However, Highway 1 south of Esalen is closed indefinitely. Don't let this stop you — there are other routes to reach us. Please review these alternate route driving directions and allow for a little extra travel time while on your transformational and healing journey.
We look forward to welcoming you to Esalen.
Our workshops are designed to support you in the challenging work of self exploration, in partnership with some of the leading minds of the day. Join us in discovering the next frontiers of individual and societal transformation. (Interested in a scholarship? Learn more here.)
“If art doesn’t make us better, then what on earth is it for?” –Alice Walker, author
How can art contribute to healing while staying centered in the creative process? What kind of art-making responds to the therapeutic experience? What does it mean to live an aesthetic life? And what is possible when we do?
In the early 1960s, a new interdisciplinary approach was developed to explore and respond to these questions: The Halprin Life/Art Process. This work influenced the worlds of dance, environmental design, theater, and psychology. This workshop will be an immersive experience in that approach to the creative process, movement, and healing art. It is aimed at those who identify as artists as well as those who are simply lovers of art seeking to open the doors of their own creativity.
We will enter into an exploration of art-making as a way to encounter and explore themes, challenges, and dreams that are informing our lives. Maps and methods will be taught that are easily accessible and applicable to personal and professional practice.
The opening welcome session will create an environment of group collaboration, including intention setting, play, and collaboration. Each day that follows will emphasize different mediums, including movement/dance, drawing, and poetry/narrative. On the fourth day, we’ll develop ritual performances for participants to present artwork dedicated to something personal and meaningful.
Participants may expect to leave with the following:
For more, please view this short video: An Afternoon with Daria Halprin
Participants must bring the following: Writing materials and a special writers journal, a box of varied and well supplied Craypas pastels/water colors if desired.
Underneath every goal in life is the desire to be happy and content. Yet in these troubled times, peace can seem hard to come by — let alone abide in. Spiritual teachings throughout the ages remind us that no matter what is happening externally, natural great peace is part of our deepest nature and, therefore, always available. The question is, How do we gain access? What do we need to address within ourselves to grow roots in this depth and live with clarity, wisdom, and equanimity?
This workshop will journey into the themes that matter most to open to a new depth of peace that is this world’s light and your birthright. With courage, compassion, and curiosity, we will illuminate the root causes of inner conflict, no matter how they presently manifest on your path. We will practice ego relaxation with all parts of our experience to unwind unhelpful patterns and open to the grace of self-forgiveness that gives us all a fresh start.
Through precise practices and graceful transmission, Miranda will guide us beyond the constraints, concerns, and inevitable agitations of ego identity. You can emerge with greater access to the peace that passeth all understanding, not just for your own benefit but so your way of being can radiate peace to your loved ones and community.
Recommended Reading: The Way of Grace: The Transforming Power of Ego Relaxation by Miranda Macpherson
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
In this retreat, you will get in touch with a deep relaxation that rejuvenates the body and the mind through non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) and yoga nidra. No matter your reasons — whether you need a break from the constant pressure, are in a life transition, or just want to delve deeper into your meditation practice — this workshop will provide space and time for contemplation and reflection.
The term non-sleep deep rest, coined by Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman, refers to a waking state of deep relaxation that maintains awareness. Evidence suggests reaching this state through NSDR protocols such as yoga nidra can reset dopamine levels and provide profound physical and mental health benefits, including better sleep and enhanced neuroplasticity.
We’ll go on an inner journey together with the hope that we emerge more connected to both ourselves and our life paths to leave feeling refreshed and deeply rested.
Together, we will:
Recommended Reading: The Blind Spot Effect: How to Stop Missing What’s Right in Front of You by Kelly Boys
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
How well we navigate our inner and outer changes has a direct impact on the well-being, purpose, and satisfaction we experience day-to-day. If you’re considering a big change, are in the midst of one now, or are feeling the effects of past changes, this workshop offers you the tools to open the next phase of your life with clarity, empowerment, and greater personal understanding.
This highly interactive and supportive program is designed to help you move through transitions and times of great change with more balance and intention. During this workshop, you will complete a series of self-assessments from the Life Balance Institute in order to gain clarity about your specific situation and support you in taking next steps. In addition to the self-assessments, your experience will include interactive exercises, time for your personal questions and observations, and meditations that teach practical skills to use in your daily life.
You will have the opportunity to:
Expect a weekend full of dynamic inquiry and the opportunity to learn essential skills for meeting all your life changes with authenticity, confidence, and clarity.
The Brahmavihārās (divine abodes) are profound practices that uncover your natural capacity to live your life easefully with love, connection, wisdom, and joy. In this experiential workshop, we’ll use daily guided meditation practices, storytelling, song, relational mindfulness practices, self-directed neuroplasticity, yoga, and somatic play to explore the classical Buddhist Heart practices known as the “boundless states” or the “four immeasurables.”
In this workshop, we will explore the four Buddhist virtues and ways to cultivate them, including:
Our days will follow a nourishing schedule of experiences and reflections balanced harmoniously with relaxing meals, community connection, and starlit soaks in Esalen’s healing baths. Music, nature, poetry, shadow work, journaling, breathwork, and ritual will all be artfully woven into our time together.
Whereas some spiritual practices are aimed at otherworldly enlightenment, the four divine abodes help us awaken to the beauty, clarity, and vast possibility available right here in our complex, often messy, mundane, and wholly sacred human experience. They are a pathway to unburdening ourselves of self-doubt, resentment, and regret. They guide our way home to that wellspring in our hearts from which unconditional love flows, where we contact our wholeness, discover radical acceptance, and remember our belonging in this world.
No matter who you are, where you are on your spiritual path, or what you’ve been through, discovering renewal is possible. Join us if you long for a deep, playful, tenderizing workshop that may touch your heart and leave you forever transformed.
In search of balance, the ancient sages of China walked into the woods to attune themselves to nature in its sublime integrity. The timeless wisdom uncovered in their wild wanderings was called simply Tao, “The Way.”
Qigong — the practice at the heart of Taoism — is dedicated to harmonizing body, mind, and spirit with the elements of nature. In this age, when so many of us feel disconnected and overwhelmed, wilderness remains a powerful healer and teacher, and qigong can bring us back to center.
Join us to learn an accessible qigong form called wai dan gong (“easy Tao”) while immersing in the majestic landscape of Big Sur, the ancestral homeland of the Esselen tribe. We rise each morning to practice, harmonizing breath and movements with the flow of waves greeting Esalen’s cliffs. After breakfast, we set out on a wilderness hike to mindfully explore Big Sur’s enchanted redwoods, sun-steeped meadows, and mountains that rise from the sea. All along the trail, we explore qigong and Taoist philosophy as pathways for returning to a grounded, spacious, revitalized state of being — in harmony with nature, embodying Wild Tao.
Notes:
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
“Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.” —Chinese Proverb
Join us for deep release and renewal as we pause to align with autumn, acknowledge the sacred cycle of life, and move gracefully through this transitory season.
Autumn is a time of letting go and accepting the impermanence of things. For many spiritual traditions, it has long been an opportunity to slow down and reflect. During this period of great change, our yoga and meditation practices can help us feel more grounded, rooted, supported, and nourished. We can create more intentional pauses and open to the sacred present moment as it is while we also fortify our inner resources, nourish our own “roots” for health and wellbeing, and expand our capacity for compassion, connection, and heartfulness. This allows us to slow down to reflect, release, and recalibrate — to consciously participate in the process of closing one chapter and starting anew.
Using a series of yogic and ayurvedic balancing techniques, Jillian will weave heart-based practices with slow flow yoga, deep restorative relaxation, and Metta meditation. Plus, we’ll incorporate inner reflection, seasonal ritual, and self-love to collaborate with the present and flow through fall with reverence, peace, and ease.
With an emphasis on rooting while opening change, we will work with multiple practices to meet this moment of transition and transformation. More than ever, we can benefit by pausing and restoring our energy and nurturing ourselves in order to better nurture our world.
Garth Stevenson will add deeply healing vibrations with his double bass to help us cultivate the balance between grounding and releasing into the spaciousness of the season.
Throughout this retreat, we will practice outdoors and embrace the Autumn elements to truly be with life’s changes and arrive more fully in the present moment.
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
“You carry Mother Earth within you. She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment. In that insight of inter being, it is possible to have real communication with the Earth, which is the highest form of prayer.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
Join herbalist, medicine woman, and plant spirit teacher Marysia Miernowska for a nourishing, magickal weekend of deep communion with the Earth, Waters, Autumnal Air, and Eternal flame within you.
