Esalen News March 2022
Spring is right around the corner, and we're welcoming the season with exciting new offerings. Our Big Sur campus is a home away from home for many, and the upcoming June launch of our new Digital Hybrid courses will inclusively bring that comfort and support into your own home. Our LEEP workshops are back with two nourishing month-long programs led by Karen Axelrod and Suzane Scurlock, plus we’ve got 17 enriching new weekend and week-long workshops that promise to activate the mind, body, and soul in creative and unexpected ways — all within the epic backdrop of Mother Nature.
We’re launching a new way to collectively explore your human potential while experiencing Esalen right from inside your own home. Our new Digital Hybrid programs are designed to foster the depth of connection and transformation that our on-campus workshops are known for. These specially-curated virtual experiences happen live and in real time, giving students greater access to world-class faculty teaching from our Big Sur campus.
Sign up to be an early adopter and pioneer for exclusive special content and announcements about these unique online courses.
What would happen if you pressed pause on your everyday life and dedicated four weeks to explore yourself and life at Esalen in one of our Live Extended Education Programs? If you’re ready to take the LEEP, we’re accepting applications for these five exciting programs.
CranioSacral Therapy: Exploring Presence and Intentioned Touch, July 2 – 29, 2022 with Karen Axelrod
CranioSacral Therapy (CST) is a gentle and profoundly moving form of bodywork known to help regulate the central nervous system for body-mind-spirit balancing. Learn how strong, therapeutic presence and intentional touch can facilitate safety and comfort for clients, practicing hands-on techniques to help unravel pain and dysfunction, while enhancing health in every dimension. You must be a professional healthcare practitioner or student or meet the course prerequisite requirements for this program.
Leadership and Presence, July 30 – August 26, 2022 with Suzanne Scurlock
Presence is the hidden key to successful leadership. Learn to develop a greater presence by paying attention to the body’s subtle cues and the surrounding environment. Use these signals to help regulate your energy reservoir, make healthy connections, maintain good emotional boundaries, and have more powerful leadership conversations.
Our latest batch of workshops offer a variety of enticing ways to reconnect to yourself, others, creativity, and the grandeur of nature.
Relational Gestalt Practice: The Transformative Power of Emotion, April 25–29, 2022 with Dorothy Charles
Developing the awareness, boundaries, and communication skills to foster healthy emotional connections is key to transforming limiting beliefs that formed early in life about yourself, others, and what’s possible for your life. Learn through a variety of exercises as well as individual “open seat” sessions with Dorothy and the support of the group. Hear more from Dorothy in this Spotlight interview.
Effortless Mindfulness Embodied: Awakening, Glimpse by Glimpse, May 1–6, 2022 with Loch Kelly
The first premise of Loch Kelly’s approach, Effortless Mindfulness, is that the freedom, connection, and awakeness we are seeking is already here within us. During this week, you will learn practice how to approaches and methods designed to help you shift out of your chattering mind and into embodied, open-hearted awareness in the midst of everyday life.
Awake in the Wild Meditation Retreat: Opening to Joy, Wonder and Awe in Nature, May 6–8, 2022 with Mark Coleman, Lori Schwanbeck, and Teja Bell
Revitalize and reconnect to your aliveness by opening your senses, heart, and mind to the wonder of nature. Study with three renowned meditation teachers, exploring the beautiful and accessible practices of meditation, movement, and Qi-Gong — all outdoors in the exquisite natural beauty at Esalen. Learn more from Lori on Esalen Live!
Upledger Institute International's Craniosacral Therapy 1: Assessment of Central Nervous System and Fascia for Full Body Treatment Protocol, May 15–20, 2022 with Melinda Naye
Open to healthcare professionals or those in training, this partner program through the International Alliance of Healthcare Educators is a deep dive into CranioSacral Therapy (CST), a gentle, non-invasive, hands-on technique used to treat a myriad of health problems. Continuing education credit for massage, nurses, and acupuncturists may be available through the course leader.
Art As A Spiritual Path: Discovering Your Creative Mandala, May 23–27, 2022 with Paul Heussenstamm
Whether you’ve never painted before or you’re looking for a new way to expand your creativity, painting a mandala (a geometric figure representing the universe in Hindu and Buddhist symbolism) is a gentle entry into the left brain hemisphere that helps reveal the artist within each of us. As a genuine form of meditation, it can open your heart, calm your mind, and even has the capacity to expand consciousness.
5Rhythms® Moon Lodge: Honoring the Sacred Feminine, May 30 – June 3, 2022 with Lucia Horan and Dr. Julie Von
How empowered do you feel as a woman navigating this world? What is your relationship to the feminine and her wisdom? This workshop will be about celebrating the body of Woman and the sacred feminine within. Through dance, meditation, massage, acupuncture, and ritual cleansing baths, we will release wounds of the past and share in the sisterhood of humanity.
Moon Lodge: Spiritual Fertility, June 3–5, 2022 with Lucia Horan and Dr. Julie Von
We’ve been indoctrinated to understand fertility as a purely physical concept, but there is also a deeply spiritual dimension. Come discover and be strengthened in your individual connection to sacred motherhood. Join together with a sharing circle to collectively hold, heal, and create new paths for conception and motherhood. Learn more about healing with Lucia in The Journal.
The Painting Process Rediscovered: The Magic of Spontaneous Expression, June 6–10 with Michelle Cassou
Come discover practical ways to dissolve creative blocks and find inspiration, so art becomes not a means to an end but a place you inhabit. This workshop is a week of painting, support, stimulation, free play, and self-realization for artists and seekers of all stripes — educators, counselors, meditators — anyone with a thirst to revitalize the creative juices. No prior painting experience is required.
