Workshops with CE Credits for Massage

This workshop is an invitation to explore and experience current trends in Esalen Massage and Bodywork. During the weekend, attention will be focused on various ways to:
• Sensitively and comfortably work at deep levels
• Utilize both active and passive movement to enhance effectiveness
• Develop a deeper understanding of the terms listening, balance, and integration

“In our previous classes, we’ve focused on teaching the practice of Deep Bodywork for specific segments of the body,” write the leaders. “In this seminar, we will focus on giving a full body massage, and integrating Deep Bodywork into the session as a whole. We will show you how to apply deep work on both sides of the body while maintaining the flowing, integrative quality which is the signature of Esalen Massage.

Chinese yoga, known as qigong (or chi kung), changes lives. In many people's lives and in hospitals, spas, retreat centers, corporations, and even in the military, qigong consistently emerges as the self-healing tool of choice. Why? Research shows gentle tai chi-like movements, self-massage, breath practice, and meditative mindfulness have a consistently measurable effect on the nervous system, brain, and body when practiced consistently.

Spinal awareness is a combination of the Feldenkrais Method®, Taoist energetic science, and the Esalen experience. In this workshop, participants will experience movements that help bring new awareness as well as maintain health and assist in the rehabilitation of pain, tension, stiffness, limitation, and injury.
The use of joy and humor will be the undertone of this week. Real freedom in the body is also freedom of spirit and fun.

Enjoy the serene beauty of Big Sur as you and your partner learn to give each other an effective massage. A tender touch can do wonders for any relationship by easing stress and deepening non-verbal communication skills. Emphasis will be on "listening" with both heart and hands, asking for what you need, and taking the time to truly nurture yourself and your partner. Sessions include basic quieting exercises, movement, brief demonstrations, hands-on guidance, and plenty of time for practice.

During this course, you will learn about the physiological mechanism of disease and will participate in hands-on training to facilitate the SomatoEmotional Release process. By the end of the course, you should be able to dissipate residual effects of past trauma and negative emotional experiences from the body and mind of your patients/clients. In order to observe closure for sessions you are involved in, please make sure the instructor is aware of any pregnancies in the group.

“As women we have a unique power of creativity in our reproductive system,” Suzanne Scurlock-Durana writes. “That power is used not only to create new life, but also to bring personal projects into being. However, that energy can be blocked by physical, emotional, or spiritual trauma to the pelvic floor and the female organs.

The Advanced CranioSacral course is especially designed to provide an in-depth experience for the serious CranioSacral Therapy practitioner. Class is limited to ten participants.
Course highlights include opportunities to:
• Participate in multiple hands-on sessions
• Benefit from one-on-one instructor-to-participant skill evaluation
• Refine technique applications and further develop palpatory capabilities
• Participate in an in-depth mind/body integration study using the craniosacral system as the core vehicle

The more present we are in ourselves, the more present we can be with someone else.

During this five-day seminar, you will experience direct, enjoyable, and reliable practices for inviting embodied presence. You can uncover the natural meditation of "just sitting" as you learn to walk through the doorway of embodiment.

“Breema is a living expression of the unifying principle of existence, and is based on the Nine Principles of Harmony that help us live a more meaningful life,” writes Jon Schreiber. “We use Breema bodywork, Self-Breema exercises, and Breema’s practical philosophy as tools to unify body, mind, and feelings, and to become familiar with what it means to truly be present. Breema is a new education that presents the possibility of experiencing moments of being present in our day, so that we can live a more harmonious life, and move in the direction of self-understanding.

To thrive in today’s demanding world, we all need full access to our inner and outer resources. This course teaches how the deep wisdom of the body can help navigate our living, working, healing, and relating. Listening to this body-wisdom as the ground of knowing enables us to rediscover our innate spirituality and develop our emotional intelligence.

This workshop is a wonderful opportunity for you to enjoy the beauty of Big Sur and the healing waters of the Esalen hot springs, while gaining a solid foundation in the art and practice of Esalen Massage.

Total Body Balancing (TBB) is a body evaluation and treatment approach based on classical osteopathic theory. TBB uses long levers to improve circulation and nerve and energy flow, thus normalizing sympathetic and parasympathetic neurological activity with a goal of creating a new homeodynamic state. You will be taught a six-phase treatment template that can be done in as little as twenty minutes to balance the client's body. TBB can be easily integrated with the other therapeutic techniques such as craniosacral therapy and lymphatic drainage.