In a safe and sacred container, you will be guided in:
Through restoring the ancient knowledge of folk healing and plant medicine, we hope to heal the separation that has occurred between ourselves and nature and awaken a collective passion to protect this Earth we all call home.
Recommended Reading: Miernowska, The Witch’s Herbal Apothecary: Rituals & Recipes for a Year of Earth Magick and Sacred Medicine Making.
Join ceremonial leader and wisdom carrier Erika Gagnon on a sacred journey as we gather to look beyond the false duality of a divided self and the destructive concept of “self versus nature” to discover how to live in harmony and balance within ourselves and the world around us.
You are your greatest healer and greatest medicine. This is your opportunity to examine what that means while sharing healing wisdom and practices. This workshop will offer the tools to transform trauma and unhealthy patterns, to realign your body, mind, spirit, and soul, and to honor and heal all you have inherited from your ancestral lineage, along with the social, cultural, racial, religious, and historical energies tangled in your lives. You will learn about the origins of dis-ease in our physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual bodies.
Learn about the importance of ceremonies, sacred altars, and medicinal plants and participate in a traditional South American healing ceremony, a sound healing and “doctoring” ceremony, and a water blessing prayer ceremony.
You will be invited to reconnect to your authentic wisdom and power with clarity, gratitude, and forgiveness. When you honor and heal your ancestral lineage and connect to the natural and spiritual elements of this planet, you strengthen your connection to the sacred in everyday life.
We are all interconnected in this giant web of life, and every day is a gift in the service of unconditional love for yourself, your community, humanity, and our planet. If you feel the call to be a part of a new humanity that lives in harmony and balance upon this Earth, we invite you to join us in this celebration of life.
Note: Please bring a journal to write in and any sacred items for our altar, including photographs of loved ones and ancestors and sacred objects that have meaning for you.
Special Note on Gift Economy: Esalen will not collect typical leader fees for this workshop. Erika embraces the tradition of reciprocity. Each attendee will determine the leader’s compensation. At the end of the workshop, participants will offer a donation amount that reflects their feelings of gratitude and value and their desire to support Erika and her ongoing work.
Scholarship: Erika has established a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, person of color) scholarship fund for her workshops. For more information on receiving financial assistance to participate or donating to support, please contact her at ErikaGagnon11@gmail.com
Have you created the impact you want? Are you showing up the way you’d like? Are you going in the right direction? You have never before been where you are right now. You have never been the age you are today, never had the experiences you now possess. This is your time to pause and reflect. We rarely allow ourselves the opportunity to stop and look at what is changing — or discover what we truly need to feel fulfilled.
This interactive workshop will include lots of experiential exercises. Though we will cover valuable theory and there will be plenty of reflection time, this will not be a series of talks/lectures. There will be movement, coaching, a little dance, and lots of activity. All participation will be voluntary at all times.
Our goal is to step back from our lives and renew. We will create a courageous community to both challenge and nurture ourselves. Participants will have the opportunity to learn what brings them joy and purpose, and then cultivate a vision to serve as a foundation for both the next year and next phase of life.
We will engage in a progression of individual and group exercises focused on reflection, movement, and listening to our inner wisdom. We’ll discover how to navigate major life transitions and learn skills to access our intuition. We will uncover the behaviors that support our overall success, and reveal which ones undermine our goals and fulfillment. If you are passionate about having a more powerful and authentic impact on the world around you, this program of renewal will be especially valuable.
“The body always leads us home… if we can simply learn to trust sensation and stay with it long enough for it to reveal appropriate action, movement, insight, or feeling.” — Pat Ogden
Our bodies are our greatest resource and provide a direct path for exploring our unconscious, limiting beliefs and the emotions tied to them. By increasing awareness of our bodies, we get in touch with the here and now, where change and growth are possible.
This experiential class will blend slow, developmental movements with Gestalt Practice and The Refined Method of Hakomi. All are designed to increase awareness and facilitate a greater understanding and felt experience of the connections between mind, body, and emotions.
Together, we will:
You will emerge from this program feeling more grounded, at ease, and comfortable in your body, more empowered and able to fully express yourself in the world. All that is needed is willingness to explore with curiosity and compassion.
Through mindfulness, we can create new habits. Join me as we explore what is possible!
Recommended Reading: Body-Centered Psychotherapy the Hakomi Method by Ron Kurtz, Somatics by Thomas Hanna, Gestalt Verbatim by Fritz Perls
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
When was the last time you gave something your undivided attention? Nearly 2,500 years ago, Buddha worried we had become too distracted — and that was before paper, let alone smartphones. In 2022, our days are filled with convenient distractions that promise happiness while mostly delivering busyness and frustration. So many of us today live life in a hectic fog, working too much and noticing too little.
There is a different way. For this weekend workshop, we will disconnect, slow down, and meditate together. We will learn the ancient Zen practice of sitting still, bringing our full awareness to what is now.
Our time together will follow a gentle schedule of sitting meditation punctuated by brief lectures, group discussion, relaxing meals, and soaks in the healing baths, all while exploring the process and practice of mindful living. We’ll be listening to our own bodies, noticing the food we eat, and truly engaging with the people around us – exploring what it means to be fully present.
You will leave this retreat with everything you need to start, revive, or deepen your daily meditation practice. You will receive instruction in traditional Zen Buddhist meditation and we will sit together in guided sessions, practicing what we’ve learned. We’ll work together on everything from the mechanics of sitting posture to the mental barriers we all face. We’ll discuss how to overcome common obstacles to meditation and the many ways to incorporate more mindfulness and presence into our daily lives.
Whether you’re brand new to meditation or even if you’ve been practicing for years, you will leave prepared to bring meditation into your life and mindfulness to your work and home – today and every day. Come reclaim a healthier and happier way to be.
Recommended Reading: Buddha’s Office by Dan Zigmond
We are living in a watershed moment in human history, an era with unprecedented opportunities for women to rise into leadership with refreshing, authentic, collaborative and impassioned feminine power. In this three-day, two-night gathering of visionaries, change agents, and leaders, we will facilitate the next wave of women’s empowerment — for both ourselves and the broader world. Leaders in medicine, film, science, psychology, consciousness, technology, impact investing, and cultural arts will all gather to listen, heal, integrate, and unite our energy.
Creating a culture of mentorship, we will share our visions and collectively amplify our impact. Drawing on the sacred lands and traditions of Esalen, we will bring forward ancient wisdom. Utilizing the latest insights from the fields of psychology and neuroscience, we will consciously embody the society we wish to build. We will learn from each other’s wisdom across disciplines, diverse backgrounds, and generations. We will be present in our physical bodies with the foundation of self-love.
This program will include embodied practices of meditation, expressive writing and visioning work, authentic sharing of life experiences. Exercises will be based on principles of ancient wisdom, blended with techniques informed by modern-day research on the science of well-being and change.
This summit is an opportunity for women and women-identifying individuals ready to collaborate with visionary leaders — and to bring their own healing gifts to the world from a place of embodied truth, grace, courage, and compassion.
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
Together, we will enjoy giving and receiving therapeutic touch, moving in ways that free energetic flow, settling into silence, and laughing and connecting deeply with our healing community.
During the Streams of Energy month, you will:
This month is designed to open you to your innate healing potentials, for you to experience the power of safe therapeutic touch, and to be more fully present in your unfolding as a unique expression of Source.
We are all participants in the ancient and the modern, the ego and the unconscious, the personal and the transcendent — though we all seem to forget these dual allegiances. When we go into nature, when we listen to music, when we encounter the numinous in whatever form it may manifest, we are reminded of our own truest nature, and we long for the reunion. Despite this, our egos inevitably feel threatened by the mysteries of these dualities; therefore, we all need ways of “re-membering” ourselves.
Throughout human history, shamans, mystics, and healers have found portals and pathways that challenge the ego’s primacy in order to encounter the Other within and emerge from the depths transformed. Carl Jung took a pathway he called Active Imagination, plunging himself into a dialogue with his soul that produced The Red Book. In this workshop, we will use Jung’s journey as a template to discover the creative potential accessible to us all.
As a unique mediator of opposites, music unfolds out of the interdependent relationship of consonance and dissonance. This workshop will explore music from neurobiological, spiritual, and experiential perspectives.
