Side Navigation Bar Home Workshops The Place In the Air Information
Meditation Room

Work Study Program

The Work Study Program at Esalen is a 28-day program for those interested in an intense involvement with the Esalen environment and an in-depth experience of the Esalen approach to holistic personal and social development. An integrated work, service, and self-directed-learning program, it is rich, demanding, and often physically and emotionally challenging. Participants work 32 hours per week in one of Esalen’s departments and participate in that department’s programs and schedule.

At the heart of the Work Study experience is the core evening group, in which Work Scholars meet together in a group, four to five evenings a week. The group emphasizes a particular approach to transformative practice, such as Gestalt process, meditative practice, creative arts, movement, bodywork, or other forms of somatics. The group has its own leader, or leaders (see schedule below), who is with the group throughout the program, coordinating the study schedule and facilitating many of the evening sessions. Applicants must be committed to staying at Esalen for the duration of the program.

There will be introductory evenings in which work scholars are introduced to the Institute’s legacy through core practices of the Esalen curriculum for integrated self-structured learning and self-directed education. The practices offered include skills in awareness (of self and others), intentionality, personal visioning, goal-setting, building support, communication and relational skills, self-evaluation, and integration of learnings into your own life.

In addition to the evening program, Work Scholars will be assigned to a work group in one of four departments, and will contribute approximately 32 hours a week to this work group. Esalen practices such as process and “check-in” will be woven into the work environment, providing rich opportunity for self- and group exploration during the day. Each participant’s work schedule will also allow for some participation in the daily open classes (movement, meditation, yoga, and more) if desired.

Esalen also offers the month-long Legacy program, which is structured differently than the traditional Work Study format. Legacy Scholars are in class with a mix of other scholars and Esalen staff interested in the particular subject. The Legacy program includes less class time and more flexibility for students. Class happens twice a week in the afternoon, with a more intensive day once during the month, for a total of 25 hours in-class time with approximately 5 hours of independent project work. In addition to the dedicated subject, Legacy Scholars are able to attend any of the additional staff trainings (Residential Education programs) that Esalen offers. The work group hours of the Legacy program (32 hours per week) and price are the same as the traditional Work Study program.

Work Scholars are selected by application only by the Work Study coordinator Mary Anne Will. Since this is a work and service program, preference is given to applicants who are open and willing to learn about themselves within the work context as well as within the study/ process groups. Because the work can be physically
challenging (lifting, bending, etc.), it may not be suitable for all who wish to apply. First month work students, in particular, are assigned to departments largely on the basis of community need (usually the kitchen or housekeeping).

Please note: The work study program is designed to explore and apply human values and potentials. It is not intended as a substitute for therapy or as a “cure.” Workscholars are encouraged to refrain from drug and alcohol use while in the workstudy program. No pets, drugs, or violence allowed. We cannot accommodate children of work scholars.

Work scholars are selected by application only, to Work Study Coordinator Mary Anne Will. Please read further details below about applying for the Work Study Program.

Upcoming Work Study Programs

Sex of the Spirit, with Jeffrey Kripal
July 4 - August 1, 2010

We tend to think of sex and the spirit as separate, but they are not. Hence most of the cultural debates involving religion in the news involve some aspect of human sexuality (same-sex marriage, “family values,” gay rights, celibacy, female ordination, abortion, etc.), The Last Temptation of Christ and The Da Vinci Code became mega hits, and great mystics have routinely described their transcendent experiences in sexual terms. How should one understand all of this? And how
should we respond when traditional teachings result in moral confusion, emotional pain, political turmoil, and sexual suffering? What aren’t we getting here?

This program, led by Jeffrey Kripal, writer and teacher of comparative religion, provides a set of very practical tools, a sexual-spiritual craft, as it were, with which anyone can think and speak clearly, frankly, and compassionately about sex
and religion. More specifically, the month will be organized around the life-stories of the participants themselves via open discussions, personal one-on-one mentoring, and journaling. A special session lead by guest faculty Christine Price, a longtime Gestalt practitioner, will be offered to help process emotional content in a deeper way. Additionally, optional Gestalt process sessions will be available and led by
other Esalen Gestalt practitioners.

