Workshops

Awe is the feeling of encountering vast mysteries that transcend our current knowledge and understanding of the world. In its greatest sense, it is an astonished and transformative appreciation for the moral beauty of others, for nature, for the arts — and is always rooted in a spiritual understanding of life.  

In this new, paradigm-shifting workshop, we will uncover the latest scientific understandings of awe. By engaging in evolutionary and neuroscientific approaches to the mind, and considering the narrative and cultural meanings of awe, we will begin to tease out where this feeling lives in our own minds and hearts, and learn how to cultivate it more deeply.

Together, we will discover a number of practices to cultivate this transcendent amalgam of reverence, astonishment, and admiration in our own lives and how to deepen one’s relationship to it. We’ll travel by way of reflective writing, using expressive writing principles and models from Contemplative Studies.

During our time together, we will:

• Learn the latest science and scholarship on awe and wonder.
• Engage in contemplative practices related to awe.
• Learn about literary, poetic, and aesthetic approaches to awe.
• Learn to cultivate an awe-related writing and reflective practice.
• Cultivate an awareness of possibilities for awe in everyday life.

Join us for this incredible opportunity to refresh your heart and mind in the breathtaking natural setting of Esalen and Big Sur.

Nature heals. Water is life. The motion of our bodies is a tool to map our inner and outer landscapes as we navigate our life’s journey on Mother Earth.

People have always come to water and nature to receive guidance, clarity, and healing. Our weekend experience weaves the philosophy of the 5Rhythms® with sacred natural teachings inspired by the waters at Esalen Institute. We will journey together on a deep dive into the infinite source of creativity that resides within us all to balance the mind, body, and spirit. We will use the plant medicine of cacao in ceremony with the 5Rhythms movement practice to reconnect us to the flow and sacredness of water.

Together, we will:

• Learn how to work with the ancient plant medicine of cacao to heal our hearts and move stuck emotions.
• Share a water offering ritual to connect with the sacred waters of Esalen.
• Experience the 5Rhythms movement practice as a catalyst and tool for integration.

Utilizing the power of the elements, we’ll practice fluidity and call upon ourselves to turn inwards, with clarity to express our outer nature, with courage to surrender to those forces bigger than ourselves, with ease to be effortless, and in the spirit of stillness to integrate our instinct and intuition.

Recommended Reading: Sweat Your Prayers by Gabrielle Roth

“To recognize the elements in the natural world, their beauty and interplay, to enter the sacred dance of the elements, is to inhabit a living world full of mystery and potential.” –Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

According to ancient Tibetan spiritual traditions, our planet is alive and sacred. The five natural elements — earth, water, fire, air, and space — can be considered fundamental aspects of a living universe. All of our experiences, from the sensations of the physical body to the emotions to the most fleeting of thoughts, are said to be composed entirely of these five elements in interaction.

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche will lead and support us in connecting with the elements to internalize their essential vital qualities. Through practices and meditation, we will be guided to retrieve and commune with the elemental essences to nourish and restore health and vitality. By bringing the five elements into balance, we contribute to our own well-being as well as the health of our planet.  

According to shamanic teachings, on a physical level, the ongoing destruction and pollution of our global environment can be said to provoke the spirits of nature, causing wide-scale natural disasters, disease, energy disturbances, and mental obstacles. By harmonizing with the natural elements, we repair our relationship with these spirits.

According to tantric teachings, on an energetic level, the raw elements of nature represent subtler, more fundamental aspects of the primordial energy of existence. As such, the five elements play an essential role in emotional and psychological healing. For example, too much earth element can make us feel dull, drowsy, or lazy; but when earth is balanced in us, it supports us to feel connected, secure, and confident.

According to Dzogchen teachings, on the level of mind, retrieving and connecting with the elemental essences can support the practice of contemplative meditation. For example, the water element brings comfort and joy to experiences of open awareness; when fully developed in spiritual practice, it is mirror-like wisdom.

