Travel advisory
Maintenance work on Highway 1 north of Esalen at the Bixby Bridge (PM 59.5) will result in full overnight road closures from 10 pm – 6:30 am for three weeks beginning Monday July 12.
Our workshops are designed to support you in the challenging work of self exploration, in partnership with some of the leading minds of the day. Join us in discovering the next frontiers of individual and societal transformation. (Interested in a scholarship? Learn more here.)
"We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
– Joseph Campbell, mythologist and Esalen instructor
Letting go of entrenched ideas – of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it – is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to delve into ourselves and to understand the depths of our connections. It’s the driver of change both personal and societal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
The Rituals of Esalen program gives you and a partner two days of peace, space, and natural beauty so you can do the work of growth. Enjoy serenity for the mind, support for the body, stimulus for the spirit, and nourishment for all three. Direct your full energy to connecting with yourself, your partner, and the world around you while drawing on the best of Esalen’s rituals and practices:
During the days, be inspired by the rugged, wild Big Sur coastline. Use the tranquil evenings ideal for stargazing and contemplation, or spend time exploring the day’s insights with your partner. Unplug. Take advantage of the safety and respite, and rediscover who you are and what you bring to the world so you can return with renewed energy.
The upheavals that punctuate life are valuable opportunities for transformation, if we have the time and space to work through it. That’s the gift of Esalen: the expanse you need to distill your intentions and reawaken the change agent within.
Doing personal growth work while still engaging in self-sabotaging behavior is like watering a garden full of weeds and expecting roses to bloom. Learn to overcome self-sabotage and transform your pain into authentic power.
In this dynamic three-day workshop with award-winning instructor Justin Michael Williams, you will:
Learn practical behavioral changes to help you overcome the hidden patterns standing in the way of your goals. Together, we’ll create your personal action plan and define your “next best move,” so that you have a ritual for change that lasts well after the retreat is over. This is your moment to reset, overcome fear and self-doubt, and say “yes” to the life that’s waiting for you.
This program has been designed from the ground up to welcome all people of all genders, races, identities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. All meditation experience levels are welcome as well.
10% of tuition goes to the Dream Bigger Foundation, which provides scholarship funds to underserved communities, and hosts the Liberation Experience, a program that works to unite people across social, political, and religious divides, and other transformational opportunities.
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
– Joseph Campbell, mythologist and Esalen instructor
Letting go of entrenched ideas – of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it – is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to delve into ourselves and to understand the depths of our connections. It’s the driver of change both personal and societal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
The Rituals of Esalen program gives you and a partner five days of peace, space, and natural beauty so you can do the work of growth. Enjoy serenity for the mind, support for the body, stimulus for the spirit, and nourishment for all three. Direct your full energy to connecting with yourself, your partner, and the world around you while drawing on the best of Esalen’s rituals and practices:
During the days, be inspired by the rugged, wild Big Sur coastline. Use the tranquil evenings ideal for stargazing and contemplation, or spend time exploring the day’s insights with your partner. Unplug. Take advantage of the safety and respite, and rediscover who you are and what you bring to the world so you can return with renewed energy.
The upheavals that punctuate life are valuable opportunities for transformation, if we have the time and space to work through it. That’s the gift of Esalen: the expanse you need to distill your intentions and reawaken the change agent within.
Our lives may be determined less by past events than by the way we remember them. You are invited to come aboard this inner adventure that offers a step-by-step journey of discovery and re-visioning through focused journaling. You will be engaged in exercises designed to facilitate self-healing and transformation. Sharing stories about our past through focused journaling can help change our perspectives to enable healing and empowerment. In this way, we are able to make meaning out of memory and put the past where it belongs – behind us. Healing and transformation are only possible through changing one’s perspective from within. In this way, global healing takes place one individual, one tribe, at a time. What story are you living? How do you choose to remember your story?
Join award-winning writer and global teacher Catherine Ann Jones in this course. No writing experience is necessary.
Recommended reading: Heal Your Self with Writing, by Catherine Ann Jones
"We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
– Joseph Campbell, mythologist and Esalen instructor
Letting go of entrenched ideas – of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it – is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to delve into ourselves and to understand the depths of our connections. It’s the driver of change both personal and societal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
The Rituals of Esalen program gives you and a partner two days of peace, space, and natural beauty so you can do the work of growth. Enjoy serenity for the mind, support for the body, stimulus for the spirit, and nourishment for all three. Direct your full energy to connecting with yourself, your partner, and the world around you while drawing on the best of Esalen’s rituals and practices:
During the days, be inspired by the rugged, wild Big Sur coastline. Use the tranquil evenings ideal for stargazing and contemplation, or spend time exploring the day’s insights with your partner. Unplug. Take advantage of the safety and respite, and rediscover who you are and what you bring to the world so you can return with renewed energy.