Touch and Presence: Subtle Palpation Skills, with Carlos Durana (Legacy Program)
July 4- August 1, 2010

Touch is such a powerful tool for healing. Palpation that truly “meets the person” you are touching is a gift beyond compare. This level of palpation skill is composed of several elements. This interactive and experiential legacy month will explore each of these.

First, your inner awareness and ability to hold a therapeutic presence is the foundation of this process. Participants will work with the Full Body Presence book and audio download to cultivate their capacity to be present in a powerful, yet ethical, loving way. This experiential portion of the program will teach the practical steps to uncovering your unique inner energy road map – its strengths and growth areas.

Secondly, the capacity to hold a neutral space - with no agenda – is the key to excellent palpation. You will learn this foundation level of touch, which is utilized at all levels of CranioSacral therapy. One of Upledger’s original instructors, Suzanne Scurlock-Durana, will be sharing her 25 years of experience and wisdom during this segment of the program.

Thirdly is the capacity to recognize that human beings are healthy when energy flows in a balanced way within our systems. In this segment of the program, you will learn how to follow energy flow through the body and notice where restrictions are occurring. From there, using the meridian systems of Chinese medicine, Dr. Carlos Durana will mentor participants in how to listen with their hands, and how to use this kind of palpation to release restrictions, returning balance and better health.

Additionally, in the second half of the month, the Visiting Teacher program will offer an opportunity to be mentored by advanced CranioSacral therapists and to receive work in evening sessions. Participants are expected to attend at least 5 hours of this program to deepen their practice time.

CE credit for bodyworkers and nurses.
$10 materials fee paid directly to the leader (unless you purchase Full Body Presence before the program.)

Carlos Durana, Ph.D., M.Ac., Dipl. Ac. (NCCAOM) is licensed as an acupuncturist and as a clinical psychologist; he is also a body worker and writer/researcher with many years of experience in Chinese herbology, medical Qigong, life and wellness coaching, meditation, stress management, exercise and nutrition. For more information go to www.Seasonsinourlife.com

The Ensemble Process, with Peter Meyers
August 1 - 29, 2010

In the centuries-old tradition of ensemble theatre, individual charisma and creativity are vitally bound up with the greater energy of the group. Modern modes of expression and understanding from jazz to systems theory have affirmed the power of symbiosis. There is now a greater understanding of a model of leadership
fueled not by the decisions of a single personality but by the pulse and wisdom of the ensemble.

During this program, Peter James Meyers, veteran stage director and leadership consultant, will help cultivate communication skills, self-assurance, and physical presence through a process of group discovery and performance.

Along the way, the group will practice movement, voice, and improvisation techniques that will allow each participant to amplify personal
presence, enhance spontaneity, and heighten clarity of thought. In short, learn how to captivate a room and shape an audience’s experience.

This is an ideal opportunity for anyone interested in blending performing arts with the art of leadership—expanding expressive skills while cultivating the ability to command and inspire. Participants will create an original theater piece to be offered to the Esalen community at the end of the month. Open to participants of all
backgrounds and interests.

Gestalt Awareness, with Dorothy Charles (Legacy Program)
August 1-29, 2010

In order to to develop a strong and flexible sense of self, we must engage in the ongoing process of developing our awareness and discovering our own personal truths. These truths may cause us pain before giving us a new freedoms and expanding our world horizons. Turning toward our intellect and away from feeling can be a result of painful childhood experiences. When we choose to remain content with intellectual wisdom, we deceive ourselves and limit our possibilities.

While we cannot change the past, we can change ourselves and what we have have come to believe about ourselves and our capacity for intimacy and belonging. This kind of inner transformation occurs in what philosopher Martin Buber called "I-Thou" relationships, through a process of personal dialogue that is shaped by mutual respect and validation.

A month of Relational Gestalt Process with Dorothy Charles will provide participants a group setting in which to develop awareness and self responsibility, as well as to create relationships that are supportive and enlivening. Gestalt theory, body awareness exercises, dyads and group process will be part of this month long program.

