Editing Dick Price

{{Short description|Co-founder of the Esalen Institute (1930–1985)}}
{{other people}}
{{Infobox person
| image = RichardPrice68.jpg
| name  = Richard Price
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|1930|10|12|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]]
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1985|11|25|1930|10|12|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Big Sur]], [[California]]
| occupation  = Manager, Esalen Institute; [[Gestalt practice]]
| spouse      = Christine Stewart Price+
| children    = [[David Price (actor)|David]] and Jennifer
| known_for   = Co-founder of [[Esalen Institute]]
}}

'''Richard Price''' (October 12, 1930 – November 25, 1985) was an American [[Gestalt therapist]], co-founder of the [[Esalen Institute]] in 1962, and a veteran of the [[Beat Generation]].<ref name="wayoutin">{{cite book|editor-last1=Kripal|editor-first1=Jeffrey J.|editor-last2=Shuck|editor-first2=Glenn W.|chapter=On the Edge of the Future: Esalen and the Evolution of American Culture|title=The Only Way Out Is In: The Life of Richard Price|first1=Barclay James|last1=Erickson|date=2005|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington|isbn=978-0-253-21759-2|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/onedgeoffuture00indi}}</ref>{{rp|139–40}} He ran Esalen in [[Big Sur]] for many years, sometimes virtually single-handed.<ref group=note>"Dick's life in the late 1960s was incredibly intense. Murphy had left Big Sur to live in San Francisco in 1967, leaving Dick to run the growing complexity of Esalen's Big Sur operations largely by himself." from ''The Only Way Out Is In''  p.152</ref><ref name="wayoutin" group=note>"Differences in temperament would take the cofounders in very different directions as Esalen developed. Mike was always restless and sometimes a little uncomfortable in Big Sur. ... Dick, on the other hand, felt completely at home in Big Sur."  p.149</ref> He developed a practice of hiking the [[Santa Lucia Range|Santa Lucia Mountains]] and developed a new form of personal integration and growth that he called [[Gestalt practice]],<ref name=kripalno>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fzSP6BRFBzIC&pg=PA172|title=Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion|first=Jeffrey J.|last=Kripal|date=15 April 2007|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=9780226453699|via=Google Books}}</ref> partly based upon [[Gestalt therapy]] and Buddhist practice.<ref name="Goldman">{{cite book |last=Goldman |first=Marion S |title=The American Soul Rush: Esalen and the Rise of Spiritual Privilege |publisher=New York University Press |year=2012}}</ref>{{rp|35}}

Price consciously applied psychological principles to his sense of self, and helped many people work to do the same. His work remains at the core of the Esalen experience.<ref name=upstart>{{cite book|last1=Anderson|first1=Walter Truett|title=The Upstart Spring: Esalen and the American Awakening|url=https://archive.org/details/upstartspring00ande|url-access=registration|date=1983|publisher=Addison-Wesley|location=Reading, Massachusetts|isbn=0-201-11034-2}}</ref>{{rp|320–21}}

== Early life ==
Dick Price was born October 12, 1930, to Herman and Audrey Price in the [[Rogers Park, Chicago|Rogers Park]] section of Chicago, Illinois.<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|134}} Price had a twin brother, Bobby, who died in 1933, and a sister Joan who was born in 1929.<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|134}}

Price's father<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|135}} Herman Price ([[Anglicisation|anglicised]] from Preis<ref>{{cite journal |title=Illinois, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records |journal=National Archives at Chicago; Chicago, Illinois; ARC Title: Illinois, Petitions for Naturalization, 1906-1991; NAI Number: 593882; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009 |date=1856–1991 |volume=Record Group Number: RG 21 }}</ref>) was born in an Eastern European Jewish family in 1895. The family emigrated from [[Lithuania]] in 1911 (at that time a part of [[Russia]]), first to [[New York City|New York]] and finally to [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]].