Through music’s ecstatic nature — live improvisations inspired by ancient healing techniques and performances of original music as well as the works of J.S. Bach, Robert Schumann, Philip Glass, and Arvo Pärt — you will be guided into yourself and reminded of yourself. Listen and allow the music to be the mediator of the dialogue.
To explore and deepen your relationship with the unconscious, we will work with practices such as:
Throughout the week, we will focus on practices for deep listening and the week will culminate in a concert inspired by Jung’s Red Book. Bringing decades of experience as Jungians, psychotherapists, and professional musicians, John and Rodney will set the stage for an exploration of those portals and pathways within.
The Artist lives within everyone! Art can be made out of just about anything! It’s a time to leave the critic behind and allow oneself to play, nourish, and replenish the creative spirit. It’s also a time to enjoy the company and camaraderie of like-minded peers. Now is your time to discover the joys of art based on community and collaboration and to find out how meaningful and grand a shared, creative experience can be
In this transformative workshop, we will use repurposed material in a whole new context of re-creation.
Come experiment with a vast array of reused materials to create mixed-media mosaics, sculptures, and collages. There will be an assortment of recycled glass, metals, wood, plastics, paper, photographs, fabrics, and old artifacts — bits and pieces of the past and present.
In a beautiful, nurturing, supportive setting, we will reclaim and shape society’s scraps and discarded objects into re-imagined meaning. Find your own inner voice of expression as you delve into the process of creating art out of different materials and mediums, and learn new skills.
Not only will you have the opportunity to explore your own expression and immerse yourself in solo creations, but we will also engage in a collaborative group project to enter the whimsical world of community-oriented magic and play.
There is a transformative joy that comes from engaging with others in the artistic process. It opens doors unseen and forges deeper bonds between people. This exciting, shared experience teaches us how beautiful it is to break down barriers and collaborate.
This workshop is geared toward anyone with the desire to create. From the beginner to the advanced, this is a time to explore new possibilities. Together, we will:
If there are any recycled materials, special mementos, poems, or photos you would like to bring and include in our creations, please feel free!
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
Increased vitality can be a doorway to living an awakened life. In this workshop, we will use the practices of yoga, Zen meditation, and inquiry to support and reveal this exploration. Our vitality is often obscured, but through practice and guidance, it can be available to us all. However we find ourselves, we can flower into the full potential of this human life.
Vitality of body and mind is an integral aspect of an awakened life. This workshop will enliven and liberate us as we learn to connect with the life force, embody it in our daily lives, and trust it to support us in simply being. Together, we will:
Some yoga experience is recommended.
How much are you present in your own life? Most of us spend more time worrying about the future, replaying the past, or getting lost in fantasy than experiencing what life offers us right now. This moment is our opportunity to be directly intimate with our lives while learning through difficult lessons how to open our hearts.
Mindfulness — or vipassana — meditation is the practice described by the Buddha for developing wisdom, compassion, and peace by learning to be conscious and aware of what is happening in the present. Using breath, body sensations, thoughts, and emotions, we can find out how to be more fully awake. When we see directly that the nature of reality is change, we become more capable of meeting each situation with spontaneity, fearlessness, and love.
In this workshop, you’ll be introduced to this meditation practice and the principles on which it is based. There will be periods of silent sitting and walking meditation as well as discussions to help provide a foundation for your own mindfulness practice in your everyday life.
Recommended Reading: Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to a Happier Life by James Baraz and The Experience of Insight by Joseph Goldstein
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
“Love is the extremely difficult realization that someone other than one’s self is real.” — Louise Erdrich
Others inspire all sorts of feelings in us, both positive and negative, in every possible texture, tone, and frequency. Sometimes we become reactive, amplify these feelings, or try not to notice them. Sometimes, to stay connected to ourselves, we even avoid others altogether. Instead of investing and reinvesting in our likes and dislikes, we can train ourselves to remain open and curious about the range of responses others awaken in us — and everything we stir in them.
In this workshop, we will use the physical and energetic language of the Open Floor Movement practice to explore, express, and understand our natural responses to one another.
As we allow the many textures of our relationships to move through our bodies, we can experience a new sense of fluidity and authenticity in our needs, preferences, and attachments. Through dedicated movement practice, we can deepen and develop our innate curiosity — and add it to our range of habitual responses as we move away from prejudice and separation toward a sense of openness, connection, and peace in the company of others.
Experience “process painting” with Stewart Cubley and staff.
In this expressive painting workshop, participants will enjoy artistic freedom — creating without the pressure to perform, produce, or succeed. Everyone will be a beginner. Whether you are a veteran painter or picking up a paintbrush for the first time, this experience will be about the creative process rather than technique, training, or expertise.
In the respectful and nurturing studio environment, you’ll receive individual attention and gentle guidance to:
One of the myths of art is that you have to feel inspired and confident in order to create. On the contrary, not-knowing allows innocence, accepting imperfection yields compassion, and risking vulnerability opens the door to breakthrough and awe. In that spirit, there will be no critiques, analyses, or judgments of the work. This workshop may interest people from a wide variety of disciplines, including art, education, counseling, social change, and meditative practices.
All materials are supplied, including high-quality, non-toxic liquid tempera on paper and high-quality brushes.
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
How we sit, stand, move, and respond to our inner and outer world reflects deeply ingrained patterns wired into our nervous systems since childhood. They reflect our early solutions to physical survival in our family system. Out of awareness, these beliefs and strategies can still run our adult lives, limit our choices, and prevent physical ease and emotional healing.
If you still have pain or limitations from a past injury, it is usually because many other areas in your body had to overwork to protect and avoid using the injured area while you were recovering. These unconscious compensations can create an imbalanced workload and, eventually, new issues elsewhere in our body that prevent complete healing.
Using CFR®, we slowly explore and deeply sense small, gentle movements that bring these hidden patterns into awareness. When our genius nervous system becomes aware of a habit that is no longer useful, it extinguishes it. A greater experience of self-trust and self-worth is uncovered. A new sense of self-love, which comes from paying attention to your details without judgment, usually emerges.
This workshop is for the sedentary who want to become more active, the highly active who want to avoid injury and gain a competitive edge, and the chronically tired and stressed who want to improve breathing, posture, and flexibility. It is for those who have experienced physical injury or emotional trauma and those in helping professions who wish to enhance outcomes for clients and patients.
You will leave equipped with simple yet effective tools for continued self-healing. Your discoveries will lead to a state of awe about what is possible in your body, your movement, and your life.
Somewhere inside you – buried deeply, or maybe just below the surface – there is a story you’ve been wanting to tell. We invite you to connect to that deeper authentic story and that deeper authentic You. No matter where you are on your journey, beginner or expert, there is space for you here.
During this weeklong, we will disconnect from our devices and our default-world lives to immerse ourselves in the open air of Esalen. You will be invited to move your body, find your breath, observe your mind, and fill pages with your words. Yoga and mindfulness practices are carefully curated to support moving past your creative obstacles and connect you with your inner voice. Through the writing session, you will be guided to relinquish fear and live fully in your creativity.
This workshop will include:
As educators, storytellers, and human do-ers, Darnell and Cara truly believe in growth and happiness. They invite you to lean into the symbiotic relationship between storytelling and movement and the magic that happens when they come together. This workshop intends to foster an environment that will encourage you to confidently call yourself an artist and have the opportunity to cultivate techniques and rituals that will fuel your creativity and give you the audacity to integrate it all into your daily lives.
Come home to your whole body instrument and discover your unique sound!
We believe singing and speaking are radical acts of self-expression and that exploring your instrument with full freedom takes tremendous courage. Science confirms what we see in our own experience — that intentional vocal toning creates measurable vitality and joy in our lives and empowers our whole body experience of life itself.
As your new brothers in Voice, we set a safe space for you to reclaim your power and connection to your body. The benefits are clear: Whether it be speaking at a conference, teaching a class, or singing in an arena, we see it as all one center of personal gravity, held deeply in the Embodied Voice you’ve been gifted this lifetime.
We forego performing and welcome experience as our methodology. We forego comparison and embrace an inner path to reclaiming a new relationship to our own voice as an instrument of our soul and a connection to both the Earth and the resonance of life.
So often, we are taught with the methodology of measurable results — competition and comparison as the benchmarks for success. Instead, this workshop lovingly invites you to take an entirely different path. We invite you to see that you are incomparable, unmistakable, fascinating, and wholly distinct as a voice. We welcome you to experience your soul’s voice through fun and embodied practices of self-expression, union, and communion.
