Candice Isphording brings her passion for organic farming and farm-to-table experiences to her role as Head of Farm and Garden at Esalen, where she has cultivated a deep connection to the land starting 15 years ago.

Jim B. Tucker is the Bonner-Lowry Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia. He is a child psychiatrist who has studied children’s reports of past-life memories for 25 years at the UVA Division of Perceptual Studies.

Tricia Hersey has over 25 years of experience as a multidisciplinary artist, writer, theologian and community organizer. Tricia is the founder of The Nap Ministry and the author of the New York Times bestselling book Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto.

Kelly “Kayenta” has been practicing and teaching earth-based pottery for 15 years. Her style embodies the concept that pottery made in the old way has profound lessons to teach us. 

Adam Bramlage is Founder/CEO of Flow State Micro, a functional mushroom company and microdosing education platform. Bramlage works one on one with clients to optimize their microdosing experience.

Adam combines his passion for ecstatic dance and inner-child modalities to support collective healing. He is the Co-Director of Justice and Compassion for a social-justice and Queer-affirming congregation. He develops programs to decriminalize same-sex relations throughout Africa.

Adrienne Shamszad is an Iranian-American singer-songwriter, teacher and musician from the San Francisco Bay Area.

AJA Daashuur is a revered trance medium and the visionary founder of Spirit House Collective, a healing space in Los Angeles. She is a mystic who understands that healing is an ongoing journey, one that combines knowledge, experience, and an ever-evolving understanding of the spiritual universe.

Alan Kishbaugh is a writer with many years of experience in book publishing, urban planning, and parkland, and open space preservation. He is the author of the memoir Deep Waters: Frank Waters Remembered in Letters and Commentary. He and Stella Resnick have been married since 1987.

Alejandro Chaoul-Reich, PhD, has studied in the Tibetan traditions since 1989. He holds a PhD in Tibetan religions and is the director of the Mind Body Spirit Institute at the Jung Center of Houston. He teaches and researches the benefits of Tibetan mind-body practices.

Allan Badiner is the editor of Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics, Dharma Gaia: A Harvest in Buddhism and Ecology, and Mindfulness in the Marketplace. He is also a contributing editor of Tricycle magazine, producer of Psychedelic Integration, and co-producer of the Entheowheel series.

Amanda Giacomini is an artist and yoga teacher who is best known for her 10,000 Buddhas project. Inspired by ancient Buddhist artwork in the Ajanta caves in India, Amanda set out on a mission to paint 10,000 Buddhas. After a decade of painting, 10,000 Buddhas is a worldwide art project, including large scale murals, fine art paintings, works on paper, and textiles. Amanda is also a dedicated Yogini with over 20 years of of teaching experience. She has taught yoga all over the world at festivals, art museums, night clubs, and even the White House.  She continues to teach weekly classes at Point Reyes Yoga in Northern California which she co-founded in 2001 with her husband MC YOGI. She has been featured in National Geographic, New York Magazine, Yoga Journal, Yoga International, Tricycle, Lion’s Roar, and Origin Magazine. Follow Amanda on instagram @10000buddhas.

Amina brings over two decades of expertise to the realm of intimate healing. A passionate sexologist, intimacy coach, sex doula, and somatic bodyworker​, Amina's trauma-informed, integrative approach combines academic rigor with hands-on experience, creating safe and transformative spaces.

Amy Chan is the founder of Renew Breakup Bootcamp. The Observer calls her "a relationship expert whose work is like that of a scientific Carrie Bradshaw.'' Her New York Times-featured book was an instant bestseller.

Andrea Juhan is a licensed psychotherapist and has a PhD in Dance/Movement Therapy. She is fascinated by the journey of becoming an attuned, skillful inhabitant of a human body. Her embodiment approach is channeled through bodywork, yoga, dance, psychotherapy, and meditation, as well as through professional training, academic programs, and constant dedicated practice. 

