Family Workshops

Esalen is a rich learning place for children and families. Centered in principles of connectedness, awareness, discovery, and creativity, Esalen programs offer ways for families to grow together, as well as opportunities for children to express who they are apart, as individuals.

Gazebo School Park and the Esalen Children's Workshop combine care and concern for the whole child with the wellbeing of the environment. In these children's programs, engagement with the cycles of nature at Esalen, including planting, tending, observing, harvesting, nourishing, and composting, is a living example of the cycles of relationship, interdependence, care of self, and growth. Gazebo teachers are passionate participants and guides as children make choices and learn during a wide variety of activities, experiments, and self-directed exploration. More information about children at Esalen.

Throughout the year, Esalen offers a variety of weekend and weeklong workshops designed for families and friends to learn and play together. These programs are a unique opportunity to tap into Esalen's longstanding and ever-changing commitment to growth and human potential. The relationships and possibilities of family and friends are valuable territory in which to bring new awareness, celebration, and growth.

Below are highlights from a selection of family programs. You can also view the complete list of upcoming family workshops.

Parenting From the Inside Out
Led by Mary Hartzell, March 9-11, 2012

How parents make sense of their childhood experiences has a profound effect on how they parent their own children. Parents often find themselves doing the very things to their children that felt hurtful to them as a child. They can feel stuck in repetitive, unproductive patterns that don't support the loving, nurturing relationships they envisioned when they first became parents.

Parenting From the Inside Out can help free parents from patterns of the past that continue to negatively affect them and their relationship with their children. Based on her book, Parenting From the Inside Out (coauthored with Daniel J. Siegel), Mary Hartzell will help parents deepen their self-understanding and build a more effective and enjoyable relationship with their children.

Wokshop Details & Registration >

The Magical Family
Led by Ivy Mayer Lavie, April 6-8, 2012

The Esalen Art Barn is home base for this weekend of play, creativity, and celebrating the renewal of the season. Families will have the opportunity to explore, make art, and celebrate a renewed connection with each other. There will be space to connect as a family unit, and connect with the larger community. Special discussion for parents and those in the health professions will offer information on assisting children with self regulation utilizing dyadic regulation techniques, nature, and the arts. There will be visual arts activities, including making puppets, magic wands, painting, and more. Expressive arts such as yoga, dharma games, sports, night hikes, and exploring in nature are also shared. The Magical Family takes participants on a journey through a magical space that brings together the natural California coast and the creativity that emerges when a group comes together.

Workshop Details & Registration >

Rip the Page! A Workshop for Kids and Parents
Led by Karen Benke, April 13-15, 2012

Rip the Page! A Workshop for Kids and Parents is an imaginative writing weekend for children aged eight to fourteen and their parents to "loosen up on the page while experimenting with zany poem-making prompts, dares and double-dares, and truths and lies," writes Karen Benke. "This experience can un-stick ideas, dreams, and stories. We will erect a fun and safe tent of wonder in which to unleash the dreaming and doodling sides of our minds as we put the zing back in our writing and capture images guaranteed to connect to our hearts and voices. This is a creative writing play-shop where the punctuation police are left behind and best-guess spelling is more than fine. No grades. No gold stars. Just plenty of encouragement and quirky experiments involving magic word tickets that you'll make and take back home."

Workshop Details & Registration >

The Magical Child
Led by Ivy Mayer Lavie, April 27-29, 2012

Let your child experience the magic of Esalen! In The Magical Child workshop, your child will create art, enjoy the expansive garden and the Gazebo School Park grounds, play, and take in the magic of the ocean, the coast, and the vast night sky. Visual art activities may include making puppets, magic wands, painting, and more. Expressive arts may include child yoga, dharma games, sports, beach walks, and exploring in nature.

Workshop Details & Registration >

Mother's Day Family Workshop
Led by Joanna Claassen & Sean Brennan, May 11-13, 2012

This Mother's Day weekend, celebrate and nourish yourself and your family. Esalen is a magical place for adults and children alike. Together with the Gazebo School teachers, we will create a community of families focused on fun, laughter, renewal, and friendship. The Mother's Day Family Workshop will be a memorable weekend of exploration, connection, creative expression, and play. We will build on the group's interests and offer opportunities for families to work and play together and apart. We will use the Gazebo School Park, designed for children to climb, bike, garden, make music, dance, and care for Esalen's farm animals, as well as the Art Barn for relaxing, connecting, reflecting, and creating.

Register For This Workshop >

Family Mindfulness Retreat
Led by Ivy Mayer Lavie & Shai Lavie, May 25-27, 2012

Imagine a beautiful and protected space that supports you to mindfully turn within and find greater ease, and gives you space to play and just be with your family — all held in the dramatic natural surroundings of Esalen. This family retreat offers time to unplug from the busyness of life and find meaningful reconnection within and without. During the Family Mindfulness Retreat, we will have time together as a group, and time when adults and children meet separately. Adult meditations will support quieting the mind, opening the heart, and being present to the beauty and challenge of life. Within this we'll include time for discussion about making our family life an integral part of our spiritual practice. The children's meetings will utilize Esalen's beautiful natural setting (including the Gazebo Park School with its animals and gardens), and games to introduce mindfulness and kindness in enjoyable, age-appropriate ways.

Register For This Workshop >

Fathers and Sons: Celebrating Father's Day in the Tradition of the Old Ways
Led by Steven Harper & Kenneth Harper & Kai Harper & Kes Harper, June 15-17, 2012

Over the ages, fathers and sons have journeyed together into the wilds of nature, traveling light, living simply, and stepping together on the path of what is known and what is unknown as students and teachers for one another. Fathers and Sons is a time for fathers and their sons to come together as individuals, family, and community to explore the natural wild areas of Big Sur and the relationship of father and son in a community of men.

"Our time together is simple," says Steven. "Participants will be introduced to basic contemplative and awareness practices from various wisdom traditions. Our time outdoors during the weekend will be spent on day hikes (four to six miles in length) into the rugged beauty of Big Sur. Much of our time will be in silence, quiet dialog, and reflective exercises that invite participants to pay attention to that which has heart and meaning. During indoor sessions, we will share experience, stories of the path, and poems of inspiration...with a touch of creative humor to add balance."

Register For This Workshop >