The upheavals that punctuate life are valuable opportunities for transformation, if we have the time and space to work through it. That’s the gift of Esalen: the expanse you need to distill your intentions and reawaken the change agent within.
A growing number of people are aware of the Enneagram as an accurate and profound map of personality. The nine Enneagram types are based on the three primary centers of intelligence: thinking, emotion and instinct. However, in almost all human beings, distortions or blockages in these centers have led to a loss of connection with our essential nature and to the arising of ego structures to compensate for this loss. Thus, while our Enneagram type usually obscures our true nature with a characteristic web of defenses, it can also serve as an opening to the deeper reality of spirit.
This workshop will emphasize recognizing the ways that each of the nine types plays out in our own personalities. It will combine psychological insight into the inner workings of the types with meditation practices and exercises to lead you toward a more direct experience of qualities of essence such as presence, clarity, compassion and joy. Conversational instruction will be combined with group meditations, small-group work, physical movements and music so that you can more fully integrate the richness of the Enneagram material into their daily work and relationships.
Riso and Hudson, The Wisdom of the Enneagram, Personality Types (Revised Edition, 1996), and Understanding the Enneagram (Revised Edition, 2000), Hudson, The Enneagram: Nine Gateways to Presence (2021).
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
– Joseph Campbell, mythologist and Esalen instructor
Letting go of entrenched ideas – of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it – is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to delve into ourselves and to understand the depths of our connections. It’s the driver of change both personal and societal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
The Rituals of Esalen program gives you and a partner five days of peace, space, and natural beauty so you can do the work of growth. Enjoy serenity for the mind, support for the body, stimulus for the spirit, and nourishment for all three. Direct your full energy to connecting with yourself, your partner, and the world around you while drawing on the best of Esalen’s rituals and practices:
During the days, be inspired by the rugged, wild Big Sur coastline. Use the tranquil evenings ideal for stargazing and contemplation, or spend time exploring the day’s insights with your partner. Unplug. Take advantage of the safety and respite, and rediscover who you are and what you bring to the world so you can return with renewed energy.
The upheavals that punctuate life are valuable opportunities for transformation, if we have the time and space to work through it. That’s the gift of Esalen: the expanse you need to distill your intentions and reawaken the change agent within.
The hunger to belong is at the heart of our nature.
– John O’Donohue
These uncertain times have shaken and are shaking our habitual ways of being. Individually and collectively, we are experiencing anxiety, disconnection, and the reality of impermanence even as we begin our journey into the still-forming “new normal.” Now more than ever, we need to let our somatic system know safety by connecting to our somatic intelligence, easing into social connections and the natural world — so we may settle and ground in our organism’s capacity for responsiveness, resilience and co-regulation.
A sense of deep belonging and connection is the natural state of our being. Our nervous system and physiology are wired to feel belonging. We are being called to greet change in manners not previously known to most of us — individually and collectively. To know and feel our belonging in these times asks us to grow awareness — to have courage to feel our vulnerability, cultivate curiosity, and increase our capacity for authentic compassion.
Together, we'll explore using a variety of practices..
Listening deeply, life conspires to let us know our interconnectedness even in the midst of the unknowable. We will draw from various wisdom traditions, contemplative practices, contemporary somatic and neuropsychology to explore ancient, yet new ways of belonging to ourselves, others, and to the other-than-human world to which we are participate. When we embody the birthright of our interconnectedness and the ground of belonging, ever-changing life lives through us.
Please expect to be outdoors, on the Esalen grounds. We will work in group, paired, and solo practices. This workshop will take place on Esalen grounds.
"We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
– Joseph Campbell, mythologist and Esalen instructor
Letting go of entrenched ideas – of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it – is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to delve into ourselves and to understand the depths of our connections. It’s the driver of change both personal and societal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
The Rituals of Esalen program gives you and a partner two days of peace, space, and natural beauty so you can do the work of growth. Enjoy serenity for the mind, support for the body, stimulus for the spirit, and nourishment for all three. Direct your full energy to connecting with yourself, your partner, and the world around you while drawing on the best of Esalen’s rituals and practices:
During the days, be inspired by the rugged, wild Big Sur coastline. Use the tranquil evenings ideal for stargazing and contemplation, or spend time exploring the day’s insights with your partner. Unplug. Take advantage of the safety and respite, and rediscover who you are and what you bring to the world so you can return with renewed energy.
The upheavals that punctuate life are valuable opportunities for transformation, if we have the time and space to work through it. That’s the gift of Esalen: the expanse you need to distill your intentions and reawaken the change agent within.
This workshop is also offered August 20–22.
