Just added for March 3-8: Improv, Expand Yourself with Laughter. Learn more.
Perhaps the greatest unanswered question in science is how consciousness and mind are related to the brain and body. Or more broadly, how do we as conscious beings relate to the rest of what we call physical reality?
Join Dr. Leah Weiss, founding faculty member of Stanford’s Compassion Institute and Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer, for a weekend of compassion cultivation training based on research from psychologists, neuroscientists, and contemplative scholars from Stanford University in addition to research gathered from her top-selling book How We Work: Live Your Purpose, Reclaim Your Sanity, and Embrace the Daily Grind.
Come join us as we cultivate greater wisdom, joy, health, and well-being. Drawing on practices of mindfulness and lovingkindness as well as revolutionary research in neuroscience, we will explore the transformational power of meditation. We can discover how the weaving together of lovingkindness and mindfulness supports us in healing and living a joyful and meaningful life. In this workshop, you will be taught simple yet potent meditation practices, including lovingkindness practices, mindfulness meditation, and mindful movement.
This workshop is based on the latest compassion research from Stanford University’s Compassion Institute. This immersive training includes philosophical approaches based on the ancient wisdom of compassion with modern applications of compassion for self and others. Founding faculty member, Dr. Leah Weiss, will explore contemplative topics surrounding compassion burnout, exercising self-compassion, and determining some of the biggest issues surrounding the practice of compassion in the workplace and in life in general.
This weekend workshop offers the opportunity to replenish spirit and reconnect to the healing power of nature, while learning how to give an effective and pleasurable Esalen Massage.
This workshop is an invitation to explore and experience current trends in Esalen Massage and Bodywork. During the weekend, attention will be focused on various ways to accomplish the following:
- Sensitively and comfortably work at deep levels
- Utilize both active and passive movement to enhance effectiveness
- Develop a deeper understanding of the terms listening, balance, and integration
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? Unfortunately, many of us have not found safe and effective ways of expressing these emotions, and we can feel stuck, both emotionally and at times physically, with the cumulative burden of our unfinished business.
Explore the world of spontaneous creation, an unpredictable territory beyond the expected where no rules apply. In a respectful and nurturing studio environment, you’ll receive individual attention and gentle guidance to help you open to inspiration, creativity, growth, and change. Using the powerful tool of “process arts,” you’ll be supportively invited to:
• Discover a creative voice that’s entirely your own
• Trust your intuitive perception, not the mind’s critical chatter
• Follow your energy rather than what looks good or makes sense
This weekend provides practitioners with the opportunity to up-level their current massage practice. Experienced Esalen Massage and Bodywork practitioners will offer unique explorations in the practices of gentle extensions and dynamic mobilization, along with soft and deep tissue release work. Range of motion and passive release techniques will also be brought onto the table, creating an atmosphere of innovation and exploration.
CranioSacral Therapy is a gentle, noninvasive, hands-on technique to help detect and correct imbalances in the craniosacral system that may cause sensory, motor, or intellectual dysfunction. It is used to treat a myriad of health problems, including headaches, neck and back pain, TMJ dysfunction, chronic fatigue, motor coordination difficulties, eye problems, endogenous depression, hyperactivity, and central nervous system disorders.
Refresh your technique and review EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) protocols and procedures, consult on your difficult cases, watch demonstrations, and practice EMDR in small, supervised groups. Instruction will focus on using EMDR with complex cases, resource development and installation, target development, and interweaves.
This EMDR course is for participants who have completed either part 2 training or an equivalent EMDRIA-approved course.
This workshop is a wonderful opportunity for you to enjoy the beauty of Big Sur and the healing waters of the Esalen hot springs, while gaining a foundation in the art and practice of Esalen Massage. During the weekend, participants will be taught massage methods that address the whole body: Esalen’s signature long, flowing strokes that support feelings of wholeness, connection, and integration; passive joint movement; and a variety of techniques to work with the major muscle groups of the body.
Patterns of our physical embodiment are revealed and expressed in our thinking, feeling, and lived histories. They are shaped through our interactions with the world, the places and spaces we inhabit, developmental contexts, and relational others. As body or character structure, these patterns become relatively fixed modes of being through which we both express and limit our evolving self and narrative. From a Gestalt perspective, these structures are creative adjustments that can be attended to and explored in the novelty of the present moment.
