Workshops

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

The natural world – in all its arresting beauty and enchanting complexity – calls out for our presence and reverence.There are subtle currents of communion and communication happening all around us; the land and wild beings beckon us into expanded states of sensitivity, reciprocity and fellowship.

Immersed in the wilds of Big Sur, and the beautiful grounds of Esalen, we will cultivate our fundamental connection with the land. Through practices of sensate engagement, earth-based ritual, and mindfulness, we will build relationships with this place and our other-than-human kin. We will traverse physical hiking trails alongside the trails of intuition, affinity, and imagination. Following our innate curiosity, we will grow our ecological knowledge and uncover the stories of the mountains, waters, animals, plants, and fungi that live around us.

Acknowledging Big Sur to be the ancestral homeland of the Esselen tribe, we will endeavor to behave as reverent guests on sacred land. Regarding the landscape as both our teacher and relation, we will weave offerings of gratitude and respect into every practice. May these humble efforts help unsettle the anthropocentric paradigm of objectification and extraction which degrades our earth and all life.

Come wander with us, dear wild ones! Ground yourself in the peace of the soil, and feel your animal body lively and awake on the trail. Expand your awareness of the living world, and sense into a renewed state of wholeness – as we begin to relate reciprocally with the land.

Notes:

• Answers to frequently asked questions about the workshop can be found here.
• This workshop will consist of numerous, outdoor, physical practices and a great deal of walking, including two long-form hikes and one half-day hike. Various hiking abilities can be accommodated, bearing in mind that our long hikes are up to seven miles in length, over uneven and often steep terrain. Participants must be able to sit on the ground, practice outside in all weathers, and get a little dirty. If you have any questions about your ability to participate, please read the workshop FAQs or email info@wildtender.com.
• An additional $100 fee to cover parks permits and parking fees is included in the workshop cost.

What binds your Higher Self from soaring? What untapped reservoirs of power lie dormant within you, waiting to be awakened? How can you deepen your connection with your Highest Self to access its limitless wisdom and guiding light?

Embark on a sacred four-night journey of self-discovery and spiritual elevation with renowned medium and spiritual guide AJA Daashuur and multidisciplinary hypnotherapist Laurnie Wilson. Together, AJA and Laurnie will guide you into the depths of your soul so that you can unlock the profound blueprint of your journey, forge a deeper connection with your spirit guides, and awaken the latent potential within you.

The retreat experience begins with a grounding sacred ceremony to set powerful intentions and open the gateway to divine wisdom. Each day, AJA and Laurnie will gently guide you into your subconscious and beyond the veil, helping you access transformative insights that illuminate your path.

Through gentle yoga, reflective practices, and an active exploration of your Matrix of Destiny, you’ll be invited to integrate these celestial downloads into your body and everyday life. Each evening, AJA will channel personalized messages from your spirit guides, offering clarity, support, and guidance around your personal path questions to help you realign with your soul’s purpose.

By the end of our time together, you’ll leave with the tools to decode your divine blueprint, activate a deeper relationship with your spiritual team, and bring your revelations to life.

You hold the key to your inner compass. Join us to illuminate the path to your Higher Self and embrace the boundless possibilities that await you.

Come home to your whole body instrument and discover your unique sound!

Isaac and Thorald Koren have been guiding people home to their voices for over 20 years, through their original embodied approach.

They both believe singing and speaking are radical acts of self-expression and that exploring your instrument with full freedom takes tremendous courage. Science confirms the healing power of the voice — that intentional vocal toning creates measurable vitality and joy in our lives and empowers our whole body experience of life itself.

During this weekend exploration of your Embodied Voice, the brothers 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, they 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.

The benefits are clear: from finding new freedom and trust in your singing and speaking voice, to moving through voice trauma and learning to use your voice as a sacred healing tool. Practically, whether 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. These are joyful and rewarding practices that you can integrate into your daily life.

The brothers’ method invites you away from performing and welcomes you into a real time experience of your voice, reclaiming a new relationship to your own expressive self, deepening a  connection to the music of the Earth and the resonance of life.

The brothers  invite you to experience your voice as incomparable, unmistakable, fascinating, and wholly distinct. They welcome you to experience your soul’s voice through fun and embodied practices of self-expression, union, and communion.

No musical or singing experience required.

Beginners encouraged!

