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Healing Waters and the Ecology of Motion, a 5Rhythms® and Indigenous Plant Medicine Workshop

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Douglas Drummond and Xochitl Ashe with Guest Faculty Nick Ayers
Healing Waters and the Ecology of Motion, a 5Rhythms® and Indigenous Plant Medicine Workshop
March 22–24, 2024
March 22–24, 2024
March 22, 2024
March 22–24, 2024

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:

  • Explore 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

This workshop has an additional $60 of faculty tuition.

March
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Psychedelics & Plant Medicine
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Spring Equinox Yoga Retreat

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Sarana Miller
Spring Equinox Yoga Retreat
March 22–24, 2024
March 22–24, 2024
March 22, 2024
March 22–24, 2024

March equinox, a time of transition and harmony, is a wonderful opportunity to deepen our practice of yoga. The light is returning from the dark days of winter, and balance is our theme — both on the yoga mat and for our emotional and spiritual selves. Just as the plants are beginning to bud, our own dreams, visions, and creativity are emerging from their winter gestation. The fertile and dynamic land of Esalen is a perfect setting to hold us for this exploration of Spring.

During this retreat, we will combine three healing practices to revitalize the body and calm the mind in the exquisite and rejuvenating natural environment of Esalen. Together, we will focus our attention on the practices of:

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

This immersive weekend will leave us balanced, revitalized, and ready for the full and active days of Spring and Summer.

This workshop includes an additional $45 faculty tuition.

March
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Yoga & Movement

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Mapping Your Hero’s Adventure: A Mythogenesis PlayShop

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Robert Walter
Mapping Your Hero’s Adventure: A Mythogenesis PlayShop
March 24–29, 2024
March 24–29, 2024
March 24, 2024
March 24–29, 2024

Joseph Campbell used to celebrate his birthday at Esalen. Asked why, he’d recount how Carl Jung—wondering “What myth am I living by?” and realizing he didn’t know — wrote, “I took it upon myself to get to know ‘my’ myth, and I regarded this as the task of tasks.”

“That’s what a birthday is for,” Campbell would conclude, “and what Esalen is about.” In 1988, the year after Campbell died, his friends —recalling his dictum: “What you do, you do with play”—gathered at Esalen to inaugurate “Campbell Week,” a tradition that morphed into this PlayShop, which has continued annually ever since..

Who were you? What has inspired your biographical saga? What treasures hide in your basement or attic? Who are you? What’s displayed on your refrigerator? What dangles from your rearview mirror? Who do you aspire to be? What’s on your bucket list? Dare to re-vision yourself and join our springtime rebirth rituals.

You needn’t be familiar with Campbell to relive dreams, rekindle visions, and experience mythogenesis. Toward that end, we will use myth-making tools—drums & dance, music & song, medicine bags, and masks; we will play D-PiCT™; The Game of Mythogenesis; and we will engage in small- and large group activities that provide reflective and expressive opportunities for revisioning the myths that have shaped your life.

“Re-vision — the art of looking back, of seeing with fresh eyes, from a new critical direction — is for us an act of survival. Until we can understand the assumptions in which we are drenched, we cannot know ourselves. We need to know  the past differently than we have ever known it, not to pass on a tradition, but to break its hold over us.” —Adrienne Rich

Please bring a meaningful but expendable totem, an unsung story, or an evocative song.

Recommended reading: Anything by Campbell. Anything that makes you laugh. Poetry.

March
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Creativity & Culture
Psychology & Self-awareness

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Metta and the Divine Abodes: Meditation, Yoga, and Wisdom to Live a Better Life

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Hannah Muse
Metta and the Divine Abodes: Meditation, Yoga, and Wisdom to Live a Better Life
March 25–29, 2024
March 25–29, 2024
March 25, 2024
March 25–29, 2024

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.

March
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Yoga & Movement
Mindfulness & Spirituality

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Stories That Make Us Whole: The Power of Writing in Sacred Community

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Laura Davis with Guest Faculty Evelyn Hall
Stories That Make Us Whole: The Power of Writing in Sacred Community
March 29–April 1, 2024
March 29–April 1, 2024
March 29, 2024
March 29–April 1, 2024

When the world around us is polarized and the future is uncertain, gathering in community, living in our bodies, and expressing the truth is more important than ever.

In this transformative four-day writing workshop, we’ll use ritual and deep writing to connect with our inner voice, discover the healing power of language, and birth powerful true stories onto the page. Evocative prompts, movement, and guided meditation will lead you deeply into the world of language and story. Discover how to “find the story beneath the story,” why writers need to “slow down where it hurts,” and the secret of crafting tales rooted in the immediacy and physicality of the moment.