In this module, you will identify the key elements of your voice and outline how you use your voice in your relationships, at home, at work, and in your community at large, and how you use it to set boundaries. You will become aware of your body as an instrument that was made to sing and immerse yourself in the music you truly love.
During this weekend exploration of your Embodied Voice, we set a safe space for you to reclaim your power and connection to your body through a series of practical and experiential practices that require no prior musical or singing ability. Through simple and fun exercises, we will help you ground down into the gravity of your whole body instrument and sound out powerfully what it feels like to be you and alive.
In this basic skills workshop, couples, partners, and friends will refine their relationship with touch, our forgotten language. Participants will learn to listen to each other, gain sensory skills in initiating and receiving touch, experience the felt sense of muscle release, and close with a balanced tenderness.
Seasoned instructors will offer exercises, massage demonstrations, and at-the-table guidance during paired practice. The simple principles of Esalen® Massage — presence, connection, attending rather than fixing, self-care, receptivity, and slow-paced strokes encompassing the body — will build a heartfelt experience with our partners and friends and, perhaps most significantly, ourselves.
By the final session, participants will share the basics of a classical Esalen massage. Experienced practitioners and caregivers will find it refreshing to apply the Esalen method and notice its healing effects as their rhythm slows and the mind becomes focused on compassionate contact rather than technique.
Touch evokes an opening to spirit as we tap our innate ability to move into healthful balance and a recognition of our natural field. The edgy wildness of Esalen’s grounds, canyons, hot springs, and mountain backdrop invites this deeper connection.
This class offers 10 hours of CE credit for massage therapists.
View the continuing education syllabus here.
Recommended reading: Connecting Through Touch by Peggy Horan
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
All people have an innate ability to move toward healthy, satisfying relationships. Old patterns of behavior and fixed ideas formed in early relationships may block our ability to communicate and make contact with the people in our lives.
The Gestalt approach aims to increase awareness of these patterns and our ”unfinished business” by relating in a group that meets our needs for emotional attunement and understanding, that supports us in identifying and expressing our emotions, and which is committed to creating an atmosphere of respect, kindness, acceptance and honesty. These relational experiences support energy, aliveness and good contact.
Over the course of this workshop, we will
We may discover habitual relational patterns that prevent us from cultivating the type of relationships we want, and develop new skills for relating.
The workshop will include time for gestalt awareness practices, and a mixture of didactic and experiential exercises. Each participant will have an individual “open seat” session with Dorothy, with the support of the group.
For centuries, humans have looked to myths to make meaning of our lives. Stories of the deities can bring fresh perspectives to our own unique Hero’s journey, ease us through transitions, and act as maps to greater clarity. We’ll combine the power of these ancient tales with yoga and other experiential practices to help us tap into creativity and joy while awakening our spirits to possibility.
This workshop offers a unique and playful opportunity to commune with the deeper aspects of self through movement, inquiry, and storytelling. Our focus this weekend will be on the deities and lore that promise new beginnings and grace.
Together we’ll explore:
This nourishing schedule of experiential practices will be balanced harmoniously with relaxing meals, community connection, and soaks in Esalen’s healing baths. Music, nature, poetry, relational play, and ritual will all be woven together artfully. Renewal awaits!
“A brain without a body couldn’t think.” — Moshe Feldenkrais
“We want to get you to a place where gravity is your friend, a nourishing force.” — Dr. Ida P. Rolf
Human beings are relational by nature. We are an intricate web of anatomy, energy, space, and time that takes shape through our life experiences. Our physical structure, function, and sense of self are reflected in our fascial layers and formed by our early development, by principles of self-organization, and by how we engage with our environment.
When we fall into habitual patterns, parts of ourselves become undeveloped, unseen. If our bodies are given a setting in which to relate to gravity, others, and our environment with curiosity and attunement, we can be free to move and relate with more choice and ease.
Using the grounds, waters, and spirit of Esalen as our laboratory, Kate and Kevin will use the Feldenkrais Method and Gestalt process as a guide to contact and nurture the influences of the subtle body – our relationship to ground, gravity, and the space between.
In this workshop, participants will:
Recommended Reading: Feldenkrais, The Potent Self: A Study of Spontaneity and Compulsion; Gladis, Tales of a Wounded Healer: Creating Exact Moments of Healing; Bodywise: An Introduction to Hellerwork for Regaining Flexibility & Well-Being.
Take your seat among other songwriters as we work to refine our songwriting tools. We will go beyond the basic nuts and bolts of the craft and take our skills to the next level. Get ready to develop the ability to translate your own life stories into well-crafted, heartfelt songs. Through writing exercises, song assignments, performances, co-writing and demonstrations, the inner muse will be coaxed and cultivated. In a safe, supportive, fun workshop climate, we’ll share and receive constructive feedback on our works in progress.
Discover and expand your boundaries and edges around the songwriting process, and bridge inspiration and craft. At week’s end, the group will share its songs, new and old, with the Esalen community.
This workshop is for individuals who have experience in songwriting and are working on refining their musical voice. You should have written some songs and be able to perform them from memory prior to attending this workshop. Bring your musical instrument and dress casually — we will do some dancing and moving. There will also be evening jams. Simple recording devices are strongly encouraged. Bring an open heart and a curious mind.
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
When the wisdom of the sky and the wisdom of the earth are braided through the human heart, then there will be a rainbow of people.”
This prophecy of the Indigenous peoples speaks to the practice of braiding together traditional (earth) and contemporary (sky) knowledge to create something new that embraces both rather than replacing one or the other. Through this braiding, or weaving, we can learn to live modern lives guided by ancient wisdom, bringing the sacred home to ourselves.
In this experiential workshop, we will engage in cross-cultural practices and non-ordinary states of consciousness through drumming, guided journeys, and ceremony. These practices have been shared by Indigenous cultures over thousands of years to deepen connections to the self, cultivate a relationship with the planet, and find more balanced ways of being. You will be introduced to different techniques designed to ground and integrate these non-ordinary states and discover how to incorporate these teachings into your daily lives.
This workshop will cover the components of ceremony, including:
In our time together, we will explore the braided way. You’ll have the opportunity to reconnect with wisdom practices that forge sacred space for self and community. Come ready to restore, reveal, and leave inspired!
Participants are encouraged to bring drums or percussion instruments, a Journal for note taking, a blanket or wrap for floor work, and a water container.
To breathe well is to live well. When we befriend the breath, we expand our capacity for choice, change, joy, and healing. When we embody breath — allowing limbs and bones to express outwardly the dynamic, unceasing pulsation of life within — we touch freedom.
In this new and electrifying 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.
Operating from philosopher Havi Carel’s conception of breath as “a juncture of the physiological, psychological, existential, spiritual, and cultural,” we’ll practice dancing and digging at this intersection and, in effect, access a felt reconnection to our wholeness.
Join Sadia in her signature practice, which draws from her many deep pools of training and experience. This deeply embodied practice will include:
Together, we’ll form a sacred community of breathing beings and establish conditions for the unobstructed flow of life force within and around our bodies — and our lives. The natural, subtly explosive intimacy that exists between body and breath — and between you and your breathing body— can emerge anew, rendering you more sensitized to desire, pleasure, purpose, and power; to who you are, what you want, and why.
Many of us hold a deep dream of writing. We want to tell our stories so we can understand ourselves more fully and make sense of our lives. We want to pass on our family stories. By giving our life experiences shape, texture, and beauty, we hope to create a lasting legacy that will inspire and inform.
From Memory to Memoir will teach you how to take your life stories and craft them into a memoir. We will examine what transforms a personal story into something that has value and meaning for others, and in the process, we will be addressing the following questions:
You will leave the retreat with a substantial body of writing as well as many essential skills and exercises that will keep you focused and directed for months to come.
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
We all long to be happy. Happy as in deep contentment. We all long to feel at ease, to be at peace, to know that we’re okay and that we belong. Most of us are deeply habituated to believing ourselves to be separate, and that we must fix ourselves in order to earn and experience deep connection. Being separate and broken though are illusions. We forget that belonging is already seated in the heart of who we are — and that it’s always available if only we look within. When we do, we can transform far more than just our own lives.