This workshop is designed to support us as we open to our own goodness and learn practices to awaken love in others. Based on timeless Buddhist principles, as well as key findings in modern neuroscience, we will explore how to cultivate and sustain certain wholesome states, which, through practice, become the perspective we embody.

By awakening our hearts, we have the power to affect both ourselves and others in a profound way. With practical and accessible exercises and teachings, we will explore the full spectrum of the awakened heart. We’ll discover ways to love ourselves and extend that love into our relationships so that we can truly delight in the joy of others.

During our time together, we will:

• Study the science behind real happiness.
• Discover healthier habits and beliefs through powerful awareness practices.
• Embrace and be embraced by a supportive community.
• Learn tools for a solid mindfulness practice.

Finally, we’ll explore freely expressing our capacity for compassionate action in a spirit of contribution. In this way, our own awakening heart becomes a gift to our troubled world. Join us as we practice and explore together!

Join us for an immersive five-day experience where ancient breath practices intersect with contemporary psychology to unlock the transformational power of your breath. For millennia, diverse yogic and spiritual traditions have harmonized breathwork with mindfulness to foster psychological healing and spiritual growth. Today, science validates the profound impact of breathwork and embodied awareness on stress management and immune resilience. Visionaries like Bessel van der Kolk champion the integration of breath, movement, awareness development, and educated touch for healing trauma.

On the sacred grounds of Esalen, under the expert guidance of the Hollomans, participants will have the opportunity to experience how breath can create altered states of consciousness, supporting deep psychological and spiritual exploration. Perry and Johanna use the powerful tool of Gestalt Inquiry to integrate these experiences into a deeper understanding of who we truly are. Participants will engage in various forms of breathwork, including extended two-to-three-hour breath journeys that open expanded states of consciousness and doorways to deeper dimensions of being. We will also begin our days with shorter, 50-minute “daily-dose” breath practices, perfect for at-home use.

Perry and Johanna will create a safe and supportive environment through Integrative Gestalt Practice and group sharing, ensuring that the insights gained from breathwork support your journey of healing and self-actualization.

In this seminar, we will:

• Engage in two extended two to three hour hologenic breath meditations to explore the unconscious mind and access altered states of consciousness, complemented by shorter, 50-minute “daily dose” breath practices for ongoing use at home.
• Learn the art of self-inquiry through Integrative Gestalt to cultivate “presence-based consciousness” in daily life.
• Apply breathwork and Integrative Gestalt techniques to address trauma and restore our innate capacities for self-organization and healing.

Embark on this transformative journey designed to nurture personal healing and spiritual growth. Learn essential skills that you can practice in your daily life to continue your journey of self-healing and spiritual development. Whether you’re a professional seeking to expand your practice through the power of breath or an individual committed to deepening self-inquiry, we welcome you to join us for this exploration into expanded realms of consciousness!

How might you think about grief, and what are the lessons to be learned about restoring your life? This precise, honest, and heart-centered workshop, led by cultural sociologist and Gomti River ceremonialist Roksana Badruddoja, focuses on exploring grief in a life-affirming way through the sacred wisdom of the Akashic Records and the qualitative feminist writing technique known as autohistoria-teoría.

Over five days, participants will engage in interactive sessions and experiential practices to gain access to the records and explore their grief while developing personal authority and insight. The Akashic Records are an etheric storehouse of all information — every word, deed, feeling, thought, and intent — offering a space for self-repair and healing from personal and intergenerational grief. By tapping into the wisdom of the Gomti River integrated with autohistoria-teoría writing, participants will engage in intentional storytelling by writing a short autoethnographic text focused on a significant grief event, guided by the question: What are you burning to tell the world?

In this workshop, you will:

• Explore the power of consent — physical autonomy and spiritual sovereignty — by awakening your connection with the Gomti Wisdom Keepers of the Akashas.
• Practice techniques that can induce non-ordinary states of consciousness to access the Akashic Records and bring forth visionary messages about how inherited grief shapes your life and how to engage with and interrupt grief.
• Identify and create feminist autoethnographic writing as an intentional tool of cultural storytelling. You may want to bring a journal to support this work.

Ultimately, this workshop aims to empower individuals to transform their grief into healing narratives that foster growth and resilience.

