Esalen Institute is open! However, Highway 1 to the south is closed — please review the current travel advisory.
Learn More.

Learn more.

Due to road closures along Highway 1 to our north and south, Esalen is closed through April 11.
Esalen Institute is open! However, Highway 1 to the south is closed — please review the current travel advisory.

Esalen opens May 3, 2024

Visitors are now able to access Esalen as well as other businesses and trails in northern Big Sur via twice-daily convoys on Highway 1 operated by Caltrans.

Convoys run only at 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. each day. These are the only opportunities to travel into and out of Big Sur, so visitors must plan accordingly.

Learn more.

Workshops

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Healing Arts & Massage
Leadership & Community
Mindfulness & Spirituality
Nature & Sustainability
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Meditation and Modern Life: A Zen Meditation Retreat

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Dan Zigmond
Meditation and Modern Life: A Zen Meditation Retreat
November 8–10, 2024
November 8–10, 2024
November 8, 2024
November 8–10, 2024

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.

Recommended Reading: Buddha’s Office, by Dan Zigmond

November
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Mindfulness & Spirituality

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Esalen® Massage: Couples, Partners & Friends

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Robin Fann-Costanzo and Patrick Stockstill
Esalen® Massage: Couples, Partners & Friends
November 8–10, 2024
November 8–10, 2024
November 8, 2024
November 8–10, 2024

Come enjoy the beauty of Big Sur during the quiet time as the days shorten and sunsets blaze across the sky. This is a perfect season to awaken touch, our forgotten language. In this introductory massage course, participants will learn to listen to each other, gain the sensory skill of initiating touch, experience the felt sense of touch and muscle release, and close with a balanced tenderness. Seasoned instructors will offer exercises, demonstrations, and at-the-table guidance during supervised practice. The simple principles of Esalen Massage® – presence, connection, attending rather than fixing, self-care, and slow, lengthening strokes encompassing the body – will build a heartfelt experience with our partner or friend 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 effect as their pace slows and the mind becomes focused on compassionate contact rather than technique.

Touch can evoke an opening to spirit, either to our innate ability to move into healthful balance or to a broader sense of nature surrounding us. The edgy wildness of Esalen’s grounds, canyons, hot springs, and mountain backdrop invites this deeper natural connection.

November
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Healing Arts & Massage

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Healing Waters: Rites of Passage & the Embodied Masculine

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Douglas Drummond and Tom Little Bear Nason with Guest Faculty Mac Murphy and Guest Musicians Sanga of the Valley and Nick Ayers
Healing Waters: Rites of Passage & the Embodied Masculine
November 11–15, 2024
November 11–15, 2024
November 11, 2024
November 11–15, 2024

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:

  • Learn about the practice of acknowledging the land.
  • Use dance, voice, and 5Rhythms® movement to feel into our bodies.
  • Participate in the reconstruction of traditional rites of passage.
  • Seek deeper connection with Mother Earth.

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.

This workshop includes an additional $110 of faculty tuition.

November
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Creativity & Culture
Yoga & Movement

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Holotropic Breathwork®: Expanded States of Consciousness

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Stacia Butterfield
Holotropic Breathwork®: Expanded States of Consciousness
November 11–15, 2024
November 11–15, 2024
November 11, 2024
November 11–15, 2024

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.

Recommended Reading: Holotropic Breathwork by Stan Grof

November
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Psychedelics & Plant Medicine
Psychology & Self-awareness

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Living Authentically: A Journey With Human Design

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Anne Van de Water
Living Authentically: A Journey With Human Design
November 11–15, 2024
November 11–15, 2024
November 11, 2024
November 11–15, 2024

Imagine reaching the end and realizing your biggest regret is that you never found the courage to live authentically because you lived the life others expected. In this workshop, we will embark on a transformative journey inspired by the wisdom of Human Design and the spirit of Esalen. Human Design blends ancient wisdom from astrology, the I Ching, the Kabbalah, and the Hindu-Brahmin chakra system with cutting-edge insights from quantum physics to create a holistic system of self-knowledge.

