THE ESALEN INSTITUTE TRANSFORMATION PROJECT: A PRELIMINARY REPORT

Michael Murphy San Francisco,

In the Esalen Institute Transformation Project we are devel­ oping an archive of scientific studies concerned with excep­ tional psychophysical capacities that appear in sport, contem­ plative practice, the performing arts and other disciplines. In a related and recent study of sport participants, a colleague, Transformation Rhea White, and I (Murphy & White, 1978) collected sev­ Project eral thousand incidents of altered mental states, paranormal experiences and extraordinary physical feats. Many of these incidents resemble stories and reports of yogis, masters, Sufis and other adepts of the contemplative traditions. It seems fair to say that any serious student of such traditional yogic disciplines who considers reports by athletes of their interior states can find clear correspondences between the two fields of experience.

Our survey described several kinds of experience resembling accounts in the ancient transformative disciplines-states of peace and calm, of inner freedom, of extraordinary detach­ ment from self and environment, of great self-control, of yogic deeply felt mystery and awe, of a sense of immortality, of unity andathletic and ecstasy. Reading through the thousands of examples we worldsof collected, I became convinced that there are deep structural experience similarities between these two worlds of experience, yogic and athletic. Further careful comparison indicates that we may be able to learn much from both of them about human reserves and capacities.

More recently, our survey has grown to include other fields of human endeavor that seem fertile in this regard. We are looking for patterns that connect events as disparate as cham­ pionship performance in sport, spontaneous remission from

The Journalof TranspersonalPsychology;1980,Vol. 12, No.2 101 disease, placebo-induced changes of bodily structure, mastery of involuntary functioning mediated by biofeedback, yogic control of physiological process and spontaneous instances of purpose supernormal physical functioning. Through our study we hope of/he to identify the personality patterns, environmental conditions study and disciplines that may have the capacity to extend the limits of human organismic development. In this we are guided by the notion that the limits of human psychophysical develop­ ment have not yet been reached.

This investigation is also guided by the assumption that self­ awareness is an essential component in physical and psycho­ biofeedback physical self-mastery. Biofeedback research, for example, has research shown us that nearly any aspect of a person's chemistry or results physiology that can be brought to awareness, either directly or through monitoring instruments, may become accessible to consciouscontrol, either in whole or in part. Heart rate, muscle tension, lymph flow, blood flow, blood pressure, gastrointes­ tinal functions, air flow in bronchial tubes, and various elec­ trical characteristics of skin and brain have been brought under conscious self-direction by many research subjects in Europe, the SovietUnion and the (Brown, 1974). Such techniques of voluntary psychophysiologic control have been effectively applied to the treatment of Reynaud's dis­ ease, Parkinson's disease, migraine headaches, hypertension, asthma, epilepsy and cerebral palsy (Green & Green, 1977). Basmajian (1963, 1967)has reported on the voluntary control of a single motor unit through auditory and visual feedback from electrodes placed in a thumb muscle; subjects in his experiments learned to produce nerve impulses such as doublets, triplets, gallop rhythms and drum rolls at will after sixty to ninety minutes of training. Engel (1975) has shown that some people can learn to control individual sections of the heartbeat. Recent unpublished pilot studies in Califor­ nia have demonstrated a person's ability to influence blood sugar levels at will (Schmitt, 1979). Green & Green (1977) have documented some of these findings and other related reports.

researchin There is a large and growing literature about similar re­ other search in other self-awareness procedures, Autogenic Training self-awareness (Luthe, 1963) and Psychical Self-Regulation (Romen, Inyu­ procedures shin, et al., 1973; Romen, Beyasheva, et al., 1974),for exam­ ple, have been used to relieve dozens of human afflictions and to increase athletic excellence, (Perls, Hefferline, & Goodman, 1977), Sensory Awareness (Brooks, 1974) and other psychosomatic methods developed during the last fifty years have been applied usefully in the treat­ ment of mental and physical disorders,

