Hanna Somatics is a mind-body technique developed by Thomas Hanna that enables us to move toward greater mind-body integration, ease of movement, and freedom. This workshop introduces the somatic self, somatic theory, and exercises for assessing and somatically transforming ourselves.
“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.
This course is designed to provide students with knowledge of the therapeutic benefits of an Esalen Massage, emphasizing clarity of intent, proper draping techniques, and body mechanics. Through brief lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on supervision, students will practice and learn about the positive effects and benefits of specific massage strokes and their application to particular regions of the body. Come prepared to explore massage, enjoy the healing waters of the natural hot springs, and the magical beauty of the Esalen grounds.
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.
Invisible threads are the strongest ties. — Friedrich Nietzsche
What are the invisible threads that connect you in this life? How can we use the path of the 5Rhythms movement practice to help us explore the connections we want most? By fostering the intimate union of breath and movement, we follow a path that leads us out of isolation and into connection.
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.
We live in a world that constantly challenges our bodies and our nervous systems. We have psychological, social, environmental, biological, and lifestyle challenges to our wellbeing. Over time, these challenges can diminish our innate capacity for healing, self-regulation, and sense of being able to stay on top of our daily lives. Reversing the depletion process can become a challenging, yet crucial endeavor for our lives.
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.
What in the West we call traditional Thai massage is known in Thailand as Nuad Bo’Rarn. Nuad is a Thai word that translates as “to touch with the intention of imparting healing.” Bo’Rarn is derived from Sanskrit and translates as “something ancient and revered.” Historians date this traditional medical practice from approximately 500 BC.
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.
Intuition is an incredible source of wisdom that everyone can tap into. The magic comes in awakening it and trusting its guidance in our lives. Yet too many of us walk around out of touch with our inner voice. What stops us from listening? How can we listen more?
“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 Esalen massage experience opens a remarkable web of interconnection: a listening touch, the sound of the ocean, and our nervous system soothed with calm, gentle contact. When we receive a massage we remember an easier time and "come home."
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
How we sit, stand, move or respond to contact with others reflects patterns wired into our nervous systems in infancy. By early childhood, conflicting intentions distort these patterns. Feeling powerless, we attempt to survive and to win love by figuring out “the rules.” The resulting strategies may protect us as children but, deeply ingrained in our muscular postures and movements, they limit our choices as adults. These engrams remain outside of awareness, causing discomfort and dysfunction.
The more present we are in ourselves, the more present we can be with someone else.
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you—don't go back to sleep. -Rumi
All methods devoted to human potential emphasize the importance of awakening to the present moment. All that we long for—love, joy, peace, harmony, truth—require the fundamental capacity for presence.
This seminar uses ancient and modern methods for directly and simply uncovering this natural capacity. Put simply, we need the capacity to: 1. Sit quietly with our own thoughts. 2. Mindfully welcome our feelings/emotions. 3. Find comfort in our own bodies.
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.
Can you remember a time when your body felt strong and flexible, and free of any aches and pains? A time when you were bursting with energy, curiosity, and creativity? Anyone who ever experienced pain, stiffness, or limitation in their back, neck, or shoulders knows how it can cloud our thinking, drain our energy, and rob us of our vitality and well-being. In this workshop, you can experience the remarkable capacity of your brain to change and quickly create new, pain-free patterns.
“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.
How much are you present for your own life? Most of us spend more time in our own inner world—worrying about the future, replaying the past, or lost in fantasy—than experiencing what life is offering to us right now. The present moment is where we can most directly be intimate with our life—touched by beauty and intimacy, while learning through the difficult lessons how to open our hearts.
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.
Zero Balancing (ZB) is a nondiagnostic system of healing which clarifies and coordinates energy fields in the body, balances body energy with body structure, and focuses on bone energy and the skeletal system. Science has shown that energy and matter are fundamentally coupled; psychology has shown that the mind and body are interconnected. ZB embodies both perspectives. It is based on the experience that balancing the body’s energy with its structure has a direct positive effect on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
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.