We’ll explore ways to embrace our true selves, understand our inner guidance system, make wise choices, and unlock our highest potential. Practical applications will include daily decision-making, personal development, and enhancing relationships. We’ll also engage in embodiment practices, integration practices, and interactive sessions to deepen understanding.

This workshop invites you to embrace your authenticity and discover your potential. By loving your true self, following your inner authority, making wise choices, and understanding your greater purpose, you can transform your life.

Participants must bring the specifics of their birth, including their birthplace and time, along with a journal. Join us in mastering authentic living to unlock your potential within a supportive community.

November
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Psychology & Self-awareness
Relationship & Communication

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The Healing Voice: Exploring the Sonic Anatomy

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The Brothers Koren and Eileen McKusick
The Healing Voice: Exploring the Sonic Anatomy
November 15–17, 2024
November 15–17, 2024
November 15, 2024
November 15–17, 2024

What if you could use your voice to feel alive and present in your body? What would it look like to discover your own voice and fulfill its unique potential? This November, join sound therapy pioneer Eileen McKusick and transformational voice leaders and international recording artists Isaac and Thorald Koren of the Brothers Koren in a workshop designed to help you find the electric power in your voice.

Eileen, Isaac, and Thorald will combine their disciplines to create an electrified, liberated, embodied experience of vocal expression and play. This program is designed for those with and without previous musical experience — useful for seasoned professionals and first-time explorers of voice.

Using the power of new awareness, breath, sounding, and tuning with interactive immersion into the innate musicality of your human instruments, you will:

  • Explore the 12 tones of our sonic anatomy, the resonant zones and the emotional spectrum of your voice.
  • Express the range of your emotions with sound and play with musical modes and archetypes
  • Learn to use music to express and balance our feelings, bodies, and biofields.
  • Learn practical, playful, simple vocal exercises to support your vitality, freedom, and sense of well-being.
  • Stretch the boundaries of your expression and liberate your greatest sound healing tool, your own voice!

Leave the immersive retreat feeling recalibrated, uplifted, and sonically invigorated. Previous participants noted dramatic changes in their freedom of voice after this safe and fun experience.

No vocal ability or musical experience required!

November
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Creativity & Culture
Sound Healing

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Role Mate to Soul Mate: The Art and Discipline of Love

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Warren Farrell
Role Mate to Soul Mate: The Art and Discipline of Love
November 15–18, 2024
November 15–18, 2024
November 15, 2024
November 15–18, 2024

Since falling in love is biologically natural, but sustaining love is biologically unnatural, Soul Mate focuses on the art and discipline of sustaining love. You begin with learning how to appreciate your partner so specifically and frequently that your partner feels fully seen and loved.

You then practice both the art and discipline of hearing your partner’s criticisms without becoming defensive. For example, so you don’t have to fear “walking on eggshells” before sharing a concern, your partner first learns how to prepare her or himself to emotionally associate your criticism with an opportunity to be more deeply loved.

Soul Mate is designed as the next evolutionary shift beyond active listening. Active listening allowed the criticizer to feel heard, but failed to teach the person hearing the criticism how to emotionally associate the criticism with an opportunity to be more deeply loved. The problem? Unless the receiver of criticism feels safe the person sharing their concern cannot feel safe.

You will learn a series of practices you may integrate into your everyday life:

Six methods of sustaining a “conflict free zone” for 166 hours of your 168-hour week.

A “Caring and Sharing Time” the remaining two hours by practicing six mindsets that allow you to not feel defensive when criticized.

“Eight Wisdoms” as a foundation for deepening your love

The four “depleters of love,” aka the “Four C’s” (Criticisms, Complaints, Controlling, and Complacency)

How to use your new skills with your children, parents and colleagues at work.

How to use music and dancing to revitalize your love (to be practiced by dancing before each session)

To sustain your practice after the workshop, I invite you to multiple free, ongoing, group follow-up calls to resolve stumbling blocks. If you wish to review the insights and exercises at any time, you will also have the option of purchasing a Zoom version of the course.

This workshop is for couples of all genders and sexual orientations.  Developed over the past 30 years, the workshop is also used by many health professionals in their work with clients and patients.