During [[World War I]] his father served in the [[United States Coast Guard]], and then in the [[United States Navy]]. Herman was a refrigeration expert. He headed appliance manufacturing and design at [[Sears, Roebuck and Company|Sears]] for their Coldspot brand, working extensively with [[Raymond Loewy]], who was a close family friend. In 1936, the family moved into the two-floor penthouse apartment in at 707 W. Junior Terrace, just off [[Lake Shore Drive]] in Chicago. With the onset of [[World War II]], Herman was loaned by Sears to the [[Douglas Aircraft Company]] where he applied his assembly line experience to organizing the mass production of aircraft, including the [[B-17]] in particular. Although Herman was a charismatic businessman, he was an emotionally withdrawn and distant father for Dick.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

Price's mother,<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|135ff}} Audrey (Meyers) Price was born in [[Indiana]] in 1895, and grew up in [[Auburn, Illinois]]. She was of [[Dutch (ethnic group)|Dutch]], [[Irish people|Irish]] and [[English people|English]] heritage. Audrey was a domineering figure in the family, and a problematic and intrusive mother for Dick.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

In 1941, the Price family moved to [[Kenilworth, Illinois|Kenilworth]] on the [[North Shore (Chicago)|North Shore]] of Chicago. Dick graduated from [[New Trier High School]] in 1948.<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|136}} He joined New Trier's wrestling team and placed second in his weight class in the state of [[Illinois]].

Dick Price died at age 55 when he was struck by a boulder while hiking near [[Esalen Institute|Esalen]] on November 25, 1985.  He was survived by his wife, Christine Stewart Price,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Price |first1=Christine |title=Christine Stewart Price Biography |url=https://www.tribalground.com/christinepricebio/ |website=Tribal Ground |publisher=Tribal Ground LLC |access-date=23 November 2022}}</ref> and two children, [[David Price (actor)|David]] and Jennifer Price.

== College education ==
Price graduated from [[Stanford University]] in 1952 with a major in [[psychology]].<ref name=wayoutin/>{{rp|137}} While at Stanford, Price studied with both [[Gregory Bateson]] and [[Frederic Spiegelberg]]. They would later prove to be pivotal influences when he founded and developed programs at Esalen Institute.<ref name=upstart/>{{rp|70–72}}<ref name=kripalno/>{{rp|47–53}} He did graduate work in the [[Harvard Department of Social Relations|social relations department]] at [[Harvard University]], although he left before completing his degree because of his frustration with the conservative, research-oriented faculty.<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|137–8}}

=== San Francisco ===
After leaving Harvard in 1955, Price enlisted in the [[United States Air Force|Air Force]] and was given an assignment in the [[East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area)]].<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|139}} He rented a room in [[San Francisco]] at [[Alan Watts]]' and [[Frederic Spiegelberg]]'s newly founded American Academy of Asian Studies (the precursor to the [[California Institute of Integral Studies]]). During this time, the  [[North Beach, San Francisco, California|North Beach]] [[Beat generation|Beat scene]] was an emerging social trend. Dick knew most of the primary figures, including [[Jack Kerouac]], [[Allen Ginsberg]],  and [[Gary Snyder]].<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|139–40}} Dick married his first wife, Bonnie, in a Zen ceremony.<ref name=upstart/>{{rp|38}}

=== Psychosis ===

In 1956, Price, still in the Air Force, experienced an episode of [[mania|manic]] [[psychosis]] in San Francisco<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|142}} which he later described as simply "a state", what he believed was a mental break that was transitory and which he needed to go through and experience rather than repress or manage.<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|143}}

On December 7, 1956, his parents involuntarily committed him to the [[Institute of Living]], an exclusive mental treatment facility in [[Connecticut]].<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|145}} While hospitalized, he was [[misdiagnosis|misdiagnosed]] with [[schizophrenia]]. He was subjected to physical confinement and [[Chlorpromazine|major tranquilizers]], along with numerous [[electroconvulsive therapy|electroconvulsive]] and [[insulin shock therapy|insulin shock]] treatments. While committed, his mother had his marriage [[annulment|annulled]]<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|145}} He was released almost a year later on Thanksgiving Day 1957.<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|134}}