Please join us for a special opportunity for healing, revitalizing, and communing with the five natural elements.

Recommended Reading: Healing with Form, Energy and Light: The Five Elements in Tibetan Shamanism, Tantra, and Dzogchen by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

“If art doesn’t make us better, then what on earth is it for?”  –Alice Walker, author

How can art contribute to healing while staying centered in the creative process? What kind of art-making responds to the therapeutic experience? What does it mean to live an aesthetic life? And what is possible when we do?

In the early 1960s, a new interdisciplinary approach was developed to explore and respond  to these questions: The Halprin Life/Art Process. This work influenced the worlds of dance, environmental design, theater, and psychology.  This workshop will be an immersive experience in that approach to the creative process, movement, and healing art. It is aimed at those who identify as artists as well as those who are simply lovers of art seeking to open the doors of their own creativity.

We will enter into an exploration of art-making as a way to encounter and explore themes, challenges, and dreams that are informing our lives. Maps and methods will be taught that are easily accessible and applicable to personal and professional practice.

The opening welcome session will create an environment of group collaboration, including intention setting, play, and collaboration. Each day that follows will emphasize different mediums, including movement/dance, drawing, and poetry/narrative. On the fourth day, we’ll develop ritual performances for participants to present artwork dedicated to something personal and meaningful.

Participants may expect to leave with the following:

• Specific models to facilitate embodied art-making
• Examples of art as a healing force
• A communication tool that supports giving and receiving feedback
• Community building exercises
• A personal art practice that supports living an aesthetic life

For more, please view this short video: An Afternoon with Daria Halprin  

Participants must bring the following: Writing materials and a special writers journal, a box of varied and well supplied Craypas pastels/water colors if desired.

Underneath every goal in life is the desire to be happy and content. Yet in these troubled times, peace can seem hard to come by — let alone abide in. Spiritual teachings throughout the ages remind us that no matter what is happening externally, natural great peace is part of our deepest nature and, therefore, always available. The question is, How do we gain access? What do we need to address within ourselves to grow roots in this depth and live with clarity, wisdom, and equanimity?

This workshop will journey into the themes that matter most to open to a new depth of peace that is this world’s light and your birthright. With courage, compassion, and curiosity, we will illuminate the root causes of inner conflict, no matter how they presently manifest on your path. We will practice ego relaxation with all parts of our experience to unwind unhelpful patterns and open to the grace of self-forgiveness that gives us all a fresh start.

Through precise practices and graceful transmission, Miranda will guide us beyond the constraints, concerns, and inevitable agitations of ego identity. You can emerge with greater access to the peace that passeth all understanding, not just for your own benefit but so your way of being can radiate peace to your loved ones and community.

• Explore your access to natural great peace.
•  Illuminate what disrupts your peacefulness, and why.
•  Give up guilt and finally forgive yourself.  
•  Navigate differences without divisiveness.
•  Take a deeper seat in your meditation practice.
•  Shift from seeking peace to accepting the peace that always is.
•  Radiate the gift of peace deeper into our world.

Recommended Reading: The Way of Grace: The Transforming Power of Ego Relaxation by Miranda Macpherson

In this retreat, you will get in touch with a deep relaxation that rejuvenates the body and the mind through non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) and yoga nidra. No matter your reasons — whether you need a break from the constant pressure, are in a life transition, or just want to delve deeper into your meditation practice — this workshop will provide space and time for contemplation and reflection.

The term non-sleep deep rest, coined by Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman, refers to a waking state of deep relaxation that maintains awareness. Evidence suggests reaching this state through NSDR protocols such as yoga nidra can reset dopamine levels and provide profound physical and mental health benefits, including better sleep and enhanced neuroplasticity.

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

Together, we will:

• 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.

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

How well we navigate our inner and outer changes has a direct impact on the well-being, purpose, and satisfaction we experience day-to-day. If you’re considering a big change, are in the midst of one now, or are feeling the effects of past changes, this workshop offers you the tools to open the next phase of your life with clarity, empowerment, and greater personal understanding.