Recommended resources: Role Mate to Soul Mate: The Seven Secrets to Lifelong Love by Dr. Warren Farrell & Women Can’t Hear What Men Don’t Say, pp. 1-87, by Dr. Warren Farrell; additional video content on warrenfarrell.com.

November
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Relationship & Communication

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The Essence of Esalen: Heart, Mind, Body, Spirit, Community

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Sadia Bruce, J.J. Jeffries, Cara Chandler, and Jovinna Chan
The Essence of Esalen: Heart, Mind, Body, Spirit, Community
November 16 – December 13, 2024
November 16 – December 13, 2024
November 16, 2024
November 16 – December 13, 2024

Join us for an extended opportunity to explore the true essence of Esalen, and find yourself in the process. Like a snapshot of all that we do here on campus, this workshop is composed of enlivening and heart-opening classes that are driven by Esalen’s founding areas of focus: Heart, Mind, Body, Spirit, and Community.

During this month-long program, a cohort of like-minded students will have the opportunity to lean into the richness and diversity of programming that has both grown up on campus and is being infused into its current culture. In addition to working in service to the running of Esalen, the workshop classes have been designed to support the process of healing, transformation, and joy.

Classes will be led by the Esalen Resident Faculty Team, each bringing something uniquely transformative to the daily experience. Practices will include:

  • Gestalt Awareness Practices
  • Esalen-style “check-ins”
  • combinations of breathwork, yoga, and inspirational writing practice
  • Dance and movement
  • And more!

Come experience Esalen for a heartful and healing month of service and transformation!

November
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Creativity & Culture
Mindfulness & Spirituality

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Unlock the Storyteller Within through Writing and Yoga

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Darnell Lamont Walker and Cara Chandler
Unlock the Storyteller Within through Writing and Yoga
November 18–22, 2024
November 18–22, 2024
November 18, 2024
November 18–22, 2024

Somewhere inside you – buried deeply, or maybe just below the surface – there is a story you’ve been wanting to tell. Movement and mindfulness practices are carefully curated to support moving past your creative obstacles and connect you with your inner voice. 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 and 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. Through the writing session, participants will be guided to relinquish fear and live fully in their creativity.

This workshop will include:

  • Journaling and creative writing
  • Creative pathways to finding and writing your story
  • Hatha-inspired yoga movement and restorative yoga
  • Yoga Nidra and awareness meditations
  • A playful and supportive community to cultivate your inner artist

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.

November
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Creativity & Culture
Yoga & Movement

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Awakening the Heart of Belonging: An Embodied Inquiry into Curiosity, Courage, and Compassion

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Steven Harper
Awakening the Heart of Belonging: An Embodied Inquiry into Curiosity, Courage, and Compassion
November 18–22, 2024
November 18–22, 2024
November 18, 2024
November 18–22, 2024

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 “realities.” 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:

  • Grounding and centering tools and techniques that let our nervous system, physiology, and heart feel safe and move from habitual reactivity: to choice, resilience, and trust in the body’s innate wisdom.
  • Practical sitting, walking, and laying awareness practices that build mindfulness, somatic intelligence, and embodied connection will be introduced and practiced daily.
  • Gestalt Awareness Movement practices that invite us to trust our body’s capacity for organismic self-regulation and co-regulation.
  • Neuropsychological concepts and practices that can be perceptually felt and embodied in our daily life while feeling our awakening heart and inherent belonging.
  • Through exercises and time together in group, paired, and solo practices, we will have space to connect with Self, others, and the natural world on the Esalen grounds.

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.

This workshop is appropriate for all levels of experience with the understanding that participants are exploring in a model of education and growth. Please expect to be indoors with some sessions outdoors on the Esalen grounds. A welcome letter will be sent upon registration along with additional information about our time together.

November
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Mindfulness & Spirituality
Psychology & Self-awareness
Relationship & Communication

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Higher Self & You: Illuminate Your Inner Compass through Hypnotherapy and Your Spirit Guides

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AJA Daashuur and Laurnie Wilson
Higher Self & You: Illuminate Your Inner Compass through Hypnotherapy and Your Spirit Guides
November 18–22, 2024
November 18–22, 2024
November 18, 2024
November 18–22, 2024

What shackles bind your higher self’s ascent? What reservoirs of latent power lie dormant within your being? How can you deepen your communion with your highest self to unleash its limitless potential and guiding light?

