Matt Kielty

You would be with a group of strangers.

Maybe five people, maybe 15 people.

Who don't know you.

Who have no expectations of you, so that you can maybe be... As vulnerable as one can be.

So John went to a bunch of these.

I think he went to eight encounter groups at Esalen.

And how it worked was... To be open and honest and to talk about your feelings.

This group of strangers would come together... For hours and hours, sometimes days and days and days on end.

There would be a group leader, a therapist or kind of a charismatic leader to guide everybody.

And what you're hearing now is a documentary that was filmed in 1972.

It was a week-long encounter group at Esalen.

...lays out these kind of ground rules.

Also, don't ask questions.

Instead, be direct, be honest.

And so these 10 strangers are sitting in a room at Esalen in a circle on this carpeted floor.

And they just sit there in silence, glancing at each other.

And then things shift.

And it is wild.

Like the group leader will get some of these people to punch pillows.

To let out these primal screams.