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What can you do at Esalen?
Esalen Workshops
Since our founding in 1962, nearly 100,000 visitors have come to Esalen to participate in our public workshops and conferences. Today we offer a wide range of weekend, five-day and seven-day workshops in such areas as:
- Arts & Creativity
- Body & Movement
- Leadership & Society
- Meditation & Spirituality
- Mind & Psychology
- Nature & Sustainability
- Relationship & Self
A Time to Reflect
Occasionally Esalen offers the opportunity to experience our land through an unstructured workshop.
Experiential Program
In addition to our public workshops, Esalen has an amazing range of masterful teachers and mentors on our Big Sur campus at any given time. One way we harness this gift of expertise and pass it on to our guests is through our Esalen Experiential Program – a daily menu of classes in a variety of topics. Open to all registered guests, these classes are wonderful opportunities to learn and grow outside of a scheduled workshop. Each week offers a different selection.
Topics can include:
- Yoga
- Dance
- Meditation
- Qi gong
- Singing
- Community art
- 12 Step Tribe
- Volunteer in one of our departments including the Esalen Kitchen and the Esalen Farm & Garden
You can find the current Experiential Program class schedule posted outside the Lodge or at the Esale Gate.
The Baths
All registered guests are welcome to enjoy our hot springs 24 hours a day. Heated by the molten core of the earth and laden with minerals, the waters of Esalen’s hot springs flow at a rate of 80 gallons per minute and emerge at a temperature of 119 degrees Fahrenheit. These waters possess deeply rejuvenating properties, and the Esalen baths are a place of refuge, reverence, healing, and contemplation.
Coming down the hill you will see the upper level with its outdoor massage deck and living roof planted in native coastal grasses. This upper level has its own hot tub equipped with a special lift for handicapped access in addition to a wheelchair-accessible changing room, shower, and bathroom. The lower level of the baths is entered by descending steps toward a perpetual fountain. The lower level contains restrooms and two sides, a "quiet" and a “silent” side. Each side has a changing room and there is a shower room with a glass wall perched over the ocean. There are several tubs, both indoor and outdoor in the lower level, as well as private, clawfoot tubs. There are massage rooms on both the upper and lower levels.
Esalen Healing Arts
As part of your stay at Esalen, you are welcome to reserve a session with our experienced Healing Arts staff. Reservations are often booked in advance so we recommend you register prior to your arrival.
Esalen massage practitioners are dedicated to connecting deeply with each client and can usually accommodate specific requests and preferences within the Esalen massage modality. Practitioners combine a full-bodied presence with long, integrating strokes and slow, deep muscle work to release everyday stresses, still the mind, and leave you feeling integrated and deeply relaxed. At the heart of all of our healing arts and massage sessions is a sense of empowering each individual to regain a sense of harmony, reverence, and balance, and to awaken inner resources for healing. It is not unusual for us to hear, "That was the most amazing massage I've ever received."
The Art Barn
On any given day, curious seekers inspired by the wild beauty of Esalen gather in the Art Barn to experiment, play, take risks and travel one of the most ancient human paths of transformation: the creative process. Choose how you’d like to tap into creativity while you’re here. The Art Barn is open to all guests when a workshop is not currently in session inside.
Photos, top to bottom: Doug Ellis, Alex Adams, Daniel Bianchetta, Jens Wazel, Jason Moon.