Workshops

Together, we will enjoy giving and receiving therapeutic touch, moving in ways that free energetic flow, settling into silence, and laughing and connecting deeply with our healing community.

During the Streams of Energy month, you will:

• Learn to give a full-body Shiatsu session. This form of Shiatsu is done on a massage table with the receiver comfortably clothed and can be integrated into other forms of massage.
• Receive the “attunements” to practice Reiki level 1 as a self-healing tool and for the hands-on healing of others.
• Practice an easy-to-learn, powerful Qigong form known as Wai Dan Gong. This practice includes meridian self massage, movements that free and harmonize Qi (life force), and standing meditations.
• Explore the joy and support of being a member of a healing community.
• Approximately 60% of class time will be for learning Shiatsu, 20% for Reiki, and 20% for Qigong.

This month is designed to open you to your innate healing potentials, for you to experience the power of safe therapeutic touch, and to be more fully present in your unfolding as a unique expression of Source.

How we sit, stand, move, and respond to our inner and outer world reflects deeply ingrained patterns wired into our nervous systems since childhood. They reflect our early solutions to physical survival in our family system. Out of awareness, these beliefs and strategies can still run our adult lives, limit our choices, and prevent physical ease and emotional healing.

If you still have pain or limitations from a past injury, it is usually because many other areas in your body had to overwork to protect and avoid using the injured area while you were recovering. These unconscious compensations can create an imbalanced workload and, eventually, new issues elsewhere in our body that prevent complete healing.

Using CFR®, we slowly explore and deeply sense small, gentle movements that bring these hidden patterns into awareness. When our genius nervous system becomes aware of a habit that is no longer useful, it extinguishes it. A greater experience of self-trust and self-worth is uncovered. A new sense of self-love, which comes from paying attention to your details without judgment, usually emerges.

This workshop is for the sedentary who want to become more active, the highly active who want to avoid injury and gain a competitive edge, and the chronically tired and stressed who want to improve breathing, posture, and flexibility. It is for those who have experienced physical injury or emotional trauma and those in helping professions who wish to enhance outcomes for clients and patients.  

You will leave equipped with simple yet effective tools for continued self-healing. Your discoveries will lead to a state of awe about what is possible in your body, your movement, and your life.  

In this basic skills workshop, couples, partners, and friends will refine their relationship with touch, our forgotten language. Participants will learn to listen to each other, gain sensory skills in initiating and receiving touch, experience the felt sense of muscle release, and close with a balanced tenderness.

Seasoned instructors will offer exercises, massage demonstrations, and at-the-table guidance during paired practice. The simple principles of Esalen® Massage — presence, connection, attending rather than fixing, self-care, receptivity, and slow-paced strokes encompassing the body — will build a heartfelt experience with our partners and friends and, perhaps most significantly, ourselves.

By the final session, participants will share the basics of a classical Esalen massage. Experienced practitioners and caregivers will find it refreshing to apply the Esalen method and notice its healing effects as their rhythm slows and the mind becomes focused on compassionate contact rather than technique.

Touch evokes an opening to spirit as we tap our innate ability to move into healthful balance and a recognition of our natural field. The edgy wildness of Esalen’s grounds, canyons, hot springs, and mountain backdrop invites this deeper connection.

This class offers 10 hours of CE credit for massage therapists.

View the continuing education syllabus here.

Recommended reading: Connecting Through Touch by Peggy Horan

“A brain without a body couldn’t think.” — Moshe Feldenkrais

“We want to get you to a place where gravity is your friend, a nourishing force.” — Dr. Ida P. Rolf

Human beings are relational by nature. We are an intricate web of anatomy, energy, space, and time that takes shape through our life experiences. Our physical structure, function, and sense of self are reflected in our fascial layers and formed by our early development, by principles of self-organization, and by how we engage with our environment.

When we fall into habitual patterns, parts of ourselves become undeveloped, unseen. If our bodies are given a setting in which to relate to gravity, others, and our environment with curiosity and attunement, we can be free to move and relate with more choice and ease.

Using the grounds, waters, and spirit of Esalen as our laboratory, Kate and Kevin will use the Feldenkrais Method and Gestalt process as a guide to contact and nurture the influences of the subtle body – our relationship to ground, gravity, and the space between.

In this workshop, participants will:

• Identify the habitual relational patterns that prevent us from cultivating ease in our lives.
• Investigate how the subtle body is influenced by the principles of emotional anatomy, tensegrity, neuroplasticity, and self-organization through experiential movement.
• Be guided through Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement (ATM) lessons tailored toward the subtle body and creating more sophistication in functional movement.
• Explore sensation, weight, gravity, and relationship through movement and contact.
• Learn tools of Gestalt Relational Process to increase presence and awareness and integration of ourselves.

Recommended Reading: Feldenkrais, The Potent Self: A Study of Spontaneity and Compulsion; Gladis, Tales of a Wounded Healer: Creating Exact Moments of Healing; Bodywise: An Introduction to Hellerwork for Regaining Flexibility & Well-Being.

Esalen® Massage builds on the Institute’s rich legacy of studies to integrate body, mind, and spirit. This extraordinary course is designed for certified bodyworkers seeking in-depth experience and training in the famed Esalen massage approach.