This highly interactive and supportive program is designed to help you move through transitions and times of great change with more balance and intention. During this workshop, you will complete a series of self-assessments from the Life Balance Institute in order to gain clarity about your specific situation and support you in taking next steps. In addition to the self-assessments, your experience will include interactive exercises, time for your personal questions and observations, and meditations that teach practical skills to use in your daily life.

You will have the opportunity to:

• Discover a “Path to Well-Being” that goes beyond getting what you want or getting rid of what you don’t want.
• Identify your values and intentions to create a basis for making wise decisions.
• Recognize the mental habits that undermine you and learn practices to disengage from them.
• Explore which areas of your life need attention.
• Gain insights about your strengths and challenges in dealing with change and strategize your next steps.

Expect a weekend full of dynamic inquiry and the opportunity to learn essential skills for meeting all your life changes with authenticity, confidence, and clarity.

The Brahmavihārās (divine abodes) are profound practices that uncover your natural capacity to live your life easefully with love, connection, wisdom, and joy. In this experiential workshop, we’ll use daily guided meditation practices, storytelling, song, relational mindfulness practices, self-directed neuroplasticity, yoga, and somatic play to explore the classical Buddhist Heart practices known as the “boundless states” or the “four immeasurables.”

In this workshop, we will explore the four Buddhist virtues and ways to cultivate them, including:

• Loving-kindness (metta) practices for self-acceptance, relational healing, gratitude, forgiveness, and kinship with all beings.  
• Compassion (karuna) practices for tenderness, resilience, an open-heart to suffering, and a greater sense of our shared humanity.
• Sympathetic joy (mudita) practices for enthusiasm, authentic joy, generosity, and celebratory participation in life.
• Equanimity (upekka) practices for wisdom, perspective, clarity, and an unwavering sense of trust.

Our days will follow a nourishing schedule of experiences and reflections balanced harmoniously with relaxing meals, community connection, and starlit soaks in Esalen’s healing baths. Music, nature, poetry, shadow work, journaling, breathwork, and ritual will all be artfully woven into our time together.

Whereas some spiritual practices are aimed at otherworldly enlightenment, the four divine abodes help us awaken to the beauty, clarity, and vast possibility available right here in our complex, often messy, mundane, and wholly sacred human experience. They are a pathway to unburdening ourselves of self-doubt, resentment, and regret. They guide our way home to that wellspring in our hearts from which unconditional love flows, where we contact our wholeness, discover radical acceptance, and remember our belonging in this world.

No matter who you are, where you are on your spiritual path, or what you’ve been through, discovering renewal is possible. Join us if you long for a deep, playful, tenderizing workshop that may touch your heart and leave you forever transformed.

In search of balance, the ancient sages of China walked into the woods to attune themselves to nature in its sublime integrity. The timeless wisdom uncovered in their wild wanderings was called simply Tao, “The Way.”

Qigong — the practice at the heart of Taoism — is dedicated to harmonizing body, mind, and spirit with the elements of nature. In this age, when so many of us feel disconnected and overwhelmed, wilderness remains a powerful healer and teacher, and qigong can bring us back to center.

Join us to learn an accessible qigong form called wai dan gong (“easy Tao”) while immersing in the majestic landscape of Big Sur, the ancestral homeland of the Esselen tribe. We rise each morning to practice, harmonizing breath and movements with the flow of waves greeting Esalen’s cliffs. After breakfast, we set out on a wilderness hike to mindfully explore Big Sur’s enchanted redwoods, sun-steeped meadows, and mountains that rise from the sea. All along the trail, we explore qigong and Taoist philosophy as pathways for returning to a grounded, spacious, revitalized state of being — in harmony with nature, embodying Wild Tao.

Notes:

• Answers to frequently asked questions about the workshop can be found here.
• Various hiking abilities can be accommodated, bearing in mind that day hikes are between three to eight miles in length, with uneven and often steep terrain. If you have any questions about your ability to participate, please read the workshop FAQs.
• A fee to cover parks permits and parking fees will be added to the workshop cost.

“Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.” —Chinese Proverb

Join us for deep release and renewal as we pause to align with autumn, acknowledge the sacred cycle of life, and move gracefully through this transitory season.

Autumn is a time of letting go and accepting the impermanence of things. For many spiritual traditions, it has long been an opportunity to slow down and reflect. During this period of great change, our yoga and meditation practices can help us feel more grounded, rooted, supported, and nourished. We can create more intentional pauses and open to the sacred present moment as it is while we also fortify our inner resources, nourish our own “roots” for health and wellbeing, and expand our capacity for compassion, connection, and heartfulness. This allows us to slow down to reflect, release, and recalibrate — to consciously participate in the process of closing one chapter and starting anew.

Using a series of yogic and ayurvedic balancing techniques, Jillian will weave heart-based practices with slow flow yoga, deep restorative relaxation, and Metta meditation. Plus, we’ll incorporate inner reflection, seasonal ritual, and self-love to collaborate with the present and flow through fall with reverence, peace, and ease.

With an emphasis on rooting while opening change, we will work with multiple practices to meet this moment of transition and transformation. More than ever, we can benefit by pausing and restoring our energy and nurturing ourselves in order to better nurture our world.

Garth Stevenson will add deeply healing vibrations with his double bass to help us cultivate the balance between grounding and releasing into the spaciousness of the season.

Throughout this retreat, we will practice outdoors and embrace the Autumn elements to truly be with life’s changes and arrive more fully in the present moment.

“You carry Mother Earth within you. She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment. In that insight of inter being, it is possible to have real communication with the Earth, which is the highest form of prayer.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

Join herbalist, medicine woman, and plant spirit teacher Marysia Miernowska for a nourishing, magickal weekend of deep communion with the Earth, Waters, Autumnal Air, and Eternal flame within you.

In a safe and sacred container, you will be guided in:

• Shamanic Tea Meditations
• Drinking herbs for the Fall
• Entering restorative states of embodied meditation
• Connecting to the land and elements
• Making herbal medicine from the land to take home
• Making flower essences
• Plant ID and learning about nourishing medicinal herbs, many which likely grow around you.
• Earth based rituals & journal prompts
• Wildcrafting and gardening

Through restoring the ancient knowledge of folk healing and plant medicine, we hope to heal the separation that has occurred between ourselves and nature and awaken a collective passion to protect this Earth we all call home.

Recommended Reading: Miernowska, The Witch’s Herbal Apothecary: Rituals & Recipes for a Year of Earth Magick and Sacred Medicine Making.

Join ceremonial leader and wisdom carrier Erika Gagnon on a sacred journey as we gather to look beyond the false duality of a divided self and the destructive concept of “self versus nature” to discover how to live in harmony and balance within ourselves and the world around us.

You are your greatest healer and greatest medicine. This is your opportunity to examine what that means while sharing healing wisdom and practices. This workshop will offer the tools to transform trauma and unhealthy patterns, to realign your body, mind, spirit, and soul, and to honor and heal all you have inherited from your ancestral lineage, along with the social, cultural, racial, religious, and historical energies tangled in your lives. You will learn about the origins of dis-ease in our physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual bodies.

Learn about the importance of ceremonies, sacred altars, and medicinal plants and participate in a traditional South American healing ceremony, a sound healing and “doctoring” ceremony, and a water blessing prayer ceremony.

You will be invited to reconnect to your authentic wisdom and power with clarity, gratitude, and forgiveness. When you honor and heal your ancestral lineage and connect to the natural and spiritual elements of this planet, you strengthen your connection to the sacred in everyday life.

We are all interconnected in this giant web of life, and every day is a gift in the service of unconditional love for yourself, your community, humanity, and our planet. If you feel the call to be a part of a new humanity that lives in harmony and balance upon this Earth, we invite you to join us in this celebration of life.