Learn to activate the right side of your brain to unlock the insights necessary to break through self-limiting patterns. Based on a Nobel Prize-winning discovery in neuroscience, this methodology helps you think outside the box and live a more creative, productive, happier life.
William Donius, author of the New York Times bestseller Thought Revolution, spent a decade researching and developing this brain-enhancing methodology. He has taught these skills to a wide range of people, from students and corporate executives to scientists and artists. This innovative approach inspires more creative solutions than conventional thinking or brainstorming sessions. Through easy-to-learn exercises, you can discover ways to harness your intuition and uncover profound insights about yourself that make change possible. You’ll develop practical tools you can apply each time you face an important decision or obstacle in life. You can go home with new ways to unlock your own inner genius and create the life you long for. Please bring a notebook or journal and a pen.
Recommended reading: Donius, Thought Revolution: How to Unlock Your Inner Genius.
In this new program, we will explore how the Enneagram can show the connection between inner work and the world of social justice. We unlock the Enneagram’s potential as a tool for healing and strengthening the purpose of those of us who have remained silent but are seeking an opportunity to learn how to engage as cultural allies & advocates — racial bridge builders for marginalized communities.
Authentic inner work helps us address issues of diversity by taking us to the heart of our humanity — the place from which we can truly meet others. We will learn how the practices of self-observation can free us from the deeper issues of our personality but also from the roots of our biases so that we can truly be agents of healing in our world. The experiential exercises are designed for participants to take ownership and action as cultural allies and advocate for all people.
We dive deep into the unique perspectives of each Enneagram type and explore how we have access to all 9 lenses and their inherent gifts. Our journey leads us to uncover the importance of embracing all 9 lenses in the same light that we embrace all of humanity and our universal oneness.
Recommended reading: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, and CASTE: The Origin of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson.
Join us for an immersion in deep relaxation and refreshment in the luscious natural world of Esalen. We will be playing with a range of natural movement and seated meditations that awaken the senses, nourish the heart, and stretch the mind in wonder and awe.
Nature is wild and serene. So too is your inner nature. In this liberating approach to meditation, you learn to embrace the fullness of your nature – vastness and vulnerability, sensuality and surging power. Discover that what might seem like obstacles – raw emotion, restlessness, desire – are actually gateways into vitality, renewal, and creativity.
We will be sharing inspirations from The Radiance Sutras. The Sutras describe meditation as a process of savoring the current of life and love flowing through us and riding it inward to commune with our essence. This is an instinctive ability, a way of accessing inner wisdom, and we all can do it.
You will have the freedom to experiment with a wide variety of practices – standing, walking, sitting, lying down, eyes open and eyes closed, using your senses of vision, touch, hearing, taste, balance. We each have our own favorite ways and the key to falling in love with meditation is to customize the practice so that it flows in harmony with your inner nature. Find meditations you love and can take home.
Drawing on fifty years of teaching and 39 years of relationship, Lorin and Camille share this wisdom of Instinctive Meditation with humor and compassion. All levels of experience are welcome.
Recommended reading: The Radiance Sutras by Lorin Roche, Ph.D, Meditation Made Easy by Lorin Roche, Ph.D, and Meditation Secrets for Women by Camille Maurine and Lorin Roche, Ph.D.
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
– Joseph Campbell, mythologist and Esalen instructor
Letting go of entrenched ideas – of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it – is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to delve into ourselves and to understand the depths of our connections. It’s the driver of change both personal and societal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
The Rituals of Esalen program gives you and a partner five days of peace, space, and natural beauty so you can do the work of growth. Enjoy serenity for the mind, support for the body, stimulus for the spirit, and nourishment for all three. Direct your full energy to connecting with yourself, your partner, and the world around you while drawing on the best of Esalen’s rituals and practices:
During the days, be inspired by the rugged, wild Big Sur coastline. Use the tranquil evenings ideal for stargazing and contemplation, or spend time exploring the day’s insights with your partner. Unplug. Take advantage of the safety and respite, and rediscover who you are and what you bring to the world so you can return with renewed energy.
The upheavals that punctuate life are valuable opportunities for transformation, if we have the time and space to work through it. That’s the gift of Esalen: the expanse you need to distill your intentions and reawaken the change agent within.
"We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
– Joseph Campbell, mythologist and Esalen instructor
Letting go of entrenched ideas – of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it – is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to delve into ourselves and to understand the depths of our connections. It’s the driver of change both personal and societal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
The Rituals of Esalen program gives you and a partner two days of peace, space, and natural beauty so you can do the work of growth. Enjoy serenity for the mind, support for the body, stimulus for the spirit, and nourishment for all three. Direct your full energy to connecting with yourself, your partner, and the world around you while drawing on the best of Esalen’s rituals and practices:
During the days, be inspired by the rugged, wild Big Sur coastline. Use the tranquil evenings ideal for stargazing and contemplation, or spend time exploring the day’s insights with your partner. Unplug. Take advantage of the safety and respite, and rediscover who you are and what you bring to the world so you can return with renewed energy.