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Andrea Lieberstein, MPH, RDN, IMTA CMT-P, RYT, is founder of the Mindful Eating Training Institute and author of Well Nourished: Mindful Practices to Heal Your Relationship with Food, Feed Your Whole Self, and End Overeating. She is a mindful eating expert, a certified eco-therapist, a certified mindfulness meditation teacher, an internationally recognized ​mindfulness teacher ​trainer, a mindfulness-based dietitian and nutritionist, and a dedicated Dharma practitioner. She offers professional certification programs.

Dr. Andrew Holecek has completed the traditional three-year Buddhist meditation retreat and offers seminars internationally on meditation, lucid dreaming, and the art of dying. He is the author of many books, including The Power and the Pain and; Preparing to Die.

Dr. Angel Acosta integrates healing-centered education, leadership, and mindfulness in his work. 

Dr. Anietie Ukpe-Wallace, PT, DPT, is an orthopedic physical therapist specializing in pelvic health that covers the reproductive spectrum. Her private practice provides hands-on manual therapy, therapeutic exercises and self-care practices to bring whole healing to the pelvis and body.

Anjali Gupta, MD, is an emergency medicine and sports medicine physician working in the California Bay Area. She served as the wellness chair for her emergency department for several years and enjoys fostering a community of spiritually healthy physicians. She loves spending time in nature, doing yoga, cycling and travel.

Ann Bradney, CPRA, is the founder and director of the Radical Aliveness Institute. The Radical Aliveness model is a distinct approach to working with groups and individuals that addresses healing on the personal, interpersonal and systemic levels.

Dr. Ann-Louise Lockhart is a pediatric psychologist, parent coach, author, and owner of A New Day Pediatric Psychology. She’s a speaker and writer on parenting, childhood diagnoses, ADHD, executive functioning, and racism. Dr. Lockhart is also a freelance writer for PureWow, PBS Kids for Parents, a contributor for The Gottman Institute, and serves as a board member for the VeryWell Review Board.

Anne Van de Water, the creator of True Self Mastery Coaching and Wellness, is here to help you awaken your full potential. As a Life and Business Coach, Health and Wellness Teacher, and Spiritual Guide, Anne brings a wealth of experience to support you in breaking free from subconscious limitations and rediscovering your True Self. With her guidance, you'll bridge the gap between your current self and who you're meant to be, courageously and authentically living, loving, and leading by example.

Embrace your transformation with Anne at annevandewater.com

Anthony Veneziale, co-CEO of Freestyle+, is a Tony Award winner, Grammy nominee, and improvisational play researcher with UCSF. Known as “Two Touch,” Anthony co-created Freestyle Love Supreme, gave the first improvised TED Talk, and has taught musical improvisation for over 25 years.

Ariel Johnson (she/her) is an embodiment facilitator and certified psychedelic integration coach specializing in trauma-informed somatic practices. With extensive training in ballet/modern dance, yoga (E-RYT 500), and Gyrotonic Level 1, she helps students cultivate greater presence and intuition in their connections with self, community, and the earth-body.

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Dr. Arvid Bell is a scholar-entrepreneur specializing in high-stakes negotiation, crisis leadership, and complex decision-making. As CEO of the Negotiation Task Force (NTF), he advises governments, military leaders, scientists, and industry executives on navigating chaos, crisis, and complexity in volatile environments.

Ayodeji Ogunnaike is a professor of African & Afro-diasporic religions who focuses on traditional Yoruba religion across the globe and has studied Ifá with Chief Ifarinwale Ogundiran, a high priest of Ifá in Nigeria.

Barbara Bogatin is a cellist with the San Francisco Symphony, chamber music performer, and a mindfulness educator. She has taught Mindfulness for Musicians seminars at the San Francisco Conservatory, the Juilliard School, and the University of Southern California.

