Learn more about Esalen workshop leaders from past and present.
Daria Halprin, is a dancer, teacher, therapist, and co-founding director of Tamalpa Institute. She leads workshops and trainings internationally. Her books include The Expressive Body in Life, Art and Therapy, Body Ensouled, Enacted and Entranced, and Foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy.
Anna Halprin was named one of “America’s 100 Irreplaceable Dance Treasures” by the Dance Heritage Coalition. She has created revolutionary directions for the art form and inspired fellow choreographers to take modern dance to new dimensions. She founded the San Francisco Dancer's Workshop in 1955 and the Tamalpa Institute in 1978 with her daughter Daria.
Adama Hamilton apprenticed and co-taught with Ron Kurtz, originator of The Hakomi Method, during the last eight years of Ron’s life. He has been entrusted to teach Hakomi methodology as Ron saw it at its most polished and refined.
Patrice Hamilton has worked in the fields of education and counseling for more than 20 years. She holds an MEd in counseling, is a certified Cortical Field Reeducation practitioner and teacher, a certified Hakomi Practitioner (The Refined Method), and is trained in Esalen Massage.
Roma Hammel, PhD is an experienced, fully certified Realization Process teacher, an anti-racist activist, and a long-time practitioner of QiGong. A master teacher, Roma works with individuals and groups to catalyze bodymindspirit transformations. She offers small group series and individual sessions in Los Altos Hills, CA.
Marisa Handler, is the author of Loyal to the Sky, which won a 2008 Nautilus Gold Award for world-changing books. Her essays, journalism, fiction, and poetry have appeared in numerous publications, and she teaches creative writing at Stanford and the California Institute for Integral Studies.
Rick Hanson, PhD, is a neuropsychologist and author of Hardwiring Happiness (forthcoming in October 2013), Buddha’s Brain and Just One Thing. Founder of the Wellspring Institute and Affiliate of the Greater Good Science Center, his Just One Thing newsletter has over 73,000 subscribers.
Kai Harper, age 21, is a Big Sur local, a graduate of Esalen's Gazebo School, and currently attends UC Santa Barbara. He has spent his entire life training his father, Steven Harper, in the ways of innovative parenting and hiking.
Kenneth Harper is the father of Steven and grandfather of Kai and Kes. His rich, diverse life has taken him from Africa to public service in Washington D.C. to administration of universities. He teaches dance, tai chi, and counseling in Arizona.
Steven Harper is a wilderness guide, author, artist, and Big Sur resident. He has led both traditional and experimental wilderness expeditions internationally for more than 35 years. He has an MA in psychology and his work focuses on wild nature as a vehicle for awakening.
Susan Harper brings her thirty-six years of experience teaching Continuum Movement internationally to all the work she develops. She teaches a Continuum Depths retreat twice yearly with Emilie Conrad, and is developing Portals of Perception with Hubert Godard.
John Harris has been teaching partner dances since 1996. He leads dance-based holidays to Cuba and Argentina, and has taught internationally. He incorporates his Hatha yoga and Systemic Life Coaching experience into his teaching.
Mary Hartzell has over 30 years’ experience working with children, parents, and teachers. She is the director of a highly respected, Reggio-inspired preschool in Santa Monica, California. Mary also teaches parenting classes and has a thriving private-consulting practice.
Andrew Harvey is an internationally renowned poet, novelist, scholar, and mystic. He is the author of more than 20 books, including The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism and Heart Yoga: The Sacred Marriage of Yoga and Mysticism. He has taught at Oxford University and Cornell University.
Caroline Harvey, MA, LMT, is a performance poet and professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Featured on HBO's Def Poetry and in print and film, Caroline teaches and performs internationally. She has shared the stage with Alicia Keys, Mos Def, Livingston Taylor, and others.
Sylvia Haskvitz, MA, RD, is a certified NVC trainer and nutritionist, and author of Eat by Choice, Not by Habit. She offers Nonviolent Communication training and Eat by Choice workshops worldwide. She cares about what goes into your mouth and what comes out of it.