Price wrote about his hospitalization experience:

{{blockquote|There was a fundamental mistake being made and that mistake was supposing that the healing process was the disease, rather than the process whereby the disease is healed. The disease, if any, was the state previous to the "psychosis." ... The so-called "psychosis" was an attempt towards spontaneous healing, and it was a movement towards health, not a movement towards disease.... In some categories it would be called mystical, really a re-owning and discovery of parts of myself.<ref name="esalen.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.esalen.org/page/dick-price-interview|title=Dick Price: An Interview - Esalen|publisher=}}</ref>}}

After he was hospitalized, he was discharged from the Air Force, and went to work for his uncle's sign company in Chicago, Price Brothers.<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|142}} Price never forgave his parents for their actions.<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|146}} Price did not like working for the sign company.<ref name= wayoutin/>{{rp|146}}

== 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>

== Legacy ==
In the time since his death, Price's work has remained influential.<ref name=kripalno/>{{rp|358–61}} Along with his role in founding and guiding Esalen Institute, he influenced many people's lives with his work in Gestalt practice groups.<ref group=note>"Dick's real legacy, however, was his gestalt work. In that work, he was able to help alleviate the suffering of countless others. Through his pain and suffering, Dick learned how to function as a powerful validating other in the lives of many people." from: The Only Way Out Is In:  at p.160</ref>

In 2013, during a period of management changes,{{R|kripalno}}{{rp|389}} Christine Stewart Price, the widow of Dick Price, decided to withdraw from teaching at Esalen Institute. She founded an organization named Tribal Ground Circle to continue Dick Price's work.{{R|Goldman}}{{rp|65}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tribalground.com/welcome-tribal-ground-christine-price/tribal-ground-circle/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928012053/http://www.tribalground.com/welcome-tribal-ground-christine-price/tribal-ground-circle/ |archive-date=September 28, 2013 |title=Tribal Ground Circle |access-date=September 29, 2016}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Human Potential Movement]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
* [[Walter Truett Anderson|Anderson, Walter Truett]]. ''The Upstart Spring: Esalen and the American Awakening'', Addison Wesley Publishing Company, January 1983. {{ISBN|0-201-11034-2}}, reprinted February 2004. {{ISBN|0-595-30735-3}}
* Goldman, Marion S. ''The American Soul Rush: Esalen and the Rise of Spiritual Privilege'', New York University Press. January 2012. {{ISBN|0-8147-3287-9}}
* [[Jeffrey Kripal|Kripal, Jeffrey]] and Glenn W. Shuck (editors). ''On The Edge Of The Future: Esalen And The Evolution Of American Culture'', Indiana University Press. July 2005. {{ISBN|0-253-21759-8}}
* Kripal, Jeffrey. ''Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion'', University of Chicago Press, April 2007. {{ISBN|0-226-45369-3}}
* [[Don Lattin|Lattin, Don]]. ''Following Our Bliss : How the Spiritual Ideals of the Sixties Shape Our Lives Today'', HarperCollins Publishers, August 2004. {{ISBN|0-06-009394-3}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.esalen.org/page/dick-price-interview Dick Price:  an interview]
* [https://medium.com/@Callaban/dick-price-psychosis-shamanic-practice-db940b7ec1fe Dick Price - Psychosis & Shamanic Practice]
* [https://sites.google.com/view/gestalt-practice/home Notes on Gestalt Practice]

{{Big Sur|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Dick}}
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Gestalt therapists]]
[[Category:Gestalt therapy]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:Human Potential Movement]]
[[Category:New Trier High School alumni]]
[[Category:People from Chicago]]
[[Category:Stanford University alumni]]
[[Category:People from Kenilworth, Illinois]]
[[Category:Accidental deaths in California]]
[[Category:People from Big Sur, California]]
[[Category:20th-century American people]]