Embark on a sacred journey of soul discovery with medium and spiritual guide AJA and multidisciplinary hypnotherapist Laurnie Wilson. Immerse yourself in a deeply personal exploration across four nights to elevate your connection to your higher self and spirit guides and unveil the profound blueprint of your soul’s journey.

Our experience begins with a sacred ceremony, grounding us in intention and opening the gates to divine wisdom. We’ll be guided by AJA each morning as she leads us through the veils of consciousness to commune with our spirit guides and discover insights in the form of spiritual activations.

In the afternoons, Laurnie’s HypnoYoga sessions will help you integrate these revelations, nurturing your body and spirit to support your understanding of your unique essence.

Each evening, AJA will channel messages from your spirit guides to illuminate your path and help guide you toward your soul’s purpose. Meanwhile, Laurnie will help you explore your soul’s blueprint and empower you to embody the changes necessary for transformative growth.

As our journey culminates, a powerful closing ceremony will help you seal your newfound connection to your higher self and spirit guides to infuse you with clarity and purpose. You’ll return home with new tools to understand your own divine blueprint and translate revelations into tangible changes in your life.

You hold the key to your inner compass. Join us and gain the tools to unlock the limitless potential of your soul.

November
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Mindfulness & Spirituality
Relationship & Communication
Yoga & Movement

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Gratitude Retreat

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Janet Stone with Guest Faculty Manoj Dias, DJ Drez, and Marti Nikko
Gratitude Retreat
November 22–24, 2024
November 22–24, 2024
November 22, 2024
November 22–24, 2024

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.

This workshop includes an additional $110 faculty tuition.

November
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Yoga & Movement

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Giving Thanks: A Yoga Retreat

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Janet Stone with Guest Faculty DJ Drez
Giving Thanks: A Yoga Retreat
November 25–29, 2024
November 25–29, 2024
November 25, 2024
November 25–29, 2024

“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:

  • Breathwork
  • Meditation
  • yoga asana
  • Philosophy
  • Journaling
  • Yoga nidra

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.

This workshop includes $220 additional faculty tuition.

November
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Yoga & Movement

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A Return to Radiance: Igniting the Flame of Your Heart Through Movement, Live Music, and Chakra Activation

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Cristi Christensen and Marques Wyatt with Guest Musician Donna De Lory
A Return to Radiance: Igniting the Flame of Your Heart Through Movement, Live Music, and Chakra Activation
November 25–29, 2024
November 25–29, 2024
November 25, 2024
November 25–29, 2024

Join us for a transformative journey to rekindle the seven flames of consciousness within you. Led by Cristi Christensen, with musical guidance and scoring by renowned DJ Marques Wyatt and the celestial vocals of Donna De Lory, this five-day workshop over Thanksgiving week invited you to shift from a life of “meh” to a resounding “yay!” It’s a chance to rediscover joy, light, and whatever you feel is missing or unlit within you.

This immersive experience includes:

  • Dynamic chakra-based vinyasa, Cristi’s signature yoga practice, enhanced by mudra, pranayama, and prayer, and supported by the sacred rhythms and healing soundscapes of DJ Marques Wyatt and Donna De Lory.
  • Kundalini kriyas and embodied dance to connect deeply with the elements and awaken each chakra.
  • The deep exhale experience for heart healing and self-love to encourage authentic self-expression.
  • Deep relaxation and soma practices designed to restore and relax, including savasana serenade by Donna De Lory.
  • Vocal embodiment to discover the joy and healing power of your voice, accompanied by live music healing that touches the soul.

Prepare to awaken chakra energy for a full-body creative awakening, revel in self-love, and form a deeper connection to your authenticity.

In this workshop, you’ll discover the tools to locate the divinity within and carry practices home to cultivate your inner light.