Geneen Marie Haugen is a writer, wilderness explorer, scholar, and guide to the intertwined mysteries of nature and psyche. Her work appears in Thomas Berry: Dreamer of the Earth, among other places. She is apprenticed to the world-transforming potential of human imagination in concert with Earth/cosmos.
Susan Hauser was voted "Best Yoga in Marin" by Marin Magazine, and was recognized by Lululemon as a 2012 Ambassador. She studied with Baron Baptiste and her classes follow the Baron Baptise Vinyasa style. Susan found yoga after the loss of her husband to cancer in 2003.
Stephan Hausner facilitates Systemic Constellations work focusing on health issues. He is in private practice specializing in homeopathy, physioenergetic work, and osteopathy. He is trained in various approaches to humanistic psychotherapy and gives trainings internationally.
Michele Hébert, (E RYT-500), co-founder of the Raja Yoga Institute, has been teaching yoga and meditation since 1977 in private practice, yoga teacher trainings, and group retreats. She is the author of The Tenth Door: An Adventure through the Jungles of Enlightenment.
Judith Hemming practices and teaches Constellations worldwide. She has developed and taught applications of the systemic approach in family, educational, and organizational contexts. She is a UKCP registered psychotherapist and the director of Moving Constellations in the United Kingdom.
Clifford Henderson is cofounder of the Fun Institute in Santa Cruz, Calif., a school of improv and solo performance. She’s had numerous plays and sketch comedies produced in the SF Bay Area. Her published works include The Middle of Somewhere, Spanking New, and Maye’s Request.
Cari Hernandez is an artist and photographer who was born and raised in Northern California. Cari teaches, lectures, and shows her work nationally, is a founding board member of International Encaustic Artists (IEA), and was the creator and director of IEA’s annual retreat and conference.
Paul Heussenstamm comes from a family immersed in art and spirituality. At 35, he began painting in earnest after a single art class expanded into a consuming passion, a new profession, and a new perspective on life. He understands mandalas as psychic maps and symbols of wholeness.
John Hiatt, clinical professor of psychiatry in the UCSF School of Medicine, also directs General Outpatient Services at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. He founded the Transpersonal Care Program at the VA, which offers spiritually-based treatment. He recently opened a private practice.
Julia Butterfly Hill is an activist, writer, and poet. She is the author of The Legacy of Luna, coauthor of One Makes The Difference, and founder of the nonprofit organization Circle of Life. The recipient of numerous prestigious awards and distinctive honors, she is an internationally recognizable figure in environmental activism. www.juliabutterfly.com.
Constance G. Hills, PhD, is a licensed psychologist who has been working in the field of mental health for more than 20 years. She is a student of the venerable Buddhist teacher, Dr. Rina Sircar. She maintains a private practice in San Francisco, Calif.
Lee Holden is a senior teacher for Mantak Chia, the Taoist master, and has edited several bestselling books on Taoist sexuality. He is a leading Qi Gong instructor whose DVD series has been featured on PBS and is the author of 7 Minutes of Magic: Recharge Your Body Each Day with Qi Gong.
Jonathan Horan is Gabrielle Roth's son and closest collaborator. He is on the core faculty of her international institute, The Moving Center. Jonathan has been immersed in the 5Rhythms® practice throughout his life and continues to be a key catalyst in its evolution.
Lucia Rose Horan was born into the family of the 5Rhythms® and raised at Esalen Institute. She became a 5Rhythms® teacher in 1997, is now internationally recognized, and a current faculty member of Gabrielle Roth’s Moving Center School, NY.
Jean Houston is a philosopher mentored by Margaret Mead. One of the principal founders of the human potential movement, she has written 26 books and is known for her worldwide human potential workshops.
Pam Houston is the author of five books of fiction and nonfiction including Cowboys Are My Weakness and Contents May Have Shifted. She is the Director of Creative Writing at UC Davis and lives in Colorado near the headwaters of the Rio Grande.