After course completion, graduates may call themselves Esalen® Massage professionals. This workshop includes the basic methods and techniques of Esalen Massage and more, including daily exercises in mindful centering and self-reflection, grounding, awakening the senses, and developing the art of being present. Through lectures, demonstrations, and supervised practice, you will learn optimum body mechanics to support the slow flow of the signature long strokes, detail work, assisted movement, and energy balancing. At the heart of the work is compassionate communication. The results will permeate every aspect of your life. “It’s not that the massage has changed; you’ve changed,” said one recipient.

Successful completion includes the course work, two hands-on assessments, and fifteen documented massages at your home site. Once you certify, you earn the right to call yourself an Esalen® Massage practitioner. This is post-certification professional education and does not qualify for CAMTC transcript credit. Those with bodywork experience who are not interested in professional certification may still apply.

We look forward to meeting you to share our love for Esalen Massage.

This is an advanced course for post-certification students only. Please supply your certificate type, source, date, and number on your application at the end of your essay.

Matter is Energy … Energy is Light … We are all Light Beings” — Albert Einstein

Each of us walks around within our own energy halo. When two people touch, we activate an energetic exchange. This felt relationship is the heart and soul of Esalen® Massage. With a spirit of gratitude throughout the week, we will practice grounding and  attuning inward by means of ancient Asian exercises. We will activate our hands and learn to palpate and awaken balance in our partner’s energy field, body, heart, mind, and spirit. Both givers and receivers will walk away refreshed.

The slow-paced lengthening strokes and details of Esalen Massage provide an accessible entry point for this healing modality, which offers relaxation, connection, and potent integration after physical trauma. Two senior massage teachers, each with professional backgrounds in Asian studies, will bring to life the practice of energy anatomy, including vital points and their effect on our well-being. They’ll teach through brief lecture demonstrations with ample time for hands-on practice, self-reflection, and sharing with classmates. The magnificent Big Sur land and sea will cradle our Thanksgiving week experience.

This course is geared toward beginners, couples looking for new ways to communicate, and practitioners and caregivers seeking a fresh focus. It provides 26 hours of hands-on instruction toward the California Massage Therapy Council (CAMTC) certificate.

The soothing quality of massage is a delightful antidote for stress or that out-of-sorts feeling. Sharing a massage heightens non-verbal connection and awakens sensory awareness. Whether you’re a novice or professional, this workshop will guide you through the basic concepts of Esalen Massage in a pleasant, easy-to-follow format.

With brief lecture demonstrations and plenty of at-the-table guidance, the instructors will offer the essential elements, highlighting the foundational long, integrating strokes and gentle stretches. Grounding, sensing, contact, and the impact of touch will be introduced and practiced with classmates, building a firm base. The professional caregiver or practitioner can also refresh their existing work with Esalen’s pace, presence, and sensitivity — “the listening hand.” Don’t be surprised if you come away realizing you like giving a classic Esalen massage as much as you like receiving one.

Arrive prepared to enjoy the healing waters of Esalen’s natural hot mineral springs and the serene beauty of the Esalen land. The sound of the waves and the flowing strokes harmonize into an extraordinary massage experience.

• Participants will recognize and appreciate the value of touch in quality of life, relationships, and health and healing.
• Participants will learn to give a safe and soothing massage session using the basic connection, receptivity, and signature long slow strokes encompassing the body, pausing for integration.
• Participants will learn to monitor and take care of themselves while sharing a massage session.
• Participants will experience asking for what they want in receiving a massage session and sharing their experience and gratitude.
• Participants will learn to listen with their hands as well as their ears.

Arrive prepared to enjoy the healing waters of Esalen’s natural hot mineral springs and the serene beauty of the Esalen land. The sound of the waves and the flowing strokes harmonize in an extraordinary massage experience.

View the continuing education syllabus.

10 hours of CE credit for Massage Therapists.

Recommended Reading: Connecting Through Touch by Peggy Horan

Misconceptions about Reiki place its origins anywhere from ancient Egypt to Tibet — even from angels and aliens — but we hold the truth in the palms of our hands. In this workshop, we’ll explore the roots of this Japanese practice and discover the transformative power of universal life energy through Reiki meditations and transmissions.

Over this weekend, students will have the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of Reiki from both historical and experiential perspectives. We will discuss how this energy-healing technique originated in Japan, find out how it was influenced by other practices and cultures, and study how it evolved over time.

Participants will have the opportunity to learn:

• Various aspects of Reiki practice.
• Meditations taught by Reiki’s founder, Usui Mikao.
• Practices to connect to Reiki’s universal source and increase the flow of Reiki through one’s body.
• Reiki’s Japanese origins and how it is practiced and taught today

Participants will receive empowerment ceremonies called reiju or Reiki blessings. We will experience the power of Reiki self-treatments, how to give full Reiki treatments to others, and how to receive Reiki from another, all within the unique Reiki-filled space that is Esalen.  

Participants will have the opportunity to participate in an empowerment ceremony appropriate for first-time students and Reiki masters alike. If you are interested in Reiki initiation and certification please email Diane at nycreikimaster@gmail.com. Certificates and first degree course materials can be provided for an additional $25.

“​​Reiki is medicine for me — both inward and outward. When I first received Reiki, it was in an inward way. It opened me and made me feel what space is, what energy is, and what the universe is.”  — Shinobu Saito, a Reiki Master initiated by Hawayo Takata