In the embrace of all that you are, find the balance between depth and sweetness, between igniting and nurturing. As we explore breathwork, mantra, mudra, yoga, and dance, we will embark on a path of self-discovery and renewal, opening up to the power of consciousness and illumination. This workshop isn’t just an event; it’s a turning point, guiding you to reveal and relish the auspicious radiance of your innermost soul beauty.

Join us for a journey to illuminate your Thanksgiving week and help you transform the way you view and live life itself.

Recommended Reading: Chakra Rituals by Cristi Christensen

November
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The Essential Qigong of China: The Energy, the Movement, and the Stories

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Chungliang Al Huang
The Essential Qigong of China: The Energy, the Movement, and the Stories
November 29 – December 1, 2024
November 29 – December 1, 2024
November 29, 2024
November 29 – December 1, 2024

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.

November
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Gratitude for Our Ancestors: Healing Our Lineage & Ourselves

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Erika Gagnon
Gratitude for Our Ancestors: Healing Our Lineage & Ourselves
November 29 – December 2, 2024
November 29 – December 2, 2024
November 29, 2024
November 29 – December 2, 2024

Join ceremonial leader and wisdom carrier Erika Gagnon on a sacred journey as we gather to look at our ancestral lineage and how our ancestors continue to influence and affect our lives today.

Gratitude for our ancestors! We are the reality of their dreaming. We are the tip of the arrow of our entire ancestral lineage, which traces back to the beginning of time. 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 and transmute ancestral trauma, as well as other forms of trauma and unhealthy life patterns.

We all inherit our ancestors’ gifts, as well as their traumas. This is true if you are of European, African, Indigenous, Asian, or Arabic origin, any other ancestry, or are multi-racial.

In this workshop, you will learn how to identify and honor all of your ancestors’ positive attributes, as well as heal the discordant or destructive energies you have inherited from your, racial, social, cultural, religious and/or historical heritage.

Together, we will examine the origins of “dis-ease” in our bodies, minds, spirits, and souls and how to heal and realign them. We will discuss the importance of ceremonies, sacred altars, and medicinal plants in this healing process. You will be offered the opportunity to participate in a traditional South American healing ceremony, a sound healing and “doctoring” ceremony, and a water blessing prayer ceremony.

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.

Note: Please bring a journal to write in and items for our altar, including photographs of loved ones and ancestors and sacred objects that have meaning for you.

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. The leader’s 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.

BIPOC 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.

November
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Psychedelics & Plant Medicine

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Creative Tai Ji Experience: Change, Transformation, Metamorphosis

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Chungliang Al Huang
Creative Tai Ji Experience: Change, Transformation, Metamorphosis
December 2–6, 2024
December 2–6, 2024
December 2, 2024
December 2–6, 2024

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.

December
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Integrative Gestalt Practice™: Unlock Your Authentic Life Through Self-Inquiry

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Perry and Johanna Holloman
Integrative Gestalt Practice™: Unlock Your Authentic Life Through Self-Inquiry
December 2–6, 2024
December 2–6, 2024
December 2, 2024
December 2–6, 2024

Integrative Gestalt Practice™ is a method of self-inquiry developed by Perry and Johanna Holloman over the last 30 years. Self-inquiry is a powerful practice for discovering and living that which is most authentic in us.

This in-depth program is for those wanting to experience the practice of Gestalt Inquiry to support their self-exploration. Integrative Gestalt Practice is particularly helpful in life transitions and vital questions affecting the quality of our lives and relationships (family, friends, intimate partners), careers, and overall life purpose. The powerful tools presented in this seminar can help support the emergence of what is most authentic in us and will continue to be helpful in daily life long after. The practice of Gestalt Inquiry can imbue us with an internal sense of agency, clarity, and strength and connect us to what many describe as a sense of “inner guidance.”

Gestalt places high value on the development of awareness. Working within a group setting allows all participants to connect and learn about themselves and can shed light on how we relate to essential elements in our lives. Exercises done in dyads and triads help participants “metabolize” individual experiences, creating a powerful container for self-exploration and personal transformation.