Kelly Howell is author of Brain Power: Improve Your Mind as You Age. She worked with neuroscientists and researchers to develop brain-training programs used in hospitals, biofeedback clinics, and by hundreds of thousands of individuals worldwide. www.brainsync.com and info@brainsync.com.
Michael Hoyt, PhD, is a pioneering brief therapist. The author of Brief Psychotherapies: Principles & Practices and Some Stories Are Better than Others, he is a recipient of the prestigious APF Cummings Psyche Prize for lifetime contributions to the role of psychologists in organized healthcare.
Chungliang Al Huang teaches Tai Ji philosophy, East/West synthesis, and the art of movement meditation. He is the founder-president of the Living Tao Foundation and director of Lan Ting Institute in the Sacred Mountains of China.
Darren Huckle, LAc, has a private practice as an herbalist and acupuncturist in Santa Cruz, Calif. He teaches holistic health modalities including herbal medicine, nutrition, acupuncture, and qi gong at Five Branches University and University of California, Santa Cruz.
Russ Hudson is executive director of the Enneagram Institute in New York. He is the coauthor, with Don Richard Riso, of several books, including The Wisdom of the Enneagram and Personality Types (Revised Edition).
Terry Hunt is a licensed psychologist, bioenergetic therapist, and long-time Esalen instructor. Specializing in body-centered psychotherapy, he works with individual, couples, and people struggling with trauma and addictive behaviors. He also consults nationally with families in intergenerational transitions.
Julia Ingersoll is a painter whose work features the exquisite landscapes of Tuscany and the Big Sur coast, two places that inspire her with their mythical beauty. Julia shows her work internationally, teaches painting and figure drawing, and leads creative retreats.
Rik Isensee, LCSW, has written three self-help books for gay men, including Are You Ready? The Gay Man's Guide to Thriving at Midlife. He practices psychotherapy in San Francisco, and specializes in working with gay men and couples.
Ira Israel, LPCC, LMFT is a psychotherapist and certified yoga therapist. He has Master of Arts degrees in psychology, philosophy, and religious studies. Ira is the author of Mindfulness for Urban Depression and Yoga for Depression and Anxiety, and blogs frequently for Huffington Post.
Lynne Jacobs is cofounder of the Gestalt Therapy Institute of the Pacific, and a training analyst at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis. She is particularly interested in relational processes in therapy. She has authored numerous articles, and teaches nationally and internationally.
Roger Jahnke has practiced Chinese medicine clinically for more than 30 years. He has traveled to China eight times and is the director of the Institute for Integral Qigong and Tai Chi. His books include The Healer Within and The Healing Promise of Qi.
Bill James is one of Esalen's most frequent visitors, attending workshops in diverse fields such as psychology, writing, singing, hypnosis, self-awakening, and massage. An active donor to Esalen since the 1980s, Bill is a member of Esalen’s Board of Trustees.
Michael Jang has been a senior student of Benjamin Lo since 1976, and organized his first workshop in 1977. An accomplished photographer with work in the SFMOMA, Michael has been documenting t’ai chi worldwide with film, video, and stills.
Johnsmith has been writing heartfelt songs for more than 30 years. He's won national awards and contests, was a staff songwriter in Nashville, and has recorded 6 CDs. He's taught songwriting workshops nationwide, and has been featured on NPR's “New Dimensions.”
Wendy Johnson is a Buddhist meditation teacher and organic gardening mentor who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is one of the founders of the organic Farm and Garden program at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, in Marin County, Calif., and author of Gardening at the Dragon's Gate.
Sue Johnson is one of the creators of Emotionally Focused Therapy or EFT. She is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Ottawa and Director of the Centre for Emotionally Focused Therapy.
Don Hanlon Johnson is a professor at CIIS in San Francisco and the founder of the first graduate degree program in Somatics. He is the author of a body of literature on the intersections among bodily experience, the natural world, spirituality, social justice, and health.