5Rhythms®: Dancing in the Present, with Lucia Horan
August 29 - September 26, 2010

Through dance we move into the mind of awareness, attending to what is and arriving into the present, shedding the fear that keeps us from expressing our true nature. We were all born with the innate wisdom to dance, yet many of us have lost touch with this truth. During this program, Lucia Horan will lead the group toward reclaiming the power of the dance and awakening the healer within.

5Rhythms® is a moving meditation practice in which we explore the dynamic nature of the body. The practice is a map that helps us understand the natural rhythms of life as they move through us. We will enter the realms of the feminine mysteries through Flowing, the masculine mysteries through Staccato, the integration of
feminine and masculine through Chaos, the mystery of joy and transformation through Lyrical. And finally, through Stillness, enter the dance of wisdom.

Additional practices include Esalen® Massage, expressive art (painting), writing and poetry, mantra (chanting), meditation, Native American sweat lodge (healing and purification ceremony, weather permitting), and sharing circles. All levels of experience are welcome. For more information, visit www.luciarose.com.

Legacy Group - Yoga Foundations: Expand Your Understanding, with Jan Sinclair & Cory Shank (Legacy Program)
Aug 29 to Sep 26, 2010

The foundation of this program is an in-depth and dynamic practice with a comprehensive study of the techniques and mechanics of each Asana.

Jan and Cory place a strong emphasis on the process of learning, understanding and feeling each pose in your body, having no attachment to results and surrendering to “what is” in your yoga “right now”, alert and aware and engaged in each moment.

Whether you are new to yoga or already have a practice, you will increase your understanding of how to do your yoga safely and in a way that nurtures and nourishes your body and your Being.

Focus and attention will be harnessed to play the edge between control and surrender. Attunement to your breath, to your body’s messages will broaden your spectrum of awareness, supporting your mind to let go of control and direction. Attention guides our focus and with deeper focus comes a greater capacity for attention.

Yoga, both as an accumulated body knowledge and as an art, involves learning and refining technique. We will support the expansion of your technical repertoire, which in turn enhances your potential for creative self-expression in your yoga and your Being.

Please join Jan and Cory for an expansive month of creative learning.

Jan Sinclair
Jan is a teacher and student of Yoga, Meditation and Ayurveda, teaching as part of the Esalen Movement Program for the past 4 years, and teaches programs for Esalen’s Residential Education Department. Jan delivers a strong practice with emphasis on breath and connection with your body. Her teaching style is fun, informative, nurturing, and provides tools that can be applied in all aspects of her student’s lives.

Cory Shank
Cory Shank is grateful that Yoga has found him and is giving him a way to support and nuture himself. He is on the the Esalen Massage Crew and Esalen Movement Program. He holds a BA in performing arts and his teaching approach is influenced by different styles of Hatha Yoga.

Streams of Energy, with Jim Gallas
September 26 - October 24, 2010

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. In a spirit of compassion, laughter, and expanding awareness,
students will be nurtured and nourished by the group interaction and by a deeper connection to Self.

CEUs available for bodyworkers.

Your Life Cannot be any Easier than your Movements: Cortical Reeducation & Feldenkrais, with Harriet Goslins and Sybil Krauter (Legacy Program)
September 26 - October 24, 2010

Our patterns of movement have been determined by our personal history. We first learned HOW to move in order to live. At the same time, we were learning HOW NOT to move in order to get love or at least survive.

During childhood, in adapting to earth and the big people around us, we experienced rebuke and fear or support and encouragement. These limits and permissions influenced our developing movement patterns. By adulthood, distortions from accidents, injuries, illnesses (and their compensations left in the body even after the symptoms were gone) further added to the already conflicting instructions vying for dominance in the same movement command. So a simple intention to reach out a hand, or turn a head, or move a hip elicits our emotional history, “No! I shouldn’t! Yes! I want to! It’s not OK. But I have to! But I can’t!” and also activates our compensations that limit our range or cause pain. All happening at the same time on one single pathway of movement!