Perry and Johanna will combine experiential practices involving breath, movement, and structured “inquiries” with individual “open-seat” work to create a well-rounded program suited for people who want to self-explore in a safe group setting.

Recommended Reading: Gestalt Therapy Verbatim by Frederick S. Perls and Steve Andreas and The Unfolding Now by A. H. Almaas

This workshop includes an additional $50 faculty tuition.

December
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Psychology & Self-awareness
Relationship & Communication

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In Our Hands: Reclaiming the Lost Self from Technology, a Digital Liberation Workshop

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Shannon Algeo
In Our Hands: Reclaiming the Lost Self from Technology, a Digital Liberation Workshop
December 2–6, 2024
December 2–6, 2024
December 2, 2024
December 2–6, 2024

This workshop is your opportunity to reckon with the digitization of our times, reclaim the lost self from technology, and rewire your relationship to creativity.

“What will you do with your one wild and precious life?” Mary Oliver asked in her beloved poem The Summer Day. The average person now spends 61 to 80 days each year on their smartphone devices, and technology companies are becoming even more effective at designing apps that psychologically captivate and sustain the attention of hundreds of millions of people. We are faced with a collective conundrum that holds great grief for what we have lost and great opportunities for what we might create moving forward.

Recent psychological research shows that individuals with insecure attachment styles (anxious or avoidant) are more vulnerable to compulsive relationships with their smartphones as they attempt to experience a reliable ‘secure base’ through devices over direct relationships.

How can we remember the power that lies in our hands? How can we reclaim our unlived lives, rewire our neuropsychology in community, and shift our attention toward our souls’ longings and creative potential?

With the support of a community, a collective of creative souls, each day together will include:

  • A guided morning meditation practice for connecting internally to self.
  • A reading and reflection on the poem of the day.
  • An instructive lecture on the latest psychological and attachment research on the impact of technology on the human experience.
  • A collective creative practice of engaging with others to embrace discomfort and the practice of being with the unknown intentionally.
  • Personal time to be with the land and one’s own creative muse.
  • Community evening gatherings, including heart-warming practices to rest and digest.

Your hands are the living hands of your ancestors — and we are here for such a brief, precious time. In this one life, something uniquely expressed is meant to come through you, and you have this opportunity to bring something new onto this resilient earth and into this fragile world. Put down your device and reclaim your creative right to contribute the art that can only come through your hands.

December
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Imagination: Exploring Your Inner World for an Extraordinary Life

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Cassandra Vieten with Guest Faculty Fabrice Guerrier
Imagination: Exploring Your Inner World for an Extraordinary Life
December 6–8, 2024
December 6–8, 2024
December 6, 2024
December 6–8, 2024

The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them to the impossible. — Arthur C. Clarke

Imagination is the foundational ingredient in problem solving – the ones in your own life as well as problems in society. Yet how many courses in imagination did you take during your K to12 education? Were you ever taught how to explore, harness, and apply it? How many healthcare professionals have taught you evidence-based ways to use imagination to enhance healing and recovery? Have you ever been taught how negative forms of imagination can contribute to depression, anxiety, or worse?

This workshop focuses on the science, power, and magic of imagination.

  • The science: You’ll learn about newly discovered territories of imagination and how it is being redefined as one of the most important skills we can cultivate. You will explore the neurodiversity of imagination and create your own imagination profile.
  • The power: You’ll take away tools to implement imagination into your physical and emotional healing, your relationships, and your work to powerfully imagine the next steps in your own life’s journey.
  • The magic: You’ll explore the further reaches of imagination to create an extraordinary life. Discovering how altered states of consciousness, shamanism, psychedelics, and virtual reality/AI can provide access to a wellspring of wisdom and embodied imagination. Let whimsy and wonder re-enchant your life and our world.

Imagination is the seed of every invention and every social movement. It has led to nearly every scientific discovery, every building that has been built, every piece of art, film, story, every ship that has ever sailed, and every mission to outer space. Almost every human advancement has been sparked by the question, “What if?”

Through interactive presentations, experiential practices, self-inquiry, thought experiments, and speculative dialogue, you will explore truths that emerge from art, fiction, and fantasy — and return with new knowledge, tools, and inspiration.