The upheavals that punctuate life are valuable opportunities for transformation, if we have the time and space to work through it. That’s the gift of Esalen: the expanse you need to distill your intentions and reawaken the change agent within.
Learn to activate the right side of your brain to unlock the insights necessary to break through self-limiting patterns. Based on a Nobel Prize-winning discovery in neuroscience, this methodology helps you think outside the box and live a more creative, productive, happier life.
William Donius, author of the New York Times bestseller Thought Revolution, spent a decade researching and developing this brain-enhancing methodology. He has taught these skills to a wide range of people, from students and corporate executives to scientists and artists. This innovative approach inspires more creative solutions than conventional thinking or brainstorming sessions. Through easy-to-learn exercises, you can discover ways to harness your intuition and uncover profound insights about yourself that make change possible. You’ll develop practical tools you can apply each time you face an important decision or obstacle in life. You can go home with new ways to unlock your own inner genius and create the life you long for. Please bring a notebook or journal and a pen.
Recommended reading: Donius, Thought Revolution: How to Unlock Your Inner Genius.
“Transformation is not something that changes you, it is something that reveals you.” – Jeffrey Williams
How do you find certainty in times of uncertainty?
How do you activate that certainty in your body and in your life?
Join Jeffrey Williams and Swirl Jordan Moore to unlock your most powerful gifts and align your beliefs, actions, and values.
You’ll learn:
You will explore creating ‘peak experiences’ through movement, breath, and sound, including:
These strategies and practices will help you navigate stressful times, battle burnout, and boost vitality Combined with the inspiring Esalen environment, you’ll be buzzing with pure life energy.
The healing path has a trajectory. Gabrielle Roth called this, The Path of The Wounded Healer. It is here that we look closely at our healing process. We mark both where we are and where we want to be. We dance through the five stages of healing in relationship to being the victim, the survivor, the healer, the transformer and eventually the one who rests in compassionate service.
It is my belief that our sacred task in life is to transform the most difficult things we have been through, into our greatest strengths. These are the stories of our resiliency, vulnerability and strength. It is here one may learn how to move with what is and transform it to what we want it to be.
In the Heartbeat Map, we investigate what is moving through the shores of the heart. Through understanding the relationship of the emotional polarities we come to respect and appreciate what we have been through. Without fear, we do not experience courage. Without anger, we cannot experience forgiveness. Without love, we cannot experience grief. Without loss we cannot experience or appreciate the full spectrum of joy. Without all of these qualities, we cannot know the true nature of compassion.
You are invited to join this journey of movement and awareness, focused on how emotions transform the heart. This map is Gabrielle Roth’s living wisdom. I am here to pass this gift on to you to be carried in your own bones and blood.
Each session will be primarily focused on the 5Rhythms® moving meditation. We will integrate each movement session with a seated meditation practice, focused on one of the Buddhist Heart Practices. Included in the group will be optional sharing and a question and answer period.
Recommended reading: Sweat Your Prayers and Maps To Ecstasy, by Gabrielle Roth
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
– Joseph Campbell, mythologist and Esalen instructor
Letting go of entrenched ideas – of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it – is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to delve into ourselves and to understand the depths of our connections. It’s the driver of change both personal and societal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
The Rituals of Esalen program gives you and a partner five days of peace, space, and natural beauty so you can do the work of growth. Enjoy serenity for the mind, support for the body, stimulus for the spirit, and nourishment for all three. Direct your full energy to connecting with yourself, your partner, and the world around you while drawing on the best of Esalen’s rituals and practices:
During the days, be inspired by the rugged, wild Big Sur coastline. Use the tranquil evenings ideal for stargazing and contemplation, or spend time exploring the day’s insights with your partner. Unplug. Take advantage of the safety and respite, and rediscover who you are and what you bring to the world so you can return with renewed energy.
The upheavals that punctuate life are valuable opportunities for transformation, if we have the time and space to work through it. That’s the gift of Esalen: the expanse you need to distill your intentions and reawaken the change agent within.
"We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
– Joseph Campbell, mythologist and Esalen instructor
Letting go of entrenched ideas – of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it – is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to delve into ourselves and to understand the depths of our connections. It’s the driver of change both personal and societal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
The Rituals of Esalen program gives you and a partner two days of peace, space, and natural beauty so you can do the work of growth. Enjoy serenity for the mind, support for the body, stimulus for the spirit, and nourishment for all three. Direct your full energy to connecting with yourself, your partner, and the world around you while drawing on the best of Esalen’s rituals and practices:
During the days, be inspired by the rugged, wild Big Sur coastline. Use the tranquil evenings ideal for stargazing and contemplation, or spend time exploring the day’s insights with your partner. Unplug. Take advantage of the safety and respite, and rediscover who you are and what you bring to the world so you can return with renewed energy.