**To fully embrace this work, participants must attend all sessions, believe in a higher ineffable power bigger than us, and be fully open to examining their grief. Required readings will be sent as PDFs upon registration.

Embark on an enlightening journey of self-discovery, guided by the power of intuition and creativity! In this immersive workshop, you’ll uncover your own inner wisdom through the inspiring SoulCollage® method.

Developed by the late Seena Frost, this enchanting personal practice harnesses the magic of images, imagination, and intuition as a way to excavate insight and truth. Through this meaningful, affirming process, we create simple collages representing the many facets of ourselves. With gentle guidance and just a few basic supplies — images, scissors, and glue — these collaged cards become gateways to the strength and wisdom we hold within, unlocking hidden treasures.

During this weeklong workshop, you will:

• Move toward increased self-awareness through card-making, journaling, meditation, group sharing, and other fun activities.
• Connect with your unique self through an exploration of your inner world and creative spirit.
• Leave with the beginnings of your own personal deck of collaged cards, a journal filled with your wisdom, and numerous ways to continue the practice at home.

No prior art or writing experience is necessary, and all materials will be provided. All you need is an open heart and a curious spirit!

Carl Jung said, “Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.” Join us for an insightful, artful adventure toward empowerment and reconnecting with your inner self!

This workshop includes an additional $20 materials fee.

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 very 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 opportunity to share insights. Active participation is strongly encouraged; however, participation will always be voluntary.

Our goal is to step back from our lives and renew. We will create a courageous community to challenge,nurture and express 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.

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:

• A movement practice that draws equally from hatha yoga, calisthenics, ritual, Qigong, dance, and your own intuition.
• Intuitive breathwork and pranayama to help you connect more honestly to the nature of your aliveness.
• Sounding practices to liberate the use of your voice and guide you toward expanded breath capacity.
• Guided dance rituals to help you develop inner attunement and feel the limitless power of embodied expression.
• Restorative moving meditation to access the powerful convergence of attention and surrender, giving you an embodied understanding of the power of yielding to both breath and life.

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.

As life changes, we also must change — yet this isn’t guaranteed. Too many of us get stuck at our thresholds. Ritual can help us cultivate discernment, recognize gains and losses, and conjure possibility. Join us for a transformative workshop designed to provide the skills and understanding needed to create your own modern rituals. Learn to reflect, reimagine, and renew the purpose of your life’s next chapter.

Guided by award-winning author, artist, teacher, and ritualist Day Schildkret, you are invited to:

• Learn the ins and outs of this ancient technology to expertly navigate change.
• Learn the power of “symbolic action” to align your psycho-spiritual experience.
• Craft your own modern ritual to mark your personal threshold and rediscover yourself.
• Discover the 7-step Morning Altars practice to use nature, art, and ritual for understanding and meaning.
• Experience the support and witness of others also renewing their life’s purpose.
• Create custom “Threshold Wonderings” that provide reflection, refinement, and direction.
• Discover the meaning-making skills needed to step into your life thresholds with renewed grace and purpose.

This workshop is designed for anyone in a life transition who wants to renew their life’s purpose. Crafted with great care, we welcome all genders, races, identities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Threshold moments are meant to be crossed together. Join us if you feel your transition has become protracted or need greater support and attention to skillfully move to your next chapter.

This workshop include an additional $10 for materials.

The body is a portal to the numinous dimensions of the soul’s life. It can lead us to healing and wholeness far beyond simple relief of traumatic symptoms — and to increased access to our feelings and a renewed sense of soulful aliveness. Jungian and depth psychology orient to the deepest currents of the soul, where dreams and life experiences take on cohesive wisdom and unfold in a way that guides the individual. However, developmental wounds, particularly those of a traumatic nature, can interrupt the psyche’s innate thrust toward wholeness.

In this workshop, we will work with authentic movement and other somatic practices grounded in the perspective of depth psychology to learn and experience how the body can serve as a gateway to realign with those innate healing currents.

Our ancestors understood that our dreams and visions often speak not just to the individual but to the community as well. In this realm, which Jung referred to as the “Spirit of the Depths,” we can reconnect with the creative unconscious for insights that remain elusive when caught up in the groupthink typical of the “Spirit of the Times.” We will practice both indoors and outdoors, surrounded by the stunning beauty of the natural world, where the inner meets the outer, to engage with these transformative energies as they emerge.

