Origins of the Ranch, Part XXXIII

Origins of the Ranch, Part XXXIII

The one…the only…Ranch Guide from 1955
By Peter Jensen

“Imagine, we were only 15 years old,” Deborah Szekely said as she handed me a water-stained brochure from the early days (1955) at Rancho La Puerta. Forty-two pages long and “set” by Deborah herself on a consumer typewriter that was one of the first sold to offer “justified margins, ” this “Guide To Rancho La Puerta” is the last copy extant, as best we can discover. (If you have one, let us know!)

The little bedraggled booklet, hand-stapled (rusted now), is a marvelous peek into the past when the resort was experiencing its first unqualified successes—both in terms of popularity as well as growth of its land assets and facilities.

Let’s take a look inside, beyond what you can see in the photographs above and at the right. Here’s an introductory chapter. In those days, Professor Szekely not only lectured each afternoon, but conducted consultations and exit interviews…the precursor to many decades of our “Take the Ranch Home” program.

BUILDING YOUR HEALTH

To do a better job of improving health, one must understand the theory and foundation of each aspect of life at Rancho La Puerta.

Progress in health depends upon the degree to which one can substitute increasingly good eating, living and thinking habits for wrong eating, living and thinking habits.

One should understand that any illness is the result of past deviations from the law of nature. From the day of arrival at Rancho La Puerta, one begins to replace these deviations by harmonious cooperation with the law.

This may mean a revolution in eating, living and thinking habits; you may have to re-educate your tastes, ideas, and will power. Should there be discouragement or impatience, remember, in the difficult hours, that such a reorganization is the only means of achieving permanent benefit to health and happiness. There is no short-cut by which one can instantaneously dismiss the consequences of long-standing, incorrect living habits.

Do not hesitate to ask questions at any time. We want you to possess a complete understanding of all that is done to help you. Toward the end of your stay, when you have the final appointment with Dr. Szekely, ask for his recommendations to be followed at home, so that the results achieved can be consolidated and extended.

“Vitality and beauty are gifts of nature for those who live according to its laws.” —Leonardo Da Vinci

Next month: More timeless wisdom from our 1955 brochure