102 The Journal of TranspersonalPsychology, 1980, Vol. 12,NQ.2 In 1967and 1968Esalen Institute sponsored a comprehensive cataloguing of self-awareness disciplines (Peterson, 1973). These ranged from ancient methods such as Hatha and Chuan to contemporary approaches like psychoanal­ ysis.More than two hundred such disciplines in use at the time were identified. These two hundred approaches included more than ten thousand specific techniques such as the dream association of psychoanalysisor a particular asana (meditative posture) of Hatha Yoga. A review of this inventory has led to a some preliminary comparative analysis of these self-awareness dis­ psychophysical ciplines to find their most essential psychophysical processes. processesin At this stage of our analysis I have found some sixteen or self-awareness seventeen such processes, or "transformational modalities," disciplines that may be inherent in human functioning. These essential processes, for the most part, appear to operate normally in everyday life but in a tentative, half-conscious way. At this time my analysis includes: visualization,the imaginative pic­ turing of a desired behavior or state of mind; something we might call "inner seeing," an apparent direct of bodily structures or processes that are usually invisible to us; mental detachment, the distancing we can effect from our own feelings, imaginings, ideas, , pains or pleasures; "inner hearing" (of rhythms, melodies or background noise that convey information and pleasure); enhanced kinesthesis; rapport with one's environment (both internal and external); emotionalreleaseand catharsis;self-actualizingwill;quietingof the mind and emotions; concentration;surrender to emotions and ideasthat enlarge thepersonality; empathy; and identifica­ tion with the objectofperception.

These processes, and perhaps three or four others, could con­ stitute a table of the psychic elements from which we might construct more effective methods for developing awareness and self-transformation, building upon organismic processes already at work within us. The literature of the past suggests that nearly all of these processes were cultivated somewhere, at some period in human history. And nearly all of them arise spontaneously in people who do not expect or do not welcome them. Apparently they cannot be suppressed completely, even in cultures that are generally blind to their existence.

In our time, interest in such phenomena is increasing. This is evidence of indicated in the development of psychophysical training and increasing therapeutic procedures, in the scientificinvestigation of altered interest states of consciousness, and in the infusion of Eastern psycho­ spiritual disciplines into the West. The project described briefly in this paper takes cognizance of these developments. Though we are primarily concerned with basic theoretical issues, we also recognize practical applications that might

The Esalen Institute Transformation Project 103 be derived from such research, such as increased athletic performance, creative work in the arts, more effective educa­ practical tion and treatment of disease.We are also aware that the study applications of higher levels of psychophysical integration may reveal new knowledge about the fundamental structure of the mind. Such knowledge could help us to develop more effective approaches to self-transformation.

REFERENCES

BASMAJIAN, J. V. Control and training of individual motor units. Science, 1963,141,440-41. BASMAJIAN, J. V. Control of individual motor units. American Journal of Physical Medicine, 1967, 46, 1427~40. BROOKS, C. V. Sensory awareness: The study of living as ex­ perience. New York: Viking, 1974. BROWN ,B. New mind, new body. New York: Harper & Row, 1974. ENGEL, B. T. Visceral control: Some implications for psy­ chiatry. Paper presented at the American Psychiatric Asso­ ciation Conference, Anaheim, California, 1975. GREEN, E., & GREEN , A. Beyond biofeedback. New York: De­ lacorte Press, 1977. LUTHE, W. Autogenic training: Methods, research and appli­ cation in medicine. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 1963,17, 174-95. MURPHY, M. & WHITE , R. The psychic side of sports. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1978. PERLS , F., HEFFERLINE R ,. & GOODMAN, P. Gestalt therapy: Excitement and growth in the human personality. New York: Crown, 1977. PETERSON, S. Ways people grow. New York: Ballantine Books, 1973. ROMEN, A. S., INYUSHIN V. M., IVANOV, L P., LIBERMAN, S. L., & MATRONINA , M. 1. Psychical self-regulation (Vol. 1) Alma-Ata, U.S.S.R.: Kazakh Univ. Press, 1973. ROMEN,A.S., BEYASHBV A ,Z.G., INYUSHIN , V. M., IVANOV, 1. P., LIBERMAN, S. L., MATRONINA , M. I., & FEDOROVA, N. N. Psychical self-regulation (Vol. 2). Alma-Ata, U.S.S.R.: Kazakh University Press, 1974. SCHMITT , D. J. Human voluntary control of fasting blood glu­ cose by glucose feedback and autogenic training. Unpub­ lished doctoral dissertation, University of California, San Francisco, 1979.

Communications with the author and requests for reprints may be sent to Esalen Institute, Center for Theoretical Studies, Box 67, Mill Valley,California 94942,

104 TheJournalof Transpersonal ,1980,Vol.12, No.2