Unconscious habitual patterns CAN BE UNLEARNED, freeing our amazingly plastic brain to make better choices, BUT ONLY if we first bring back into our awareness what we compulsively do that we didn’t know we were doing. Only then does our nervous system know what to erase and replace with upgraded learning. Otherwise we simply impose a new flawed rule about behavior or about movement) on top of the old error in an attempt to “fix it.” Adding one more layer of conflicting instructions!

"UNTIL YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DO NOW, YOU HAVE NO CHOICE TO DO OTHERWISE" -- Moshe Feldenkrais

Kinesthetic exploration through floor lessons and table work, combined with processing your discoveries, can replace these conflicting commands with new choices. The reward is
- a clarity of purpose - a totally meant “yes”, a fully permitted “no’
- a healing of physical injury or emotional trauma
- and congruent, powerful, comfortable movement.

"FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT HEALS" - Harriet Goslins, Founder of CFR

Nonviolent Communication, with Jean Morrison
October 24 - November 21, 2010

I often say we've got a budget deficit that's important, we've got a trade deficit that's critical, but what I worry about most is our empathy deficit.
—U.S. President Barack Obama

During this month of intensive immersion in Nonviolent Communication (NVC) principles and practices with Jean Morrison, participants are offered the opportunity to strengthen their ability to:

The sessions include a balance of playful exploration, thoughtful inquiry, powerful exercises for skill-development, and sharing of best practices with participants' real situations. Guest presenters will augment our NVC practice with their expertise in the Enneagram, Mindful Meditation, art, and movement.

CEUs available for MFTs and LCSWs.

The Body, Self and Relationship with Ken Robins (Legacy Program)
October 24 - November 21, 2010

The most powerful impulse we are born with is to attach to our caregivers. Whenever that was a fulfilling experience we developed a trust in ourselves and others. Whenever that exchange was flawed, as it inevitably was then we doubted ourselves and our experience. With compassion, courage and humor Ken Robins will help you explore the biological, psychological and emotional journeys we all share as we seek to find our own innate wisdom in this profound arena of human life.

This workshop will explore the body/mind connection and will use both experiential and didactic instruction. The goal is to help people into a more fully realized sense of self, boundaries, sensations and use these tools to create more
mindful and satisfying interpersonal relationships.

"The distance from your pain, your grief, your unattended wounds, is the distance from your partner. And the distance from your partner is the distance from the living truth, your own great nature. Whatever maintains that distance, that separation from ourselves and our beloveds, must be investigated with mercy and awareness. This distance is not overcome by one giving up their space to another, but by both partners entering together the unknown between them. The mind creates the abyss but the heart crosses it." Stephen and Ondrea Levine, "Embracing the Beloved.”

Ken Robins was born 9/11/44 during a bombing raid in London. He has been seeking the safety and healing of healthy relationships ever since. He is fascinated by the potential for suffering to become blessing and specializes in the healing of trauma and the promotion of intimate relationships. Ken is a long time Esalen facilitator with a private practice in Carmel.

Drawing Out Your Soul: Touch Drawing, with Deborah Koff-Chapin
November 21 - December 19, 2010

Touch Drawing is a simple yet profound process. It is a transformative art form developed by Deborah Koff-Chapin that allows for deep expression of the soul. The technique involves moving your hands on paper that has been placed over a surface of paint. The resulting impressions are seen on the underside of the page. Multiple images are created in a single session. It can feel like your soul is flowing through your fingertips and onto the paper. Touch Drawing helps develop somatic awareness, intuition, and creativity. It opens a portal to your multi-dimensional being. This program will combine Touch Drawing with complementary expressive arts practices. Deborah will gently guide you into deep drawing sessions, holding sacred space with live improvisational music. Writing, moving, vocalizing, and drumming will enhance the experience and help access insight from your drawings. Witnessing with partners and sharing in circle will support a sense of community.

The applications of Touch Drawing are endless. You will be encouraged to integrate Touch Drawing as a creative, therapeutic, and spiritual practice in your life and work. No artistic confidence necessary.

$50 materials fee paid directly to the leader.

