Workshop Details

This course is designed for those who plan to professionally practice massage or another body-mind discipline. It also provides an in-depth experience in bodywork as an aspect of transpersonal growth, offering the big picture of the Esalen approach: massage skills, interweaving spirit-body-mind, continuous presence through sensory awareness, psychological savvy, relevant anatomy and physiology, self-care, and professional acumen.
Through lecture, demonstration, and visual aids, students will study massage as a holistic approach to optimal health and functioning. The course offers 175 hours of comprehensive massage basics, including brief anatomical/physiological explorations linking each segment together. Students will have ample time for guided practice with each other, emphasizing body mechanics, self-care, and innovation.
The massage curriculum includes centering skills, lengthening integrative stroke methods, draping, detailed structural work, movement and stretches, all combined with an energetically balanced approach to massage. Students will be instructed in methods for communicating clearly and compassionately, and in ethical principles and business organization and other aspects of bodywork, as required by the California Massage Therapy Council (CAMTC) certification requirements. This 175-hour certification training is open to nonprofessionals and professionals, and is applicable for those in the health care professions. For newcomers to the field, it provides a foundation from which to grow, and for those already certified in other modalities, it offers a fresh approach for practitioners and their clients.
Upon satisfactory completion, and after documenting 30 additional massages at your home site, a State-Approved Certificate of Completion for 175 hours will be issued. The certification fee is $115. Students seeking to fulfill the 250-hour CMTC Certified Massage Practitioner Certification can add on 75 hours of additional bodywork coursework (for example, three 5-day courses) at Esalen for a total of 250 hours. Esalen is an approved school by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (school code 2700571).
This is a professional training with limited admission. Please request an application form by sending e-mail to 28day@esalen.org or calling 831-667-3005. Tuition is $5155 for standard shared accommodations and $3885 for a limited number of work scholarship bunk-bed accommodations. Other scholarship assistance may be available.
(An additional $10 materials fee is paid directly to the leader)