Cassandra will be joined by guest faculty Fabrice Guerrier who brings experience knowledge of collective worldbuilding, futurism, poetry, and creative writing. Fabrice will provide unique perspectives and engaging experiential exercises to our work (and play) with imagination.

December
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Your Brain Isn’t Broken: Meeting ADHD with Mindfulness, Wisdom, and Compassion

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Mark Coleman
Your Brain Isn’t Broken: Meeting ADHD with Mindfulness, Wisdom, and Compassion
December 6–8, 2024
December 6–8, 2024
December 6, 2024
December 6–8, 2024

Do you face challenges with focus and time management? Do you struggle with emotional hypersensitivity or frustration tolerance? Do you find it hard to follow through on tasks or commitments? Or to be reliable and consistent? If so, you are not alone.

Millions of people suffer daily from conditions associated with these executive function challenges. Though commonly referred to as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), these symptoms are not limited to this single condition, and they are often exacerbated by our complex, fast-paced, high-tech lives.

ADHD and related issues often leave people with a sense of self-doubt, shame, or unworthiness. The good news is that with mindfulness, compassion, and the application of skillful techniques, it is possible to move through life more effectively with care and wisdom.

In this workshop, through engaging in various mindfulness meditations, loving kindness and forgiveness practices and contemplative inquiry, you will discover how these challenges interrupt our functioning, how to navigate them, and how we can meet ourselves with compassion, forgiveness, and a good sense of humor.

December
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Fully Alive: Seeing Through Your Soul’s Eyes

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Jovinna Chan with Guest Sound Healer Micha Merrick
Fully Alive: Seeing Through Your Soul’s Eyes
December 9–13, 2024
December 9–13, 2024
December 9, 2024
December 9–13, 2024

Somewhere deep in you, there is a home where silence and stillness reside. A place where infinite potentiality abides, ready to emerge and unfold. This is the sanctuary of the soul. The soul has a pulse and its rhythm beckons you to live your own unique destiny.  To move in this rhythm requires courage and deep listening.

Join Jovinna on the sacred land of Esalen where its wild beauty conjures the soul to wander freely. Here, you inhabit your body, refine the senses, expand the mind and heart, and tap into your Soul’s purpose. As 2024 nears completion and the winter months are approaching, it is time to slow down, shed what has calcified your soul and return to that which holds the deepest meaning.

During this week we will dive into different practices to quiet the mind, rest the body and journey inward. These practices include:

  • Time and ceremony in nature
  • Deep meditative yoga, breath awareness, and conscious dance
  • Study of The Koshas, a yogic map of being
  • Sound healing
  • Contemplation

Let’s rewrite our stories to infuse magic and joy for the generations to come. May our time together bring us clarity to live fully the longing of our Souls, and may we become nourishment to the earth, to ourselves and to each other.

Please bring a journal and two stones from nature.

This workshop includes an additional $100 faculty tuition.

December
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Emotional Wisdom: Inside Out

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Dacher Keltner
Emotional Wisdom: Inside Out
December 9–13, 2024
December 9–13, 2024
December 9, 2024
December 9–13, 2024

Emotional well-being is the next frontier of health and a central challenge of the 21st century, according to US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.

Guided by Berkeley Professor Dacher Keltner, scientific consultant on Pixar’s Inside Out and Inside Out 2, we will tour the latest science and practice of emotional well-being.  In this workshop we will consider emotions in the body and brain; emotional expression and intelligence; how emotions influence our relationships, narratives, and search for meaning; and emotional regulation, wisdom, and acceptance.

Grounded in these advances, participants will:

  • Explore the power language and culture has in shaping our capacity to understand emotions in a granular and complex way.
  • Gain awareness of their own core passions and how they guide their sense of identity and meaning.
  • Become skilled in the practice of emotional intelligence and in expressing and seeing emotion in others clearly and with authenticity.
  • Gain an understanding of the centrality of emotions to relationships and how to cultivate kindness, forgiveness, love, and play
  • Learn tools for emotional regulation, how to gain perspective while experiencing hard emotions such as anger and shame, and to practice acceptance by seeing the wisdom of emotions.
  • Gain insights into cultivating emotions beneficial for intimate and work relations.
  • Understand the role of emotions in our personal, moral, and spiritual lives.

