George Leonard

George Leonard, co-founder (with Michael Murphy) of Integral Transformative Practice (ITP), was the author of numerous books on human possibilities and social change, including Education and Ecstasy, The Transformation, The Ultimate Athlete, The Silent Pulse, The End of Sex, Mastery, and The Way of Aikido. The 1995 book, The Life We Are Given, co-authored with Esalen founder Murphy, reports on a two-year experimental class in ITP created by the authors for realizing the potential of body, mind, heart, and soul. ITP Groups are now practicing not only throughout the U.S., but also in other countries as well.

From 1953 to 1970, Leonard served as a senior editor for Look magazine. He produced numerous essays and special issues on education, science, politics, the arts, the Civil Rights Movement, and foreign affairs. A collection of his Look essays was published in 1970 as “The Man & Woman Thing and Other Provocations”. His articles on education have won eleven national awards. Articles by George Leonard have also appeared in such magazines as Esquire, Harper’s, Atlantic, New York, Saturday Review, and The Nation. During the 1980’s, he wrote 42 pieces for Esquire, more than any other writer.

Leonard held a 5th-degree black belt in the martial art of aikido, and was the co-founder of an aikido school in Mill Valley, California. He was also the founder of Leonard Energy Training (LET), a practice inspired by aikido, which offers alternative ways of dealing with everyday life situations. Leonard introduced LET to more than 50,000 people in the U.S. and abroad.

George Leonard received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Noth Carolina (1948) and Doctor of Humanities degrees from Lewis and Clark College (1972), John F. Kennedy University (1985), and Saybrook Institute (2003). He was a past president of the Association for Humanistic Psychology; during his tenure, the Association’s membership reached its all-time high. He was President Emeritus of Esalen Institute. Leonard's adventures along with the human frontiers of the 1960's are described in his 1988 memoir, Walking on the Edge of the World. 

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