This workshop is oriented toward therapists interested in learning how to access the somatic underpinnings of psychic life and those committed to weaving the body’s way of knowing with life’s unfolding.

Recommended reading: Holifield, B. (2025). Being with the Body in Depth Psychotherapy: Development, Trauma, and Transformation in the Unspoken Realm., Menakem, Resmaa (2017) My Grandmother’s Hands. Las Vegas, Nevada: Central Recovery Press.

Now is the season to know
That everything you do
Is sacred. — Hafiz

Celebrate the coming of the summer solstice with a transformational retreat in the breathtaking beauty of Big Sur.

Each day, we’ll explore powerful sound journeys, embodiment practices, authentic movement, bespoke teachings, beautiful music, community connection, and the metaphysical properties of crystals and sacred geometry to inspire your life and embodiment of love.

Together, we’ll play with the universal law of resonance and the power of vibration to:

• Release stress and tension on a cellular and soul level to rewire our nervous systems for ease and self-trust.  
• Learn new tools to help us feel safe, supported, and loved.
• Transform default and habitual patterns of self-doubt, worry, and feeling overwhelmed into clarity, calm, focus, and trust.
• Experience joy, awe, and pleasure in our lives.
• Integrate mind, body, and soul through sacred sound, deep listening, and gentle movement.

Supported by the healing mineral waters, fresh ocean air, and starry skies, you’ll be invited to slow down and reconnect with your full, authentic self and the beauty of nature.

Sacred Big Sur Elder Damaris (Penny Vieregge) will share her wisdom and the evocative poetry of Hafiz during our Wednesday morning session to inspire us to reach our highest potential.

Come away feeling deeply nourished, aligned, and attuned with your true self for your journey ahead.

Immerse yourself in the eros of creation. Play in the divine dance between consciousness and form. Explore the dynamic, generative relationship between Shiva (the masculine principle of pure awareness) and Shakti (the feminine principle of creation and form). As you integrate these energies in your own embodied experience and reunite with the beloved within, the nature of your very being begins to transform.

During our week together, you’ll be led through an intentionally curated arc of emergent practices. Centering and grounding more fully in the magical truth of who you are as a conscious co-creator of your life and world.

Through movement, somatic and subtle energy body exploration, process art, journaling, energy transmission teachings, meditations, relational play, land-based practices, and ritual, you’ll be invited to rekindle your relationship with the living life force current that pulses in and around you. Weaving all parts of yourself into a cohesive whole. Alchemizing unconscious conditioning and innovating new ways of being.

Out of a sea of endless spaciousness (Shiva) emerges a magnificent radiant light (Shakti). Emerge purposefully renewed and wildly reinspired by the beauty and miracle of life exactly as it is, exactly as you are. Return home with tools and practices that you can continue to apply in meaningful ways.

We will meet just days before the summer solstice, held by Esalen’s sacred lands. It will be an auspicious time to gather, with flowers blooming, bees buzzing, birds humming, waves crashing, springs bubbling, and sunshine glistening.

Our days will unfold, overflowing with inspiring practice, community connection, delicious meals, deep rest, and starlit soaks in the healing waters. Join us in this love affair with all creation.

Join ceremonial leader and wisdom keeper 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, and 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, and this is your opportunity to explore what that means while sharing healing wisdom and practices. This workshop will offer you healing tools to transform and transmute ancestral trauma, as well as other forms of trauma and unhealthy life patterns.

We are all bridges between our biological mothers and fathers. We need to balance these dual origins and lineages so we may live in harmony and balance. This is especially true for anyone who is of multi-cultural, multi-racial, or multi-religious ancestry. We all inherit our ancestors’ talents along with their traumas so how do we heal and embody these within ourselves?  

In this workshop, you will learn how to identify and honor all of your ancestors’ positive attributes and 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.

This seminar-style workshop is part one of the Super Story Series, sponsored by the Center for Theory and Research of the Esalen Institute. The Super Story is a poetic device designed to capture all of those emergent mythologies and mystical currents that have been developing in deep conversation with the sciences over the last two centuries.

This series will move through three scientific complexes: quantum physics, evolutionary biology, and computer technology. We’ll explore the various ways such sciences are radically altering our understanding of human nature and the cosmos — and, alternately, how these fields themselves are often secretly informed by the paranormal experiences of their scientists.