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

Special Note on Gift Economy: Esalen will not collect typical leader fees for this workshop. Erika embraces the tradition of reciprocity. Each attendee will determine the leader’s compensation. At the end of the workshop, participants will offer a donation amount that reflects their feelings of gratitude and value and their desire to support Erika and her ongoing work.

Scholarship: Erika has established a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, person of color) scholarship fund for her workshops.  For more information on receiving financial assistance to participate or donating to support, please contact her at ErikaGagnon11@gmail.com

Have you created the impact you want? Are you showing up the way you’d like? Are you going in the right direction? You have never before been where you are right now. You have never been the age you are today, never had the experiences you now possess. This is your time to pause and reflect. We rarely allow ourselves the opportunity to stop and look at what is changing — or discover what we truly need to feel fulfilled.

This interactive workshop will include lots of experiential exercises. Though we will cover valuable theory and there will be plenty of reflection time, this will not be a series of talks/lectures. There will be movement, coaching, a little dance, and lots of activity. All participation will be voluntary at all times.

Our goal is to step back from our lives and renew. We will create a courageous community to both challenge and nurture ourselves. Participants will have the opportunity to learn what brings them joy and purpose, and then cultivate a vision to serve as a foundation for both the next year and next phase of life.

We will engage in a progression of individual and group exercises focused on reflection, movement, and listening to our inner wisdom. We’ll discover how to navigate major life transitions and learn skills to access our intuition. We will uncover the behaviors that support our overall success, and reveal which ones undermine our goals and fulfillment. If you are passionate about having a more powerful and authentic impact on the world around you, this program of renewal will be especially valuable.

“The body always leads us home… if we can simply learn to trust sensation and stay with it long enough for it to reveal appropriate action, movement, insight, or feeling.” — Pat Ogden

Our bodies are our greatest resource and provide a direct path for exploring our unconscious, limiting beliefs and the emotions tied to them. By increasing awareness of our bodies, we get in touch with the here and now, where change and growth are possible.

This experiential class will blend slow, developmental movements with Gestalt Practice and The Refined Method of Hakomi. All are designed to increase awareness and facilitate a greater understanding and felt experience of the connections between mind, body, and emotions.

Together, we will:

• Co-create a group container where new ways of moving and being can be safely explored and expressed.
• Explore developmental movement sequences leading to a release of habitual muscular holding patterns and suppressed emotions.
• Engage with others through paired and small group exercises, deepening compassion for self and others through mutual witnessing and support.

You will emerge from this program feeling more grounded, at ease, and comfortable in your body, more empowered and able to fully express yourself in the world. All that is needed is willingness to explore with curiosity and compassion.

Through mindfulness, we can create new habits. Join me as we explore what is possible!

Recommended Reading: Body-Centered Psychotherapy the Hakomi Method by Ron Kurtz,  Somatics by Thomas Hanna, Gestalt Verbatim by Fritz Perls

When was the last time you gave something your undivided attention? Nearly 2,500 years ago, Buddha worried we had become too distracted — and that was before paper, let alone smartphones. In 2022, our days are filled with convenient distractions that promise happiness while mostly delivering busyness and frustration. So many of us today live life in a hectic fog, working too much and noticing too little.

There is a different way. For this weekend workshop, we will disconnect, slow down, and meditate together. We will learn the ancient Zen practice of sitting still, bringing our full awareness to what is now.

Our time together will follow a gentle schedule of sitting meditation punctuated by brief lectures, group discussion, relaxing meals, and soaks in the healing baths, all while exploring the process and practice of mindful living. We’ll be listening to our own bodies, noticing the food we eat, and truly engaging with the people around us – exploring what it means to be fully present.

You will leave this retreat with everything you need to start, revive, or deepen your daily meditation practice. You will receive instruction in traditional Zen Buddhist meditation and we will sit together in guided sessions, practicing what we’ve learned. We’ll work together on everything from the mechanics of sitting posture to the mental barriers we all face. We’ll discuss how to overcome common obstacles to meditation and the many ways to incorporate more mindfulness and presence into our daily lives.

