Jovinna Chan, E-RYT 500, YACEP, co-founder of Shakti Initiation Yoga Leadership School and A Wild Life Sanctuary™. She is a certified Soul Motion™ and LetYourYogaDance Teacher, and is co-founder of Pranotthan School of Yoga and leads transformational programs around the world.

Allison Goldsmith is the Self Guided Explorations Program Coordinator at Esalen Institute. She is a writer and artist who believes that everyone has an inner creative self just waiting to be remembered and given a medium to come alive. Outside of Esalen Institute, she has taught at Henry Miller Memorial Library, Post Ranch Inn, and Omega Institute for Holistic Studies. She finds solace, healing, and joy in writing for herself, and is passionate about emboldening others to do the same.

Cara’s teachings are rooted in yoga and creative flow, informed by her training as a Hatha Yoga RYT and Yoga Nidra–certified instructor, alongside advanced study in Psychology (MA) and Television Studies (BA). She guides participants to slow down and listen deeply to the body and inner dialogue, exploring how thought and language shape lived experience. Viewing self-expression as healing, Cara creates offerings where awareness softens striving and makes space for both lightness and challenge.

Casey is a member of the Education Programs team, focused on curating heart-centered, interdisciplinary programming for staff. She leads and coordinates Esalen's Work Scholar Program, a 3-month immersive service experience for participants to deepen their learning and self-growth. As a long-time educator, she thrives on building expansive designs to nurture our shared humanity. She is a self-published poet who sings harmonies in a local band, striving to bring the creative spirit to each endeavor with reverence for the muses of Big Sur.

Cheryl Thiele is a condor tracker for the Ventana Wildlife Society. Raised on the Monterey Peninsula and returning “home” in 2018 after a 30-year career, she is an entrepreneur, art curator, writer, and photographer. She holds an MFA, is a Certified California Naturalist, and a Docent. Volunteerism and giving back have always been important components of her life, and she spends every spare moment in nature.

Dan makes good use of several years of teaching experience combined with a love of the written word, inner work, and the esoteric to create and hold transformational spaces. Humor, magic, and metaphor are among his favorite teaching tools, whether one-on-one in a tarot reading or in a facilitated group experience. Dan works and lives/laughs/loves with his partner here at Esalen Institute.

Isabel Fleury is a Brazilian-licensed psychologist who has served clients in both private and institutional settings. Her perspective has been shaped by mentors and teachers such as Stanislav Grof, Richard Tarnas, and Jean Shinoda Bolen. She integrates contemplative and spiritual dimensions into her work, regularly undertaking silent meditation retreats, teaching the dharma, and grounding her counselling in warmth, meaning, and soulful engagement. Dreamwork, especially Jungian approaches, is one of her specialties: she helps clients unveil symbolism, meaning, and insight from their dreams. With over twenty-five years of experience, Isabel is committed to guiding others with compassion, presence, and transformational intention.

Jessie is a Certified Esalen massage therapist with training in deep-tissue, Swedish “Long-Stroke”, injury-specific treatment and meridian massage. Jessie is a long-time yoga instructor, with more than eight years of experience. Her mission is to combine elements of both modalities, that of breath consciousness, yogic movement, and the powerful art of massage therapy to bring healing and balance to others.

LaVerne McLeod is a dynamic educator, author, and workshop facilitator whose work bridges social, environmental, and personal transformation. A TEDx speaker and respected Esalen Institute faculty member, LaVerne brings decades of experience as a teacher, counselor, and community leader to her offerings, creating spaces that inspire reflection, justice, and renewal. She is the author of Corn Hollow and The Crossroads of Social and Climate Justice, powerful works that weave together narratives of resilience, equity, and ecological responsibility. As a co-chair of Big Sur Advocates for a Green Environment, LaVerne actively champions sustainable living and environmental stewardship within her community.

