Esalen Institute

The phrase 'human potential movement' was coined as Murphy and George Leonard talked until dawn on 2 February 1965. Leonard added 'movement', thinking of civil rights.

Douglas Martin, obituary of George Leonard, New York Times, 18 January 2010 (reprinted Boston Globe, 19 January 2010), drawing on Jeffrey J. Kripal, Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion (2007)

A retreat centre at Big Sur, California, founded in 1962 by Michael Murphy and Dick Price.

Sources2 sources

Scholarship

Douglas Martin, George Leonard, 86, voice of '60s counterculture (obituary, New York Times; reprinted Boston Globe), 2010, Boston Globe, 19 January 2010, closing paragraphsLeonard and Murphy coined 'human potential movement' at their first meeting on 2 February 1965, talking until dawn (after Kripal's account); 'human potential' most likely from Huxley's 1960 speech heard by Price; Leonard added 'movement' out of support for civil rights.
came up with a term to crystallize their ideas: human potential movement

The tradition itself

Esalen Institute, About Esalen, esalen.org/about, opening paragraphs; consulted October 2026Esalen's own reading of itself: a creative laboratory and incubator of human potential, founded in 1962 by Michael Murphy and Richard Price, asking what university and religious institutions will not.
an incubator of human potential asking the daring and curious questions