Catherine Ann Jones is an award-winning author, playwright, and screenwriter whose films include Unlikely Angel, The Christmas Wife, and the series Touched By An Angel. She was a Fulbright Scholar to India and winner of the National Endowment for the Arts Award.
Andrea Juhan, PhD MFT, balances the catalytic nature of the 5Rhythms® with a finely tuned therapeutic instinct. Her teaching style is both lively and challenging, creating a field where participants are inspired and supported to pursue their own growth.
Jacqueline Kabat is a Manhattan-based comedian who performs stand-up at popular comedy clubs like Gotham and Caroline’s on Broadway. She has studied with Amy Poehler, warmed up audiences at ABC Studios with Mario Cantone, and teaches comedy improvisation.
Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, is professor of medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and founder of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society and of its Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) clinic. His work has contributed to a growing movement of mindfulness into mainstream institutions.
Will Kabat-Zinn has practiced vipassana meditation in the US and Burma for more than ten years and has taught meditation to incarcerated youth in New York City and Oakland. He has trained with Jack Kornfield and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and teaches at SF Insight, Spirit Rock, and meditation centers nationally.
Risa Kaparo, PhD, author of Awakening Somatic Intelligence, teaches Somatic Learning®, the evidence-based method she developed, internationally, from MIT to China’s Dalian Medical School. She practices somatic-psychotherapy in the California Bay Area and elsewhere.
Marianne Neary Kaplan, an organization/leadership consultant at Fortune 100 companies, is a master-certified Zenger Miller trainer, a certified practitioner of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the Enneagram in Business, and the Emotional Intelligence Indicator. Marianne combines Hakomi, a body-centered, somatic psychotherapy, with her extensive knowledge of individual and group process.
Miki Kashtan, PhD, co-founded Bay Area Nonviolent Communication. She shares the principles and practices of Nonviolent Communication through mediation, meeting facilitation, coaching, consulting, and trainings. She writes a weekly blog (www.baynvc.blogspot.com) and her articles have appeared in Tikkun magazine and elsewhere.
Byron Katie Byron Katie’s The Work has been bringing freedom to millions of people for over twenty years. Her books include the bestselling Loving What Is, I Need Your Love—Is That True?, and A Thousand Names for Joy.
Athena Katsaros is a leadership and life coach, and a principal of IdeaTribe. She is a faculty member at the Coaches Training Institute. As an executive council member of Bpeace, Athena works with women leaders in Afghanistan and Rwanda.
Dorothy Kaufmann, PhD, is presently a Marriage and Family Therapy Intern after a long career teaching and writing in the humanities. She works with couples and individuals in agencies and has a private practice in Berkeley, Calif.
Sam Keen is the author of numerous books, including The Passionate Life, Faces of the Enemy, Hymns to an Unknown God, and Learning to Fly.
Sally Kempton teaches at the cutting edge of contemporary tantra, and is known for her ability to transmit deep meditative states through the heart. A former monk and 40-year practitioner of Shaiva yoga, Sally teaches internationally and writes the "Wisdom" column for Yoga Journal.
Jim Kepner is a psychologist and the author of Body Process and Healing Tasks. He teaches internationally on the application of Gestalt Body Process Psychotherapy to healing in trauma, stress, and illness. Jim is the co-originator of Nervous System Energy Work.
Jerry Kermode is a woodturning artist and teacher in Sebastopol, California. He is known as much for his sense of humor and friendly manner as for his ability with the chisel. He helps people understand the subtle nuances of cutting wood without fear or trepidation.
Carol Kershaw, EdD, is a psychologist, codirector of the Milton Erickson Institute of Houston, and coauthor of Brain Change Therapy. She is an international trainer and has produced several programs on personal growth and creating lasting solutions.
Hala Khouri, MA, E-RYT, has spent over more than 15 years integrating yoga and counseling, and is certified in Somatic Experiencing. She teaches yoga and leads workshops and retreats internationally.