The right balance of emotions could make up a majority of our well-being, and this course will provide the insights, tools, and practices to move us toward greater meaning in life.

Recommended Reading: Understanding Emotions by Dacher Keltner, Keith Oatley, Jennifer Jenkins

December
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Aligning with Nature: A Winter Solstice Yoga Retreat

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Sarana Miller
Aligning with Nature: A Winter Solstice Yoga Retreat
December 13–15, 2024
December 13–15, 2024
December 13, 2024
December 13–15, 2024

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:

  • Yoga to yoke body and mind for present-moment awareness.
  • Meditation to cultivate concentration and empathy.
  • Chanting with bhakti yoga, the practice of the heart.

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.

This workshop includes an additional $45 faculty tuition.

December
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Yoga & Movement

Are you looking to immerse yourself in the peace, space, and natural majestic beauty of our campus without taking a workshop?

Choose Your Dates
Letting go of entrenched ideas — who we are, how the world works, our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth encourages us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This more flexible, less structured model of change encompasses both personal and communal, aligning with the core of our mission. Self-Guided Explorations are designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops for a more freeform, spacious healing journey. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural majestic beauty of our campus, exploring the edges of personal growth and open group classes when compelled. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three. Exploring human potential.Our dynamic open class schedule changes weekly, but always features opportunities to sit in meditation and mindfulness, explore embodiment and movement practices, and connect with nature. An opening circle, hosted by an Esalen Staff member or a visiting teacher, welcomes you as you begin your stay. A closing circle on the final day provides a reflective conclusion to your time with us. Feeding mind and body.Savor three hearty, healthy meals per day. Our kitchen draws on global culinary traditions, using the fruits of the Esalen Farm & Garden and other local Big Sur providers to create delicious meals that support holistic health — for you and for the earth.Creating space for reflection.Esalen’s beloved mineral hot springs perch dramatically over the Pacific Ocean, a juxtaposition of intimate and infinite. A core part of Esalen from its inception, the baths and tubs are an ideal place to reflect, find clarity, and set new intentions.
All Workshops Yoga Movement Mindfulness Spirituality Creativity Culture Nature Sustainability
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November
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November
November

Are you looking to immerse yourself in the peace, space, and natural majestic beauty of our campus without taking a workshop?

Choose Your Dates
Letting go of entrenched ideas — who we are, how the world works, our place in it — is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth encourages us to examine ourselves and understand our connection to the whole. This more flexible, less structured model of change encompasses both personal and communal, aligning with the core of our mission. Self-Guided Explorations are designed to function outside of the group structures of our workshops for a more freeform, spacious healing journey. These experiences are for those who want to immerse themselves in the peace, space, and natural majestic beauty of our campus, exploring the edges of personal growth and open group classes when compelled. The beauty of our Big Sur campus supports serenity for the mind, the body, the spirit, and offers nourishment for all three. Exploring human potential.Our dynamic open class schedule changes weekly, but always features opportunities to sit in meditation and mindfulness, explore embodiment and movement practices, and connect with nature. An opening circle, hosted by an Esalen Staff member or a visiting teacher, welcomes you as you begin your stay. A closing circle on the final day provides a reflective conclusion to your time with us. Feeding mind and body.Savor three hearty, healthy meals per day. Our kitchen draws on global culinary traditions, using the fruits of the Esalen Farm & Garden and other local Big Sur providers to create delicious meals that support holistic health — for you and for the earth.Creating space for reflection.Esalen’s beloved mineral hot springs perch dramatically over the Pacific Ocean, a juxtaposition of intimate and infinite. A core part of Esalen from its inception, the baths and tubs are an ideal place to reflect, find clarity, and set new intentions.
All Workshops Yoga Movement Mindfulness Spirituality Creativity Culture Nature Sustainability
December
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March
March
March
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February
February
February
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February
February
January
January
January
January
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November
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