The Dream Bigger Foundation’s Transformational Leader Meditation Teacher Training, June 6–10 with Justin Michael Williams
Open only to students who have completed Justin Michael Williams’ Transformational Leader Meditation Teacher Training Certification, this program — with its deep focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion — will provide you with the practices, tools, and knowledge to transform your own life and take that transformation out into the world. Learn more about Justin’s perspective on transformation on Esalen Live!
Gestalt Practice and Principles: Cultivating Embodied Wholeness in Daily Life, June 13–17, 2022 with Steven Harper
At its core, Gestalt is an awareness practice meant to cultivate wholeness and radical aliveness in the here-and-now. Through personal and interactive experiential practices, learn to recognize and release unskillful habitual and reactive patterns, while developing space and appreciation for silence, sensation, emotional expression, and communication that can help you improve your relationship to yourself and others.
Amplified Yoga, June 17–19, 2022 with Donovan McGrath and Rob Garza
Throughout the weekend, Donovan McGrath leads you in the high-energy practices of Amplified Yoga that will help you build the strong body, vibrant energy, and mental clarity necessary to endure the pressures of these times, while Rob Garza (of Thievery Corporation) DJ’s live to propel you through the therapeutic, celebratory experience.
In the Company of Men: The Embodied Masculine, a 5Rhythms® Workshop, June 24–26, 2022 with Douglas Drummond
What does it mean to be Embodied as a Man? During this impactful weekend, you’ll explore the question of what it means to be a man in the modern world. Through 5Rhythms movement practice, group shares, and sensory awareness exercises, explore your edges and your vulnerability in the strength and company of other men.
In(ter)dependence Weekend, July 1–3, 2022 with Janet Stone
The human need for connection runs deep. Coming together can inspire creativity, expand our viewpoints, soothe anxieties, and offer much-needed friction that helps us see ourselves more wholly and become well-balanced beings. During this weekend retreat, dive into meditation, pranayama, chanting, yoga asana, dance, hot baths, lovingly prepared food, open time, and space to process and reconnect.
Summer Yoga Gathering, July 4–8, 2022 with Janet Stone
Come celebrate summer at Esalen and immerse in the power of movement, community, music, and the glory of this land and her three waters. Janet, MC Yogi, Marti Bradley, DJ Drez, Amanda, Sita Devi and more will welcome you to a journey rich with connection and the opportunity to reset.
The Art and Science of Embodied Presence: Mindfulness, Movement, and Music, July 8–10, 2022 with Nkechi Deanna Njaka
Embark on a journey towards healing to discover the Truth of who you are. Learn the latest science on mindfulness, embodied cognition, and presence, and engage in contemplative dance practices, improvisational mindful movement, authentic creative expression, and collaborative performance, all accompanied by live music performed by Grammy-nominated instrumentalist Tauwoo.
Resource and Renew: A 5Rhythms® & Mindfulness Workshop, July 11–15, 2022 with Lucia Horan
Would you like to be better resourced and have more energy? If the answer is yes, then you’re in perfect alignment to participate in this workshop. Release and balance your body’s systems with 5Rhythms movement practice, and use sitting meditation to quiet the heart and mind, allowing for stillness and integration. By seeding the qualities of self-care, compassion, and kindness into your daily life, you can move forward with energy, passion, and creativity.
We have many more workshops available for enrollment or waitlist.
And if you’ve always wanted to visit Esalen but haven’t been able to find the room in your budget: did you know about our scholarship program?
Stunning Soul Guidance
The Beauty of the Tarot deck helps you connect to your inner truth for guidance on the journey ahead.
Shop now.
Awakening Your Inner Guide Through Tarot
Are the answers to life “in the cards?” Join Tarot Master Guide Brenda Rose for a three-card pull on an enlightening Esalen Live!
Watch now.
Sweet Potato Toast Four Ways
A former Esalen chef once lost her way, but today, this holistic nutritionist and coach leans into plants for quick, adaptable recipes like this one.
Get the recipe.
Stunning Soul Guidance
The Beauty of the Tarot deck helps you connect to your inner truth for guidance on the journey ahead.
Shop now.
Awakening Your Inner Guide Through Tarot
Are the answers to life “in the cards?” Join Tarot Master Guide Brenda Rose for a three-card pull on an enlightening Esalen Live!
Watch now.
Sweet Potato Toast Four Ways
A former Esalen chef once lost her way, but today, this holistic nutritionist and coach leans into plants for quick, adaptable recipes like this one.
Get the recipe.
Stunning Soul Guidance
The Beauty of the Tarot deck helps you connect to your inner truth for guidance on the journey ahead.
Shop now.
Awakening Your Inner Guide Through Tarot
Are the answers to life “in the cards?” Join Tarot Master Guide Brenda Rose for a three-card pull on an enlightening Esalen Live!
Watch now.
Sweet Potato Toast Four Ways
A former Esalen chef once lost her way, but today, this holistic nutritionist and coach leans into plants for quick, adaptable recipes like this one.
Get the recipe.
Check out the latest episodes of Voices of Esalen:
Jack Kornfield and Trudy Goodman: Hatred Never Ceases by Hatred
Dr. Deborah Egerton on Using the Enneagram for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism
Reverend Erika Allison: Gay the Pray Away — Healing from LGBT Conversion Therapy
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