Barbara Holifield, MSW, SEP, is an analyst at the Jung Institute of San Francisco. She has decades of experience with somatic psychology, including Somatic Experiencing, and has synthesized this work into a Depth psychoanalytic approach. She teaches authentic movement internationally.

Barry Vissell is a psychiatrist. Joyce Vissell is a master’s level nurse/psychotherapist. Together, they are co-founders of the Shared Heart Foundation. As mental health professionals dedicated to changing the world one heart at a time, they write a syndicated column for 80 periodicals worldwide, have authored numerous books, and have raised three children.

Bayo Akomolafe is a philosopher, writer, activist, professor of psychology, executive director and chief curator for the Emergence Network, and the author of We Will Tell Our Own Story and These Wilds Beyond Our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity’s Search for Home.

Becca Gallagher has worked in the food industry for over 20 years. Her experience includes growing food and flowers on small organic production farms, teaching about food in educational farm and garden spaces, and serving food and flowers for others in the restaurant industry.

Ben Geilhufe (he/him/his) is the director of community-based clinical programs for the UCSF Child and Adolescent Gender Center, adjunct faculty at Santa Clara University, co-facilitator of the Gender Therapist Team of the Central Coast, and a clinician in private practice in Santa Cruz, Calif.

Ben Saltzman is an internationally known leadership coach, Enneagram expert, spiritual maverick, and world-class facilitator.

Ben co-founded the Israeli Enneagram Center and has taught seminars at John F. Kennedy University. He teaches relational skills with his wife, Kerena Gordhamer Saltzman. 

Ben Sessa is an MD psychiatrist interested in the developmental trajectory from child maltreatment to adult mental disorders. He is a MAPS and Compass-approved MDMA and psilocybin psychotherapist and senior research fellow at Bristol and Imperial College London Universities, and has been a study doctor administering and receiving LSD, DMT, psilocybin, MDMA, and ketamine on scientific studies. He is the author of multiple articles and medical textbooks exploring psychedelics, including Psychedelic Renaissance, and is co-founder and director of the Breaking Convention conference.

Bessel A. van der Kolk, MD, has taught yearly at Esalen for more than 20 years. He is medical director of the Trauma Center in Boston, professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine, and author of the New York Times bestseller The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma.

Dr. Betty Martin has had her hands on people professionally for over 40 years, as a chiropractor, a certified surrogate partner, and a somatic sex educator. Her explorations in somatic-based therapy informed her creation of The Wheel of Consent®.

Acclaimed psychic medium/teacher Brenda Rose, renowned for her powerful spiritual transmissions, inspires hearts and minds to process the unseen. Her healing presence creates a connection of safety and curiosity for you to awaken and explore at your own pace.

Bri Boertman, MEd, 500 E-RYT, has facilitated therapeutic yoga, art, and adventure experiences for nearly 20 years. Bri coaches people from all walks toward transformation and healing through emBodied yoga practices, connection to wild spaces, and creative self-expression.

Bristol Baughan is a professional leadership coach, speaker and executive producer of Emmy®-winning and Oscar®-nominated films. She is a TED fellow, founder of Inner Astronauts, and holds a master’s degree in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica.

Brita Ostrom has led massage and somatic workshops at Esalen and internationally for more than 40 years. She is a founding member of the Esalen Massage School, practices Gestalt awareness work, and participated in Esalen’s two-year somatic education program. She is also a licensed psychotherapist.

Caitlin Wild is a wilderness guide, wholeness coach, musician and facilitator of Wild Soul awakenings. A student of wild lands, she has led both traditional and experimental wilderness workshops internationally and is devoted to re-membering us back to our miraculous and creative wild soul.

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Caley is an embodiment business coach and internationally renowned yoga teacher & yoga nidra guide. Her work is focused on helping females to connect deeply to their passions, find their purpose, and turn their biggest obstacles into their greatest superpowers.

www.CaleyAlyssa.com

Cara is a Hatha Yoga RYT certified yoga teacher, Yoga Nidra certified, has a bachelor's in Film & Television studies and a master's in Psychology. She spent over a decade working in the TV industry, helping storytellers find their voice and share authentic stories. Her unique teaching style blends storytelling, movement, and connection with the intuitive voice.