As we alternate periods of writing and movement with listening to each other from a place of deep acceptance, you’ll benefit from the strength of a supportive writing circle, witness the healing power of language, and experience the transformation that occurs when we tell true stories and are deeply heard. Open to anyone willing to connect with their creativity in the context of a safe, confidential community. Both emerging and seasoned writers are welcome to attend

This workshop includes a $25 materials fee.

March
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Creativity & Culture
Psychology & Self-awareness

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The Braided Way: Bringing Ancient Wisdom Into Our Contemporary Lives Through Trance Drumming, Ceremony, and Cross Cultural Wisdom

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Patricia James and Geramy Quarto
The Braided Way: Bringing Ancient Wisdom Into Our Contemporary Lives Through Trance Drumming, Ceremony, and Cross Cultural Wisdom
March 29–31, 2024
March 29–31, 2024
March 29, 2024
March 29–31, 2024

When the wisdom of the sky and the wisdom of the earth are braided through the human heart, then there will be a rainbow of people.

This prophecy of the Indigenous peoples speaks to the practice of braiding together traditional (earth) and contemporary (sky) knowledge to create something new that embraces both rather than replacing one or the other. Through this braiding, or weaving, we can learn to live modern lives guided by ancient wisdom, bringing the sacred home to ourselves.

In this experiential workshop, we will engage in cross-cultural practices and non-ordinary states of consciousness through trance drumming, guided journeys, and ceremony. These practices have been shared by Indigenous cultures over thousands of years to deepen connections to the self, cultivate a relationship with the planet, and find more balanced ways of being. You will be introduced to different techniques designed to ground and integrate these non-ordinary states and discover how to incorporate these teachings into your daily lives.

This workshop will cover the components of ceremony, including:

  • Purification herbs
  • Sacred altars
  • Circle work
  • Space holding
  • Methods of connecting with ancestors

In our time together, we will explore the braided way. You’ll have the opportunity to reconnect with wisdom practices that forge sacred space for self and community. Come ready to restore, reveal, and leave inspired!

Participants are encouraged to bring a Journal for note taking, a blanket or wrap for floor work, and a water container.

March
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Creativity & Culture

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Come Alive: Meditation for People Who Can’t Stop Thinking

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Justin Michael Williams
Come Alive: Meditation for People Who Can’t Stop Thinking
April 1–5, 2024
April 1–5, 2024
April 1, 2024
April 1–5, 2024

“Being always on the go, on the grind, and non-stop producers has us ‘living’ our lives, but are we fully alive?” —Justin Michael Williams

Here’s the truth: If you can worry, you can meditate.

Learn how to ACTUALLY meditate, the true science behind meditation, and why it’s difficult for so many people. Build a practice that doesn’t just help you relax, but becomes a tool to help you become more empowered and aligned with your true self. On the beautiful grounds of Esalen, come and play, dance, sing, learn a deep practice you can take home with you, and come alive in your everyday life. Awaken to the truth of who you are, your creative power, and your soul’s calling.  With daily meditation practice, intentional ritual-building, TED Talk-style lessons, live music, and a dance party on Wednesday night — this class will rejuvenate your spirit and bring you back home to yourself.

All are welcome. From “I never meditated before,” to “I tried it, but it doesn’t really work for me,” to “I use an app sometimes,” to life-long practitioners looking for a new technique of awakening.

In this workshop, you will be invited to learn:

  • The true science behind meditating and what most people get wrong.
  • The reason why meditation is hard for most people, and how to overcome the inner dialogue that stops you from practicing.
  • The five myths about meditation and how to avoid them when building your practice.
  • A scientifically proven way to build a daily meditation ritual that you can do at home, well after the retreat is over.

This is your time to give back to yourself, do something loving for yourself, and remember the truth of your existence in a space of community, family, nature, kindness, and deep connection. Take your power back and claim your true self and story of your one big miraculous journey of life.

From the ground up, this program has been designed to welcome people of all genders, races, identities, beliefs, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Expect a deeply rejuvenating week with a diverse group and a profoundly opening experience.

You are worthy.

You are enough.

We rise together.

This is your time — come alive.

Recommended reading: Stay Woke by Justin Michael Williams

April
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Leadership & Community
Mindfulness & Spirituality

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The Space Between: Where Tensegrity Meets the Subtle Body

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Kate Flore and Kevin Dockery
The Space Between: Where Tensegrity Meets the Subtle Body
April 1–5, 2024
April 1–5, 2024
April 1, 2024
April 1–5, 2024

“A brain without a body couldn’t think.” — Moshe Feldenkrais

“We want to get you to a place where gravity is your friend, a nourishing force.” — Dr. Ida P. Rolf

Human beings are relational by nature. We are an intricate web of anatomy, energy, space, and time that takes shape through our life experiences. Our physical structure, function, and sense of self are reflected in our fascial layers and formed by our early development, by principles of self-organization, and by how we engage with our environment.

