Esalen is open and accessible from the north.
Highway 1 south of Esalen remains closed.
Esalen is a holistic retreat and educational institute. Established in 1962 and considered the epicenter of the Human Potential Movement, we are a non-profit offering comfort and space for exploration, transformation, and healing within the wilds of Big Sur’s majestic mountainscape and glittering coastline.
Our curiosity and research explores new ideas around creativity and the brain, body work, spirituality, leadership, Gestalt, plant medicine, citizen diplomacy, superhumanism, the survival of bodily death, Extraterrestrial intelligence, and more. Learn more about our story, mission, and vision.
We welcome visitors with advance reservations for workshops and massages to our California campus. This 100-acre stretch of Mother Nature boasts cliffside natural hot springs, an organic farm and garden, serene, rustic guest suites, and more.
When we embody breath — allowing limbs and bones to express outwardly the dynamic, unceasing pulsation of life within — we touch freedom. In this experiential workshop, we’ll explore and deepen our connection to our breathing bodies through a number of somatic pathways: embodied movement, breathwork, presencing exercises, meditation in motion, and sound.
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This extended weekend course taught by Diane Domondon and Justin Stein, PhD offers students a chance to learn the fundamentals of Reiki from both historical and experiential perspectives. During this class, we will discuss Reiki’s origins in Japan, how it was influenced by other practices, and how it evolved over time. You will be exposed to forms of meditation designed to strengthen one’s ability to connect to Reiki’s universal source and to increase the flow of Reiki through one’s body.
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Bringing decades of experience as Jungians, psychotherapists, and professional musicians, John W. Price and Rodney Waters will set the intellectual, theoretical, and psychotherapeutic stage for an exploration of those portals and pathways within. The week will focus on practices for deep listening and will explore music from neurobiological, spiritual, and experiential perspectives, culminating in a concert inspired by Jung’s Red Book.
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At its core, Gestalt Practice is an awareness practice in which we cultivate embodied, present-moment awareness of the unfolding experience of the here and now on a journey toward authentic growth, wholeness, and aliveness. Join Steven Harper in an exploration of the rich practices and principles of Gestalt Practice, apply them to everyday life, and begin to experience the simple yet profound potential for showing up more fully and authentically for life.
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Co-led by Tom Little Bear Nason, Tribal Chairman of the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County, and Douglas Drummond, Director of Community Alliances at Esalen, this week will create a powerful space for men to come together and reignite our sacred fire. Using the tools of traditional rites of passage integrated with the fundamentals of the 5Rhythms® movement practice, we’ll ground our emotional presence, create a space of non-judgment and supportive witnessing, and come together to encourage healing of our minds, bodies, and spirits.
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LEEP
Our Live Extended Education Program is a re-imagined four-week experience designed for people who want to explore new ways of thinking and being. Under the guidance of world-class faculty and surrounded by a cohort of other learners, you'll be challenged to expand your personal growth edges while serving the community side-by-side with our staff.
FINANCIAL AID
Money should never stand in the way of human potential. Donor-funded scholarships make the healing and transformational magic of Esalen more easily accessible to a more diverse community of brains, hearts, and souls.
Apply NowREEP
A three month on-site work opportunity, our Residential Extended Education Program (REEP) is designed to help you reset and reimagine, heal and explore, and learn about yourself. Work in service to the community and take advantage of the varied learning opportunities that exist within the majestic microcosm that is Esalen Institute.
Photos by Vera Lin, Angie Smith, and Stephanie Lewis
Esalen Institute
55000 Highway 1
Big Sur, CA 93920
US: 1-831-667-3000
info@esalen.org
Esalen is open and accessible from the north.
Highway 1 south of Esalen remains closed.
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