Cari is the Vice Chair of the Esselen Tribe and medicine woman for the Esselen Tribe. Cari extends her healing and reconciliation practice into mending the sacred hoop. She is a survivor leader and somatic therapist. By experiencing and continuing her ancestral knowledge, Cari shares the connection to her Esselen culture. It is this connection to her Ancestors that allows her to regulate her unhealed trauma.

A holistic therapist, ceremonial leader, teacher, and lecturer, Carlos Sauer works with Shamanic Spiritual Healing and comes from a long lineage of Brazilian mediums and healers.

Cassandra Vieten, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist, mind-body medicine researcher, author, consultant, and public speaker. She is a clinical professor in the Department of Family Medicine's Centers for Integrative Health at the University of California, San Diego, where she serves as the director of the Center for Mindfulness and as Director of Research at the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination. Cassi is also co-founder and Clinical Psychology Director at the Psychedelics and Health Research Initiative at UCSD, Senior Advisor of the John W. Brick Mental Health Foundation, and Senior Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), where she worked for 18 years. She served as CEO/President from 2013-2016.

Catherine Ann Jones, MA, is an award-winning playwright (Calamity Jane, On the Edge, The Women of Cedar Creek) and screenwriter (The Christmas Wife, Unlikely Angel, Touched by an Angel series). She also is a writing consultant and author of fiction and nonfiction, including The Way of Story and Nautilus Book Award winner Heal Your Self with Writing.

A former monk, Caverly Morgan is a spiritual teacher and nonprofit founder who blends the original spirit of Zen with a modern nondual and relational approach. She is also the author of The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together as well as A Kids Book About Mindfulness.

Celeste Young is a Buddhist Dharma teacher and Certified Life Balance Strategist. Celeste has worked with thousands of meditation and Dharma students since 2011. She sees Life Balance Strategy as a pragmatic way of supporting people in living from their deepest values.

Chandra Easton is a teacher, author, and translator of Tibetan Buddhist texts. She has taught Buddhism and Hatha Yoga since 2001 and was given the title of Vajra Teacher, Dorje Lopön, in 2015. She serves on Tara Mandala’s Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Council. She is the author of Embodying Tara (2023).

Char Pias: “My teaching of Esalen® Massage is based on awareness practice, principles of energetics, unlocking the nervous system, and an emphasis on self-care.” Char began teaching at Esalen in 1984; she also teaches throughout California and in Europe, Japan, and Canada.

Charlie Bloom is an educator, therapist and seminar leader. He and his wife Linda are co-founders of Bloomwork and co-authors of Secrets of Great Marriages: Real Truth from Real Couples about Lasting Love and 101 Things I Wish I Knew When I Got Married. He has facilitated workshops internationally since 1986.

Chelsea Scherer is a Bhakti infused wellness practitioner & yoga teacher. In her classes, she loves to weave Ayurveda, Astrology, and Yogic philosophy in for a holistic experience and deeper intention setting.

Chip is a bestselling author and hospitality entrepreneur. At 52, he joined Airbnb, embracing the role of a new kind of elder, one who is as curious as they are wise. In 2018, Chip created Modern Elder Academy, the world’s first midlife wisdom school.

Christen Lien creates experiences intended for deep processing and provides artistic medicine for healing and reconciliation. Through original music, storytelling, dialogue, and visual media, she aims to illuminate the power and transformation that happens when we better understand the shadowy aspects of life and recontextualize their symbiotic relationship to the light.

Christian de la Huerta is a personal transformation coach, spiritual teacher, TEDx speaker, and the award-winning author of Coming Out Spiritually and Awakening the Soul of Power, described by music icon Gloria Estefan as “a balm for the soul.”