in some way.<ref name="Goldman"/> Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, Price continued practicing, modifying, and teaching Gestalt at Esalen.

Price died in a hiking accident on November 25, 1985, when he was struck by a falling boulder.<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|158–59}} The method of Gestalt practice<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|157}} that Dick Price developed remains one of his most important achievements.<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|157–8}}

=== Hiking practice ===
Price would frequently hike the trails of the [[Santa Lucia Range]], both for pleasure and for relief from the pressures of running Esalen Institute. This became a part of his process. [[Hiking]] was often a solitary practice for him, although he regularly took other people along. Sometimes he worked with them while hiking, doing Gestalt sessions that would turn out to be quite moving.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

Steven Harper was one of Price's close friends<ref name=kripalno/> and hiking partners at Esalen. Harper became a permanent resident of Big Sur and a leader of wilderness process groups at Esalen. After Price's death, Harper was also able to secure the official naming of two geographic features for Price. A very prominent ridge behind Esalen is now called Price Ridge, and a trail is named Price-Gagarin Trail after Price and his friend Andrew Gagarin.<ref>''Monterey County Place Names'', published by Monterey County, California, p. 422.</ref>