Visitors are now able to access Esalen as well as other businesses and trails in northern Big Sur via twice-daily convoys on Highway 1 operated by Caltrans.
Convoys run only at 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. each day. These are the only opportunities to travel into and out of Big Sur, so visitors must plan accordingly.
Esalen is a world-renowned holistic learning retreat center located at the cliffs edge in Big Sur, CA. The remote natural setting invites guests and faculty to explore and realize their human potential through experience, education, and research.
Esalen is a creative laboratory, an incubator of human potential, asking the daring and curious questions that traditional universities and religious institutions can’t or won’t.
Esalen is a nonprofit that offers weekend and weeklong workshops designed to facilitate self-exploration, personal growth, and healing in a group setting.
There are a few different ways to teach here:
We welcome proposals for new workshops at Esalen. The Programs team reviews submissions every quarter.
Before submitting a proposal, please carefully review the criteria for holding a workshop at Esalen:
Thank you for taking the time to review our current workshop criteria. We look forward to reviewing your proposal.
Submit a Workshop ProposalOur Self-Guided Explorations (SGE) program welcomes guests from near and far for a 3- or 5-day independent journey of healing and transformation. Lightly scaffolded and richly supported, SGE offers an array of daily classes that deepen presence, spark creativity, and invite renewal.
Facilitated by a diverse collective of skilled, compassionate teachers, our current SGE offerings include intimate 60-90 minute sessions in yoga, meditation, breathwork, art and creativity, environmental stewardship, cultural exploration and more. SGE guests begin and end their journey with an Opening and Closing Circle and are encouraged to shape their experience in alignment with their inner compass.
Each class honors Esalen’s instructional and institutional pillars — Heart, Mind, Body, Spirit, and Community — and is informed by reverence for this sacred land, and for the planet.
While we prioritize local teachers due to the current lack of commuter housing, there are select opportunities to engage with traveling instructors. SGE teachers are not Esalen employees, but teaching here includes meaningful benefits: access to the land on teaching days, connection with our remarkable guest and staff community, and invitations to special gatherings and events.
The Teacher-in-Residence program is on pause for the time being. If you are interested, please share your contact information and offering below.
We encourage you to sign up for our newsletter, which will announce the program's relaunch and outline the application process. You may also consider applying to be a SGE Teacher.
Philosophers, artists, theologians, writers, scientists, musicians, psychologists — they all help us expand our understanding of who we are, and Esalen has been informed and shaped by all of them.
Early influential leaders include Ansel Adams, Timothy Leary, Gia-fu Feng, Virginia Satir, B.F. Skinner, and Buckminster Fuller. Past scholars-in-residence include Joseph Campbell, Alan Watts, and Stanislav Grof. Workshop instructors have included Susan Sontag, Ray Bradbury, Moshé Feldenkrais, Ken Kesey, and Aldous Huxley. An Esalen faculty list doubles as a list of some of the most transformative luminaries of the 20th century.
Photos: Sadia Bruce, Wari Om Yoga Photography, Emma Barry, Unknown
Esalen Institute
55000 Highway 1
Big Sur, CA 93920
US: 1-831-667-3000
info@esalen.org