This workshop is a wonderful opportunity for you to enjoy the beauty of Big Sur and the healing waters of the Esalen hot springs, while gaining a foundation in the art and practice of Esalen Massage. During the week, participants will be taught massage methods that address the whole body: Esalen’s signature long, flowing strokes that support feelings of wholeness, connection and integration; passive joint movement; and a variety of techniques to work with the major muscles groups of the body.
There is growing demand for massage practitioners who have mastered the art of moving deeply into the body with skill and sensitivity. As we open the body’s deeper soft tissue layers, “stuck” energy in the form of shortened, hardened tissue is mobilized, making this energy available to support us in the process of healing.
Self-compassion is the heart of mindfulness. It is warmhearted, connected presence during difficult moments in our lives. Self-compassion provides emotional strength and resilience that allows us to admit our shortcomings, motivate ourselves with encouragement, forgive ourselves when needed, care for others, and be more fully ourselves. Rapidly expanding research shows that self-compassion is strongly associated with emotional well-being, lower levels of anxiety and depression, healthy habits such as diet and exercise, and more satisfying personal relationships.
We live in a culture that extols constant productivity. From sunrise to sunset, we move at a breakneck pace in order to meet the day's demands. Is it any wonder that we have distanced ourselves from the body's signals of discomfort? Such signals may be a particular chronic ache or perhaps a more abstract sensation of overall stiffness. This path leads to decreased energy and an inability to embrace each day with optimal vitality.
No matter what qigong you have experienced or if you are just entering the immense sea of qigong opportunities, the essence of qigong is the always the destination! Awaken and refine natural healing and intuitive powers and capacities associated with the most mysterious and neglected aspect of being — the eternal nature, or universal self. In ancient China this is universal energy – The Qi! Health, well-being, and even vital longevity can be achieved through cultivating and mastering qi (prana in India).
This hands-on workshop teaches you how to utilize the points and pathways of acupuncture along with the energy, intention, and wisdom of your own hands to enhance the effectiveness of CranioSacral Therapy. From the rich knowledge of Oriental medicine, you can draw connections between the craniosacral system and organs, emotions, sounds, colors, tastes, and much more. This dynamic workshop also offers options in verbal dialoguing to enhance energy flow. Before participating in this course, students must complete Upledger's CranioSacral 1 and 2, either at Esalen or elsewhere.
The Hold Me Tight Workshop for Couples is based on practices drawn from Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), attachment theory, and Sue Johnson’s best-selling book, Hold Me Tight. The work will be designed around seven conversations that have been shown to be essential to successful relationships. Relationships can be a cause of stress and pain or a source of comfort and joy. Couples will learn how to understand and improve their relationships via presentations, private exercises, conversations with relationship partners, and by watching video demonstrations.
Have you ever worked hard to make a change, only to find yourself slipping back into old habits and patterns? Are you in the midst of riding massive waves of change, and need a few surfing lessons? This workshop is for people who are in the process of change, or who work as change agents with individuals, groups, or the collective. Through dialogue, experiential practice, and creative process, the group will learn about the emerging science of transformation and explore indigenous, religious, spiritual, and secular models of transformation.
Each of us walks around in our own energetic halo. Our energetic fields incline toward and veer away from each other, as we get closer. When two people touch, an energetic exchange begins to build. This energetic field is the heart and soul of Esalen Massage®. Dean and Brita have taught the basics of massage around the world; this class promises a new dimension, with a heightened focus on energy and the nervous system.
This seminar for advanced-level healing arts practitioners focuses on giving a full-body massage and integrating Deep Bodywork into the session as a whole. Learn how to apply deep work on both sides of the body while maintaining the flowing, integrative quality which is the signature of Esalen Massage.
This workshop introduces the core concepts of Esalen Massage. Through brief lectures and demonstrations, and with plenty of personal supervision of hands-on work, the workshop presents essential tools and information including the long, integrating strokes and gentle stretches that are the foundation of Esalen Massage. The principle elements of bodywork, including breath and sensory awareness practices, grounding, movement and quality of contact, will also be introduced and practiced, creating a firm basis for learning massage.