Peaceful Body Peaceful Mind, with Oliver Bailey
December 19–January 16, 2011

Oliver Bailey writes, “Even though you no longer live in the primitive jungle of our ancestors your nervous system still reacts as if you do. This causes the sympathetic nervous system to constantly react with a fight, flight, or freeze response that
served you well then, but now only makes you stressed out and on alert to danger when you don’t need to be. Accessing your parasympathetic nervous system is the antidote. The parasympathetic nervous system is the normal resting state of your body, brain, and mind, and it produces a feeling of relaxation and a sense of peace.”

This work scholar month will focus on massage, meditation, and self-inquiry as a means to access the parasympathetic in order to calm your nervous system down and assist you in experiencing peace. Although this is not massage training,
you will learn some basic Esalen® Massage and other energetic bodywork practices to address and relieve your body tension and stress patterns, which often fly under the radar of your awareness. Meditation has proven to be an effectiveway to calm the mind and body and stop the reactive fight, flight, or freeze response of the sympathetic nervous system. Self-inquiry is an ancient method of looking into the nature of the self and also opens up a still, silent, and peaceful space inside you, that is always there, but often covered over by your personal stories.

Oliver invites you to be curious about what it’s like when you are not constantly on the alert for what might go wrong, and what it’s like to live from the peaceful center of your being.

CEUs available for bodyworkers.

Spinal Awareness, with Patrick Douce
January 16–February 13, 2011

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.

Spinal Awareness emphasizes learning how to move in ways that stimulate your awareness and support the health of your own body. Lessons inspired by Indonesian Silat will also be used to stimulate the energy body, effecting internal health and increasing energy. Students will participate in floor exercises that organize and integrate the spinal column, and standing lessons that improve better balance and fluidity.

The course will include hands-on lessons, safe and noninvasive, to greatly speed improvements. Fun partner lessons will be intermixed to help bring about not only freedom in the body but a return to the childlike energy essential to us all.

CEUs available for bodyworkers.

Spiritual Massage: Lightbody Infusion, with Maria Lucia Bittencourt Sauer
February 13–March 13, 2011

Spiritual Massage is a hands-on healing practice that works directly on the energy body, balancing the chakras, cleansing old thought forms, and gently facilitating release of emotional, physical, and spiritual blockages. Born into a family of healers with a generations-old tradition, Maria Lucia Bittencourt Sauer studied and continues to study with healers in her native Brazil, where Spiritism—receiving healing knowledge from the spirit world—is very familiar. In 1979 she came to Esalen (where she spent seven years living on property) and was sponsored by Esalen cofounder Dick Price to learn Spiritual Massage from Brazilian healer Luiz Gasparetto.

Maria Lucia emphasizes intentionality as the fundamental tool of any healing art designed to move energy.

Come and practice this wonderful healing technique and also practice Shamanic Ways to help each other find parts of our souls lost in early traumas or other past events. Participants must attend all sessions.

Relational Gestalt Process, with Dorothy Charles
March 13–April 10, 2011

In order to become whole we must engage in the ongoing process of discovering our own personal truth. This truth may cause us pain before giving us a new freedoms and expanding our world horizons. When we choose to remain content with intellectual wisdom, we deceive ourselves and limit our possibilities. As a result of painful childhood experiences we turn toward our intellect and away from feeling. We cannot change the past. We can change ourselves. Our sense of who we are was developed in relationship. Creating new ways of being requires engaging in relationships that honor who we are and what we need.

A month of Relational Gestalt Process with Dorothy Charles will provide participants a group setting in which to develop awareness and self responsibility, as well as to create relationships that are supportive and enlivening. Identifying, articulating and expressing emotion in relationship will be the central theme of the group. Gestalt, body awareness exercises, dyads and group process will be part of this month long program to achieve this end.

CEUs available for MFTs and LCSWs.

Practicing Presence through Body Centered Awareness, with Patrice Hamilton
April 10–May 8, 2011

“The issues are in the tissues.” Habitual beliefs and behaviors formed early in life lead to habitual ways of responding that limit life experience. Our bodies are our greatest resource. They provide a direct path for exploring these unconscious beliefs and the emotions tied to them. By increasing awareness of our bodies, we connect with the here and now, where change and growth are possible.