When we fall into habitual patterns, parts of ourselves become undeveloped, unseen. If our bodies are given a setting in which to relate to gravity, others, and our environment with curiosity and attunement, we can be free to move and relate with more choice and ease.

Using the grounds, waters, and spirit of Esalen as our laboratory, Kate and Kevin will use the Feldenkrais Method and Gestalt process as a guide to contact and nurture the influences of the subtle body – our relationship to ground, gravity, and the space between.

In this workshop, participants will:

  • Identify the habitual relational patterns that prevent us from cultivating ease in our lives.
  • Investigate how the subtle body is influenced by the principles of emotional anatomy, tensegrity, neuroplasticity, and self-organization through experiential movement.
  • Be guided through Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement (ATM) lessons tailored toward the subtle body and creating more sophistication in functional movement.
  • Explore sensation, weight, gravity, and relationship through movement and contact.
  • Learn tools of Gestalt Relational Process to increase presence and awareness and integration of ourselves.

Recommended Reading: Feldenkrais, The Potent Self: A Study of Spontaneity and Compulsion; Gladis, Tales of a Wounded Healer: Creating Exact Moments of Healing; Bodywise: An Introduction to Hellerwork for Regaining Flexibility & Well-Being.

April
Healing Arts & Massage
Mindfulness & Spirituality
Psychology & Self-awareness
Relationship & Communication

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The Essence of Soul, The Anatomy of Being: An Embodied Exploration of Consciousness

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Gitanjali Hemp
The Essence of Soul, The Anatomy of Being: An Embodied Exploration of Consciousness
April 1–5, 2024
April 1–5, 2024
April 1, 2024
April 1–5, 2024

Open to the mysteries and remember the full truth of who and what you are — a magical multidimensional human being and an integral part of all creation. Join Gitanjali, creator and founder of the Syntara System School of Energy Awareness, as she leads you on a skillfully curated journey through your subtle body and morphogenic energy fields, exploring consciousness in deeply integrated and embodied ways.

Culturally, we don’t have a lot of language or context for the unseen realms. In this experiential workshop, we will explore ancient practices and innovative frameworks that will allow you to integrate the sacred with the mundane, becoming a more powerful and compassionate co-creator of the world we know is possible.

Some of the techniques we will use are:

  • Meditation and visualization
  • Transmission teachings
  • Energy work
  • Subtle body movement
  • Breathwork
  • Journaling
  • Relational skills

Together, we will gather on these sacred lands, commune with the natural world, embody our essence nature and remember our deep belonging. Honoring all that has come before as we move with awareness towards an emergent future.

Some of the frameworks shared will include:

  • The Torus: the fundamental energy pattern of all creation.
  • The Aspects of Being: a structural map of our ephemeral nature.
  • The 4 States of Consciousness: a simple model to presence and partner with our awareness and mindfully transform our perceptual state.
  • Resonant Stories: a framework that grants access to the intersection of our soul lineage with our ancestral lines, paradoxically rooting us more firmly in the present.

Our days will follow a nourishing schedule of experiential practices woven together with refined structural teachings, delicious meals, community connection, soaks in the healing waters, and reciprocity with the nature spirits and land.

This work is accessible to beginners while being nuanced enough for those more advanced on the path. Join us!

April
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Mindfulness & Spirituality
Creativity & Culture

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Designing the Life We Want: Self Renewal in the Spring

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Mark Nicolson
Designing the Life We Want: Self Renewal in the Spring
April 5–7, 2024
April 5–7, 2024
April 5, 2024
April 5–7, 2024

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 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.

This workshop includes an additional $15 of faculty tuition.

April
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Creativity & Culture
Mindfulness & Spirituality
Psychology & Self-awareness

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Ancestral Plant Medicine

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Xochitl Ashe and Guest Faculty Kyle McBride
Ancestral Plant Medicine
April 5–7, 2024
April 5–7, 2024
April 5, 2024
April 5–7, 2024

What if our lives could feel magical? What if we felt supported in every way?

Join us for this delightful weekend as we connect with plants, ancestors, and ancient wisdom from Mesoamerica and Peru to nourish our hearts and replenish our spirits.

Ayni is the Quechua word for “sacred reciprocity” — the way we humans can be in the right relationship with the world around us. These are the times that Indigenous prophecies have long predicted: an opportunity to create the life and the world that we know is possible. We will work with our ancestors to build our spiritual support team and partake in a plant medicine ceremony with cacao. We will learn how to make specific offerings to the land that help you create magic in your life.

Being at Esalen provides a special opportunity to be in connection with the elemental spirits of the native coastline and the sacredness of the land where the sweet and thermal waters meet the ocean.  

During our time together:

  • We will learn the ancient Peruvian philosophy of Ayni — how to live in sacred reciprocity.
  • We will learn to make offerings to connect with a team of support.
  • We will be supported by the sacred plant medicine of cacao in a ceremonial space that supports our emotional release and healing.
  • We will experience the power of plants and community healing.