We will contemplate the mind-matter relationship as evident in physics, cosmology, and mathematics, particularly the “fine-tuning problem” (why do the numbers that control the universe look “set up” or “designed”?), the Big Bang cosmology, hyperdimensionality or modern geometry, the nature of space and time in a block universe, the channeling of Jane Roberts, the science fiction of Philip K. Dick, and the remote viewing programs from the 1970s to the ’90s, which were very much connected to Esalen.

Through collaborative discussions and by sharing our own unique super stories, we will find that our present conceptions of both “religion” and “science” do not work to explain what has happened. Together, we will stretch our imaginations and think impossibly — outside all of our present worldviews — and envision an entirely new paradigm that can explain these phenomena.

Recommended Reading:

• Edwin A. Abbott, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
• Jane Roberts, The Seth Material
• Philip K. Dick, Valis
• Jeffrey J. Kripal, Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion
• "Beyond: UFOs and the Unknown" (Bad Robot, 2024)

Creating a profound connection to nature begins with observing and understanding the plants surrounding us, awakening to our symbiotic relationship with them. This workshop offers an opportunity to cultivate an intimate bond with a diverse selection of plants thriving in the Esalen landscape, learning their unique characteristics, stories, and the wisdom they impart. Together, we will embark on a journey to not only identify and appreciate these plants but to honor them through art by extracting their pigments and experiencing their colors in a new light.

Guided by the spirit of place, we will gather plants to create a color palette that reflects the soul of coastal California, immersing ourselves in the earthy, ocean-washed hues that define the land. This living palette will serve as both a tribute to and a recreation of Esalen’s essence, which we will channel into plein air painting — “in the open air” — around the Institute to be fully present in our surroundings and their subtle expressions. Each of the paintings will be alive with their botanical inks, changing and transforming to create a remembrance of the passage of time as they darken. As we gather plant materials for our inks, we will also gather a variety of plant material to make our unique handmade natural brushes.

Each participant will be provided with high-quality materials, including multiple sizes of Arches watercolor paper, a custom handmade porcelain palette, and ink bottles, completing their personal Esalen ink kit. This kit will become a cherished tool for you to bring the beauty and spirit of the natural world into your own art practice, enabling you to deepen your connection to both the Esalen environment and the plants that surround you in your own life. Join us on this transformative journey and embrace a holistic approach to creativity, nature, and mindful expression.

This workshop includes an additional $50 of material fees.

One of life’s great paradoxes is that we all inhabit the same world, yet no single person, living being, or object within it is exactly like anything else. Thus, difference — the sheer diversity of the world’s countless inhabitants — is arguably the most immediate fact of our shared reality.

This seminar style workshop asks: What does it take to properly apprehend the world’s diversity and respond to it with curiosity, open-heartedness, humor, and joy, rather than anxiety, fear, and violence? How can we combat rising xenophobia in our local communities and social spheres by productively engaging with, rather than denying or banishing, alternative perspectives and worldviews? In other words, how can each of us learn to “think like a multiverse”?

Drawing from literature, philosophy, and popular culture, we will consider diversity and heterogeneity not as a problem to be solved or a threat to be feared, but rather as a field of imaginative possibilities for the formation of new relationships across differences.

Each day, we will zoom in on a distinct framework for thinking about diversity and multiplicity. These include:

• Gloria Anzaldúa’s theory of “mestiza consciousness,” a feminist model for thinking about the cultivation of cross-racial and cross-gender bonds.
• The Indigenous kinship worldview, a spiritual cosmology that conceives of human beings as having a relationship of mutual exchange and reciprocity with the planet.
• Cosmopolitanism and radical democracy, a political theory that centralizes the importance of negotiating vastly different points of view on the nature of the “good life.”
• Psychedelic experience, a millennia-spanning, global consciousness-raising practice intended to aid human beings in extending their imagination outward from the self to commune with a wider network of cosmic relationships.

