It’s a holiday weekend. The beds are made. The silverware is polished. The windows are clean. The sidewalks are swept. The refrigerators and kitchen cabinets are full. The first guests arrive today.
This isn’t your Mom’s home before a holiday weekend. And it’s not your dad’s university.
The 1440 Multiversity opens its doors today, May 26, offering a learning experience quite unlike any other.
“We want to be a learning destination for a worldwide audience,” said 1440 founder Scott Kriens this week, as he surveyed the results of a warp-speed construction schedule at the former home of Bethany University.
The buildings are completed inside. Landcaping crews were busy this week working on a network of ponds and cascading water falls at the center of campus, using some of the more than 160 tons of granite rock Kriens brought in from the Sierra foothills.
The majestic redwood buildings match the redwood surroundings. Kriens said his crew planted another 675 redwoods this spring.
Combining personal growth, professional development, and health and wellness into comprehensive curricula, the multiversity concept developed by Kriens, his wife, Joanie, with Ila and Dinabandhu must have struck a chord.
Kriens said the sprawling 75-acre,12-building complex in the redwoods just north of Scotts Valley is “booked solid” through 2018, with more than 3,000 people signed up from the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia for weekend and five-day programs..
The first group arriving the afternoon of May 26? Parents and children, for a weekend workshop.
A multiversity press release describes it as an “all-new learning-meets-vacation destination…between Silicon Valley and Santa Cruz.” Attendees will experience days filled with classroom sessions, outdoor exercise and wholesome food.
The location will host renowned thinkers and teachers — from artists like author Elizabeth Gilbert, to singer Alanis Morissette, to Harvard-trained neuroscientist Richard Davidson, and meditation experts like Sharon Salzberg.
It got it name from the number of minutes in a day.
“The goal of 1440 Multiversity is to help us live more integrated lives — both personally and professionally — and to serve as a catalyst for improving relationships with ourselves and others,” the program says in its brochures and on its website, www.1440.org .
Offerings will include the art and science of mindfulness, contemplative studies, health, wellness, fitness, creative expression, and conscious leadership, program titles like Yoga for Athletes, Calming the Mind and Opening the Heart, Food as Medicine, and Authentic Leadership.
Kriens, chairman of the board of Juniper Networks, has extensive experience leading high-tech companies. But his current focus is clearly people, not computers.
He has hired about 100 staff, and said he expects to expand to 150.
“We all want to live rich and meaningful lives, yet it’s often hard to carve out the time and space to figure out what that really looks like, let alone how to make it happen,” said Scott Kriens, cofounder of 1440 Multiversity and chairman and former CEO of Juniper Networks. “We built 1440 as a place for people to relax, reflect, and spend time with incredible teachers in a beautiful setting. We hope the result is the best kind of vacation — one that sends you home not only recharged, but also with insights for living life a little more fully, one moment at a time.”
At 1440, learning co-exists with ample downtime to enjoy a diverse array of amenities, including complimentary meditation, yoga, qigong, and tai chi classes, a fully-equipped fitness center, four miles of forest hiking trails, and a beautiful dining center with both indoor and patio seating offering nourishing and inspired freshly prepared meals. A soon-to-be-completed healing arts center will offer a range of bodywork modalities designed for relaxation and whole-body integration, as well as steam rooms and an outdoor infinity edge whirlpool with an expansive view overlooking the redwoods.
For people who don’t wish to select a specific program, 1440 Multiversity also offers the option of an R&R stay, which allows guests to pick and choose from a range of bite-size workshops in a variety of health, wellness, and personal growth topics throughout each day, as well as allowing full access to the amenities of the center.
The 1440 Multiversity campus can host up to 375 guests at a time, with all-inclusive accommodations ranging from modern Asian-style sleeping ‘pods’ to spacious fireplace suites with patios nestled in the forest. Room pricing includes all meals and amenities and range from $140 – $340 per person per night, plus program costs, which start at $80 a night.