Mindfulness teachings often isolate the practice from larger cultural, spiritual and expressive contexts. This workshop goes the other direction: it integrates secular mindfulness practices with the wisdom of world philosophies and with the creative arts. The workshop is for those new to mindfulness, those with an established practice and for psychotherapists interested in integrating mindfulness into their clinical work. It is co-taught by a psychiatrist and cultural scholar from New York University, and an experienced meditation teacher.
One of R. D. Laing’s most seminal influences was the existential philosophical tradition, especially Sartre, Heidegger and Nietzsche. The core principle that binds these disparate thinkers together is the concept of authenticity. There is no better term to characterize Laing’s ethical approach to clinical intervention. We will devote our five days together to exploring what it means to be authentic. What is the relationship between authenticity and ethics? The self? Happiness? Can the search for authenticity drive us mad, or make us sane?
A growing number of people are aware of the Enneagram as an accurate and profound map of personality. The nine Enneagram types are based on the three primary centers of intelligence: thinking, emotion and instinct. However, in almost all human beings, distortions or blockages in these centers have led to a loss of connection with our essential nature and to the arising of ego structures to compensate for this loss. Thus, while our Enneagram type usually obscures our true nature with a characteristic web of defenses, it can also serve as an opening to the deeper reality of spirit.
In these volatile times, it’s more important than ever to build an unshakable internal core of resilient, confident well-being. By growing the good inside and coming home to our true nature, we can find lasting happiness, self-worth and inner peace. In this experiential workshop, you’ll use recent neuroscience findings to tap into and grow inner strengths like grit, gratitude, self-respect and compassion. Each day in the morning, you’ll learn effective ways to release anxiety, hurt and anger; to heal from past painful experiences; and to rest in an open-hearted happiness.
There is a powerful connection between your emotions, intuition and empathy. The magic comes when you learn how to tap into each of them to fully access your sensitivities without going on overload or becoming drained. Join Judith Orloff to awaken your intuition and empathy to enhance your health, work, relationships, resilience as a parent, and emotional and physical well-being.
Why do some leaders overcome impossible barriers, go beyond unbearable pressure and frustration and persevere in order to achieve outcomes seemingly beyond reach when others would give up? Through their desire for relentless improvement, leaders at the edge can unlock the highest levels of performance in themselves and others, making work a more exciting place to be. Leading at the edge enables people to "play to win" rather than simply "playing not to lose," a mindset that focuses on survival.
CranioSacral therapy is a gentle, noninvasive hands-on technique to help detect and correct imbalances in the craniosacral system that may cause sensory, motor or intellectual dysfunction. It is used to treat a myriad of health problems, including headaches, neck and back pain, TMJ dysfunction, chronic fatigue, motor coordination difficulties, eye problems, endogenous depression, hyperactivity and central nervous system disorders.
This advanced massage workshop focuses on the shoulder girdle and the neck. Imbalances and chronic tension around the scapulae, neck and shoulder are frequently caused by misaligned habitual movement patterns. These holding patterns result in kyphosis, elevated/retracted shoulders or a depressed chest, all of which affect one’s ability to breathe fully, supporting habits of fear and anxiety.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a powerful therapeutic method for healing trauma-based problems. Shedding new light on trauma survival — including sexual and physical abuse, accident and surgical trauma and grief — EMDR is opening doors of the heart to genuine spiritual transformation. This course is for mental-health professionals who are licensed to provide treatment. Through lecture, hands-on practice and demonstrations, participants will be shown:
• Protocols and procedures for using EMDR with a wide range of diagnostic categories
Our inability to handle personal criticism from loved ones is a common Achilles’ heel. The more deeply we love, the more fragile we feel. Soon, couples feel they are walking on eggshells, unable to express themselves honestly, and their love fades. Raising children and money magnify the problems even as they become the reason couples stay together. The result? Couples often remain legally married but psychologically divorced — in a minimum-security-prison marriage.
As women we have a unique power of creativity in our reproductive systems. That power is used not only to create new life, but also to bring personal projects into being. However, that energy can be blocked by physical, emotional or spiritual trauma to the pelvic floor and the female organs.