The upheavals that punctuate life are valuable opportunities for transformation, if we have the time and space to work through it. That’s the gift of Esalen: the expanse you need to distill your intentions and reawaken the change agent within.
… Be inspired by the flame
where everything shines as it disappears.
– Rainer Maria Rilke
After the past 18 months, what in your life could use some breath, space, movement, flow, and a sprinkle of humor? And where in your life are you called toward a more passionate participation – or toward a deeper letting go?
What if you had ways in which to “show up” with change, impermanence, loss, and the whole everyday mess of the human condition while remaining in touch with the deathless presence in which everything dances?
Join us on a leading-edge path that integrates conscious movement, body-based inquiries of Gestalt Practice, and the stillness of nature into a transformative process that touches body, heart, and spirit.
During this weekend together, we will …
Relating to each other in real time in the presence of the natural world, we can not only return to a semblance of sanity but also find ourselves held and healed in the great heart of Belonging.
Open to every body willing to move, pause, listen, and relax, relax, relax … one timeless movement moment at a time.
CE hours for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and LEPs available; see Faculty.
Join us for an experiential training in more compassionate, wise, and embodied ways of being that will transform how you experience your life, family and work. What if attunement, relational intelligence, intuition and deep listening are the most essential qualities for leadership in today’s world? Discover how dramatically women can accelerate and deepen each other’s growth – while creating the conditions for this flourishing ongoing, in your own life.
In this time when everything is in flux, we are all called into leadership, each in our own way, and to act on behalf of what we love and the future we desire.
But we’ve inherited unconscious biases, that presume hierarchy in lieu of cooperation. These biases tend to value productivity over restoration, thinking over other forms of knowing and relating, and speed over slowing down. We can restore wholeness within ourselves and our world by reuniting the yin and yang, the receptive and expressive aspects of our nature, the lunar and solar, the deep elemental feminine and sacred masculine. This rebalancing is imperative for collective transformation.
This workshop includes meditation, relational mindfulness, conscious movement and dance, ritual, writing, and deep time in nature. The deep feminine does not refer to a gender archetype or support gender-binary perception. Rather, it refers to the receptive, and yin, rather than active and yang aspect of nature. These vital energies naturally co-exist in dynamic balance together.
This workshop is for women of all ages, colors, backgrounds and disciplines, at all phases of their life’s journey, who identify as female or as non-binary, including a wide realm of gender expression.
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
– Joseph Campbell, mythologist and Esalen instructor
Letting go of entrenched ideas – of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it – is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to delve into ourselves and to understand the depths of our connections. It’s the driver of change both personal and societal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
The Rituals of Esalen program gives you and a partner five days of peace, space, and natural beauty so you can do the work of growth. Enjoy serenity for the mind, support for the body, stimulus for the spirit, and nourishment for all three. Direct your full energy to connecting with yourself, your partner, and the world around you while drawing on the best of Esalen’s rituals and practices:
During the days, be inspired by the rugged, wild Big Sur coastline. Use the tranquil evenings ideal for stargazing and contemplation, or spend time exploring the day’s insights with your partner. Unplug. Take advantage of the safety and respite, and rediscover who you are and what you bring to the world so you can return with renewed energy.
The upheavals that punctuate life are valuable opportunities for transformation, if we have the time and space to work through it. That’s the gift of Esalen: the expanse you need to distill your intentions and reawaken the change agent within.
R.D. LAING wore many robes in his career, including psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, philosopher, social critic, author, poet, and mystic, and at the peak of his fame in the 1970s he was the most widely-read psychiatrist in the world. Arguably the most controversial psychoanalyst since Freud, Laing’s meteoric rise in the 1960s was the result of his rare ability to make complex ideas accessible with such best-selling classics as The Divided Self (1960), Sanity, Madness and Family (1964), The Politics of Experience (1967), Knots (1970), and many others. Laing’s impassioned plea for a more humane treatment of those in society who are most vulnerable catapulted him into the vanguard of intellectual and cultural debate about the nature of sanity and madness, and inspired a generation of psychology students, intellectuals, and artists to turn this disarming Scotsman into a social icon.
