Esalen Institute is open! However, Highway 1 to the south is closed — please review the current travel advisory.
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

Erotic Ecology: Awakening the Senses and Healing through Nature

October 24–26, 2025

Lindsay Branham

Love is an ecological process.  — Andreas Weber

Most of us have lost our sensual connection to our bodies and to the living world. We have become numb to the Earth's touch. This weekend workshop offers an immersive experience in the erotic ecology pathway — a space to reawaken our sensory, pleasurable, and nourishing connection to two landscapes: our bodies and the Earth. You are invited to slow down and discover how to let the Earth touch you, heal you, and love you.

Through embodied exploration, you can rediscover your birthright: an intimate relationship with the Earth as lover and healer. This kinship reminds us that, at our essence, we are not separate from the Earth — we are the Earth.

Set amongst Esalen's sacred landscape, where redwood forests meet the Pacific Ocean, we'll engage in practices that are designed to open you to ecological eros: abundant source of pleasure, aliveness, and vitality.

Together, we will:

  • Savor the nourishment of surrendering to the Earth's embrace.
  • Awaken a felt sense of kinship with the natural world.
  • Reconnect with your body's innate intelligence and capacity for healing.
  • Taste the deepest wellspring of rest and nourishment that is always available to us.
  • Remember your aliveness.
  • Practice talking and listening to the Earth.

You'll be guided to return home with the kindled flame of a love affair with the Earth — an enduring resource in an increasingly disconnected world.

Recommended Reading: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Lindsay Branham

Lindsay Branham, PhD, is an environmental psychologist and author exploring embodied and erotic ecology. Her first book, Heartwood: The Wisdom and Healing Kinship of Trees, will be released in 2026. She is trained as a Buddhist eco-doula and delights in supporting others to rediscover a reciprocal relationship with nature. 

Full Bio