Acceptance and mindfulness-based practices are rapidly making their way into mental health care, medicine and society — to alleviate human suffering and also to nurture psychological health and wellness. This body of work offers a fresh perspective on psychological suffering and powerful clinical strategies that support meaningful life changes. In this workshop for mental health professionals, participants will learn about one particular approach and set of evidence-based practices called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
Join Master Mingtong Gu for a week dedicated to healing and balancing body, mind, heart and spirit through the powerful movement, sound and visualization practices of qigong. This retreat is a great way to journey inward with deep nourishment and recharge with renewed energy, clarity and vitality. Qigong supports you in releasing limitations and expanding into new possibilities for balance, wellness, deep fulfillment and lasting joy.
This weekend is an opportunity for people practicing Zero Balancing to reconnect with Fritz Smith, with Zero Balancing, and with each other.
It is critically important to periodically meet with like-minded people and to openly, freely and safely discuss problems, insights and successes of your work — in this case, the leading-edge therapy of balancing energy and structure.
Give your significant other or good friend a wonderful gift of touch. Enjoy the serene beauty of Big Sur as you and your partner learn how to give one another an effective Esalen Massage. A tender touch can do wonders for any relationship by easing stress, releasing tension and deepening nonverbal communication skills. The workshop focuses on how to pay attention with heart and hands, ask for what you need, and take the time to truly nurture yourself and your partner.
In this course, you will be introduced to the models and concepts of functional biomechanics as viewed from Jean-Pierre Barral's Visceral Manipulation approach. This method of evaluation and treatment is based on the concept that each of our internal organs rotates on a physiological axis. Focus is on the abdominal cavity and includes the organs, their membranes, ligaments, innervation, and their spatial functional interrelationships. You will be taught basic manipulations for correcting abnormal motions and stress patterns within this cavity.
Esalen offers numerous levels of basic massage certification. For an overview of these offerings, please visit www.esalen.org/page/esalen-massage-certification-programs-overview.
Welcome to an experiential weekend of strengthening your inner resources and the natural resilience that supports your well-being and flourishing.
Each of us finds our true selves through our emotions. In order to become whole, we must discover how our experience is organized in limiting, unconscious patterns and through that process, learn how to organize our experience in new ways.
This workshop is a wonderful opportunity for you to enjoy the beauty of Big Sur and the healing waters of the Esalen hot springs, while gaining a foundation in the art and practice of Esalen Massage. During the week, participants will be taught massage methods that address the whole body: Esalen’s signature long flowing strokes that support feelings of wholeness, connection and integration; passive joint movement; and a variety of techniques to work with the major muscle groups of the body.
Have you ever worked hard to make a change, only to find yourself slipping back into old habits and patterns? Are you in the midst of riding massive waves of change and need a few surfing lessons? This workshop is for people who are in the process of change, or who work as change agents with individuals, groups or the collective. Through dialogue, experiential practice and creative process, the group will learn about the emerging science of transformation and explore indigenous, religious, spiritual and secular models of transformation. Participants will examine how peak experiences, a-ha!
Join us for an exploration of the benefits of practice from three distinct, intertwined perspectives. Mornings will begin with intensive mindfulness and loving kindness meditation led by dharma teacher, lay contemplative and scientist Nikki Mirghafori. She will facilitate sitting and walking meditations and help participants refine and integrate their practice and insights. UC Davis neuroscientist Clifford Saron will lead a voyage of scientific discovery into brain function.
Abandonment is a primal human fear and the underlying cause of emotional distress and dysfunction. Susan Anderson, psychotherapist and author of Taming Your Outer Child and Journey from Abandonment to Healing, will share powerful tools of emotional and spiritual healing to help you reverse abandonment’s universal wound. You will be taught exercises for each of the five stages of abandonment: shattering, withdrawal, internalizing, rage and lifting; how to conquer “abandoholism” and other outer child behaviors; how to make new connections; and steps for healing abandonment.
Because demand for practitioners with Deep Bodywork skills is growing, Perry and Johanna Holloman have developed a series of seminars designed to teach massage practitioners this healing art. Each seminar has a specific focus in terms of the physical structures touched and their related functions. An overall emphasis is placed on how to integrate this work into the format of a flowing massage.