Tama Kieves is the best-selling author of This Time I Dance! and Inspired & Unstoppable: Wildly Succeeding in Your Life’s Work! Featured on Oprah radio, she is a speaker and a leading career/success coach.
Ellen Kindl began Harriet Goslins' Cortical Field Reeducation® as an attempt to control chronic pain after a 21-hour surgery to fuse 14 vertebra. It worked, she was certified as a teacher in 2000, and has taught at Esalen and other locations nationally since then.
Daphne Rose Kingma is the best-selling author of ten books on love and relationships. Her most recent book, The Ten Things to Do When Your Life Falls Apart: An Emotional and Spiritual Handbook, is a heartfelt guide to living through very hard times.
Alan Kishbaugh is a writer with many years of experience in book publishing and in urban planning, parkland, and open space preservation. He and Stella Resnick have been married for twenty-six years and have led couples' seminars together for even longer.
Deborah Koff-Chapin has been developing Touch Drawing since 1974, and teaches internationally. She created SOULCARDS 1 &2 and wrote Drawing Out Your Soul. She has served on the board of the International Expressive Art Therapy Association and is founding director of the Center for Touch Drawing.
Robert Kolodny, PhD, is an organization development consultant working with a wide range of human systems internationally. Bob teaches at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland and at the Gestalt International Study Center on Cape Cod. He has been on the faculty at Columbia University and the New School.
Steven Kotler is the bestselling author of Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think. He has taken “participant observer” to new levels as a trusted voice on the leading edge of action sports, grounded in the hard sciences of neurobiology and performance psychology.
Coby Kozlowski, MA, E-RYT, is a professional life coach, inspirational speaker, yoga and dance teacher, expressive arts therapist, and expert in transformative leadership. She is the founder of Souluna Life Coach Certification ™, Sacred Lasya Yoga Teacher Training, and rEvolution 180: Karma Yoga Leadership School.
Michael Kramer made a lifelong commitment to personal and global sustainability. He has co-developed permaculture teacher training curricula, is an accredited investment fiduciary, and managing partner at Natural Investments LLC. He won a B-Corp award and started a chapter of BALLE Network in Hawaii.
Pam Kramer is a career specialist, executive coach, and human potential expert. She is president of ITP International, stewarding the work of Esalen co-founder Michael Murphy and George Leonard, author and visionary. Pam is a frequent Esalen workshop leader.
Michael Krasny, PhD, is a professor of literature at San Francisco State University, and an award-winning broadcaster who hosts a weekday talk program on KQED radio, the San Francisco National Public Radio affiliate. He is also the author of Sound Ideas and Spiritual Envy.
Mary Ann Kraus, PsyD, is a clinical/community psychologist and faculty member at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland. She has co-created and co-chaired training programs in Working with Individuals, Working with Couples, Working with Groups, and the introductory Gestalt Training Program.
Sybil Krauter teaches Cortical Field Reeducation ® and Integrated Awareness® internationally. Her background is in education, clinical hypnosis, and NLP. Her focus is on how we create reality.
Stanley Krippner is professor of psychology at Saybrook Institute and the California Institute of Integral Studies. He is coauthor of Dreamworking, Dream Telepathy, and Realms of Healing.
Jean Kristeller, PhD, is a clinical psychologist who has used meditation-based interventions for eating disorders and obesity for more than 20 years. She receives NIH funding, is a founder of The Center for Mindful Eating, and is currently on the faculty at Indiana State University.
Laura Kunysz teaches Cortical Field Reeducation® and has a private practice as a CranioSacral therapist on the Monterey Penninsula. An ergonomics consultant with 20 years of experience in the computer industry, Laura came to this work through healing her own repetitive stress injuries.
Christopher LaRose combines a background in social work and Gestalt practice with a love of horticulture and farming in his role as gardener, teacher, and land steward at Esalen. He graduated from, and has taught for, the UC Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology.