Whether you’re brand new to meditation or even if you’ve been practicing for years, you will leave prepared to bring meditation into your life and mindfulness to your work and home – today and every day. Come reclaim a healthier and happier way to be.

Recommended Reading: Buddha’s Office by Dan Zigmond

We are living in a watershed moment in human history, an era with unprecedented opportunities for women to rise into leadership with refreshing, authentic, collaborative and impassioned feminine power. In this three-day, two-night gathering of visionaries, change agents, and leaders, we will facilitate the next wave of women’s empowerment — for both ourselves and the broader world. Leaders in medicine, film, science, psychology, consciousness, technology, impact investing, and cultural arts will all gather to listen, heal, integrate, and unite our energy.

Creating a culture of mentorship, we will share our visions and collectively amplify our impact. Drawing on the sacred lands and traditions of Esalen, we will bring forward ancient wisdom. Utilizing the latest insights from the fields of psychology and neuroscience, we will consciously embody the society we wish to build. We will learn from each other’s wisdom across disciplines, diverse backgrounds, and generations. We will be present in our physical bodies with the foundation of self-love.

This program will include embodied practices of meditation, expressive writing and visioning work, authentic sharing of life experiences. Exercises will be based on principles of ancient wisdom, blended with techniques informed by modern-day research on the science of well-being and change.

This summit is an opportunity for women and women-identifying individuals ready to collaborate with visionary leaders — and to bring their own healing gifts to the world from a place of embodied truth, grace, courage, and compassion.

Together, we will enjoy giving and receiving therapeutic touch, moving in ways that free energetic flow, settling into silence, and laughing and connecting deeply with our healing community.

During the Streams of Energy month, you will:

• Learn to give a full-body Shiatsu session. This form of Shiatsu is done on a massage table with the receiver comfortably clothed and can be integrated into other forms of massage.
• Receive the “attunements” to practice Reiki level 1 as a self-healing tool and for the hands-on healing of others.
• Practice an easy-to-learn, powerful Qigong form known as Wai Dan Gong. This practice includes meridian self massage, movements that free and harmonize Qi (life force), and standing meditations.
• Explore the joy and support of being a member of a healing community.
• Approximately 60% of class time will be for learning Shiatsu, 20% for Reiki, and 20% for Qigong.

This month is designed to open you to your innate healing potentials, for you to experience the power of safe therapeutic touch, and to be more fully present in your unfolding as a unique expression of Source.

We are all participants in the ancient and the modern, the ego and the unconscious, the personal and the transcendent — though we all seem to forget these dual allegiances. When we go into nature, when we listen to music, when we encounter the numinous in whatever form it may manifest, we are reminded of our own truest nature, and we long for the reunion. Despite this, our egos inevitably feel threatened by the mysteries of these dualities; therefore, we all need ways of “re-membering” ourselves.

Throughout human history, shamans, mystics, and healers have found portals and pathways that challenge the ego’s primacy in order to encounter the Other within and emerge from the depths transformed. Carl Jung took a pathway he called Active Imagination, plunging himself into a dialogue with his soul that produced The Red Book. In this workshop, we will use Jung’s journey as a template to discover the creative potential accessible to us all.

As a unique mediator of opposites, music unfolds out of the interdependent relationship of consonance and dissonance. This workshop will explore music from neurobiological, spiritual, and experiential perspectives.

Through music’s ecstatic nature — live improvisations inspired by ancient healing techniques and performances of original music as well as the works of J.S. Bach, Robert Schumann, Philip Glass, and Arvo Pärt — you will be guided into yourself and reminded of yourself. Listen and allow the music to be the mediator of the dialogue.  