Our weekend will feature guest faculty whose magic will enhance our experience and understanding.

Kyle McBride is an international chef, food justice advocate, fermenter, and wild food enthusiast. He draws inspiration from the abundance and diversity of nature and seeks to honor our sacred connection to the earth through his food.

As an Indigenous medicine woman, it is my privilege to share the Quechua and Mazotec traditions that honor living in the right relation with the Earth for thousands of years. I invite you to share a weekend of Earth-based practices in the community with love, support, and guidance.

Bring pictures of ancestors and anything that you want to add to our altar.

April
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Creativity & Culture
Psychedelics & Plant Medicine
Relationship & Communication

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Esalen Environmental Stewardship: Enhancing Ecosystem Resilience and Human Well-Being Through the Esalen Farm & Garden

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Teachers In Residence
Esalen Environmental Stewardship: Enhancing Ecosystem Resilience and Human Well-Being Through the Esalen Farm & Garden
April 6–19, 2024
April 6–19, 2024
April 6, 2024
April 6–19, 2024

Land and water are both sacred and foundational to Esalen. Deepening our knowledge of these natural treasures is crucial to protecting the planet. We are planting seeds for new opportunities to strengthen connection and understanding of the world around us through hands-on experiences that can be applied into daily life, working towards solutions.

Join the Esalen community for a two-week exploration that grounds the mind, body, heart, and spirit through connecting with nature. This eco-journey illuminates the importance of living harmoniously and in an intentional way. We are the caretakers of this Earth and we are responsible for its survival.

This immersion focuses time on and in Esalen’s Farm & Garden. Be prepared to get your hands dirty learning sustainable farming practices throughout the two weeks. We will also broaden our discussions to encompass other environmentally important topics such as climate, environmental justice and watershed conservation.

Classes will be led by the Esalen resident faculty in addition to visiting teachers to support the cultivation of sustainable daily practices.

Together, we’ll dig into:

  • Sustainable farming practices
  • Climate and environmental justice
  • Ocean and watershed mindfulness
  • Gestalt Awareness practices
  • Esalen-style “check-ins” — a six-decade practice of community mindfulness
  • Breathwork, yoga, and inspirational writing practices

Ensuring the world’s and humanity’s survival is our responsibility as Earthly citizens. Become a part of the Esalen community and discover the power and beauty of Mother Nature while experiencing transformation through service!

April
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Nature & Sustainability

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Integrative Gestalt Practice™: Embracing Our Different Parts

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Perry Holloman and Johanna Holloman
Integrative Gestalt Practice™: Embracing Our Different Parts
April 8–12, 2024
April 8–12, 2024
April 8, 2024
April 8–12, 2024

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

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

In this workshop, we will explore the different internal “parts,” or “sub-personalities,” which arise in different situations, such as our workplaces, in our intimate relationships, or with our families of origin. Becoming familiar with and accepting these different aspects of ourselves — which function to support and protect us — is an important part of developing “integrated awareness,” which can bring our different parts into working relationships with each other, giving us a sense of wholeness and clarity in life.

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

Recommended Reading: Gestalt Therapy Verbatim by Frederick S. Perls and Steve Andreas, Diamond Heart Book One Elements of the Real in Man by A. H. Almaas

This workshop includes an additional $50 faculty tuition.

April
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Psychology & Self-awareness
Relationship & Communication

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Awake in the Body: Buddhist Meditation, Yoga, and Shadow Work

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Chandra Easton
Awake in the Body: Buddhist Meditation, Yoga, and Shadow Work
April 8–12, 2024
April 8–12, 2024
April 8, 2024
April 8–12, 2024

We will become our opposite if we do not learn to accommodate the opposite within us. — Carl Jung

At the heart of contemplative life is the archetypal journey home to our essential nature, our basic goodness. The Buddha taught that we come to experience this essential nature through the embodied integration of meditative quiescence (shamatha) and contemplative insight (vipashyana). In this workshop, we will cultivate quiescence and insight through the “four applications of mindfulness” of the body, feelings, mental states, and phenomena, which invite us to develop a self-aware gaze, or metacognition.

We will meditate indoors and out, practice gentle yoga, and learn how to work with challenges along the path through Feeding Your Demons® (FYD). This Buddhist-based practice is an exquisite five-step process in which we offer attention and compassion to our inner obstacles, our “demons,” rather than struggle with them. In this context, demons are those thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that block our experience of freedom. A 2018 FYD pilot study found that FYD was associated with increased self-compassion, emotion awareness and self-regulation, satisfaction with life, and decreased stress, craving, depression, and intolerance for uncertainty. FYD transcends spiritual constructs, serving as a meaningful tool for anybody, regardless of religious affiliation or personal philosophy.

