Family therapy
During the early and mid-1960s Gia-Fu and Fritz Perls, arguably Esalen's key resident teacher during that era, had a difficult relationship, with Perls being the primary reason Gia-Fu left Esalen only after creating the original Stillpoint retreat center on Bear Creek Road and Skyline in the Los Gatos/Santa Cruz Mountains, where he and Jane English translated the Tao Te Ching between 1968-1972. This version is still the most popular English version with over 1,250,000 copies sold. There, Gia-Fu held Perls in high esteem, and was very distraught when Perls died in 1970. Perls' Gestalt Therapy and method of enlightenment became a primary influence in Gia-Fu's later work. Gia-Fu also viewed Virginia Satir, a famous resident teacher of Esalen, and her practice of Family therapy as a primary influence in his own advancement of such, which he termed “Cultural Therapy.”