This experiential class will blend the slow, developmental movement of Cortical Field Reeducation® with the mindfulness practices of Hakomi and Gestalt. Patrice Hamilton uses these awareness practices to assist individuals in reclaiming and
integrating forgotten or denied aspects of self.

Working in a supportive group environment creates a container in which new ways of moving and being can be explored and expressed. Exploring with curiosity and compassion allows for release of physical restrictions and suppressed emotions. You will emerge feeling more grounded and comfortable in your body, with an
increased capacity to remain present within yourself and with others.

26 hours of CE credit available for bodyworkers.

T’ai Chi, with Kenn Chase
May 8–June 5, 2011

Kenn Chase leads a monthlong intensive exploration of the entire Yang-style T’ai Chi Ch’uan sequence. Students will study the fifty-four postures of this ancient movement meditation, with hours of practice and refinement. Kenn will integrate Feldenkrais® Awareness Through Movement exercises into the class, helping students to free the body for more efficient mastery of the T’ai Chi forms. Movement analysis and Functional Integration will also be part of the program, helping to relieve stress and pains arising from chronic misuse of posture.

Soul MotionTM and Gestalt Awareness Practice, with Zuza Engler
June 5–July 3, 2011

Many of us live suspended between the yearning for self-expression and the fear of exposure, the tendency to hide and the desire to offer ourselves to the world, the oneness of spiritual unity and the complexity of human interactions. These paradoxes are the focus of a month led by Zuza Engler. Exploring movement from the inside out and the practice of presence—through SoulMotionTM and Gestalt Awareness Practice—students will be guided in discovering the unfolding of their own dance and supported in opening to life’s constant pulsation between contraction and expansion, between dropping into oneself and extending toward another. Participants will practice skills for moving fluidly with the challenges of relationship, attuning to the generosity of an undefended heart, and accessing the larger Presence that breathes us into Being.

Applying for the Work Study Program

Commitment to the Work Study Program is from 4 PM of the first Sunday to 7:30 PM of the final Sunday. Inasmuch as the Work Study Program is a complete program in itself, please do not plan to take regularly scheduled catalog workshops during your stay.

Program Fees

A deposit of $400 in U.S. currency is required with your application. Fees will not
be processed until your place in a program is secured and you have accepted. (No fee is processed if you are on the wait list.) The work scholar fee schedule is $1095 for the first month and $1045 for the second month. Fees are subject to change.Work students may be invited to remain for a second month depending on space
available and community needs. There are no scholarships available for the first month of the Work Study Program.

Occasionally it is possible to stay for a longer period as an Extended Student.

Food and Housing

Accommodations are shared (occasionally co-ed), with up to four people to a room, some at South Coast Center, a staff complex located 1.5 miles north of Esalen. Housing and meals, often with home-grown organic produce, are included in your tuition.

Transportation

When making travel plans, note that the closest airport to Esalen is Monterey. With at least 48-hour advance reservations, van service to Esalen is available from the following locations on the Sunday of your arrival:

  • Monterey Airport: Departs 2 pm. Cost: $40
  • Monterey Transit Center: Departs 2:20 pm. Cost: $40
  • San Francisco Airport: Departs 11:45 am. Cost: $100

For van reservations call 831-667-3010 or contact the Work Study Program.

Registration Required

Please note that application is not registration in the program. Registration is made only after approval of application. If you do not pay in full at the time of application, the balance of the fee is due on arrival and is nonrefundable thereafter.

Cancellation Policy & Fees

If you choose to cancel, you will be charged the following amount:

Submitting Your Application

You can email the application form (PDF) to workstudy@esalen.org with your personal statement or print it out and mail it with your deposit to the address below, or fax it to (831) 667-3069.

Work Study Program
Esalen Institute
55000 Highway 1
Big Sur, CA 93920

We will contact you regarding your status within 14 days of receipt of your application. For more information contact the Work Study Program.

Please note: We are usually full with a wait list three months ahead. You need to apply to get on the wait list and your deposit is only processed if you get a spot and say yes. This happens 2 weeks or less before the program begins.

Contact the Work Study Program

Esalen Work Study Program
Phone: (831) 667-3010
Fax: (831) 667-3069
Email: workstudy@esalen.org