In this retreat, you will experience:

  • Meditation indoors and in nature, gazing over the Pacific Ocean, weather permitting.
  • Discussions on the seminal Buddhist teachings called the “four applications of mindfulness.”
  • Feeding Your Demons (FYD) practice.
  • FYD with drawing/art.
  • Gentle and accessible therapeutic yoga to bring more comfort and ease to your meditation practice and your life.

All are welcome. Please bring loose, comfortable clothing, a journal, and writing implements. Paper and art supplies will be provided. If you have art supplies you like, such as colored pencils, pens, pastels, or watercolors, feel free to bring them.

Recommended Reading: Minding Closely: The Four Applications of Mindfulness by B. Alan Wallace and Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict by Tsultrim Allione.

This workshop includes an additional $5 for materials.

April
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Awaken The Artist Within: The Sketchbook Immersion

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Erin Gafill and Tom Birmingham
Awaken The Artist Within: The Sketchbook Immersion
April 8–12, 2024
April 8–12, 2024
April 8, 2024
April 8–12, 2024

Learn to tap the source and break through creative barriers during this hands-on workshop. Together, we’ll explore a variety of mediums and techniques to find entry into creative expression, including:

  • Color blocking
  • Watercolor sketching
  • Observational image making
  • Timed free writing
  • Abstracting from nature

The poet Rumi speaks of a river of joy that courses through the world. Through these creative practices, we invite that river to flow freely through us and the powerful energy of Esalen’s natural environment to fill us, dissolving internal blocks and flowing through our hands onto the page.

The core of this workshop is inspiration and energy, but we’ll explore techniques and design principles that will inform your aesthetic and native mark-making language in an intuitive way, without fear of criticism or failure.

We’ll provide multimedia sketchbooks to fill with your artistic experiments. They’ll serve as a repository, a totem, a teacher, and a reminder of what you can achieve when you dip into the river of joy.  The blank white pages, which you will fill with a treasured collection of artistic ideas, will be a metaphor for our process.

Whether you are a seasoned professional in the arts or you’ve never picked up a paintbrush, these immersive sessions will awaken the artist within and help you make peace with your inner critic.

There is a $60 material fee for this workshop. All essential materials, including acrylic paints, watercolors, paintbrushes, writing pens, collage materials, sketchbooks, and painting surfaces — everything you need to participate fully in each exercise. Feel free to bring your favorite pens, brushes, or other art-making tools.

Recommended Reading: Drinking From a Cold Spring, a Little Book of Hope, and Color Duets by Erin Lee Gafill

April
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Creativity & Culture

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Return to Source: Authenticity in Motion, a 5Rhythms® Workshop

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Douglas Drummond
Return to Source: Authenticity in Motion, a 5Rhythms® Workshop
April 12–14, 2024
April 12–14, 2024
April 12, 2024
April 12–14, 2024

Wouldn’t it be nice to feel comfortable in your own skin? How do you “do” you?

Return to Source is a dance and movement-based deep dive into the 5Rhythms® movement meditation practice to explore, celebrate, and connect to the beautiful authenticity that is you. Your authentic presence is as unique as your own fingerprint. It is a source of great potential that requires courage, curiosity, and support to harness. The motion of our bodies in alignment with our intentional breath is an accessible tool to sculpt, hone, and discover your unique self.

During this impactful weekend, you will have the opportunity, through movement, group shares, and sensory awareness, to explore your edges, move with intention, and unearth your own relationship to authentic being.

In this dynamic program, we will explore:

  • Movement
  • Group sharing
  • Sensory awareness
  • Leadership exercises
  • Didactic practices

The 5Rhythms® can be a powerful lens through which we can track, express, and embrace how sensation moves and is felt within the body. Return to Source honors the maps of the 5Rhythms® practice through authentic expression of the body, in all shapes and forms.

No prior experience necessary.

Recommended Reading: Sweat Your Prayers by Gabrielle Roth

This workshop has an additional $60 of faculty tuition.

April
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Yoga & Movement

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Meet Your Better Half: Unlock Your Right Brain

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William Donius
Meet Your Better Half: Unlock Your Right Brain
April 12–14, 2024
April 12–14, 2024
April 12, 2024
April 12–14, 2024

Learn to activate the right side of your brain to unlock the insights necessary to break through self-limiting patterns. Based on a Nobel Prize-winning discovery in neuroscience, this methodology helps you think outside the box and live a more creative, productive, happier life.

William Donius, author of the New York Times bestseller Thought Revolution, spent a decade researching and developing this brain-enhancing methodology. He has taught these skills to a wide range of people, from students and corporate executives to scientists and artists. This innovative approach inspires more creative solutions than conventional thinking or brainstorming sessions. Through easy-to-learn exercises, you can discover ways to harness your intuition and uncover profound insights about yourself that make change possible. You’ll develop practical tools you can apply each time you face an important decision or obstacle in life. You can go home with new ways to unlock your own inner genius and create the life you long for.