Ask yourself these questions:
These questions will guide our time together on retreat as we explore how meditation, mindfulness, and contemplative technologies designed for the realization of who we truly are can — and must — be applied collectively. Our daily meditation practice will serve as a framework onto which we will begin to weave teachings with personal reflections. You will have the opportunity to connect to yourself and others and the world beyond in solo and group exercises, and discussions that inspire us to put our values into action.
We hope you will join us in this return to belonging, this remembering of the deepest truth of who we are, with the intention of using this understanding to transform our own lives and the world we share.
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
Join us for this unique opportunity to explore the masculine traditions of the Esselen Tribe, integrated with the fundamentals of the 5Rhythms® movement practice. Answer the call of 55000 Highway 1’s healing waters and travel with Douglas and Little Bear on a hero’s journey. Together, we will explore what it means to embody the sacred masculine in this modern world. With courage, integrity, and receptivity, we will create renewed understandings of masculinity as a group and learn how we, as men, can “walk our talk.”
Healthy and uplifting rites of passage have always been an important aspect of humanity, yet they are largely missing from modern society. People from all walks of life and religions have historically gone through different experiences and coming-of-age ceremonies to prove they were ready to move into their next stage of life. Men were traditionally taught by their fathers, grandfathers, and uncles, but this traditional upbringing is now missing for many. In order to overcome today’s accepted norms of masculinity, it is important for men to be able to find solace with one another, learn from one another, and relate at the heart level.
In this weeklong workshop, we will have the opportunity to:
The intentions for our week together are to create a sacred space for men to come together and reignite our sacred fire, as well as to build a new bridge to manhood — to gentle warriorhood.
Guest Faculty: Musicians Sanga of the Valley and Nick Ayers will accompany this workshop, and faculty Mac Murphy will also join us.
Sanga of the Valley has played African drums from an early age. Sanga moved to New York City in 1970 from Trinidad, where he met Babatunde Olatunji and became one of Olatunji’s students. Sanga went on to be one of Olatunji’s lead djembe players and spent 25 years as a member of Olatunji’s Drums of Passion. Sanga of the Valley has worked with artists such as Carlos Santana, Nina Simone, the Grateful Dead, the Neville Brothers, and Stanley Jordan.
Nick Ayers has been a professional musician and dancer for over 25 years. Nick knows the sensitivities of deep listening. He is a massage practitioner at Esalen Institute and the creator of the Wavetable, a vibro-acoustic sound table that massages the body through his original musical compositions.
Mac Murphy is a practitioner of human transformation, massage, and bodywork and embodiment practices. He grew up in Mill Valley, just north of San Francisco, among the redwood ridges and beaches surrounding Mt. Tamalpais. That’s where he fell in love with the magic of nature. Mac is a fourth-generation steward of the land of Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA. There is a pristine rawness of nature at Esalen, an ancient ground with a profound human history dating back 10,000 years, when the Esselen People first arrived there at the end of the last Ice Age. The powerful energy of the land lives inside of him.
If you would like to begin your own journey to understand the past and present of the Esselen Tribe of Monterey Country or to support the tribe in the progress of its work, please visit www.esselentribe.org.
You deserve to feel ease and joy in your body as you age. Movement, time in nature, breath, quiet contemplation, and “Aha!” moments all contribute to expanding happiness and delight in life. Though this is true, you may face challenges. Changes to our bodies — aches and pains, joint replacements, osteoporosis, heart issues, and other conditions — may challenge us to find new ways to understand ourselves and maintain grace of movement and attitude.
During this workshop, you’ll discover yoga therapy and embodied enquiry techniques that increase awareness, empower exploration of your unique body now, and increase your ability to take good care of yourself. Learn to feel yoga poses from the inside out, aligning them well to tune into the energy flowing through your body, and find qigong movements and yoga postures that best serve you.
We have a week together to listen to our inner wisdom and the quiet intelligence of the body. We have the space to share our ideas, fears, limiting scripts, and dreams for our futures.
Together, we will find:
We will be joined during our week by guest faculty and musician JJ Jeffries, who will guide us in “embodied enquiry” and play lovely acoustic guitar during some of our yoga and meditation practices.
We gather on this powerful land for a weekend to remember — with our bodies, minds, and spirits — all that we have to be grateful for. Amidst all of the turmoil, we come together in community to remember that we are enough as we are. Through yoga, meditation, reflection, cliff side baths, and walking on Esalen’s healing land, we will return to our hearts. We’ll be joined by incredible guest teachers and musicians, sharing their expertise, wisdom and gratitude with us.
Together, we’ll explore dynamic yoga asana, pranayama, chanting, meditation, and yoga nidra. Let’s recognize each breath as a gift, as we’re nourished by delicious organic meals, the natural hot springs, walks among the majestic redwoods, or simply curling up in an ocean-view chair. Whether you come alone or with loved ones, you are sure to return to your daily rhythm with a newfound sense of ease, inspiration, and deep gratitude for the life you’re living.
Esalen® Massage builds on the Institute’s rich legacy of studies to integrate body, mind, and spirit. This extraordinary course is designed for certified bodyworkers seeking in-depth experience and training in the famed Esalen massage approach.
After course completion, graduates may call themselves Esalen® Massage professionals. This workshop includes the basic methods and techniques of Esalen Massage and more, including daily exercises in mindful centering and self-reflection, grounding, awakening the senses, and developing the art of being present. Through lectures, demonstrations, and supervised practice, you will learn optimum body mechanics to support the slow flow of the signature long strokes, detail work, assisted movement, and energy balancing. At the heart of the work is compassionate communication. The results will permeate every aspect of your life. “It’s not that the massage has changed; you’ve changed,” said one recipient.
Successful completion includes the course work, two hands-on assessments, and fifteen documented massages at your home site. Once you certify, you earn the right to call yourself an Esalen® Massage practitioner. This is post-certification professional education and does not qualify for CAMTC transcript credit. Those with bodywork experience who are not interested in professional certification may still apply.
We look forward to meeting you to share our love for Esalen Massage.
This is an advanced course for post-certification students only. Please supply your certificate type, source, date, and number on your application at the end of your essay.
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
“Enoughness” is the starting point of any journey toward gratitude. We begin to fully take in the profound gift of all that is unfolding only when we recognize that we are enough.
With Esalen as our transformative container, let’s meet during the week of Thanksgiving. Let’s honor the land and the Esselen people, the indigenous stewards of this place, as we remember the awe of the natural world around us and the life force within us.
Throughout the week, we will practice giving thanks for the world around us. We’ll cultivate curiosity and wonder for the life we have here and now. We’ll begin to move our attention away from the long list of “lack” that can consume our days.
To support the cultivation of this state of being, we will include daily practices to create suppleness in mind, spirit, and body:
We will return to the present to reclaim and embrace ourselves in our wholeness as enough. We will attend to all the ways we are enough, give enough, get enough, and have enough so we can lay claim to the power of life pulsing through us.
Each day will be an exploration of practices and tools that can cultivate and make space for a sense of contentment —and a chance for “giving” to ripple out into the world with grace and gratitude.
Matter is Energy … Energy is Light … We are all Light Beings” — Albert Einstein
Each of us walks around within our own energy halo. When two people touch, we activate an energetic exchange. This felt relationship is the heart and soul of Esalen® Massage. With a spirit of gratitude throughout the week, we will practice grounding and attuning inward by means of ancient Asian exercises. We will activate our hands and learn to palpate and awaken balance in our partner’s energy field, body, heart, mind, and spirit. Both givers and receivers will walk away refreshed.
The slow-paced lengthening strokes and details of Esalen Massage provide an accessible entry point for this healing modality, which offers relaxation, connection, and potent integration after physical trauma. Two senior massage teachers, each with professional backgrounds in Asian studies, will bring to life the practice of energy anatomy, including vital points and their effect on our well-being. They’ll teach through brief lecture demonstrations with ample time for hands-on practice, self-reflection, and sharing with classmates. The magnificent Big Sur land and sea will cradle our Thanksgiving week experience.
This course is geared toward beginners, couples looking for new ways to communicate, and practitioners and caregivers seeking a fresh focus. It provides 26 hours of hands-on instruction toward the California Massage Therapy Council (CAMTC) certificate.
The latest research clearly demonstrates the powerful impact emotional experiences have on our health and longevity. While we know this to be true, we don’t always know how to be emotionally well.
During this weekend, we’ll open the door to greater emotional intelligence and perception. With a combination of lectures, interactive exercises, breathwork, movement (yoga and dance), and meditation, we’ll practice understanding our feelings, and how to respond to them.
