BY SOUL’S CODE — That last choice, Marienbad is set in a mid-century, is a 1961 classic by the French “new wave” director, Alain Resnais). Set in an upper class Grand Tour-like spa in Germany, it is the oldest film in our pantheon of spiritual cinema — and about our favorite because of its parallels with an ABC TV series that came along four decades later.  LOST

Fur is just as obscure, in spite of starring a transcendental Nicole Kidman, and coming out in the new millennium. An exercise in interpretative cinematic biography, it uses the same tropes of fantasy and imagination that propelled Arbus’ work to illustrate her transformation from a deferential post-war housewife into an iconoclastic artist — or in this site’s vernacular, the fruition of her soul’s code.

The magic of the movie is the way that Nicole Kidman, whose co-star is Iron Man‘s Robert Downey Jr., plays Arbus. It’s more like she’s channeling Emily Dickinson — a character so free of fear and ego that she can see beyond the gross appearances of the world, and embrace the apparent gross appearances of characters ostracized by others with wonder rather than judgement.

Read our full take on Fur here, and scan all 12 transcendental movies in the ranking by clicking through these slides. If we’ve missed a good title, please enlighten us in the Comment section below!

BY PAUL KAIHLA — Ojai, CA is to spirituality what Silicon Valley is to technology. Due east and a 40-minute hop inland from Santa Barbara, Ojai has more mind-body spas per capita than anywhere else in the U.S. — probably, the world.

How does Ojai pull that kind of rank? For one thing, it’s got a tiny population: 8,000 souls. For another, Ojai was the North American base of the great Indian mystic, J. Krishnamurti. He underwent one of the most famous enlightenments in history at Ojai in 1922.

Krishnamurti chose an estate there, granted to his foundation by patrons, as his part-time home for the next six decades (The great sage died in Ojai in 1986). “Krishnamurti put Ojai on the map,” says Judy Gabriel, who runs Retreats of Ojai, a site featuring Ojai’s mind-body venues.

In fact, you can sleep in the same house were Krishnamurti slept for $55 a night if you call the Krishamurti Retreat, which sits next to the Los Padres National Forest, and express an interest in the great teacher’s library and archives that are housed on the property.

But there’s only three rooms. Far more options are available in Ojai’s newer retreats, some run by teachers who have indirectly followed in Krishnamurti’s footsteps.

Across the street from the oak grove where Krishnamurti once held forth to hundreds of fans is an artisan bed and breakfast owned by Ronda LaRue (right),  Ojai Soul Arts, which has spa features like the “Dreaming Bed” in the image up top.

LaRue isn’t just an inn-keeper: she also happens to be one of the hottest therapists in town. Like this site, she has a post-modern approach: art therapy, energy healing and contemplative meditation.

“It is actually the creative alchemy of change that the arts offer,” Ronda told Soul’s Code, “the antidote to the mind, when we’re not present, that keeps one stuck in trying to ‘get enlightenment.’ “

The boutique resort in Ojai with the most spa trappings is Shangri La Paradise (they won’t reveal their address until you’ve made a reservation). But the big kahuna in town is the 308-room, 31,000-square-foot Ojai Valley Inn & Spa, a country-club destination. They offer every stripe of massage and manicure you could imagine, and not coincidentally, post this as one of their claims to fame: “a favorite escape for Hollywood stars.” No wonder even the most lackluster room starts at $400/night

If you go to Ojai, here is a stanza of classic Krishnamurti to inspire you for your retreat:

The unknown is not measurable by the known. Time cannot measure the timeless, the eternal, that immensity which has no beginning and no end. But our minds are bound to the yardstick of yesterday, today and tomorrow, and with that yardstick we try to inquire into the unknown, to measure that which is not measurable. And when we try to measure something which is not measurable, we only get caught in words.

 

SEE THE SOUL’S CODE RANKING: THE 10 BEST RESORTS IN THE WEST

Here is our ranking of the top 9 resorts on North America’s West Coast, ranging from Vancouver Island in the north to Carlsbad, CA in the south:

1. Harbin Hot Springs, Middletown, CA: Three hours north of San Francisco, this new age community features the only real mineral hot springs in the vicinity of Napa Valley wine country. Equally noteworthy, it is the birthplace of a deeply-somatic therapy called watsu, a word conflated from “water” and “shiatsu”. Think Swedish massage meets reiki meets hypnosis trance — in water. Watsu is as powerful as it gets.

This year, for the first time, Harbin has opened the doors to these domes that look like they’re out of the movie, Dune, to outside guests. To book a room, go here.

Cost: $60 – $160 per night.

