A travel advisory is in effect for Highway 1 to our north. Learn more about repairs at the baths.
Learn More.

Learn more.

Due to road closures along Highway 1 to our north and south, Esalen is closed through April 11.
Esalen Institute is open! However, Highway 1 to the south is closed — please review the current travel advisory.
past workshop

Channel Your Creative Life: From Flights to Perchings

June 26–28, 2026

Erin Prophet

The artist is essentially a channel. — Piet Mondrian

Explore the nature of creativity — what fuels it, where it comes from, and how we live with it. Is inspiration something we receive from beyond or something we shape from within? Do artists create, channel, or both?

In this workshop, we will consider the creative process not only as a soaring flight of inspiration, but also as a grounded practice of returning, refining, and working with what lands. Through meditation, movement, writing, and dialogue, we’ll explore the terrain where art, channeling, and creation intersect. We will build upon William James’ notion that our stream of consciousness alternates between flights and perchings.

Together, we will:

  • Delve into the latest neuroscientific studies that explain what happens during experiences of insight and flow.
  • Discuss parallels between artists and mediums — from Jack Kerouac and Zora Neale Hurston to Edgar Cayce and Helena Blavatsky.
  • Investigate techniques for overcoming blocks to creativity.
  • Engage in movement and meditation practices and for creativity.
  • Develop our personal “creativity lotus” by sampling multisensory activities as well as expressive writing and drawing.

This workshop holds space for those curious about the origins of creativity and for those who want to engage more fully with how inspiration appears — and disappears — in the rhythm of a creative life.

Erin Prophet

Erin Prophet, PhD, is an author and scholar who studies spiritual experience and has also been a "channeler." She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at East Carolina University.

Full Bio