Brian LaForgia, LAc, has been practicing Chinese Medicine since 1979. In 1992, he met Leon Hammer and studied Dr. John Shen's pulse system intensively with him. Since 1995 Brian has been teaching Pulse Diagnosis internationally.
Christa Lancaster is cofounder of North of Eden Archetypal Dreamwork, a dream therapist, and master teacher at the Center for Archetypal Dreamwork. Her books include Flesh Off the Bone: Dream Descent through Past Life Trauma and Sex, Trauma and Conjunctio.
Avadhan Larson operates The Center for Well-Being in Northampton, Mass., where she practices CranioSacral Therapy, acupuncture, and homeopathy. An experienced speaker, she travels worldwide teaching CranioSacral Therapy to practitioners of all disciplines.
Dorianne Laux is the author of four collections of poetry, Awake, What We Carry (a finalist for the 1994 National Book Critics Award), Smoke, and Facts About the Moon. She has received a Pushcart Prize for poetry, two NEA fellowships, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Shai Lavie, M.A., M.F.T, has taught meditation in the teen and family program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and has led numerous programs for family and youth. He is a certified Hakomi therapist and teacher.
Marla Leigh is a Los Angeles-based professional percussionist, flautist, composer, and educator who specializes in the frame drum. She also plays Indian tabla, kangjira, African dgembe, djun djun, and other instruments. She has taught drumming workshops internationally and leads the world music ensemble Rhythmjuju.
Lee Klinger Lesser led Sensory Awareness workshops with Charlotte Selver. She has taught workshops in English and Spanish for more than 34 years. She also leads diversity and equity trainings, and has been developing a program to support returning veterans through sharing mindfulness and meditation practices.
Marc Lesser is CEO of Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute. He is a Zen teacher, a former resident of the San Francisco Zen Center, and former director of Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. He is author of Less: Accomplishing More By Doing Less.
Carol Lessinger is a certified Feldenkrais practitioner who studied directly with Moshe Feldenkrais. She has more than 30 years of experience as a somatic educator. She is most profoundly touched by the power of healing through connection to the Self through aware movement.
Noah Levine, author of Dharma Punx and Refuge Recovery, is a Buddhist teacher and counselor. Trained to teach by Jack Kornfield of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, Calif., he is the founding teacher of Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society.
Gregg Levoy, author of Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life and This Business of Writing, is a former adjunct professor of journalism at the University of New Mexico who teaches widely on the subject of callings.
Juanita Lew, Master Share K. Lew's, wife, partner and co-teacher for 34 years, teaches Taoist health practices such as Chi Kung and meditation. In beloved memory of Master Share K. Lew, Juanita Lew will continue teaching Master Lew's healing style of Chi Kung and meditation.
Bradley Lewis MD, PhD, is an associate professor at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study and a practicing psychiatrist. He has interdisciplinary training is in humanities and psychiatry and his recent books are Narrative Psychiatry: How Stories Can Shape Clinical Practice and Depression: Integrating Science, Culture, and Humanities.
Andrea Lieberstein, MPH, RD, directs Mind, Body, Spirit Programs at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco, Calif. She is a mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindful eating instructor, health educator, stress management coach, and registered dietitian.
Nancy Lipman, LAc, MAc, integrates the wisdom of Five-Element acupuncture with the beautiful structural and energetic practices of Cortical Field Re-education® and Integrated Awareness® to offer deep healing and functional change to her students and clients in Cambridge, Mass.
Tias Little combines Iyengar and Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga in his teaching practice. Also a licensed massage therapist, he has been influenced by Ida Rolf, Moshe Feldenkrais, and Thomas Hanna. Tias is a long-time student of Tsoknyi Rinpoche in the Dzogchen practice of Tibetan Buddhism.
Benjamin Lo has been teaching Professor Cheng Man Ching’s simplified method of t’ai chi chuan since 1952. He is based in San Francisco and has conducted workshops throughout the US, Europe, and Asia.