We’ll explore emotional wellness through the lens of Ayurveda. Our approach is to customize our healing based on what we are experiencing in real time. This, in turn, increases our depth of connection with ourselves and others.
In this experiential workshop, we’ll learn Ayurvedic approaches to:
Recommended Reading: Ayurveda for Yoga Teachers and Students by Dr. Siva Mohan (chapter on Emotional Wellness) and Chakra Rituals by Cristi Christensen (chapter on Second Chakra)
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
Master Chungliang “Uncle Al” Huang, one of Esalen’s most cherished faculty members, brings 50+ years of teaching experience to welcome you into China’s ancient practice of qigong.
During this workshop, Master Huang will teach the most essential qigong exercises — guiding students through energetic practices of movement, storytelling, and subtle energy work. This is an experience for those who wish to sustain a daily practice for the mind, body, and spirit.
Master Huang will teach easy-to-absorb, adaptive exercises and assist you through metaphors, visualization, sonic chanting, meditation, and deep circular breathing methods. Participants will hear about the great history of this ancient practice as Master Huang shares his vast wealth of knowledge.
A fun, joyful weekend for all ages and levels of practitioners! We will learn to incorporate this healthy practice as a consistent habit: Wei Wu Wei — “doing by not doing, spontaneously.”
Beginners and “advanced beginners” are welcome.
Join ceremonial leader and wisdom carrier Erika Gagnon on a sacred journey as we gather together and explore the healing wisdom of the “Americas.” We will learn about the importance of ancestral lineage, ceremonies and rituals, sacred altars, medicinal plants, and the origins of dis-ease in our physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual bodies.
You are your greatest healer and greatest medicine, and we will examine what this means in the context of our modern daily lives as we share healing wisdom and practices together. This is your time to transform trauma and unhealthy patterns and to realign your body, mind, spirit, and soul. You will also have the opportunity to participate in a traditional South American healing ceremony, a sound healing and “doctoring” ceremony, and a water blessing.
You are invited to reconnect to your authentic wisdom and power with clarity, gratitude, and forgiveness. When you honor and heal your ancestral lineage and connect to the natural and spiritual elements of this planet, you strengthen your connection to the sacred in everyday life.
We are all interconnected in this giant web of life, and every day is a gift in the service of unconditional love — for yourself, your community, and our planet. If you feel the call to be a part of a new humanity that lives in harmony and balance upon this Earth, then we invite you to join us in this celebration of life.
Please bring any sacred items for our altar, including photographs of loved ones and ancestors, sacred objects that have meaning for you, and a journal to write in.
Special Note on Gift Economy: For this workshop, Esalen will not be collecting the typical leader fees. Erika embraces the tradition of the gift economy and reciprocity. Her compensation will be self-determined by each attendee. At the end of the workshop, participants will offer a donation amount that reflects their feelings of gratitude and value and their desire to support Erika and her ongoing work.
SCHOLARSHIP: Erika has established a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, person of color) scholarship for her workshops. For more information on receiving one to participate, please contact her at ErikaGagnon11@gmail.com.
To be truly creative, to let go of preconceived restrictions, is to allow yourself the freedom to flow. Taoist wisdom calls this Wu Wei — the art of not interfering with what is already happening.
During this weeklong workshop, we will playfully reinvent Tai Ji forms with ancient Tai Ji rituals, Five Moving Forces of Nature, and traditional Tai Ji motifs. We will explore, improvise, and evolve to find renewed and refreshed ways to dance the open structures of this ancient wonder of movement meditation.
With more than fifty consecutive years of teaching experience at Esalen, Master Huang creates a unique Tai Ji class for practitioners at all levels. Come prepared to enjoy “Uncle Al’s” storytelling, energy practices, and qigong mastery in this creative “Living Your Tao” Tai Ji experience.
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
When was the last time you gave something your undivided attention? Nearly 2,500 years ago, Buddha worried we had become too distracted — and that was before paper, let alone smartphones. In 2022, our days are filled with convenient distractions that promise happiness while mostly delivering busyness and frustration. So many of us today live life in a hectic fog, working too much and noticing too little.
There is a different way. For this weekend workshop, we will disconnect, slow down, and meditate together. We will learn the ancient Zen practice of sitting still, bringing our full awareness to what is now.
Our time together will follow a gentle schedule of sitting meditation punctuated by brief lectures, group discussion, relaxing meals, and soaks in the healing baths, all while exploring the process and practice of mindful living. We’ll be listening to our own bodies, noticing the food we eat, and truly engaging with the people around us – exploring what it means to be fully present.
Together we will explore everything you need to start, revive, or deepen your daily meditation practice. You will receive instruction in traditional Zen Buddhist meditation and we will sit together in guided sessions, practicing what we’ve learned. We’ll work together on everything from the mechanics of sitting posture to the mental barriers we all face. We’ll discuss how to overcome common obstacles to meditation and the many ways to incorporate more mindfulness and presence into our daily lives.
Whether you’re brand new to meditation or even if you’ve been practicing for years, join us in learning how to bring meditation into your life and mindfulness to your work and home – today and every day. Come reclaim a healthier and happier way to be.
The soothing quality of massage is a delightful antidote for stress or that out-of-sorts feeling. Sharing a massage heightens non-verbal connection and awakens sensory awareness. Whether you’re a novice or professional, this workshop will guide you through the basic concepts of Esalen Massage in a pleasant, easy-to-follow format.
With brief lecture demonstrations and plenty of at-the-table guidance, the instructors will offer the essential elements, highlighting the foundational long, integrating strokes and gentle stretches. Grounding, sensing, contact, and the impact of touch will be introduced and practiced with classmates, building a firm base. The professional caregiver or practitioner can also refresh their existing work with Esalen’s pace, presence, and sensitivity — “the listening hand.” Don’t be surprised if you come away realizing you like giving a classic Esalen massage as much as you like receiving one.
Arrive prepared to enjoy the healing waters of Esalen’s natural hot mineral springs and the serene beauty of the Esalen land. The sound of the waves and the flowing strokes harmonize into an extraordinary massage experience.
Arrive prepared to enjoy the healing waters of Esalen’s natural hot mineral springs and the serene beauty of the Esalen land. The sound of the waves and the flowing strokes harmonize in an extraordinary massage experience.
View the continuing education syllabus.
10 hours of CE credit for Massage Therapists.
Recommended Reading: Connecting Through Touch by Peggy Horan
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
For thousands of years across many cultures, enhanced states of consciousness have been used as a strategy for meaningful transformation and self-exploration — marking life’s major transitions and rites of passage and deepening one’s connection to self, community, and the natural world.
In this workshop, we will gather in the rich field of community for an immersive experience and personal exploration of enhanced states of consciousness. Our time together will include strategies for navigating, integrating, and preparing for these experiences. Holotropic Breathwork® offers language, method, and structure for turning inward and working with deeply personal material as it emerges, uniquely, from one’s own intrinsic intelligence. We will be supported by time-honored practices that are simple, yet powerful. These unique states can offer us unmediated access to the self as a deep source of healing, insight, and evolutionary potential. Participants will experience four Holotropic Breathwork sessions, with two as “breather” and two as “sitter.” Your time assisting others in “non-ordinary state” space will complement your personal exploration. Additionally, contemplative practice, movement, expressive arts, and time in community will support the integration process throughout the week.
Originating from the pioneering psychedelic researcher, Stanislav Grof, and his late wife, Christina Grof, Holotropic Breathwork is a particularly useful practice for those interested in or training to work in psychedelic-assisted therapy.
This workshop is suited for all those of heart who are curious about exploring enhanced states of consciousness and opening to an evolutionary process of unfolding. New or novice explorers/breathers are very welcome, along with experienced navigators/breathers. The fundamental urge to grow, to heal, and to be transformed in a truly authentic way drives us not outward but inward, toward the depths of our own being, toward a deep mystery within. This inward journey strengthens and nourishes our senses in a way that can revitalize our daily lives with creative and emergent energy.
** Due to the nature of breathwork and at the request of faculty lead Stacia Butterfield, a negative COVID test result is required upon arrival for participation in this workshop.
Love is not a mood but a state of being.
– Gabrielle Roth
Gabrielle Roth’s Heartbeat map is a guide to how our emotional energy moves and morphs. In this practice, we embody the art of being a fluid emotional athlete. This map teaches us how to navigate the emotional terrain of life without getting stuck, holding on, or pushing away.