Please bring a notebook or journal and a pen.

Recommended Reading: Thought Revolution: How to Unlock Your Inner Genius by William Donius

April
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Psychology & Self-awareness

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Effortless Mindfulness: How to Live an Awakened Life

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Loch Kelly
Effortless Mindfulness: How to Live an Awakened Life
April 14–19, 2024
April 14–19, 2024
April 14, 2024
April 14–19, 2024

What would the world be like if we discovered how to access our wisdom and compassion to truly and fully live? In this retreat, Loch will present easily accessible methods that weave together different approaches to embody awakening — from neuroscience and cutting-edge psychological research to modern versions of ancient wisdom practices from around the world. You will be offered the keys to supporting the awakening as the next natural stage of human development. You will learn how to shift out of your chattering mind into an embodied, open hearted presence that has capacity to love and heal both our judgemental and hurt emotional parts.

The first premise of Loch’s nondual approach is that the freedom, connection, and awakeness we are seeking are already within us. Effortless Mindfulness does not mean it “takes no effort” but that there is an effortless awareness here already. This already installed upgrade to our way of being only needs to be enabled for us to access the capacity to heal suffering at the root and live a courageous, compassionate life.  

The retreat will include:

  • Awareness yoga (moving awareness through the body and mind).
  • Short, mico-meditations to help you immediately access awake consciousness.
  • Peer Inquiry as a way to begin to communicate from the awakened heart-mind.
  • Spontaneous qigong, gentle yoga, and embodiment exercises.
  • Methods for bringing the open-hearted, compassionate Self to soothe the stressed body, mind, and emotions.
  • Internal Family Systems-style exercises to bring our shadow parts and inner critics into healing and to reveal our authentic Self

Required prerequisite: Participants must be familiar with the practices  of Effortless Mindfulness from either Loch’s Mindful Glimpses app or his books.  www.mindfulglimpses.com

Recommended reading: Mindful Glimpses App, The Way of Effortless Mindfulness, and Shift into Freedom by Loch Kelly.

April
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Mindfulness & Spirituality

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5Rhythms®: Grief, Loss, and the Body in Motion

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Lucia Horan and Peter Selwyn
5Rhythms®: Grief, Loss, and the Body in Motion
April 19–22, 2024
April 19–22, 2024
April 19, 2024
April 19–22, 2024

This is an era of chaos, change, and grief for the world. As we continue moving through these unprecedented times, we are required to face difficulties that may seem insurmountable. We invite you to a weekend retreat to hold together what should not be held alone.

Have you experienced loss and the natural emotions of sadness, anger, fear, and love? How do you process your losses and move through your life? Many of us have not yet found safe and effective ways of expressing these emotions and we can feel burdened, both emotionally and physically, with the cumulative weight of our unfinished business.

Using the tools of the 5Rhythms movement practice combined with a process of grief work grounded in emotional presence, non-judgment, and supportive witnessing, participants will come together in a safe space to help heal mind, body, and spirit:

Lucia is a dancer and Trauma Sensitive mindfulness teacher with more than 25 years of global teaching experience. She will facilitate the 5Rhythms movement practice as a way of experientially accessing and transforming the emotional states that come with grief.

Peter is a physician with more than thirty years of experience in HIV/AIDS, palliative care, and grief work for caregivers, and was certified as a 5Rhythms teacher in 2021. He will facilitate an exploration of stages of grief, using story-sharing as part of releasing and working through losses.

The weekend also includes didactic and experiential sessions focused on natural and distorted emotional responses to grief, caregiving vs. caretaking, and more.

Please bring photos or other mementos of anyone whose memory you would like to bring into the workshop.

Suggested Reading: Surviving The Fall by Peter Selwyn, Dancing With the Dharma Edited by Harrison Blum, Maps to Ecstasy by Gabrielle Roth

This workshop includes an additional $75 faculty tuition.

For more information about 5Rhythms, click here.

April
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Psychology & Self-awareness
Yoga & Movement

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

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Warren Farrell
Role Mate to Soul Mate: The Art and Discipline of Love
April 19–22, 2024
April 19–22, 2024
April 19, 2024
April 19–22, 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Eight Wisdoms” as a foundation for deepening your love

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

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

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

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

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

Recommended resources: Women Can’t Hear What Men Don’t Say, pp. 1-87, by Dr. Warren Farrell; additional video content on warrenfarrell.com.