Lisa is certified in Teaching from the Heart 200 hours at Asheville Yoga Center. She brings a rich background in the healing arts from LMT Certified Esalen® Massage Therapist, Reiki and Energy Healer, and Certified Transformational Coach. These practices subtly inform her class offerings with depth, intuition, and care.

Matthew Lessner, co-founder of Dance is Medicine, regards movement as his primary form of medicine—physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Drawing on his background as an award-winning filmmaker and interactive artist, Matthew harnesses creativity and self-expression as pathways to healing and spiritual connection. He facilitates original workshops internationally, including Interfacing with the Unseen and Rewriting Your Reality. Matthew is dedicated to empowering people on their journeys of self-expansion and supporting them in deepening their relationships with their own innate wisdom. Based in Big Sur, California, he brings a multidisciplinary approach to dance as transformative practice.

Micha shares vibrational ritual and embodied herbalism as a heartfelt communion with our living ecosystem. Through personal mentorship with shamanic Lahu medicine women of Thailand and spiritual midwives in Bali, Micha currently facilitates the Herbal Clearing Ritual at Esalen, an energetic healing practice combining sound, touch, herbs and intention. Micha offers sanctuary and grounding in connection with the earth.

Napaquetzalli is an indigenous healer and herbalist of Yaqui/Purepecha descent. She grew up in Southern California in a family of artists devoted to their ancestral practices. Being raised in a ceremonial way of life, Napaquetzalli has always been deeply in tune to her intuitive connection to spirit and nature. She studied Western herbalism at the California School of Herbal Studies and has worked in herbal apothecaries for many years, including serving as a clinical herbalist and teacher at the Scarlet Sage Herb Co. in San Francisco for over 8 years. She authored the Ask A Witch column for NYLON magazine for several years and has taught internationally, including the Medicine Festival in the UK and the Modern Witch Conference in San Francisco, CA. More information at: Napaquetzalli.com

Ruby Marez is an improv teacher, comedian, actor, festival performer, writer, and the creative force behind her drag king alter ego, Ramón. With over 20 years of experience in improv, sketch, and solo performance (Hollywood Fringe, UCB, Second City, The Ruby LA), Ruby creates heart-centered experiences rooted in community, catharsis, and play. She believes laughter is medicine, play is therapy, and improv skills are life skills: tools for resilience, connection, and self-trust.

Sam is the host of the Esalen podcast, Voices of Esalen, a deep-dive interview program with over 1M downloads to date, focusing on the past, present, and future of the Human Potential Movement. A graduate of Brown University and Cal Arts, Sam is a full-time staff member at Esalen. He lives in Big Sur with his family.

Sawyer Lavelle is passionate about supporting people’s capacity for choice and good contact with their own lives. As a full-spectrum doula for over a decade, a presenter in the field of child and human development, and a student of meditation, dharma, karma, and Gestalt in the tradition of Esalen co-founder Dick Price, they are a pattern-seeking devotee of embodied pleasure and liberation for all beings.

Tawny Sterios is a mother, psychotherapist, dancer, yoga teacher, birth and postpartum doula, and retreat guide based on California's Central Coast. For more than two decades, she has been guiding people home to their bodies through movement, creating spaces where authenticity, creativity, and connection can emerge. Drawing from somatic and depth psychotherapy, expressive arts, mindfulness, ritual, and a deep love of nature, Tawny's teaching invites participants to slow down, listen inward, and move from their own inner wisdom rather than performance. Her classes are playful, soulful, and restorative, honoring the unique story each body carries while celebrating the healing power of movement, community, and belonging.

Vicki is a founding member of the team that started the Esalen Massage School and continues to contribute to its evolution. She teaches massage as a sensory based embodiment practice and a somatic form of meditation using a variety of movement modalities to create a safe and supportive learning environment. She practices a dynamic and creative form of bodywork that can include contacting the body’s subtle vibrations and fluid embryological origins to exploring our movements and reaches into the world around us. She got certified as a Body-Mind-Centering®Practitioner in 1998 and is also certified in the Body-Mind-Centering® 500 hr Yoga Program.