We will dance with the transformative qualities of fear and courage, anger and forgiveness, grief and surrender, joy and generosity, compassion and connection. We will practice with the Brahmavihara meditations that cultivate loving kindness, equanimity, joy, and compassion.
Together we will integrate the stillness of Buddhist mindfulness meditation with the moving meditations of the 5Rhythms®. In sitting meditation, we have the opportunity to observe the mind and body at rest through silent introspection. In the practice of the 5Rhythms, we engage in mindfulness while in motion. The two polarities together mirror the dance of life and open the door to peace, well-being, and balance.
Connection and compassion are keys to finding peace and happiness in a world suffering from fear and isolation. Cultivating compassion can relieve stress and allow more kindness to be present in our lives.
All skills taught are meant to be taken home and applied to your daily life. All workshop hours contribute to 5Rhythms® teacher training prerequisites.
Recommended Reading: Sweat Your Prayers, Maps to Ecstasy, Connections by Gabrielle Roth; Dancing With Dharma: Essays on Movement And Dance In Western Buddhism edited by Harrison Blum, Published by McFarland & Company.
End the year strong in this transformational and deeply interactive workshop with award-winning instructor Justin Michael Williams. In this once-yearly event, you will:
Together, we’ll create your personal action plan for 2024 and define your next steps with a simple, proven method that you and your team can take into the new year. This is your moment to reset, renew, overcome fear and self-doubt, and say “yes” to the year that lies ahead. Become more authentically inspired and motivated through practical tools to break the hidden patterns holding you back from the power that’s inside of you. Awaken your true power for the year ahead.
This program has been designed from the ground up to welcome all people of all genders, races, identities, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Recommended reading: Stay Woke, by Justin Michael Williams
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
Fostering close and connected relationships is one of the most important things affecting the quality of our lives. Cultivating trust and openness with a loved one, whether they be an intimate partner or friend, is an essential aspect of any successful, supportive relationship.
This weekend, Perry and Johanna Holloman, intimate partners and friends for over 30 years, will share the most effective tools and practices they have developed to nurture their connection to each other.
The primary tool Perry and Johanna will share is called Gestalt Inquiry. This easy-to-learn, powerful practice provides a safe context for exploring the most meaningful and sensitive aspects of relationships. Perry and Johanna like to think of it as a practice that becomes a continuing part of any successful long-term relationship because it places high value on compassion, respect, and love of truth. As we learn to discover and safely express what is true for us, individually, as a couple, or as friends, we deepen our heart’s capacity for intimacy and connection, which leads to a more fulfilling and meaningful shared life.
During our time together, you will learn practices and resources to integrate into your everyday life, such as:
This workshop is for couples of all genders and sexual orientations. A couple may be any two people with a history who desire a better future together, e.g., friends, partners, married or divorced spouses, parent and child, siblings, and others.
Misconceptions about Reiki place its origins anywhere from ancient Egypt to Tibet — even from angels and aliens — but we hold the truth in the palms of our hands. In this workshop, we’ll explore the roots of this Japanese practice and discover the transformative power of universal life energy through Reiki meditations and transmissions.
Over this weekend, students will have the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of Reiki from both historical and experiential perspectives. We will discuss how this energy-healing technique originated in Japan, find out how it was influenced by other practices and cultures, and study how it evolved over time.
Participants will have the opportunity to learn:
Participants will receive empowerment ceremonies called reiju or Reiki blessings. We will experience the power of Reiki self-treatments, how to give full Reiki treatments to others, and how to receive Reiki from another, all within the unique Reiki-filled space that is Esalen.
Participants will have the opportunity to participate in an empowerment ceremony appropriate for first-time students and Reiki masters alike. If you are interested in Reiki initiation and certification please email Diane at nycreikimaster@gmail.com. Certificates and first degree course materials can be provided for an additional $25.
“Reiki is medicine for me — both inward and outward. When I first received Reiki, it was in an inward way. It opened me and made me feel what space is, what energy is, and what the universe is.” — Shinobu Saito, a Reiki Master initiated by Hawayo Takata
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
The hunger to belong is at the heart of our nature. ~ John O’Donohue
Uncertain times have shaken and are shaking our habitual ways of being. Individually and collectively, we are experiencing anxiety, disconnection, and the reality of impermanence even as we begin our journey into the ever-forming “new normal.” Now more than ever, we need to let our somatic system know safety by connecting to our somatic and emotional intelligence, easing into open-hearted social connections and the natural world — so we may settle and ground in our organism’s capacity for resilience, self-regulation and inherent belonging.
A sense of deep belonging and connection is the natural state of our being. Our nervous system and physiology are wired to feel belonging. We are being called to greet change in manners not previously known to most of us — individually and collectively. To know and feel our belonging in these times asks us to grow awareness — to cultivate genuine heartfelt curiosity, to have courage to feel our vulnerability, and increase our capacity for authentic compassion.
Together, we’ll explore using a variety of practices:
Listening deeply, life conspires to let us know the heart of interconnectedness even in the midst of the unknowable. We will draw from various wisdom traditions, contemplative practices, contemporary somatic and neuropsychology to explore ancient, yet new ways of belonging to ourselves, others, and to the other-than-human world to which we participate. When we embody the birthright of our interconnectedness and the heart of belonging, ever-changing life lives through us.
Please expect to be indoors and outdoors, on the Esalen grounds. We will work in group, paired, and solo practices. This workshop will take place on Esalen grounds.
Embody and reconnect with your unique ancestral wisdom with the Five Elements of Yoga and Chinese medicine through nature, movement and art. Experientially learn Five Element philosophy and tools– from two similar yet divergent traditions– to apply in daily life. Discover your unique relationship with each Element, and come home to the wild beauty of your inner radiance!
Enjoy five nourishing days connecting with ourselves, each other, and the sacred Esalen landscape. Begin each morning with gentle yoga asana, pranayama, and meditation. Then root your understanding with engaging presentations, dynamic discussions, nature connection, journaling, and creative play.
Dive into the Five Elements of Yoga on Tuesday, explore the Five Elements of Chinese Medicine on Wednesday, then integrate on Thursday with group discussion, creative explorations, and restorative group acupuncture. Each day, we will:
Reconnect with your unique ancestral wisdom through the Five Elements of Yoga and Chinese Medicine. Take home tangible skills and practices to align with seasonal rhythms in your daily life. Connect with the beauty of your inner and outer wilderness, resourcing abundant wild, creative, infinite potential to fully thrive.
We warmly welcome all levels of experience in yoga. We will have daily movement sessions, with modifications offered for most levels of mobility. This workshop is not appropriate for someone in a wheelchair.
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
Winter solstice is a time to reflect — to cultivate vitality and nurture ourselves. The dark days of winter are an opportune time to slow down and make space for self-care. This winter solstice yoga retreat will focus on cultivating inner awareness. By practicing in community, we build inner vitality and brightness to return home renewed.
During this retreat, we will combine three healing practices to revitalize the body and calm the mind in the exquisite and rejuvenating natural environment of Esalen.
Together, we will focus our attention on being by using:
The word solstice is derived from the Latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still) because the seasonal movement of the sun’s path appears to come to a stop before reversing direction at the solstices. Moving into stillness, we can return to our lives refreshed and strengthened for the new year to come.
All levels are welcome.
Now more than ever, it is important we build practices that strengthen our internal resolve and self-resourcing amidst a dynamically shifting society. Together, we will listen to our heart’s wisdom in this rich four-day journey through sound, ceremony, and self-discovery.
In this intimate and transformative workshop, you will have the unique opportunity to experience multiple East Forest ceremony performances. These deeply meditative experiences will include both live and unreleased East Forest recorded music. Additionally, Radha will lead us in embodied movement, based upon the principles of self awakening yoga, somatic experiencing, and yin yoga, to create an all-levels and accessible doorway to inner insights. Radha will also use her training with Transpersonal Psychology and with Thomas Hubl while working with participants.
We can discover the inner pathways to fortitude and healing through the primacy of our own heart-opening, felt experience, and:
East Forest and Radha would like to offer a certain amount of scholarship to those in need. Please apply with this form. If further assistance would be helpful, you may also apply for an Esalen scholarship.
Please note: While the retreat space and exercises are conducive to deep inner work, the facilitators and Esalen do not condone the use of or provide substances of any kind.
