What do the brilliant minds of Ansel Adams, Carl Rogers, Ida Rolf, Joseph Campbell, and Abraham Maslow have in common? It’s actually the same exact thing that Auldus Huxley, Alan Watts, Hunter S. Thompson, Richard Feynman, Deeoka Chopra, and Moshe Feldenkrais have in common, too. It’s a remote property cliffside in Big Sur, California called Esalen. They all came came to Esalen to learn and to teach.
This special place is the birth place of the Human Potential Movement.
Since the early 1960s, Esalen has been leading the way and I’ve been completely enthralled by it. I recently read a comprehensive history of the institute and took note of a term I’d never heard before. The term came from Maslow. It’s Eupsychia.
I recently revisited this term to understand why I took note of it. You see, Abraham Maslow died before he could fully flesh out this concept (Eupsychia), but the gist is that it’s the term for a society that is “having or moving toward a superiror mind or soul.” It’s baically the collective expression of the tip of his Heirachy of Needs. It’s self-actualization at the society level.
I know Maslow saw this phenomenon at Esalen. While DEUCE is much younger that Esalen, I can only hope to aspire to move us closer and closer to the kind of place that Maslow would tab as Eupsychian. If you think this is just about workouts, dig a little deeper.
2/8/24 WOD
DEUCE Athletics GPP
Complete 5 rounds of the following:
5 Pendlay Rows
Complete 3 rounds for quality of:
12 DB Reverse Flies
12 Lateral Push Ups
10 Hanging Leg Raises
For time:
40-30-20-10
Double Unders
4-8-10-12
Alt DB Snatches (60/40)
DEUCE Garage GPP
4-4-4-4
Weighted Chin Up
Complete 3 rounds for quality of:
8 Half Kneeling Bottoms Up KB Presses – Left
8 Half Kneeling Bottoms Up KB Presses – Right
16 Stir-the-Pot (ea)
Then, complete 4 rounds for time of:
48 Alt Rev Lunges (50/35)
24 Lateral Plyo Skier Hops
12 Slam Balls