Esalen Video Shorts

Rod Stryker’s new program, Luminous Coherence: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, Lasting Freedom, invites you into a state of unified awareness where old patterns soften and the deeper self comes into view. Blending tantric practice with modern neuroscience, this workshop offers a rare chance to rediscover coherence, intuition, and the possibility of real transformation.

They spend their lives caring for others, and found a way to care for each other.

Paras and Mike came to Esalen from San Jose. Both work in the emergency room, and, carry the steady weight of caring for others. The pace is constant and the stakes are high in the ER. Outside of work, life had brought additional strain. Paras is moving through grief after the loss of her brother, alongside the physical and emotional intensity of menopause, as well as deep concern for family back in Iran. It became too difficult to keep going at the same pace.

When she saw a weeklong massage workshop, she applied for a scholarship for them. They were accepted. Paras was coming to relax and breathe more deeply; Miike was focused on supporting her through the experience.What unfolded was something they had not fully expected. As the days went on, the work began to include both of them. Touch became a way back. They slowed down. They listened. They practiced. Something shifted between them. Not just relief, but deeper connection. They left Esalen with a shared language they could carry home. They had a way of caring for each other, not only for others.

Jeffrey J. Kripal reflects on Biological Gods: Evolution and the Coming Superhumans, a July 2026 seminar with John Allison exploring the charged intersection of evolution, myth, language, and spiritual transformation. Drawing from Darwin, Nietzsche, Aurobindo, Sylvia Wynter, psychedelics, and Esalen’s own history of human potential, the workshop asks whether the stories we tell about humanity may help shape what humanity becomes.

The ego often rests in a quiet assumption of insufficiency: the sense that we are somehow not enough, or that this moment is not enough. Through movement, stillness, somatic inquiry, and relational mindfulness, Deborah Eden Tull's upcoming August 2026 workshop, Fluidity in Motion: Presence, Play, and Spontaneous Awareness, invites participants to soften that grip and rest more deeply in presence, guided by the wisdom of the water element. Set against the dramatic coastline of Big Sur, the experience offers space to reconnect with the intelligence of the body, the living world, and the deeper currents moving beneath ordinary life.

Dorothy Charles has been teaching Gestalt at Esalen since the 1980s, carrying forward a lineage deeply connected to the work that Dick Price once practiced and taught. For Charles, Gestalt is a way of meeting one another with enough presence, honesty, and support that something old can finally be seen, felt, and integrated. “We develop in relationship and we heal in relationship,” she says, echoing Gregory Bateson’s insight that “it takes two people to know one person.” In this work, participants explore both “what happened that shouldn’t have happened” and “what did not happen that should have happened.” Within the supportive field of the group, old wounds can be witnessed in a new way: as openings into deeper contact, repair, and growth.

Experience Ayurveda and Emotional Wellness with Siva Raakhi Mohan — a weekend of deepened emotional awareness through Ayurveda, breathwork, movement, and meditation. Through real-time practices, you’ll learn to understand your feelings and respond with greater clarity and connection. With live music and a transformational dance experience led by Sunshine Zerda and QVLN, this workshop welcomes all levels.