This weekend provides practitioners with the opportunity to inspire their current massage practice. Experienced Esalen Massage and Bodywork practitioners Jessica and Nora will offer unique explorations in the practices of gentle extensions and dynamic mobilization, along with soft tissue release work. Elements of Thai Massage will also be brought onto the table, along with range of motion and passive release techniques, creating an atmosphere of innovation and exploration.

Jim Gallas leads this program of Eastern bodywork and movement, including Reiki 1 Certification, a thorough overview of Shiatsu Massage, an introduction to meridian theory, and an easy-to-learn, powerful Chi Kung form. Various meditations, self-massage, and improv games will be used to encourage awareness and expression. The program is designed to open students to their own innate healing potentials, to the power of safe, therapeutic touch, and to being more fully present in their ongoing unfolding. Participants will also receive valuable tools to facilitate the healing of others.

Misuses of power cause enormous harm and suffering. Right uses of power are uses of a combination of personal and role power to resolve and repair harm, evolve situations and processes, and promote well-being and the common good. Even though we are all equal as human beings, the dynamics involved when there are differences in power because of role or status are complex and often under-acknowledged or disowned.

CranioSacral Therapy 2 studies cranial-base dysfunctions as diagnosed and treated by Dr. William Sutherland, the “father” of cranial osteopathy. The course material and hands-on sessions will focus on cranial-base dysfunctions, the masticatory system-hard palate, mandible and temporomandibular joint; whole body evaluation; and the energy cyst with regional unwinding. An introduction to SomatoEmotional Release will also be presented.
The prerequisite for this course is Upledger’s Institute CranioSacral Therapy 1 (CS1) and thorough working knowledge of the 10-Step Protocol.

Would you like to find wise inner guidance from all parts of yourself? From your body’s internal promptings, your heart’s intelligence, your mind’s clearest insight, and even your own soul’s wisdom? Would you like to get all of yourself together in an integrated way? Process Acupressure teaches you how to gain a holistic perspective on your life directions and general health. And it teaches the skills of how to uncover the wise guidance that lies at your own unique center.

In this course, you will be introduced to the models and concepts of functional biomechanics as viewed from Jean-Pierre Barral's Visceral Manipulation approach. This method of evaluation and treatment is based on the concept that each of our internal organs rotates on a physiological axis. Focus is on the abdominal cavity and includes the organs, their membranes, ligaments, innervation, and their spatial functional interrelationships. You will be taught basic manipulations for correcting abnormal motions and stress patterns within this cavity.

We live our lives in motion. A muscle appears static on the anatomy chart, and the ribs nicely align, but in fact we are reaching, bending, and coordinating dozens of fine motor skills every second. A joyous mood opens the limbs wider; an anxious thought freezes our breath and contracts our core. During this weekend, we will learn how to use lifting, passive joint rotations, gentle movement, and stillness to make our bodywork more effective, enjoyable for the receiver, and easier for the practitioner.

During an Esalen Massage, we experience a remarkable web of interdependence: a listening touch, a deepening breath, our nervous system soothed in connection with another. When we receive a massage we remember an easier time and "come home."

Deep bodywork, practiced with great sensitivity, is one of the most effective healing modalities available to the bodywork practitioner. Through slowly opening the body’s deeper soft tissue layers, we connect the mind to normally unconscious "stuck" areas of the physical body, which can release enormous amounts of previously held energy. This energy then becomes available to support the body’s innate capacity to self-organize and self-heal, enabling practitioners to support clients in overcoming previously stubborn, seemingly intractable physical conditions.

Celebrate the holiday season by enjoying the natural beauty of the Esalen land, while learning how to give an Esalen Massage.
Esalen Massage is a continually evolving, creative form of somatic bodywork. The essence of this practice is the awareness and presence with which one addresses individual needs, balances the whole person, and honors the healing power of touch. This workshop provides a safe and supportive environment for participants to explore sensitivity and connection through massage.

Patrick Douce will lead an in-depth experience of Spinal Awareness, a program of health and healing (with humor). Spinal Awareness is a way of learning that improves body awareness, flexibility, posture, and most chronic and acute conditions of the body. Taught with movement, touch, and group interaction, it is based on the work of Moshe Feldenkrais, Taoist-Chinese-Indonesian martial art, and the Esalen experience. It can be of special use to those in the health care professions.