One of the most seminal aspects to Laing’s approach to the human condition was his exploration into the meaning of life. Laing was psychoanalyst, philosopher, and existentialist, with a no-holds critique of both the dark side of the human condition, as well as its passions and glory. Our workshop this year is to explore what it means to be happy from the broadest possible perspective, including secular, religious, and philosophical approaches to this issue over the millennia, including the Greek Hellenistic era, Buddhism, and common wisdom.
This workshop, designed for those seeking answers to the meaning of life, is a continuation of our previous Esalen workshops that focused on Laing’s take on the nature of sanity and madness, the therapeutic relationship, altered states, plus the nature of love, authenticity, and most recently, spirituality. This workshop is best suited for those who are familiar with Laing’s work and who wish to explore it further. Our three workshop leaders will be joined by other attendees and speakers (many of whom worked intimately with Laing) to assess the question of happiness at the most fundamental level. The workshop will be comprised of theoretical presentations, panel discussions, and experiential exercises to demonstrate practical aspects of Laing’s legacy. View the detailed workshop schedule.
Recommended readings: M. Guy Thompson, The Death of Desire: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness (2nd, revised edition, Routledge). Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism (Shambala). Nita Gage, Soul Whispering: The Art of Awakening Shamanic Consciousness.
CE hours offered for psychologists; see leaders.
CE hours offered for nurses; see leaders.
CE hours offered for LMFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs; see leaders.
Are you ready to experience your unbounded creativity, bliss and connection for healing yourself and others?
Join Drs. Shamini Jain and Lissa Rankin for an unforgettable weekend to unlock your healing capacities with the Healing Keys – and learn how to integrate these keys into your life to move through your days with more energy, joy and ease.
In this workshop, you’ll learn:
Discover your Healing Keys and widen your possibilities for joyful liberation. This workshop is open to all ages, genders, and other labels. No prior experience is necessary – only a willingness to meet and explore the beautiful being that you are.
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
– Joseph Campbell, mythologist and Esalen instructor
Letting go of entrenched ideas – of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it – is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to delve into ourselves and to understand the depths of our connections. It’s the driver of change both personal and societal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
The Rituals of Esalen program gives you and a partner five days of peace, space, and natural beauty so you can do the work of growth. Enjoy serenity for the mind, support for the body, stimulus for the spirit, and nourishment for all three. Direct your full energy to connecting with yourself, your partner, and the world around you while drawing on the best of Esalen’s rituals and practices:
During the days, be inspired by the rugged, wild Big Sur coastline. Use the tranquil evenings ideal for stargazing and contemplation, or spend time exploring the day’s insights with your partner. Unplug. Take advantage of the safety and respite, and rediscover who you are and what you bring to the world so you can return with renewed energy.
The upheavals that punctuate life are valuable opportunities for transformation, if we have the time and space to work through it. That’s the gift of Esalen: the expanse you need to distill your intentions and reawaken the change agent within.
Life is asking every one of us some incredibly challenging questions right now, even as we navigate what used to be our comfort zones around “normal”, our perceptions of “safe”, and returning to our “regularly scheduled” duties and expectations. Not least among these questions is the matter of “who are you now?”
Join Ulrika Engman, founder of Yoga Journeys, and re-emerge into your life with yoga in this five-day workshop. Step into the safety of your own skin, and day-by-day let’s choose to make living in the body more enjoyable. Each day a new process will be activated by Ulrika’s invitation to stay curious. We’ll learn how to use yoga to cultivate an inner glow and find movements that replenish the body’s vibrant energy flow.
In following Ulrika’s methods for drawing yoga and energy practice together, you will:
The elements of nature — Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Space — are the source of inspiration and guidance in the articulation of Ulrika's movement and yoga practice. She uses playful exploration of balance, gravity and momentum to connect the weight of the body with the lightness of breath and the forces of the elements. The intention is using movement and yoga as one of nature’s medicines and an uplifting healing art.
There is an art to sequencing yoga with movement that can unlock healing energy flows and positive chemistry in our bodies. Making movement and yoga practices more personal, as unique as our fingerprints, by listening to our sensory experience is an important part of that process. Join Ulrika Engman, founder of Yoga Journeys, for this weekend workshop to discover and develop several personal magic movement blends by turning the yoga practice into a love potion for body and soul. Your body will thank you for it!
In following Ulrika’s methods for drawing yoga and energy practice together, you will:
The elements of nature – Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Space – are the source of inspiration and guidance in the articulation of Ulrika's movement and yoga practice. She usees playful exploration of balance, gravity and momentum to connect the weight of the body with the lightness of breath and the forces of the elements. The intention is using movement and yoga as one of nature’s medicines and an uplifting healing art.
Open to all that enjoy yoga and movement. May be taken as a continuation of Yoga for the Here and Now.
In these volatile and uncertain times, where so much of our lives are lived virtually, it is vital we stay connected to our own bodies and the body of the earth to access wisdom and perspective.