Community is a state of being, belonging, and reciprocity. It is the practice of living in spiritual friendship (kalyanna mitta in Buddhism) within ourselves, with one another, with the more-than-human world, and with the world at large. The quality of our life experience is determined by the focus of our attention. While we have little control over the externals in our lives as human beings, we have a choice every moment in how we show up and what we give our attention to. As we navigate the joys and responsibilities of being human, the beauty and complexity of relationships, and the gravity of the challenges we face collectively, this retreat is an opportunity to restore inter-being and let everyday life — from the easy moments to the difficulties — be our sacred laboratory.
This month-long retreat will deepen your embodiment of true nature and interconnection through engaged meditation, eco-dharma, and the nine principles of relational mindfulness from Eden’s Relational Mindfulness: A Handbook for Deepening Our Connection with Ourselves, Each Other, and Our Planet.
This work bridges personal and collective awakening. It invites us past the realm of concepts and ideas down into our alchemical bodies and our communion with the earth. It allows us to deepen our relational presence and the qualities of receptivity, attunement, co-creativity, collaboration, and Gaia consciousness. It takes us beyond duality into the balance of yin and yang, being and doing, and light and dark to recognize the full spectrum of life as sacred. Most importantly, this work is about direct experience and embodiment. The more we get out of the way, the more life can guide us home.
Our exploration will include deep time in nature, relational mindfulness, somatic awareness, conscious movement/dance, conscious use of the imagination, and ritual — all held in kalyanna mitta. As part of our journey, we will engage in a powerful process of releasing limiting beliefs and setting conscious intentions for the new year — for ourselves and our world. All are welcome!
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
Soul is flow. It’s an ever-changing play of sensations and feelings. It’s how the deathless presence meets and moves our finite human body. In this workshop, we will reclaim the body-in-motion as a doorway to the life unfolding just under the surface of everyday forgetting.
A formless dance form, Soul Motion® allows for passionate, full-bodied movement as well as mindful inner explorations, art-making, ritual, and luscious lounging. Together, we will integrate conscious movement, body-based inquiries of Gestalt Practice, and the stillness of nature for a process to transform body, heart, and spirit.
Soul Motion is a meeting between self and other in a dance that is deeply creative, nourishing, and transforming. It is a movement toward the dynamic stillness at the center of all things — the place of rest at the heart of sound and motion.
During this week together, we will:
Open to anybody willing to move, pause, listen, and truly relax into one timeless moment. This workshop is especially helpful for people in the healing professions who work with clients, patients, and students.
Do you yearn to feel more pleasure, joy, and belonging? Do you long to recover the connection between your mind, body, and spirit?
Come re-learn the strength and wisdom held within and expressed through your body. We will walk a path into your authentic core being, becoming more conscious and reconnecting with our natural essential resources, others, and nature.
In a safe group setting, this workshop will provide time and space to inhabit and discover our bodies more fully. With enhanced awareness, we’ll gain a greater understanding of our internal states, our ability to affect them, and how they impact our relationships.
Each day, we will focus on different developmental rights — the right to see, to speak, to feel, and more — and explore sections of our bodies with breath, sensations, emotions, and thoughts using contemplation, slow body movement, bio-energetic exercises, and group dynamics. We will listen to our inner wisdom through individual and group exercises to awaken the mutual intelligence that promotes collective transformation.
In this workshop, we’ll discover:
These practices are organized according to birthing and developmental stages, exploring the body armoring — physical protective reactions to life experiences — that separate us from our biological origin as a liberated, healthy body.
Winter is coming…
Falling on the heels of the hibernal solstice, WITHIN is an invitation to turn inward — an opportunity to go deeper within ourselves in order to create new and to enhance existing practices that enliven creativity and curiosity burning within.
Traditional yogic wisdom speaks of pratyahara, which is best understood as "going to the source of the senses." We are embracing the idea that cocooning toward generative ends leads to better connection and relationships, heightened synergies to cultivate our creative impulses, and nurturance of the self and of others. Winter solstice celebrations are steeped in meaningful symbolic dualities: fire and light, life and death, the rising and setting sun and moon.
Go Within is a campus-wide winter festival, for all who seek the light that inspirationally pours through the darkness. Like our brother and sister wild animals, when we are drawn into the earth, into our bodies, we can welcome sleep to search and discover the cavernous parts within us. Through the embrace of the arts and our own creativity, we unleash the pulsating, reverberating inner curiosity that fuels imagination and sparks innovation.
To create and turn things outward, we must first look inward to explore with a greater heightened sense the great depths of what our hidden potentials hold. Winter is our mysterious season— she can be kind and soft. Rather than fear and avoid her, let’s celebrate her (and our own) complexity. To find and uncover our light, let’s together and individually embrace the dark, far reaches and prepare to launch into a new year ever more illuminated.
What to expect over this metamorphosing week:
We hope you’ll join us.
Bring in the New Year with a rejuvenating week filled with meditation, music, and the time and space to release the old and welcome the new. We’ll slow down and experience the benefits meditation, gentle yoga, and music offer the body, mind, and soul. Buddhist teacher and author Lopön Chandra will share expert meditation guidance to help you release into grounded presence with ease and comfort.
In this workshop, you will have the opportunity to:
Musician and guest teacher Adrienne Shamszad will lead meditative musical experiences to support your release into grounded presence. You will learn centering breathing techniques, empowering vocal exercises, and sweet, memorable prayer songs that will accompany you throughout your journey at Esalen and as you transition into the new year.
This will be a week of fun, relaxation, and rejuvenation to get you recharged for the coming year. Whatever your spiritual path or meditation experience, you are welcome just as you are. No prior experience is required. Seated and supine meditations will be offered. All are welcome.
Winter is coming…
Falling on the heels of the hibernal solstice, WITHIN is an invitation to turn inward — an opportunity to go deeper within ourselves in order to create new and to enhance existing practices that enliven creativity and curiosity burning within.
Traditional yogic wisdom speaks of pratyahara, which is best understood as "going to the source of the senses." We are embracing the idea that cocooning toward generative ends leads to better connection and relationships, heightened synergies to cultivate our creative impulses, and nurturance of the self and of others. Winter solstice celebrations are steeped in meaningful symbolic dualities: fire and light, life and death, the rising and setting sun and moon.
Go Within is a campus-wide winter festival, for all who seek the light that inspirationally pours through the darkness. Like our brother and sister wild animals, when we are drawn into the earth, into our bodies, we can welcome sleep to search and discover the cavernous parts within us. Through the embrace of the arts and our own creativity, we unleash the pulsating, reverberating inner curiosity that fuels imagination and sparks innovation.
To create and turn things outward, we must first look inward to explore with a greater heightened sense the great depths of what our hidden potentials hold. Winter is our mysterious season— she can be kind and soft. Rather than fear and avoid her, let’s celebrate her (and our own) complexity. To find and uncover our light, let’s together and individually embrace the dark, far reaches and prepare to launch into a new year ever more illuminated.
What to expect over this metamorphosing week:
We hope you’ll join us.
Letting go of entrenched ideas — of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This model of change encompasses both personal and communal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
Guided explorations are an evolution of programming designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural beauty of our campus to do the work of their own personal growth. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three.
Meditating in noble silence offers a special opportunity to focus inward, deeply connect with oneself, and reflect on life goals. The New Year, with its connection to the winter solstice and new beginnings, is the perfect time to silently journey inward. You are invited to set intentions and explore, through seated and moving meditation, themes of self-kindness, self-care, and nurturing.
This retreat is a quiet, reflective New Year celebration with the opportunity to discover a deep, centered place within. The week will be spent in periods of noble silence with two extended periods a day for various meditation practices. Lunch will be at a silent table. You will continue your meditation or join the open activities of the day at Esalen in mindfulness. Mark will guide you through a series of practices of both stillness and movement to build the momentum of concentration and awareness.
This mindful meditation will utilize the rich, sensual experience of Esalen — the sounds of the ocean, the feeling of the air, and the beauty of its colors and textures — as well as the rich experience of our own bodies and minds. Evenings will be open to mindfully enjoy the beauty and community, or you may choose to continue silence in inner retreat. New Year’s Eve at Esalen usually includes a community-wide celebration of some kind, which is an option but not required.
Recommended Reading: Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Esalen Institute
55000 Highway 1
Big Sur, CA 93920
US: 1-831-667-3000
info@esalen.org