April
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Relationship & Communication

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Esalen Environmental Stewardship: Enhancing Ecosystem Resilience and Human Well-Being Through the Esalen Farm & Garden

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Teachers In Residence
Esalen Environmental Stewardship: Enhancing Ecosystem Resilience and Human Well-Being Through the Esalen Farm & Garden
April 20 – May 3, 2024
April 20 – May 3, 2024
April 20, 2024
April 20 – May 3, 2024

Land and water are both sacred and foundational to Esalen. Deepening our knowledge of these natural treasures is crucial to protecting the planet. We are planting seeds for new opportunities to strengthen connection and understanding of the world around us through hands-on experiences that can be applied into daily life, working towards solutions.

Join the Esalen community for a two-week exploration that grounds the mind, body, heart, and spirit through connecting with nature. This eco-journey illuminates the importance of living harmoniously and in an intentional way. We are the caretakers of this Earth and we are responsible for its survival.

This immersion focuses time on and in Esalen’s Farm & Garden. Be prepared to get your hands dirty learning sustainable farming practices throughout the two weeks. We will also broaden our discussions to encompass other environmentally important topics such as climate, environmental justice and watershed conservation.

Classes will be led by the Esalen resident faculty in addition to visiting teachers to support the cultivation of sustainable daily practices.

Together, we’ll dig into:

  • Sustainable farming practices
  • Climate and environmental justice
  • Ocean and watershed mindfulness
  • Gestalt Awareness practices
  • Esalen-style “check-ins” — a six-decade practice of community mindfulness
  • Breathwork, yoga, and inspirational writing practices

Ensuring the world’s and humanity’s survival is our responsibility as Earthly citizens. Become a part of the Esalen community and discover the power and beauty of Mother Nature while experiencing transformation through service!

April
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Nature & Sustainability

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Common Ground: A 5Rhythms® Dance, Mindfulness and Art Celebration

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Lucia Horan and Douglas Drummond with Guest Musicians Sanga of the Valley and Nick Ayers, Guest Artist Tracy Powell, and Guest Speaker Renee Lertzman
Common Ground: A 5Rhythms® Dance, Mindfulness and Art Celebration
April 22–26, 2024
April 22–26, 2024
April 22, 2024
April 22–26, 2024

Spring brings renewal to our lands. After the isolating winter chill, it is time to expand, bloom, and gather in community. During this full moon week, including Earth Day, we’ll celebrate with a campus-wide event that will weave together our most potent offerings: the 5Rhythms® dance, mindfulness, meditation, and art!

Together, we’ll honor our common ground as living beings and our interconnection with Mother Earth. We will dance in nature and be danced through the 5Rhythms, Gabrielle Roth’s map of the earth’s primary energies and their movement through our bodies and in the world around us. Working with this system helps us to attune and align with ourselves, one another, and the earth. Dance supports neuroplasticity and uses the body’s intelligence to help us experience reality in a more balanced and healthy way.

We will be accompanied by world-famous musicians Sanga of the Valley and Nick Ayers. With Tracy Powell, our artist-in-residence, you will bring into being a series of community-made, “created in nature” pieces. In addition, TED speaker and environmental psychologist Renee Lertzman will discuss the importance of “attunement” with the environment and how to inspire and create a better future.

This course will include:

  • 5Rhythms dance at inside and outside venues, by daylight and moonlight
  • Creating art in nature
  • Trauma-sensitive mindfulness, including a Dharma talk, sitting and walking meditations
  • Group sharing circles, optional groups for men and women’s circles
  • Live music and recorded music

In this fiercely changing landscape, some may feel emotionally called to grieve or may be disconnected and numb from all that is happening. These practices will offer a pathway into conversation with the natural forces. In the splendor of nature, we will celebrate the gift of life on this Earth. Join us for a week of celebration of the Earth and our bodies!

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 includes $100 of additional faculty tuition.

April
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Nature & Sustainability
Yoga & Movement

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Hardwiring Happiness: Rewire Your Mind for Calm, Clarity, and Joy

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Shauna Shapiro
Hardwiring Happiness: Rewire Your Mind for Calm, Clarity, and Joy
April 26–28, 2024
April 26–28, 2024
April 26, 2024
April 26–28, 2024

Revolutionary findings in neuroscience have demonstrated that we can literally re-architect the very structure of our brains. In fact, we can even rewire our neurology to be more focused, calmer, and happier.

In this workshop, Dr. Shauna Shapiro — a leading scientist studying the effects of meditation on well-being — will teach you the most powerful science-based practices for increasing the neural pathways of happiness. She’ll explain basic brain science and offer a clear roadmap for living a joyful, connected, and meaningful life. Be prepared for unexpected transformation and delight.

During this weekend workshop, we’ll learn:

  • Science-based practices to increase your baseline level of happiness.
  • How to cultivate greater joy, gratitude, and connection.
  • To integrate these practices into our everyday lives.