Opening the senses, the heart, and the mind to the wonder of nature revitalizes and reconnects us to our aliveness. During our time together, we will use nature to cultivate a receptive, embodied quality of attention where states of joy, awe, and wonder will increase your capacity for well-being and inspired action.
This retreat draws on mindfulness traditions — the capacity to be present to ourselves, each other and the world around us — to develop a contemplative relationship with nature. We weave in practices found in Mark Coleman’s book, Awake in the Wild, as well as sensory embodiment and positive psychology practices Lori Schwanbeck uses in her clinical work.
Recommended reading: Awake in the Wild, by Mark Coleman.
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
– Joseph Campbell, mythologist and Esalen instructor
Letting go of entrenched ideas – of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it – is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to delve into ourselves and to understand the depths of our connections. It’s the driver of change both personal and societal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
The Rituals of Esalen program gives you and a partner five days of peace, space, and natural beauty so you can do the work of growth. Enjoy serenity for the mind, support for the body, stimulus for the spirit, and nourishment for all three. Direct your full energy to connecting with yourself, your partner, and the world around you while drawing on the best of Esalen’s rituals and practices:
During the days, be inspired by the rugged, wild Big Sur coastline. Use the tranquil evenings ideal for stargazing and contemplation, or spend time exploring the day’s insights with your partner. Unplug. Take advantage of the safety and respite, and rediscover who you are and what you bring to the world so you can return with renewed energy.
The upheavals that punctuate life are valuable opportunities for transformation, if we have the time and space to work through it. That’s the gift of Esalen: the expanse you need to distill your intentions and reawaken the change agent within.
There’s no “Your Mind: A User’s Manual” class in our country’s educational curriculum. Left to its own devices, your mind’s autopilot function may not lead you to the most enlightening destinations.
In this provocative five-day workshop, eclectic teacher and psychotherapist Ira Israel will share a powerful, comprehensive, step-by-step path to recognizing your “way of being” in the world – who you became in order to survive your childhood – and inspire you to transcend it. You will be taught scientifically-proven tools to help you stay at the highest range of your happiness spectrum.
These tools include:
Each class will begin with an interactive lecture, including illuminating exercises and movie clips, followed by a yoga class (vinyasa in the morning; yin, restorative or partner in the afternoon), and conclude with a meditation.
This proven methodology will leave you with a fresh perspective on life, enabling you to reset all of your relationships, and rejuvenate your purpose for living. These practices will allow you to think more clearly and communicate more compassionately, and provide a complete framework for you to bask in the radiance, grace, and splendor of the universe and embody authentic happiness.
Recommended reading: How to Survive Your Childhood Now That You’re an Adult: A Path to Authenticity and Awakening, by Ira Israel.
Discover your electric body, get in tune with the power of your voice, and liberate your human instrument in this experience of resonant embodiment!
Join Electric Health/Sound Therapy pioneer Eileen Day McKusick and internationally acclaimed musicians and musical facilitators the Brothers Koren for three powerfully transformative days to spark your creativity, connect to your inner harmony, and liberate your voice.
Practices and Experiences
Benefits
No prior singing or musical experience is necessary to participate and thrive in this playful and exploratory class. Come as you are, with a sense of curiosity about your body and your voice.
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
– Joseph Campbell, mythologist and Esalen instructor
Letting go of entrenched ideas – of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it – is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to delve into ourselves and to understand the depths of our connections. It’s the driver of change both personal and societal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
The Rituals of Esalen program gives you and a partner five days of peace, space, and natural beauty so you can do the work of growth. Enjoy serenity for the mind, support for the body, stimulus for the spirit, and nourishment for all three. Direct your full energy to connecting with yourself, your partner, and the world around you while drawing on the best of Esalen’s rituals and practices:
During the days, be inspired by the rugged, wild Big Sur coastline. Use the tranquil evenings ideal for stargazing and contemplation, or spend time exploring the day’s insights with your partner. Unplug. Take advantage of the safety and respite, and rediscover who you are and what you bring to the world so you can return with renewed energy.
The upheavals that punctuate life are valuable opportunities for transformation, if we have the time and space to work through it. That’s the gift of Esalen: the expanse you need to distill your intentions and reawaken the change agent within.
What the world needs right now, more than ever, is for all of us to wake up together and to truly claim our voice in this movement for equality.
Ending Racism is an intensive and interactive workshop, based on the expansive new eight-week course that Justin and Shelly have co-created called Liberation Experience. The workshop combines personal growth, spirituality, activism, wellness, science, social justice, and mindfulness and goes beyond anti-racism to show what it really means to come together through proximity, intimacy, and vulnerability.
