--- description: Here's where Don Draper seemed to end up in the Mad Men finale title: How You Can Do Yoga Where Don Draper Did image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8c5dc93cdc7aeb7/69884cfb428a9e7519cccf07/don-finale_720.png?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How You Can Do Yoga Where Don Draper Did by [Esther Zuckerman](/author/esther-zuckerman/) ## Esther Zuckerman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Zuckerman is a contributor for TIME. May 18, 2015 4:39 PM CUT  AMC by [Esther Zuckerman](/author/esther-zuckerman/) ## Esther Zuckerman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Zuckerman is a contributor for TIME. May 18, 2015 4:39 PM CUT Don Draper ended his journey on Sunday night’s _Mad Men_ series finale at a picturesque California retreat, doing yoga. Though the name of the retreat is never mentioned, many have [pegged it as the Esalen Institute](https://twitter.com/search?q=%22mad%20men%22%20and%20%22esalen%22&src=typd "undefined"). The Esalen Institute, located in Big Sur, was founded in 1962 by Michael Murphy and Dick Price, who envisioned, according to a 1970 [article](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,943274-4,00.html "undefined") in TIME, “a university without academic trappings, which would combine the best of Western humanistic psychology and Eastern thought.” The institute, which is still operating, [describes](http://www.esalen.org/page/esalen-history "undefined") itself as “neither a school, nor a church, nor a spa, nor an inn, nor a monastery… and yet its utterly unique mixture contains a bit of all of the above,” and boasts number of notable names as guests: [Joan Baez](http://www.esalen.org/page/esalen-hot-springs "undefined"), [Joseph Campbell](http://www.esalen.org/page/joseph-campbell "undefined"), and [Aldous Huxley](https://books.google.com/books?id=fzSP6BRFBzIC&pg=PA86&lpg=PA86&dq=aldous+huxley+esalen&source=bl&ots=zqy2opDISc&sig=FxgdX3cIRdJe5de4I2eYMq6283I&hl=en&sa=X&ei=APlZVYGWJfKIsQSWkoGwBg&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=aldous%20huxley%20esalen&f=false "undefined") all have been [connected](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/1987-la-times-magazine.pdf "undefined") to Esalen. (Hunter S. Thompson was hired by Murphy’s grandmother as a “guard,” according to a profile of Murphy in the [_New Yorker_ in 1976.)](http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1976-01-05#folio=036 "undefined") In 1987, upon the Institute’s 25th anniversary, [TIME’s Pico Iyer](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,965436-1,00.html "undefined") described Esalen as such: --- > “” --- TIME cast a skeptical eye on its Esalen role in the “human potentials movement,” in November 1970—[right around](http://time.com/3881812/mad-men-finale-review/ "undefined") the time Don would have been visiting. The fall 1970 “catalogue” for Esalen included “a smorgasbord of workshops, labs and seminars,” and highlighted Esalen’s “hot sulphur baths” and its massages. _Mad_ _Men_‘s seminar scenes, including the one in which a man’s confession seemingly inspires an emotional, tearful breakthrough for Don, recall Esalen’s “encounter groups.” TIME’s Andrea Svedberg, [explained](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,943274-4,00.html "undefined"): “People touch, hold hands, kiss, throw each other up in the air, fight, use all the dirty words, tell each other cruel truths. Every aspect of so-called proper behavior is discarded. Every emotion is out in the open—everybody’s property.” In a 2012 [interview](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/debra-ollivier/the-esalen-institute-and-the-human-potential-movement-turn-50%5Fb%5F1536989.html "undefined") with the _Huffington Post_—upon Esalen’s 50th anniversary—its current president Gordon Wheeler framed Esalen in opposition to the world of _Mad Men_: “I can’t watch _Mad Men_ without an anxiety attack because that was the world I saw looming ahead of me. But instead, Esalen happened.” Esalen also likely happened to _Mad Men_‘s protagonist but whether or not the [experience actually transformed him](http://time.com/3881812/mad-men-finale-review/ "undefined"), or simply led him to come up with one of the greatest advertisements of all time, is still up for debate. 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