Recommended Reading: Good Morning, I Love You: Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Practices to Rewire the Brain for Calm, Clarity + Joy by Shauna Shapiro & Good Morning, I Love You: A Guided Journal for Calm, Clarity + Joy by Shauna Shapiro

*This workshop includes an additional $390 faculty tuition. For anyone facing financial hardship, Dr. Shauna Shapiro invites you to contact her directly for tuition scholarship at slshapiro@scu.edu.

April
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Mindfulness & Spirituality

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Embodying Resilience: A Movement Workshop on Stability and Chaos

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Andrea Juhan
Embodying Resilience: A Movement Workshop on Stability and Chaos
April 26–28, 2024
April 26–28, 2024
April 26, 2024
April 26–28, 2024

The seemingly opposing forces of stability and chaos are powerful currents we navigate daily. The dance between the two can become an intense emotional process that leaves us yearning for a sense of balance and ease.

Without inner stability, chaos can easily overwhelm, flood, and leave us feeling lost. We must redefine chaos, which is often compared to a natural disaster: a hurricane of emotion, a tsunami of details, a whirlwind schedule. These descriptions denote a quality of being out of control and unsafe. Learning to stabilize ourselves in an embodied way provides grounding, safety, a means to pace ourselves, and a resilient inner core. It transforms chaos from hazard to opportunity.

When we can meet chaos with an embodied sense of stability, we can expand our curiosity and delight in the unknown and unpredictable. This workshop will equip you with the physical and emotional tools needed to navigate the storms we encounter both within and outside ourselves.

10 CE units available for full attendance of this course

  • CE credits for psychologists are provided by the Spiritual Competency Academy (SCA) which is co-sponsoring this program. The Spiritual Competency Academy is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Spiritual Competency Academy maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
  • The California Board of Behavioral Sciences accepts CE credits for LCSW, LPCC, LEP, and LMFT license renewal for programs offered by approved sponsors of CE by the American Psychological Association.
  • LCSW, LPCC, LEP, and LMFTs, and other mental health professionals from states other than California need to check with their state licensing board as to whether or not they accept programs offered by approved sponsors of CE by the American Psychological Association.
  • SCA is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN Provider CEP16887) for licensed nurses in California. RNs must retain their certificate of attendance for 4 years after the course concludes.
  • For questions about receiving your Certificate of Attendance, contact Nicole@AndreaJuhan.com

For questions about CE, contact Spiritual Competency Academy at info@spiritualcompetencyacademy.com.

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Yoga & Movement

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The Deep: An Immersive Esalen Experience

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Sadia Bruce, Jovinna Chan, J.J. Jeffries and Cara Chandler
The Deep: An Immersive Esalen Experience
April 29–May 5, 2024
April 29–May 5, 2024
April 29, 2024
April 29–May 5, 2024

Join us for a total reset done the Esalen way: seven powerful days tending to heart, mind, body, and spirit. Reconnect with your sense of purpose and power while immersed in the medicine of our iconic, energized setting within a community of similarly minded seekers.

Not for the faint of heart, this deep retreat experience is a heroic dose of Esalen. You’ll engage daily with our lineage practices (Sensory Awareness, breathwork, intuitive movement, Gestalt process, and more) as never before —  intensely, purposefully, and under the close and compassionate care of our world-class resident faculty to usher you toward the most expansive version of yourself yet.

Each morning begins with embodied movement and seated meditation practice, followed by a silent communal breakfast. You’ll spend the first part of your day experiencing Sensory Awareness and Gestalt process. After some integration time and a nourishing lunch, you’ll transition to a yoga-based therapeutic movement session.

Afternoons are devoted to one-on-one, presence-based coaching sessions and bodywork with expert practitioners and gifted energy workers. A communal dinner is followed by either the balancing, down regulating practice of transformational breathwork accompanied by music at the silent baths — an experience reserved for this group — or the sublimely transportive modality of Yoga Nidra.

Prior to arrival, you’ll connect privately with a faculty member to set your intentions for the week. During your time at the Institute, you will experience:

  • Daily morning meditation and embodiment practice.
  • Therapeutic movement and breathwork each afternoon.
  • Small group and one-on-one Gestalt coaching sessions that allow you to metabolize your learnings.
  • Opportunities to engage with the healing properties of the water and the land.
  • A private ceremonial bathing ritual.
  • Two Esalen Massages.
  • An alternative healing service (astrology reading, Reiki, energetic cleansing)
  • Premium accommodations and communal meals
  • Additional only-at-Esalen encounters designed expressly for your cohort

We’ll follow up with you after your experience, and you’ll have the opportunity to join a remote reintegration session and receive guidance to help you stay on the path.

This experience is most appropriate for those in sound health. The activity level, while accessible and adaptive, is high.

This workshop includes an additional $500 tuition fee.

April
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Psychology & Self-awareness
Yoga & Movement

Self-Guided Explorations

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

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