Fine print: Harbin is an out-there scene, not some yuppie weekend-massage spa — cell phones, computers, booze and drugs are verbotten.

2. The Esalen Institute, Big Sur, CA: Call it the cradle of West Coast civilization. Founded in the 1960s, it was here that figures like Joseph Campbell, Abraham Maslow, Fritz Perls and an Episcopal priest-turned-Zen Buddhist named Alan Watts fused eastern mysticism with modern psychology. They seeded mega-trends ranging from Gestalt Therapy to Star Wars.

If physical place is the dominant force that shapes your experience then nothing compares to Esalen. Its sandstone cliff-hanger mineral baths are fed by a spring on the beach that in earlier centuries were a healing force for the coastal Esselen Indians. Today’s baths are open all night long, and nude lounging is welcome. Entranced by the moon, stars and breakers five stories below, visitors from around the world take full advantage of both options.

Cost: $105 – $180 per night.

Fine print: Esalen is a workshop-oriented retreat but it is possible to snag a space as a one-off guest by simply booking a massage or by donating $50 to the non-profit foundation that runs the place to become eligible for “personal retreats.”

3. Wickaninnish Inn, Tofino, BC: It’s not an official spiritual retreat center — it’s a commercial eco-resort. But this is that rare for-profit venue where heaven truly does meet earth, and earth meets heaven. Where old-growth rainforest meets whale-watching. This dreamy outpost on the far side of Vancouver Island feels like its perched on the edge of the Earth.

Cost: Rooms start at $460 (Canadian) in the summer, and about half that during off-season. Fine print: The resort’s panoramic, A++ Pointe Restaurant is kind of like the French Laundry of the northwest.

4. Breitenbush Hot Springs, Detroit, Oregon: Like Esalen, this is a workshop resort. But unlike Esalen’s coastal perch, Breitenbush sits at the end of a deep, remote gorge in the Cascade Mountains, southwest of Portland, OR. Its cedar sauna is heated by a bubbling hot springs that sits below the building’s floor boards, and three of the resort’s natural spring pools are walled by smooth stones — not the porcelain tubs you get in California’s wine country. Cost: $46 – 108 per night. Fine print: The rustic cabins don’t have showers but they are heated, geo-thermally.

5. Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Woodacre, CA: The Marin County redoubt of superstar, Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield (“After the Ecstasy, the Laundry”) makes up in substance and presence what it lacks in spa trappings and water features. Cost: About $70-120 per day. Fine print: The only way to stay at Spirit Rock is to enroll in a course like this one about using the ancient Enneagram in your spiritual practice.

6. Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, Ventana Wilderness preserve, CA:, A hair-rising, hour-long 4×4 drive up a steep and skimpy road full of jack-knife turns brings you to this Zen monastery southeast of Monterey, CA. Tassajara is revered for its network of mountain streams and waterfalls. Cost: $85 -325 per night. Fine Print: No electricity in the cabins means that residents still use fire for light, 19th-century-style (translation = kerosene lamps).

7. Sycamore Mineral Springs, San Luis Opisbo, CA: A for-profit venue, Sycamore is nonetheless as devoted to wellness in all its forms as the other destinations on this list. It offers everything from Qi Gong to hyphotherapy. Cost: $165 – 890 per night. Fine print: Every single room has a patio with a mineral water hot tub!

8. Mount Calvary Retreat House, Santa Barbara, CA: With Spanish mission architeture and a “commanding view” of the Pacific Coast, Mt. Calvary is a sanctuary where a lot of healers themselves go to renew their own spirits.
Cost: $75-80 per night. Fine print: The retreat is run by the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, which is cool.

9. Chopra Center, Carlsbad, CA: Dr. Deepak is dismissed by purists as Spirituality Lite but let’s face it: he’s done more than most people alive today to bring consciousness studies and mind-body work into the mainstream. Cost: $325 – $1,000 + per night. Fine Print: The “center” is actually a meditation and ayurvedic treatment facility within the walls of the La Costa golf-course spa, 30 miles north of San Diego.

Our picks for the top 9 resorts on North America’s West Coast span Vancouver Island in the north and Carlsbad, CA in the south.

Let us know if you think we’ve missed a good secret spot of your own.

Next: The Chopra Center

The Chopra Center, Carlsbad, CA: Dr. Deepak is dismissed by purists as Spirituality Lite but let’s face it: he’s done more than most people alive today to bring consciousness studies and mind-body work into the mainstream.

Cost: $325 – $1,000 + per night.

Fine Print: The “center” is actually a meditation and ayurvedic treatment facility within the walls of the La Costa golf-course spa

 30 miles north of San Diego.

Next: Mount Calvary, Santa Barbara