Together, Justin & Shelly model the power of coming together across gender, age, race, and sexual orientation. In this work they create a channel for a wildly inclusive and compassionately interactive week of shifts, collective action, and the building of a roadmap to “do the work.”
Participants in this workshop will learn how to process anger, call people forward (not out), and take the inner work into the outer world.
We’ll move beyond “fighting against” and instead move “towards” one another to heal our individual and collective trauma and create a new vision for the world.
In this five-day retreat, you will learn:
Expect a diverse group, and a profound experience.
Recommended reading: Stay Woke, by Justin Michael Williams; Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson; How to Be An Anti-Racist, by Ibrahim Kendi; Bringing Your Shadow Out of the Dark, by Robert Augustus Masters.
“The future is not some place we are going, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made. The activity of making them changes both the maker and their destination.” – John Scharr
Whether the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged you, allowed you a “great pause,” disconnected you from others, or thrown your life off course (or all of the above!) you now have the opportunity to reorient and craft the Next You. Meet your future self.
What innate potential lies dormant within you? What dreams are yearning to be expressed? What does it look like to come fully alive, to live fully integrated and embodied? While tapping into the transformational power of imagination and intention, this workshop focuses on creating a robust, loving relationship to your future self who will help you pivot the direction of your life toward your heart’s vision. We will learn how to communicate with and embody your future self while mapping out the new terrain of your life in a process we call futuremaking. Along with the science of imagination, transformation, futuremaking and hope — you’ll chart a course for your next chapter. Your future self is calling you!
Join us for a three-day workshop where we will engage in futuremaking experiences: talks will spark insights, small and large group discussions will ground learning, guided imagery, meditation, and creative processes will connect you with your deeper wisdom, and movement and deep engagement with the beauty of Esalen will renew your spirit.
As we weave together cutting-edge science with deep experiential practices and rich connection with kindred spirits, you’ll be headed not back to normal, or even a “new normal,” but into a new extraordinary.
Recommended Reading: Living Deeply: The Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life Spiritual and Religious Competencies in Clinical Practice, by Marilyn Schlitz, Cassandra Vieten, Tina Amorok, Robert Thurman, Linda Lee Ratto
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
– Joseph Campbell, mythologist and Esalen instructor
Letting go of entrenched ideas – of who we are, of how the world works, of our place in it – is a challenge. It takes energy. Time. Space. Security. This growth asks us to delve into ourselves and to understand the depths of our connections. It’s the driver of change both personal and societal, and it’s always been at the core of Esalen.
The Rituals of Esalen program gives you and a partner five days of peace, space, and natural beauty so you can do the work of growth. Enjoy serenity for the mind, support for the body, stimulus for the spirit, and nourishment for all three. Direct your full energy to connecting with yourself, your partner, and the world around you while drawing on the best of Esalen’s rituals and practices:
During the days, be inspired by the rugged, wild Big Sur coastline. Use the tranquil evenings ideal for stargazing and contemplation, or spend time exploring the day’s insights with your partner. Unplug. Take advantage of the safety and respite, and rediscover who you are and what you bring to the world so you can return with renewed energy.
The upheavals that punctuate life are valuable opportunities for transformation, if we have the time and space to work through it. That’s the gift of Esalen: the expanse you need to distill your intentions and reawaken the change agent within.
Role Mate to Soul Mate begins with a series of exercises that teach you the art of appreciating your partner. You then practice both the art and discipline of hearing your partner’s criticisms without becoming defensive. For example, so you don’t have to fear “walking on eggshells” before sharing a concern, your partner first learns how to prepare her or himself to emotionally associate your criticism with an opportunity to be more deeply loved.
Soul Mate is designed as the next evolutionary shift beyond active listening. Active listening allows the criticizer to feel heard, but fails to teach the person hearing the criticism how to emotionally associate the criticism with an opportunity to be more deeply loved. The problem? Unless the listener feels safe, the person sharing their concern cannot feel safe.
During the workshop, you will learn a series of skills that will allow you to connect more deeply with your partner, with yourself, and with your own innate ability to consciously create a more loving and communicative environment in your lives. We will do this by sharing a number of practices and experiences:
To support your connection after the workshop, you are also invited to multiple free, on-going, group follow-up calls to resolve stumbling blocks. If you wish to review the insights and exercises at any time, you will also have the option of purchasing a Zoom version of the course.
This workshop is for couples of all genders and sexual orientations. A couple could be any two people with a history who desire a better future (i.e. parents or partners, married or divorced; newlyweds; parent-child; siblings; etc.). Developed over the past 30 years, the workshop is also used by many health professionals in their work with clients and patients.
Learn more about the process.
Recommended reading: Women Can’t Hear What Men Don’t Say, by Dr. Warren Farrell.