To explore and deepen your relationship with the unconscious, we will work with practices such as:

•         Deep listening experiences through music to generate alternate states of consciousness
•         Guided self-analysis
•         Journaling
•         Group discussion
•         Active imagination exploration
•         Lecture and study
•         Film

Throughout the week, we will focus on practices for deep listening and the week will culminate in a concert inspired by Jung’s Red Book. Bringing decades of experience as Jungians, psychotherapists, and professional musicians, John and Rodney will set the stage for an exploration of those portals and pathways within.

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The Artist lives within everyone! Art can be made out of just about anything! It’s a time to leave the critic behind and allow oneself to play, nourish, and replenish the creative spirit. It’s also a time to enjoy the company and camaraderie of like-minded peers. Now is your time to discover the joys of art based on community and collaboration and to find out how meaningful and grand a shared, creative experience can be

In this transformative workshop, we will use repurposed material in a whole new context of re-creation.

Come experiment with a vast array of reused materials to create mixed-media mosaics, sculptures, and collages. There will be an assortment of recycled glass, metals, wood, plastics, paper, photographs, fabrics, and old artifacts — bits and pieces of the past and present.

In a beautiful, nurturing, supportive setting, we will reclaim and shape society’s scraps and discarded objects into re-imagined meaning. Find your own inner voice of expression as you delve into the process of creating art out of different materials and mediums,  and learn new skills.

Not only will you have the opportunity to explore your own expression and immerse yourself in solo creations, but we will also engage in a collaborative group project to enter the whimsical world of community-oriented magic and play.

There is a transformative joy that comes from engaging with others in the artistic process. It opens doors unseen and forges deeper bonds between people. This exciting, shared experience teaches us how beautiful it is to break down barriers and collaborate.

This workshop is geared toward anyone with the desire to create. From the beginner to the advanced, this is a time to explore new possibilities. Together, we will:

• Explore our own creativity and immerse ourselves in solo artistic expression.
• Engage in a collaborative group project and enter the whimsical world of community-oriented magic and play.
• Leave the critic behind and allow ourselves to play, nourish, and replenish the creative spirit.
• Discover the joys of art based on community and collaboration and how meaningful and grand a shared experience can be.

If there are any recycled materials, special mementos, poems, or photos you would like to bring and include in our creations, please feel free!

Increased vitality can be a doorway to living an awakened life. In this workshop, we will use the practices of yoga, Zen meditation, and inquiry to support and reveal this exploration. Our vitality is often obscured, but through practice and guidance, it can be available to us all. However we find ourselves, we can flower into the full potential of this human life.

Vitality of body and mind is an integral aspect of an awakened life. This workshop will enliven and liberate us as we learn to connect with the life force, embody it in our daily lives, and trust it to support us in simply being. Together, we will:

• Practice yoga to open and strengthen the body and to cultivate and explore our relationship with our essential vitality.
• Practice Zen meditation to stabilize and clarify the mind.
• Engage in inquiry to explore our psychological conditioning around dynamism in pairs and groups of three. This will reveal what inhibits our connection with our energy, supporting ourselves in realizing our innate vitality.

Some yoga experience is recommended.

How much are you present in your own life? Most of us spend more time worrying about the future, replaying the past, or getting lost in fantasy than experiencing what life offers us right now. This moment is our opportunity to be directly intimate with our lives while learning through difficult lessons how to open our hearts.

Mindfulness — or vipassana — meditation is the practice described by the Buddha for developing wisdom, compassion, and peace by learning to be conscious and aware of what is happening in the present. Using breath, body sensations, thoughts, and emotions, we can find out how to be more fully awake. When we see directly that the nature of reality is change, we become more capable of meeting each situation with spontaneity, fearlessness, and love.

In this workshop, you’ll be introduced to this meditation practice and the principles on which it is based. There will be periods of silent sitting and walking meditation as well as discussions to help provide a foundation for your own mindfulness practice in your everyday life.