In this massage intensive workshop, we will focus on the abdominal and pelvic regions of the body, addressing both energetic and structural dynamics. Often the abdomen is treated superficially, when in fact it is our center, our core, and the place of digestion and assimilation of all life experiences. The pelvic region is the "cradle," or seat of power, the bridge between the upper body and the legs. The psoas muscles, considered the fight/flight muscles of the human species, span this bridge.
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.
The most profound medicine for body, mind, and spirit is produced in the human system for free.
Bring the best of the ancient Chinese wellness methods—Tai Chi and Qigong—to your community as a Tai Chi Easy Practice Leader.
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.
The 5Rhythms is a moving meditation practice. It is a map of how energy moves that shows us the patterns, rhythms, and cycles of life. Here is an overview of the 5Rhythms: Flowing connects us to our feminine nature. Staccato connects us to our masculine nature. Chaos marries and integrates these two energies and as a result we find transformation in Lyrical. From this transformative space we are then connected to Stillness.
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.
Mastering the art of moving deeply into the body’s soft tissue layers adds a powerful dimension to the massage practitioner’s skill set. Bodyworkers who have learned to work slowly and with great sensitivity on these deeper layers are sought after both in private practice and in spas. Perry and Johanna Holloman have created a series of classes for massage professionals that are designed to teach deep tissue skills, which are readily integrated into participants’ current massage practice.
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.
This workshop is ideal for practitioners who would like to learn how to apply the principles of Esalen Massage while keeping the client in the supine position throughout the session. At times, practitioners encounter clients who are unable to lie in a prone position (on the stomach), due to personal preference or illness, yet practitioners still want to be able to touch and work with the whole body.
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.
This weekend is an opportunity for people practicing Zero Balancing to reconnect with Fritz Smith, with Zero Balancing, and with each other.
“It is critically important," says Fritz, "to periodically meet with like-minded people and to openly, freely, and safely discuss problems, insights, and successes of your work—in this case, the leading-edge therapy of balancing energy and structure.”
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.
This course is designed for those already certified in the practice of massage who wish to add the Esalen approach to their professional repertoire. Esalen has been a place dedicated to supporting many approaches to integrate body, mind, and spirit, and Esalen Massage reflects this rich history in the depth of its curriculum.
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.
In order to understand the dance one must be still. And in order to truly understand stillness one must dance. - Rumi
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.
Energy moves in waves. Waves move in rhythms. Rhythms move in patterns. Patterns move in cycles. A human being is just that. Nothing more. Nothing less. A Dance. – Gabrielle Roth
“Do you know where you land in the sacred map of beginning, middle, and end?” Lucia Horan asks. “Do you want to be fluid and graceful in the face of change? The 5Rhythms movement practice invites us to become agile creatures of the present moment.
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.
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."
Why are so many of us in pain? Why are we damaged from our normal activities (bending and lifting), exhausted from our most basic positions (sitting and standing), and uncomfortable even in our stillness (sleeping)? And why do some populations in the world enjoy pain-free, relaxed, and potent lives into old age? How can we improve our situation?
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.
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 "hearing" with the hands, asking for what you need, and taking the time to truly nurture yourself and your partner. Sessions will include basic quieting exercises, brief demonstrations, hands-on guidance, and plenty of time for practice.
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.
Deep Bodywork, as created by Perry Holloman over the last twenty-five years at Esalen Institute, is a method that integrates the qualities of a flowing Esalen® Massage with the therapeutic effectiveness of deep tissue work. Using deep tissue methods, massage practitioners can enter the body’s deeper soft tissue layers, freeing previously dense, hardened areas, which may have become chronically painful due to a lack of fluid exchange and energy flow.
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.
Esalen offers two levels of basic certification in massage: For those already certified in massage by a state-approved school, the 100-Hour Esalen® Massage Certification Program provides all instruction required to earn an Esalen Massage Certification. The following 250-hour Esalen® Massage Certification program meets all core requirements of the CAMTC in California. In both cases, many of Esalen’s weekend and five-day workshops qualify for follow-up continuing education credit.