Throughout the week, we will combine the study of key texts in these various philosophies with recent popular media and experiential exercises to practice and integrate these ideas into our everyday lives. We will write about our encounters with non-human plant life on campus, imagine and describe different versions of ourselves across a fictional multiverse, and identify and respond to differences in temperament, personality, style, and tastes within the group. Short readings will include excerpts from works by Toni Morrison, Gloria Anzaldúa, Michael Pollan, Jenny Slate, and Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Recommended reading and viewing:

• Film Screening: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2022) [Available on Netflix]
• Film Screening: My Octopus Teacher (2020) [Available on Netflix]
• Annihilation, by Jeff Vandermeer

The Prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor is an ancient Indigenous prophecy from the people of the “Americas,” that spoke of a time when the Eagle and the Condor — representing the indigenous peoples of the North and the South — would reunite once again with their original knowledge, strength, diversity and connection to the Earth. This would signal a new “Pachakuti,” a time of reconciliation, reunification, and healing of the land and its peoples.

Join wisdom keepers Erika Gagnon (Canada) and Claudia Cuentas (Peru), as they bring together sacred aspects of traditional Indigenous wisdom of the Americas, and guide us through several healing ceremonies. Together, we will learn about the importance of ancestral lineage, rites of passage, ceremonies and rituals, sacred altars, medicinal plants, and the origins of dis-ease in our physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual bodies.

As we explore the healing wisdom of the Americas, you will be invited to inhabit your own authentic wisdom and power, in some of the following ways:

• Find direct connection with our own natural ability to overcome trauma.
• Find purpose and a more fulfilling life through the powerful lens of clarity, gratitude, forgiveness, and reciprocity.

When you honor and heal your ancestral lineage and connect to the natural and spiritual elements of this planet, you will strengthen your connection to the sacred in everyday life. Included in our time together in this workshop is the opportunity to participate in a water prayer blessing, a sound healing journey, and a traditional South American healing ceremony.

We will share healing practices together to transform trauma and unhealthy patterns, and to realign body, mind, spirit, and soul back to vibrant health. We will also discuss the parallels between indigenous perspectives, somatic approaches, embodied practices and art as healing.

Now more than ever, the ancient knowledge of our indigenous earth-based communities is needed to continue existing upon this planet in a healthy and sustainable way — not only for the people of the Americas, but for all beings, all species, and the earth, air, and waters of our beloved Pachamama.

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 and Claudia embrace 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 feeling of gratitude, value, and desire to support them and their ongoing work.

If we carry intergenerational trauma (and we do), we also carry intergenerational wisdom. It’s in our genes and in our DNA. —Kazu Haga

What if your healing journey lies within you and in the wisdom carried by your ancestral line? The Listening When Parts Speak workshop is a curated experience designed to help you access the gifts of your ancestry while transforming the burdens of personal, cultural, and intergenerational trauma. Together, we will facilitate a relationship between your parts and your internal healing resource called Self.

Through mindfulness, guided meditation, experiential exercises, and teachings from the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model, you’ll deepen your connection to your internal healing resource, known as Self, and build relationships with the parts of you that carry the weight of trauma.

During this workshop, we will explore:

• Mindfulness practices to bring attention and presence to here and now experiences.
• The key concepts of the IFS model of working with trauma.
• Experiential exercises to connect with your inner parts and wise ancestors.
• Demonstrations of the healing potential of IFS and ancestor wisdom.

By the end of the workshop, you’ll be invited to explore ways to incorporate these tools into your daily life to help calm activated or triggered parts of yourself. You’ll have the opportunity to cultivate a new or deepened relationship with supportive ancestors to guide you through your daily life. Additionally, you’ll be encouraged to reflect on a greater understanding of the inner parts of others that make you less likely to personalize their behavior. Recommended Reading: Listening When Parts Speak: A Practical Guide to Healing with Internal Family Systems Therapy and Ancestor Wisdom by Tamala Floyd, LCSW

Now more than ever, it is important we build practices to 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 (Monday to Friday) through sound, ceremony, and self-discovery.

In this intimate and transformative workshop, you will have the unique opportunity to experience multiple East Forest’s live music performances. Additionally, Radha will lead us in embodiment practices of Self-Awakening Yoga, Yin Yoga, and Pranayama to create an all-levels and accessible doorway to inner insights. Through the primacy of our own heart-opening and felt experience, we can discover the inner pathways to fortitude and healing.

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.

• Intimate live musical performances by East Forest
• Group co-creative musical process with East Forest
• Daily morning yoga and meditation practices
• Awe-inspiring time in nature
• Yoga
• Pranayama
• Meditation and group insight exercises
• Journaling
• Dance party

This workshop includes an additional $290 faculty tuition.

