We Are Upstate NY With Elizabeth Lesser, Cofounder of the Omega Institute 

For more than four decades, the Hudson Valley has been home to one of the world’s most renowned and popular centers for holistic education – the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York.

More than one million people have come through Omega since its founding for reasons large and small – to explore their spirituality, improve health and wellness, or spark creativity, all under the guidance of some of the world’s most esteemed thought leaders and teachers.

Omega’s remarkable growth has been particularly satisfying for Elizabeth Lesser, who cofounded Omega in 1977. It was a time when fresh ideas were sprouting in American culture thanks to the influx of spiritual teachers from the East. Since then, Omega’s workshops and conferences have served as a gathering place for learners, thinkers and doers interested in exploring meditation and yoga, nutrition, integrative medicine, spirituality, social change, cross-cultural arts and creativity, women’s empowerment, environmental sustainability and much more.

Lesser has also channeled her knowledge into a career as the author of several best-selling books, including Cassandra Speaks: When Women are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes; Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow and Marrow: Love, Loss & What Matters Most.  Through her books and work with Omega, she has become a leading voice in the effort to better us as individuals and as a society. She has given two popular TED talks and is one of Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul 100, a collection of trailblazers using their talents and voices to elevate humanity.

Open annually from May through October, Omega’s 2024 season launched on May 17 with a Meditation Party. This unique event, designed to demystify the experience, attracts hundreds of experienced and newbie meditators. It is one of more than 300 in-person events taking place on the Rhinebeck campus this year.

With all that will happen this season at Omega, Lesser may be most excited about its annual Family Week. From July 21 – 26,  Omega will bring together kids and parents for a week of fun and learning.  It’s an event Lesser created 37 years ago when she had young children of her own.  It has become multi-generational, as those who attended as kids are now returning with families of their own.

Read on to hear more about Lesser’s amazing life and the inspiration provided by The Omega Institute.

INSIDE+OUT: What was the catalyst for your interest in spirituality and wellness?  Was it an outgrowth of your early work as a midwife and birth educator?

Elizabeth Lesser: My interest began when I was four years old. I grew up in an intellectual, politically and socially active family, one with absolutely no interest in religion.  But I was born with an itch to ask the big questions about life and existence. Where do we go when we die? What is the meaning and purpose of life?  I set out early on a spiritual quest. When I got to college, it dovetailed with the famous Eastern gurus coming to the US. I was very attracted to this in the early ’70s – yoga, meditation, natural foods and the like – and I knew that was what I wanted to be my life’s work.

Tell us the history of Omega Institute and its Rhinebeck campus, when it was formed and how it has expanded.

I was 23 when I started Omega with my former husband. I met him when I was in college and he was a medical student in NYC. He trained me to be a midwife and childbirth educator. Together with our Sufi teacher, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, we dreamed up the idea of creating a holistic learning center based on our varied interests and talents. We were living in a commune in the Berkshires when we started Omega in 1977. In 1980, we decided to find a permanent home and purchased a rundown Jewish kids’ camp outside of Rhinebeck. It had been abandoned for many years and had several tumbledown buildings and cabins on 250 acres, with beautiful woods, meadows and a lake. Over the last 40 years, there have been many improvements, but it still has a homey, peaceful feel that is perfect for reflection and learning.  We’re now a world-renowned learning, spiritual and arts community that welcomes 20,000 seekers a year.

Concurrently with Omega and for the past 25 years, you have pursued a career as a NY Times best-selling author with books covering spiritual seeking, coping with difficult times, a personal memoir and female empowerment.  How has your writing expanded over the years, and how has it informed the work of Omega?

My writing has been formed and informed by my work at Omega.  I acquired my writing skills by creating the Omega catalog over many years.  This required me to read all the books of our many instructors and experts and reduce them to pithy, short-form descriptions. I received a broad education in many areas of spirituality, health, and wellness through my immersion in their texts.  My first book, The Seeker’s Guide: Making Your Life a Spiritual Adventure, came out of this. My second and most popular book, Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow, came from observing the thousands of people who have come through Omega and the growth they gained through it.  Sometimes, it’s what brings people to Omega – the question of how to navigate through difficult times and grow from them.  Omega is an oasis where people can come to learn and grow.  The need for this information, via a book or a life experience like a visit to Omega, never goes away.

For nearly 40 years, one of Omega’s most popular and novel offerings is Family Week.  What was the impetus for creating this event, how has it grown and what can we expect from this year’s event, July 21- 26?

I started Family Week when my two children were young. Anyone who is a parent knows that it takes a village to raise a child and that it’s sometimes hard to find the support of like-minded families.  I thought I’d create a village for one week every summer – something I needed, something that I would see if other families needed, too.  Now, families return year after year.  It’s an evolving community of old and new families, one that grows with each passing season. The kids come and make friends whom they are delighted to reconnect with every summer. People who came here as children are now bringing their own families. It is now a multi-generational community, one that’s fun and very profound.

The kids are in their own camps, with their own activities.  It’s a safe campus where the kids can roam free in nature.  Meanwhile, the parents are in their workshops. We bring them all together in the evenings.  As anyone who is a parent knows, family vacations can be exhausting, but this is very different.  The kids get to engage in arts and physical activities in nature, and the parents actually get to finish an adult conversation!

Another important offering is the Omega Women’s Leadership Center.  When did this initiative kick-off and why is it so sorely needed?

We had our first Women’s Conference 20 years ago, which we thought was going to be a one-off.  When you put the words “women” and “power” together, people can get uncomfortable.  Being a leader of an organization like Omega, I was interested in power – how it could be done differently, not in a dominating or negative way.  Could we, as women, do power differently?  It was a powerful and timely question and we kept attracting more and more women from different spheres of influence, so we kept doing the conferences year after year. The Omega Women’s Leadership Center was an outgrowth of it. One aspect of the Center is a dedicated space, Juno Cottage, where women leaders can spend a week or so in retreat, resting, reading, writing, and rededicating their leadership to the betterment of the world.

You have been closely associated with Oprah Winfrey since the early 2000s. You have been a frequent guest on her television and Sirius/XM Radio shows and helped produce a variety of seminars and online events that have reached over 40 million people.  How did you become associated with her and how has your work with her grown over the years?

Oprah read my first book at a time when she was interested in bringing more spiritually-minded authors to her show.  I became a frequent guest and helped her produce, among other things, a ten-week seminar with Eckhart Tolle, the author of The Power of Now and many other books, something that was viewed by eight million people.  I was also a part of her Super Soul Sunday on her OWN cable network, along with her Sirius/XM radio shows.  Oprah is a truly inspirational force for good, someone who came into the work with a double dose of energy.

Omega has attracted some of the world’s leading experts in everything from wellness and meditation to yoga and creativity.  Who are some of the true standouts sharing their expertise via Omega?

There’s a really interesting thing I have discovered over my 50 years of scanning the world for the so-called “superstars.” While it’s wonderful when you present a well-known celebrity teacher, it’s the new, unknown person who gets a few people at first and then grows into a superstar that provides me with the greatest satisfaction.  There are many major names in spirituality, health and the arts got their start here at Omega.  For instance, Deepak Chopra started teaching at Omega at the start of his medical career before the world knew his name. For Chopra and many others, Omega was an early platform through which they began to find an audience.

How has the growth of digital and social media increased the reach of Omega?

It’s increased our reach exponentially.  When the Pandemic came, we had to shut down our campus, and our digital arm was the difference between surviving and not surviving.  When we livestream a conference with one of our biggest teachers, hundreds tune in from all corners of the globe.  It creates a real oneness when people gather in real life. But when you throw in a live stream of hundreds, people are truly connected in the most powerful way.  We are one in our desire for happiness, freedom and joy and the online connection has made this even more so.

Omega’s campus in Rhinebeck is a magical space spread over bucolic 250 acres, with a variety of unique buildings and natural beauty.  What are some of your favorite spaces to go to here?

I’m always seeking out sacred spaces around the world and I think our campus is one of the truly magical places on Earth. There’s something about this campus, a spiritual resonance that was here when we arrived.  In its former life as a religious camp, it was a place where worship was at the forefront.  Before that, there was a likely space of spiritual work for Native Americans who had been here from antiquity. When you get here, you really feel it.  Our Sanctuary building is a place for quiet contemplation. You can also sit by the lake or walk along nature paths to entertain deep thoughts.  Our 250 acres are truly redolent with good, healing intentions.

In 2023, Omega launched its first Meditation Party, which brought out 500 participants, including yourself.  Is this something only for seasoned meditators, or can newbies join in?

It’s for everyone, especially the newbies. The event leader, Dan Harris, has taken the concept of mindfulness and stripped away all the fancy language.  It’s for everyone dealing with anxiety and looking for clarity.  He and his co-leaders, Sebene Selassie and Jeff Warren, like the idea of putting meditation and parties together. It’s about demystifying the idea of sitting in stillness to help develop it and easily bring it forth in times of trouble.  We did one event last year. This year, we will do two for the opening and closing of our season.

I understand one of the bold-faced name attendees to last year’s Meditation Party, the singer/actor Sarah Bareilles, was so inspired she is coming back to lead a Creativity Workshop this season.

This is something that happens year after year.  We never really know who is on our campus.  At any time, there can be well-known people here, notables who know they can come here and not be bothered. Because of that, many who come incognito get excited by the possibilities and want to bring their formidable talents into the teaching arena. That’s the case with Sarah. And we have people here who can help her hone her skills.

You have resided in the Hudson Valley for many years.  What is it about the area that you find so appealing?  And why is it the ideal home for Omega?

The Hudson Valley has a long tradition of attracting thought leaders, artists and other seekers. From Eleanor Roosevelt and her band of creative women to the Hudson River painters to great American novelists like Washington Irving and Edith Wharton, the Hudson Valley is where creativity and spirituality flourish.  It is also a place of great abundance in the way of healthy foods – a key ingredient in wellness.  Our name, Omega, was taken from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the famous French priest and scientist.  He came up with the concept of “The Omega Point,” that everything was evolving towards unity. He was banished by The Vatican for his beliefs. We were shocked and delighted to discover that he is buried right here in the Hudson Valley.

Why is there a need for Omega?

It is such an anxious time for all of us. Working to cultivate inner stability and inner peace is a good thing for us, our families and our communities.  To work on oneself, to be more grounded and stable is a beautiful thing.  It’s the way we at Omega are continuing to build a better world, one that brings a light into the darkness.

Photos courtesy of Omega Institute.

Contributing writer Sal Cataldi is a musician, writer and former publicist living in Saugerties NY.

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