Recommended Reading:  Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to a Happier Life by James Baraz and  The Experience of Insight by Joseph Goldstein

“Love is the extremely difficult realization that someone other than one’s self is real.” — Louise Erdrich

Others inspire all sorts of feelings in us, both positive and negative, in every possible texture, tone, and frequency. Sometimes we become reactive, amplify these feelings, or try not to notice them. Sometimes, to stay connected to ourselves, we even avoid others altogether. Instead of investing and reinvesting in our likes and dislikes, we can train ourselves to remain open and curious about the range of responses others awaken in us — and everything we stir in them.

In this workshop, we will use the physical and energetic language of the Open Floor Movement practice to explore, express, and understand our natural responses to one another.

As we allow the many textures of our relationships to move through our bodies, we can experience a new sense of fluidity and authenticity in our needs, preferences, and attachments. Through dedicated movement practice, we can deepen and develop our innate curiosity — and add it to our range of habitual responses as we move away from prejudice and separation toward a sense of openness, connection, and peace in the company of others.

Experience “process painting” with Stewart Cubley and staff.

In this expressive painting workshop, participants will enjoy artistic freedom — creating without the pressure to perform, produce, or succeed. Everyone will be a beginner. Whether you are a veteran painter or picking up a paintbrush for the first time, this experience will be about the creative process rather than technique, training, or expertise.

In the respectful and nurturing studio environment, you’ll receive individual attention and gentle guidance to:

• Discover a creative voice that’s entirely your own.
• Trust your intuitive perception, not the mind’s critical chatter.
• Follow your own authentic energy rather than painting for others.
• Experience your imagination as a doorway to deeper knowing.
• Reveal the hidden invitations in so-called “creative blocks.”
• Explore process painting as a genuine path to spiritual awakening.

One of the myths of art is that you have to feel inspired and confident in order to create. On the contrary, not-knowing allows innocence, accepting imperfection yields compassion, and risking vulnerability opens the door to breakthrough and awe. In that spirit, there will be no critiques, analyses, or judgments of the work. This workshop may interest people from a wide variety of disciplines, including art, education, counseling, social change, and meditative practices.

All materials are supplied, including high-quality, non-toxic liquid tempera on paper and high-quality brushes.

How we sit, stand, move, and respond to our inner and outer world reflects deeply ingrained patterns wired into our nervous systems since childhood. They reflect our early solutions to physical survival in our family system. Out of awareness, these beliefs and strategies can still run our adult lives, limit our choices, and prevent physical ease and emotional healing.

If you still have pain or limitations from a past injury, it is usually because many other areas in your body had to overwork to protect and avoid using the injured area while you were recovering. These unconscious compensations can create an imbalanced workload and, eventually, new issues elsewhere in our body that prevent complete healing.

Using CFR®, we slowly explore and deeply sense small, gentle movements that bring these hidden patterns into awareness. When our genius nervous system becomes aware of a habit that is no longer useful, it extinguishes it. A greater experience of self-trust and self-worth is uncovered. A new sense of self-love, which comes from paying attention to your details without judgment, usually emerges.

This workshop is for the sedentary who want to become more active, the highly active who want to avoid injury and gain a competitive edge, and the chronically tired and stressed who want to improve breathing, posture, and flexibility. It is for those who have experienced physical injury or emotional trauma and those in helping professions who wish to enhance outcomes for clients and patients.  

You will leave equipped with simple yet effective tools for continued self-healing. Your discoveries will lead to a state of awe about what is possible in your body, your movement, and your life.  

Somewhere inside you – buried deeply, or maybe just below the surface – there is a story you’ve been wanting to tell. We invite you to connect to that deeper authentic story and that deeper authentic You.  No matter where you are on your journey, beginner or expert, there is space for you here.

During this weeklong, we will disconnect from our devices and our default-world lives to immerse ourselves in the open air of Esalen. You will be invited to move your body, find your breath, observe your mind, and fill pages with your words. Yoga and mindfulness practices are carefully curated to support moving past your creative obstacles and connect you with your inner voice. Through the writing session, you will be guided to relinquish fear and live fully in your creativity.

This workshop will include:

• Journaling and creative writing
• 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.