In this retreat, you will get in touch with a deep relaxation to rejuvenate 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 retreat 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 other physical and mental health benefits — including better sleep and enhanced neuroplasticity.

We’ll go on an inner journey together, and the hope is we’ll emerge more connected to both ourselves and our life paths to leave feeling refreshed and deeply rested.

Together, we will:

• Practice yoga nidra for restoration and rejuvenation.
• Discover the connection between nondual meditation and yoga nidra for deepening our meditation practices.
• Reflect on where we are in our lives and leave with a greater sense of self-connection and clarity.
• Dialogue about meditation for connection and community.
• Learn about the link between non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) and better sleep.

Suggested Reading: The Blind Spot Effect: How to Stop Missing What’s Right in Front of You, By Kelly Boys

This workshop includes an additional $50 faculty tuition.

When we experience moments of ecstasy, we taste what life is meant to be. — Gabrielle Roth

The 5Rhythms® maps hold all the information required to lead us where we want to go. What is your destination? There is a science to achieving ecstatic states, and this is the mastery we have come to share. This workshop is designed for all who want to discover these possibilities for entering altered states in a natural way.

"I want to take you to a place of pure magic ... It's the place athletes call ‘the zone.’ Buddhists call ‘satori’ and ravers call ‘trance.’ I call it the Silver Desert. It's a place of pure light that holds the dark within it. It's a place of pure rhythm,” wrote Gabrielle Roth. Her dance and somatic meditation can assist you in navigating your way out of resistance and into ecstasy and help you build a skill set that supports balance, ease, and joy. If you have been looking to increase appreciation, gratitude, and happiness, now is a perfect time to celebrate being alive in the wild, wondrous, natural beauty of Esalen.

This course will include:

• 5Rhythms dance both indoors and outside by daylight and moonlight
• Creating art in nature through group projects with resident artists
• Trauma-sensitive mindfulness, including Dharma talk and sitting and walking meditations
• Live and recorded music
• An evening program guest speaker

Lucia and Douglas, the dancing duo, invite you to join them for a week of dance and celebration under the new moon. Together with our team of musicians and artists, we seek to bring you inspiration and lightness so you return home feeling nurtured and alive.

Leah Song of Rising Appalachia will lead a collective community song practice! Join voices and feel the collective power of unity through song and breath!

Sanga of the Valley, master drummer and living embodiment of the 5Rhythms cosmology, will be joining along with musical savant Nick Ayers.

Martha Peabody, original Gabrielle Roth dancer and founder of the art installation branch of the 5Rhythms, will lead daily community art sessions.

Recommended Reading: Sweat Your Prayers by Gabrielle Roth, Maps to Ecstasy by Gabrielle Roth, Connections by Gabrielle Roth, Dancing with the Dharma edited by Harrison Blum

This workshop has an additional $100 of faculty tuition.

Come enjoy the beauty of Big Sur far from the fireworks. 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, both by our innate ability to move into healthful balance or in a broader sense of the nature surrounding us. The edgy wildness of Esalen’s grounds, canyons, hot springs, and mountain backdrop invites this deeper natural connection.

This workshop is for couples, partners, or friends registering together, as you will be bodywork partners for the duration of the program.

The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them.— Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic

Creativity is a celebration of the soul — an ever-present spark waiting to be ignited. This weekend retreat invites you to reconnect with the liberating, communal energy of your creative spirit. Through song, movement, storytelling, and play, we’ll explore practices to access inspiration and express your unique voice as a gift for the world.

Together, we will:

• Find the still point by grounding in breath and somatic awareness to unlock the wellspring of clarity, intuition, and appreciation.
• Discover “Ink from the Wild” and turn everyday moments into creative expression through sensory exploration in writing, poetry, and song, honoring the muse as an act of resourcing and nourishment.
• Embrace group vocal improvisation and free expression in folk choir as a way to move through resistance and uncover new creative pathways.
• Weave animacy by tapping into myth, archetypes, and personal stories to reimagine our narratives with freedom and ease.

This retreat welcomes anyone seeking to awaken their inner creative spark and bring more imagination, freedom, and purpose into their life.

No experience is necessary, only curiosity and a willingness to explore.

Recommended Reading: The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, and Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert