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 MoreWelcome spring and nourish the spirit of renewal with this fresh and cleansing Mother’s Day weekend yoga workshop. By moving and weaving body, mind and spirit through creative variations of Sun Salutes we revolve around the solar plexus to stimulate metabolism and a radiant, nourishing flow of energy.
All practices focus on sloughing off the old and welcoming new energy with playful flows, gentle backbends, and energizing movements. Learn prana pulsing, coconut oil joint rejuvenation, simple chi activation, the art and science of dry brushing for healthy skin, and tension-clearing yoga for the face and feet.
Certified in Anusara Yoga and the Halprin Life Art Process, Ulrika blends holistic practices of yoga, somatic movement therapy, and Swedish skin rituals with the elements of nature into movement medicine. The many layers and systems of the body are addressed with balanced attention given to the physical and the energetic, to form and to formlessness, to the unique individual and collective universal patterns.
Make sure to bring a dry brush, body oil for the skin, and your playful self for this fun, seasonal renewal weekend — deep nourishment for body, mind, and spirit!
Participants should have a minimum of three months of yoga practice.
Revamp, reinvigorate, and polish your luminous self this season with innovative yoga practices for body, mind, and spirit! This yoga renewal workshop includes energizing movement, flow yoga, core activations, meridian sequencing, tapping, rejuvenating holds, and cleansing rituals based on the five elements.
Yoga for the skin sloughs off the old with a potent five-step cleansing ritual. Revitalizing and fluid yoga sequences stimulate the body before thoughtfully weaving muscles and mind together into a recreated and radiant being. We will even take advantage of the potent Esalen springs with a specific bathing ritual. The daily practices of the sparkling Yoga Summer Renewal workshop will be fresh, fun, and rejuvenating — and will leave you feeling the same!
Certified in Anusara Yoga and the Halprin Life Art Process, Ulrika blends holistic practices of yoga, somatic movement therapy, and Swedish skin rituals with the elements of nature for movement medicine. The many layers and systems of the body are addressed, with balanced attention given to the physical and the energetic, the form and the formless, the unique individual and the collective universal patterns.
Participants should bring a dry brush, coconut oil, and a facial clay mask.
How do we celebrate aging and become wisdom holders for our communities in a youth-obsessed culture? As we ripen into the late summers and autumns of our lives, how can we let go of what no longer serves us and enjoy the abundance of each precious moment?
The experience of living through many years and different eras affords the ability to see life through the lens of compassionate presence. In this retreat, we will celebrate this perspective and create space in our hearts and minds for joy and curiosity about the future.
During this time together, we will:
Students aged 50 and older are welcome. Basic mobility is required; otherwise, please come with someone who can assist you. You must be able to lie on the floor and put your legs up the wall for five minutes and accept your physical limitations without judgment. Please come with a beginner’s mind, even if you’re not a beginner.
Recommended Reading: Still Here by Ram Dass
Alchemize your life with the wisdom of the 13 moons! This is a spirited call to soul sisters, magic makers, and wise women of all ages. If you feel called to awaken and amplify your magic, this is for you.
Women throughout the ages have gathered under the light of the full moon, steeping in the mysteries and soaking in the healing essence of moonlight. Rituals with the moon help to heal the body, channel the emotions, and guide the soul with real power.
When we come together in true sisterhood, profound healing happens within a woman’s psyche. The heroine’s journey awakens to guide and help us navigate life with greater joy, confidence, and authenticity. We learn how to recognize and dismantle toxic narratives to live with full radiance.
In this immersive retreat, participants will dive deep into the realm of priestess — learning how to honor their own heroine’s journey with rituals, inner trance, storytelling, divination, shadow skills, astrological understanding, moon magic, and embodied wisdom. Through a combination of experiential activities and soulful connections, this will be a brave space container for personal growth, healing, and alchemical transformation with daily ritual, yoga, meditation, connection with nature, dream tending, and earth ceremony.
During this pilgrimage, we will celebrate through:
Rooted in the RITUAL Mystery School, this is a transformative journey into the path of the priestess to quantum leap your life in Sisterhood. Magic is afoot!
We are not separate from nature. We are nature. If we separate from nature, then we separate from ourselves.
Join Erika Gagnon and Jovinna Chan for their first collaborative workshop: a dynamic weaving of ancient wisdom, somatic movement and dance, sound healing, breath practices, and traditional ceremonies and rituals.
The four elements are the basis of life on this planet and the foundational makeup of our human body. Our ancestors understood our interconnected relationship with nature, but in this modern society, we are forgetting to honor this sacred truth. This is an opportunity for us to gather in community, remember our origins, and support one another as we reconnect to the natural and spiritual elements of this planet.
In this workshop:
When we live in harmony and balance within ourselves, with others, and with the world around us, we naturally realign with our higher purpose. If you feel this call, we invite you to join us for this celebration of life.
Please bring a journal to write in, an eye pillow for sound healing, and items for our altar, including photographs of loved ones or ancestors and sacred objects that have meaning for you.
Special Note on Gift Economy: For this workshop, Esalen will not be collecting the typical leader fees. Erika and Jovina embrace the tradition of the gift economy and reciprocity, and their compensation will be self-determined by each attendee. At the end of the workshop, participants will offer a donation amount that reflects their feelings of gratitude, value and their desire to support Erika, Jovinna, and their ongoing work.
Scholarship: Erika has established a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Color) scholarship fund for her workshops. For more information on receiving a scholarship to participate, please contact her at ErikaGagnon11@gmail.com.
Dance is one of the world’s most ancient transformative rituals. From the whirling dervish to the Shamans, the waltz to the rave, we dance for joy, healing, and connection — guided by wisdom that transcends the thinking brain.
This five-day retreat is an invitation to come together to awaken the forgotten wild, ignite your creativity, and dance our way to wholeness. Through an alchemical combination of movement, nature, and sound healing, we’ll reconnect our bodies and minds, digest our feelings and emotions, and open ourselves to the wisdom of our hearts. Most of all, we’ll expand our vision to include a bigger perspective on our spiritual and human interconnectedness.
The practices we’ll cultivate this week will help you:
Allow yourself to be nourished by this sacred land, the hot spring waters, the time we share together, and the friends you’ll make. Experience the beauty, awe, and wonder of being alive so you may return home rejuvenated and inspired to continue walking your unique life path.
This workshop includes an additional $100 faculty tuition.
Tibetan yogis, monks, and nuns are human like you and me; they have feelings, emotions, and obstacles in their lives, and they understand ancient yogic practices that help them enrich those lives and overcome those obstacles. These same practices can benefit and transform our lives, too.
Tibetan mind-energy-body wellness practices remained secret recipes for centuries. Only in the last couple of decades, as they have been researched scientifically, have they started to become known in the West, where they are now practiced by thousands of people. Those who engage with them can discover and tap into a radical sense of presence — an aliveness in the midst of chaos, like a lotus flower coming out of the mud or the sun illuminating everything without bias.
During this workshop, participants will have the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of Tibetan mind-energy-body wellness by:
All are welcome at this workshop, which will encourage participants to explore the potential of their subtle bodies as described in yogic and medical texts. Composed of channels and chakras, these powerful tools for meditative practice can benefit all and be brought into everyday life.
This workshop includes an additional $20 of faculty tuition.
The latest research clearly demonstrates the powerful impact emotional experiences have on our health and longevity. While we know this to be true, we don’t always know how to be emotionally well.
During this weekend, we’ll open the door to greater emotional intelligence and perception. With a combination of lectures, interactive exercises, live music, breathwork, movement (yoga and dance), and meditation, we’ll practice understanding our feelings — and how to respond to them.
We’ll explore emotional wellness through the lens of Ayurveda, customizing our healing based on what we are experiencing in real time. This, in turn, increases our depth of connection with ourselves and others.
In this experiential workshop, we’ll be invited to learn Ayurvedic approaches to:
There will be movement in this program. Guest faculty QVLN + Sunshine Zerda will lead us in a transformational dance experience with guided somatic release. Everyone, from beginners to advanced students of Ayurveda, is welcome.
Recommended Reading: Ayurveda for Yoga Teachers and Students by Dr. Siva Mohan (Chapter on Emotional Wellness)
Rhythm is the universal mother tongue. It is the language of the soul. — Gabrielle Roth
Silent introspection through seated meditation and the dynamic movement practice of the 5Rhythms® both support unlocking gateways to celebration and joy. Together, we will unite these healing modalities in an environment that cultivates peace, balance, and well-being. Through sweat and stillness, we will ride the rhythms of the mother tongue and turn the heart toward self-realization.
The 5Rhythms dance method, focused on presence versus performance, is where movement becomes the metaphor for all of life. It teaches us how energy moves and where it gets stuck. The rhythms of Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, and Stillness help us to more skillfully understand and navigate the inner and outer landscapes of reality.
Trauma-sensitive mindfulness builds a container to hold both movement and stillness in a way that supports all you are facing. This approach offers tools that allow you to both “work with” and “be with” what is present.
This workshop will include:
Please note that though this is trauma-informed work, trauma is not the specific focus of this workshop.
This workshop includes an additional $100 faculty tuition.
When we experience moments of ecstasy, we taste what life is meant to be. — Gabrielle Roth
The 5Rhythms® maps hold all the information required to lead us where we want to go. What is your destination? There is a science to achieving ecstatic states, and this is the mastery we have come to share. This workshop is designed for all who want to discover these possibilities for entering altered states in a natural way.
"I want to take you to a place of pure magic ... It's the place athletes call ‘the zone.’ Buddhists call ‘satori’ and ravers call ‘trance.’ I call it the Silver Desert. It's a place of pure light that holds the dark within it. It's a place of pure rhythm,” wrote Gabrielle Roth. Her dance and somatic meditation can assist you in navigating your way out of resistance and into ecstasy and help you build a skill set that supports balance, ease, and joy. If you have been looking to increase appreciation, gratitude, and happiness, now is a perfect time to celebrate being alive in the wild, wondrous, natural beauty of Esalen.
This course will include:
Lucia and Douglas, the dancing duo, invite you to join them for a week of dance and celebration under the new moon. Together with our team of musicians and artists, we seek to bring you inspiration and lightness so you return home feeling nurtured and alive.
Recommended Reading: Sweat Your Prayers by Gabrielle Roth, Maps to Ecstasy by Gabrielle Roth, Connections by Gabrielle Roth, Dancing with the Dharma edited by Harrison Blum
This workshop has an additional $100 of faculty tuition.
Through yoga and intentional music crafted from ancient beats, we’re thrilled to gather as a community to celebrate our inter-dependence.
We’ll dive into meditation, pranayama, chanting, yoga asana, dance, hot baths, lovingly prepared food, open time, and space for connection, creativity and collaboration.
Meet us at sacred Esalen on the cliffs, in the hot baths, in the redwoods, on the mat, in the heart.
Let’s rediscover the power of connection together.
10 hours of Continuing Education hours are available with Yoga Alliance; See leader.
This workshop includes an additional $110 faculty tuition.
Let’s meet together at Esalen, beneath the summer sun, and immerse in the power of movement, community, music, and the glory of this land and her three waters.
Janet Stone, joined by a luminous cast of musicians and teachers, will welcome you to a journey so rich with connection and an opportunity to reset.
At the edge of the world, we will look simultaneously inward and outward to reintegrate ourselves into the natural world and our deep inner wisdom.
Through yoga, mythology, chanting, dancing, and music
We’ll create a different kind of playground for the internal senses.
Come dance, sit, and wonder with us as we honor the naturalness of transition, the outward and inward, and the waxing and waning of this precious life. Please bring a yoga mat.
CE Credit Available: 30 hours of continued education credit for registered yoga teachers (RYT) available through Yoga Alliance; see leader.
This workshop includes an additional $220 faculty tuition.
The highest spiritual practice is self observation without judgment. — Swami Kripalu
Welcome to Esalen, a sacred haven, where the echoes of nature harmonize with the rhythms of self-discovery. This workshop invites you to embark on a transformative seven-day experience designed to nourish your mind, body, heart, and spirit. Take a deep dive into yoga wisdom and immerse yourself in the profound teachings of Yoga and Yoga Nidra.
More than a workshop, this experience can help you discover the roadmap to your true self. Guided by seasoned instructors, we’ll explore the intricacies of the ancient science of Yoga and Yoga Nidra to create a foundation for conscious living.
We believe in weaving the timeless threads of ancient practices into the fabric of contemporary life. Our workshop is a celebration to synthesize this age-old wisdom with the modern world and all of its demands. Discover how these teachings become a guiding light in your daily existence.
Whether you’re a seasoned yogi or just beginning your journey, our workshop caters to all. With a focus on modifications for diverse bodies, we create a safe space where rejuvenation and restoration are accessible to everyone.
Experience a holistic integration of body, mind, and soul through a carefully curated blend of Yoga, Yoga Nidra, meditation, mindfulness, and immersive nature experiences that goes beyond the mat, fostering a transformative environment to extend into all aspects of your life.
Escape the mundane and embrace the extraordinary. Embark on a transformative journey for rejuvenation, for self-discovery, and to find your true, whole self.
Since time immemorial, movement, dance, and the expressive arts have provided individuals and communities with a sense of soulful expression, healing, inspiration, spirit, and connection. We now need to reconnect with these ways more than ever.
The Life/Art Process®, developed by Anna Halprin and Daria Halprin, bridges body awareness, art expression, and psychological processes, providing people with an opportunity to experience dance and the expressive arts as a way to learn, heal, expand creativity, and develop new strategies for personal and professional life. This groundbreaking, innovative approach to human development, embodied creativity, and transformative learning began in the 1950s, and the tradition continues today.
Daria Halprin’s work connects dance, somatics, psychology, and artistic practices to foster personal, group, and community development and creativity. In this workshop, movement, dance, drawing, poetic dialogue, reflective exchanges, and witnessing practices will generate new thresholds of exploration and expression, catalyzing new resources for daily life.
Morning sessions will focus on somatic awareness and individual and group movement exploration to tune the physical body to sensation and feeling. Afternoon sessions will facilitate creative encounters through dance, drawing, and spoken and written narratives to explore our life experiences. Evening sessions will be devoted to questions generated by the day’s work, reflection, and releasing activities, including creative play and meditative art practices.
Participants will be invited to :
No previous artistic experience is necessary. This workshop is designed for everyone.
Recommended Reading: The Expressive Body in Life, Art and Therapy by Daria Halprin
The chakra system is one of the greatest gifts the ancient yogis and rishis of India shared with the world: a powerful spiritual map for our healing and the awakening of our consciousness so we can fully come alive! This week is an invitation to explore this map and unlock the unbridled joy, creative power, and freedom that lives inside of you.
The ultimate goal of yoga is to live in embodied enlightenment. It is to know and feel the current of mukti (the force of liberation that expands you in the direction of pure potentiality and higher consciousness) and to feel and celebrate bhukti (the gift of embodiment and all the pleasures and abundance of earthly reality). This workshop offers us the opportunity to bring these concepts into reality and into our living beings.
Through embodied ritual practices of yoga, live music, dance, meditation, sounding, and communion with nature, you will begin to shape an intimate connection with each of your energy centers. Together we will work to break through the blockages that keep you stuck and stagnant — preventing you from healing and experiencing the fullness of your power and life. We will dive deeply into the chakra system through accessible, dynamic, and interactive discussions and exercises.
Each day, Cristi will guide us in her signature, dynamic chakra-based vinyasa, woven with mudra, kriyas and pranayama, supported by the sacred rhythms and healing soundscapes of our musical guides. DJ Marques Wyatt and DVINE1, aka Joel Long, will be playing sitar and percussion.
These practices will be enhanced by a variety of daily rituals, ranging from:
Join us as we turn the yoga dance floor into a ritual of self-expression. You’re invited to experience every ritual as a prayer to your highest self to return you home to your body and nature, awaken pleasure, and give you permission to feel. Ignite your power. Heal your heart. Claim your vision and voice. Connect to your own divinity and celebrate this gift of life!
Recommended reading: Chakra Rituals by Cristi Christensen
How much joy we experience in life is limited by our ability to show up each day with unapologetic authenticity. For many people who identify as LGBTQIA2S+, feeling safe or supported to live authentically may not have been an option. As a result, many of us live disempowered lives— stuck in jobs, relationships, and routines that we no longer identify with. In turn, many of us have been able to break free from those past lives but still carry the weight of grief and trauma that come from years of living inauthentically.
This interactive, thought-provoking, and supportive workshop is designed to help you move away from the pain of the past, and set your inner child free into a safe, welcoming and vibrant relationship with you and your Self. During this week, you will explore a series of creative exercises individually and together as a group. By tapping into the voice of your inner child, releasing what no longer serves you, there is safer and more gentle space for experiencing joy like never before.
You will have the opportunity to:
This workshop is welcome to anyone who identifies as an LGBTQIA2S+ person or, a family member or friend of someone seeking to live more authentically in partnership with their inner child, and discover ways to support the LGBTQIA2S+ people in their lives.
Recommended Reading: Sex, Needs and Queer Culture: From Liberation to the Post-Gay by David Alderson, The Empty Chair: Tales From Gestalt Therapy by Vikram Kolmannskog, Body Bliss: A Guided Pleasure Journal for Exploration and Self-Love by Robin Denise.
In many shamanic societies, if you came to a medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions: “When did you stop dancing? When did you stop singing? When did you stop being enchanted by stories? When did you stop being comforted by the sweet territory of silence?” —Gabrielle Roth
Take a break from the mundane and let yourself be enchanted again. You are not a project to be solved but a remarkable mythopoetic mystery to be lived! This yoga workshop offers a profound and playful opportunity to commune with the deeper aspects of self through movement, inquiry, and storytelling.
Since the beginning, humans have looked to stories to make meaning of our lives. By learning the stories and songs of the ancestors, we reclaim a sense of belonging. Revered mythologist and 1960s Esalen faculty Joseph Campbell wrote, “Mythology is the penultimate truth—penultimate because the ultimate cannot be put into words. It is beyond words.”
Our experiential practices will remind us how precious our lives truly are. Experiences include:
Our nourishing schedule is balanced harmoniously with relaxing meals, community care, and soaks in Esalen’s healing baths. Music, nature, poetry, connection, and ritual are exquisitely curated for your hero/heroine’s journey.
Whether you’re searching for renewed meaning in life, navigating life’s complex transitions, or simply love being enchanted, this workshop will help awaken your spirit to courage, enrich your heart with devotion, and widen your perspective to vast possibility. You might just fall in love with existence again.
Grace awaits.
Join us for a weekend to remember as we delve into the depths of the human soul, guided by the visionary founders of Afro Flow Yoga®.
This workshop is an immersive experience weaving together the healing powers of yoga, dance, live music, and the ancient wisdom of African and Indigenous cultures. Together, we will embark on a sacred exploration, connecting with our inner selves and the healing energies of the sacred waters, igniting personal and collective transformation.
During this workshop, we will explore:
Join us for a weekend of harmony, healing, and empowerment as we unlock the symphony of our souls and unleash our true potential.
Variety may be the one and only truly universal characteristic of human sexuality. — E. Nagoski
The ups and downs of our days, months, and years are unpredictable, but change will always be constant and reliable. The energy we call libido, in all the ways we might perceive it — as sexuality, vitality, creativity, aliveness, pleasure, and more — can shift and often be elusive and hard to maintain. Wanting moves us toward some situations and away from others. The sensations and desires of our libidos change through our different life cycles and relationships. Sometimes, the answer is yes, sometimes no, but the most likely answer is maybe. Libido energy is deeply contextual.
One thing we know for sure is that libido is always on the move. We cannot always know how, where, or why; what turns us on and brings pleasure is always a moving target.
Conscious dance practice offers the skills we need to ride these waves — to stay connected to the emerging truth of our libido energies. We can develop the capacity to move toward and with desires or, when we are on the wrong track, away from them. Open floor movement practice can teach our bodies how to up-regulate, bring more energy to a situation, and down-regulate to settle, create space, or take more time without shutting down or losing focus.
Dancing with others provides opportunities to communicate and track attraction, aversion, consent, and non-consent.
Recommended Reading: Come as You Are By Emily Nagoski
CE units pending for full attendance of this course
For questions about CE, contact the Spiritual Competency Academy at info@spiritualcompetencyacademy.com.
Dance is one of the world’s most ancient transformative rituals. From the whirling dervishes to the shamans, the waltz to the rave, we dance for joy, healing, and connection — guided by wisdom that transcends the thinking brain.
This five-day retreat is an invitation to come together to awaken the forgotten wild, ignite your creativity, and dance our way to wholeness. Through an alchemical combination of movement, nature, and sound healing, we’ll reconnect our bodies and minds, digest our feelings and emotions, and open ourselves to the wisdom of our hearts. Most of all, we’ll expand our vision to include a bigger perspective on our spiritual and human interconnectedness.
The practices we’ll cultivate this week will help you:
Allow yourself to be nourished by this sacred land, the hot spring waters, the time we share together, and the friends you’ll make. Experience the beauty, awe, and wonder of being alive so you may return home rejuvenated and inspired to continue walking your unique life path.
This workshop includes an additional $100 faculty tuition.
To breathe well is to live well. When we befriend the breath, we expand our capacity for choice, change, joy, and healing. When we embody breath — allowing limbs and bones to express outwardly the dynamic, unceasing pulsation of life within — we touch freedom.
In this new and electrifying experiential workshop, we’ll explore and deepen our connection to our breathing bodies through a number of somatic pathways: embodied movement, breathwork, presencing exercises, meditation in motion, and sound.
Operating from philosopher Havi Carel’s conception of breath as “a juncture of the physiological, psychological, existential, spiritual, and cultural,” we’ll practice dancing and digging at this intersection and, in effect, access a felt reconnection to our wholeness.
Join Sadia in her signature practice, which draws from her many deep pools of training and experience. This deeply embodied practice will include:
Together, we’ll form a sacred community of breathing beings and establish conditions for the unobstructed flow of life force within and around our bodies — and our lives. The natural, subtly explosive intimacy that exists between body and breath — and between you and your breathing body— can emerge anew, rendering you more sensitized to desire, pleasure, purpose, and power; to who you are, what you want, and why.
Surprise yourself with this fresh and creative way to renew your yoga practice this fall: familiar poses with the help of soft foam rollers. Autumn is a natural time to explore the many ways to release, reset, and go inward. It’s your season to unwind the restless patterns of body and mind, to reset the the body and mind into a slower pace of time, rhythm and kinesthetic connection.
This approach is designed to honor all parts of the body with gentle pressure and movement. We’ll learn to use our body weight to lean into pressure points and breathe into long-held tension patterns comfortably. We’ll explore ways to unlock the restrictive movement habits we may be stuck in without even knowing. We’ll seek anatomical neutral and an open and vibrant aliveness to stay present with the field of light that animates the form.
As we roll into release, we’ll discover many playful ways to incorporate this helpful tool and elevate our practice. We’ll lengthen, lift, open, and engage through graceful yoga sequencing, augmented by soft foam rollers, using creative movement paths to find deeper states of stillness and relaxation. This practice is like a dance where the roller is the partner. You will learn to both lead and follow, then return to yoga on the mat to witness how the body moves after being “rolled.”
Yoga means to unite, to yoke, to blend, to unify, and to make parts come together as a whole. When looking at movement as medicine, your practice can be a playground for wholeness; a healing art for body, mind, and heart; and a path to free the spirit.
Please bring your own soft foam roller. The recommended roller is 36” in length x 6″ in diameter. It must be long enough to support the whole spine.
Flow into fall to awaken the inner codes of abundance and vitality with yoga, nature, and community. As we journey into the autumn season, we are guided to turn within and alchemize the inner gold. In the yoga tradition, there are four key aims — purpose, prosperity, love, and liberation — to support this transformation in body, mind, and heart, and when you activate them in a balanced way, your whole life shines.
In this embodied yoga retreat, you’ll discover the key components to awaken and renew these codes in you. Together, we’ll explore the alchemical practices of:
In this retreat, Sianna and Masood will share stories, music, and practices to awaken and strengthen the four aims of purpose, prosperity, love, and liberation in your life with four thematic journeys:
Friday: Invoking Lakshmi — a welcoming practice of asana, mantra, mudra, meditation, setting your intention, and deep rest to restore. Hear the stories of Lakshmi, the yogic goddess of beauty, abundance, healing, and harmony.
Saturday: Rise with Courage — a more up-tempo practice of core work, functional movement, dynamic breathing, and creative patterns of movement to awaken your power and renew your vision.
Saturday: Transform with Love — an introspective practice to turn toward your inner genius to make the shifts your soul is longing for. This practice will focus on hip openers, forward folds, twists, and a sound healing journey.
Sunday: Shine the Radiant Codes — a soulful practice of vinyasa flow, backbends, heart fire vision, and the four aims shining through you. This is a community celebration with vision, vitality, mantra, music, and the love frequency!
Awaken the abundance codes and be an agent of purpose, prosperity, love, and liberation for all beings.
You deserve to feel ease and joy in your body as you age. Movement, time in nature, breath, quiet contemplation, and “Aha!” moments all contribute to expanding happiness and delight in life. Though this is true, you may face challenges. Changes to our bodies — aches and pains, joint replacements, osteoporosis, heart issues, and other conditions — may challenge us to find new ways to understand ourselves and maintain grace of movement and attitude.
During this workshop, you’ll discover yoga therapy and embodied inquiry techniques that increase awareness, empower exploration of your unique body now, and increase your ability to take good care of yourself. Learn to feel yoga poses from the inside out, aligning them well to tune into the energy flowing through your body, and find qigong movements and yoga postures that best serve you.
We have a week together to listen to our inner wisdom and the quiet intelligence of the body. We have the space to share our ideas, fears, limiting scripts, and dreams for our futures.
Together, we will find:
We will be joined during our week by guest faculty and musician JJ Jeffries, who will guide us in “embodied inquiry” and play lovely acoustic guitar during some of our yoga and meditation practices.
This workshop is suited for anyone with a basic understanding of yoga. People working with injuries or body challenges are welcome if they can still participate in practice and have permission, if needed, from their medical provider. Modifications will be given for various ability levels. Participants need to be able to get up and down off the floor on their own. If you are not sure if this workshop is suited for you, please contact Tracy.
In search of balance, the ancient sages of China walked into the woods to attune themselves to nature in its sublime integrity. The timeless wisdom uncovered in their wild wanderings was called simply Tao, “The Way.”
Qigong — the practice at the heart of Taoism — is dedicated to harmonizing body, mind, and spirit with the elements of nature. In this age, when so many of us feel disconnected and overwhelmed, wilderness remains a powerful healer and teacher, and qigong can bring us back to center.
Join us to learn an accessible qigong form called wai dan gong (“easy Tao”) while immersing in the majestic landscape of Big Sur, the ancestral homeland of the Esselen tribe. We rise each morning to practice, harmonizing breath and movements with the flow of waves greeting Esalen’s cliffs. After breakfast, we set out on a wilderness hike to mindfully explore Big Sur’s enchanted redwoods, sun-steeped meadows, and mountains that rise from the sea. All along the trail, we explore qigong and Taoist philosophy as pathways for returning to a grounded, spacious, revitalized state of being — in harmony with nature, embodying Wild Tao.
Notes:
This workshop includes an additional $60 of faculty tuition and $40 to cover park fees.
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 (dance practice). We will integrate each movement session with a seated meditation practice, focused on one of the Buddhist Heart Practices (Brahma viharas) which are equanimity, loving-kindness, compassion and joy. Included in the group will be optional sharing and a question and answer period.
Recommended Reading: Sweat Your Prayers & Maps To Ecstacy By Gabrielle Roth and Dancing with Dharma: Essays on Movement and Dance in Western Buddhism by Harrison Blum
This workshop includes an additional $100 faculty tuition.
How empowered do you feel as a woman navigating this world? What is your relationship to the feminine? And to female wisdom? Join us inside the Moon Lodge, a place for exploration — for women to find tribal and ritual healing.
The 5Rhythms is a map that teaches us how energy moves. It shows us the patterns, rhythms, and cycles of life — Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, and Stillness — and can be a direct path to the embodiment and empowerment many of us do not feel in a time of patriarchy.
This workshop will be about celebrating the body of Woman and the sacred feminine within us all. Through dance, meditation, massage, acupressure, and ritual baths, we will share in the Sisterhood of humanity. We will poultice our wounds and celebrate the great gifts of our ancestors.
This workshop includes:
Dr. Julie Von, a specialist in women’s health, will present the Chinese Medicine perspective on the five elements, psychosomatic process, restorative acupuncture, and self-care. She will teach us to prioritize these pillars and recognize when we are out of balance.
Lucia Horan will integrate the stillness of Buddhist mindfulness meditation with the moving meditations of the 5Rhythms®. In sitting meditation, we have the opportunity to observe the mind and body at rest through silent introspection. In the practice of the 5Rhythms, we engage in mindfulness while in motion. Together, these two polarities mirror the dance of life and open the door to peace, well-being, and balance.
This workshop includes an additional $100 faculty tuition.
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:
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.
This workshop includes a $15 material fee.
To fully be in touch with the essence of who we are, and vibrantly live from there, we must embark on a journey to take us from outside distraction to our innermost world. We must travel like a pilgrim, with one pointed focus. There, we expand our awareness to melt into the embrace of silence, stillness, and wisdom. And in that embrace, the bondage of confusion and suffering loses its grip and we are graced by pristine perception, presence, and peace. This is the path to self-mastery.
This journey requires ongoing personal practice, rigor, devotion, surrender, and reflection. Together, we have this rare opportunity to devote seven days to contemplative practices supported by the amazing land, resources, and community at Esalen. Jovinna has curated a syllabus that pulls from rich spiritual traditions to strengthen your body, mind, and spirit and awaken your innate intelligence.
During the week, we will:
The rhythm of the week is slow and steady. The essence of the program is soft yet mighty. Together, we will train the mind to be awake and alert and regain sovereignty of our attention. Return home with a deeper sense of self and purpose. This program is a training ground to build a solid foundation for our continued self-mastery.
Note: Jovinna invites you to detox from or minimize the use of all electronics during your time here. Some yoga experience is recommended. Please bring a journal.
This workshop includes an additional $110 faculty tuition.
Recommended Reading: The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice By T. K. V. Desikachar
Most of us have experienced a flow state at least once or twice. On the dance floor, it sometimes happens that you find yourself in a state of exquisite surrender to the spirit that dances us; those timeless moments when we disappear and all that’s left is Emptiness Dancing.
Often these moments feel like “happy accidents,” a sudden flash of grace over which we have no control or choice. The purpose of this weekend is to practice being prone to these happy accidents — to cultivate an openness so this state of grace becomes an everyday possibility.
In this workshop, you’ll experience a movement-based curriculum centered around:
Open Floor Movement Practice uses universal principles of movement to anchor us in this vast space. Our bodies organically know about emptiness, and at the same time, it can be quite a journey to arrive at this place willingly, even longingly. As with any journey, there are skills to learn, habits to unlearn, and a need for curiosity. This course is an opportunity to say “Yes!” to this blessing.
Recommended reading: Emptiness Dancing by Adyashanti
Some experience with conscious dance is helpful.
CE units pending for full attendance of this course
For questions about CE, contact Spiritual Competency Academy at info@spiritualcompetencyacademy.com.
“If art doesn’t make us better, then what on earth is it for?” –Alice Walker
How can art contribute to healing while staying centered in the creative process? What kind of art-making responds to the therapeutic experience? What does it mean to live an aesthetic life? And what is possible when we do?
In the early 1960s, a new interdisciplinary approach was developed to explore and respond to these questions: The Halprin Life/Art Process. This work influenced the worlds of dance, environmental design, theater, and psychology. This workshop will be an immersive experience in that approach to the creative process, movement, and healing art. It is aimed at those who identify as artists as well as those who are simply lovers of art seeking to open the doors of their own creativity.
We will enter into an exploration of art-making as a way to encounter and explore themes, challenges, and dreams that are informing our lives. Maps and methods will be taught that are easily accessible and applicable to personal and professional practice.
The opening welcome session will create an environment of group collaboration, including intention setting, play, and collaboration. Each day that follows will emphasize different mediums, including movement/dance, drawing, and poetry/narrative. On the fourth day, we’ll develop ritual performances for participants to present artwork dedicated to something personal and meaningful.
Participants may expect to leave with the following:
Participants must bring the following: Writing materials and a special writers journal, a box of varied and well supplied Craypas pastels/water colors if desired.
Attention is the beginning of devotion. – Mary Oliver
A life of fulfillment requires fostering connection with what truly matters to us, whatever that may be. It’s easy to lose sight of what we’re devoted to. In this workshop, we’ll have tranquil, uninterrupted space for yoga, storytelling, and contemplative practice to clear our minds and imbue our hearts with deep remembrance.
This yoga workshop offers a profound and playful opportunity to commune with the deeper aspects of self through movement, meditation, live music, and inquiry. With equal parts courage and tenderness, we’ll hone our beings to be vessels for devotion to move through.
Together, we’ll explore:
Our nourishing schedule is balanced harmoniously with relaxing meals, community care, and soaks in Esalen’s healing baths. Music, nature, poetry, connection, and ritual are exquisitely curated to accompany your journey.
Whether you’re searching for renewed meaning in life, navigating life’s complex transitions, or simply love being drenched in the divine, this workshop will help awaken your spirit to courage, enrich your heart with devotion, and widen your perspective to vast possibilities.
Grace awaits.
This workshop includes an additional $25 faculty tuition.
Join us for this unique opportunity to explore the masculine traditions of the Esselen Tribe, integrated with the fundamentals of the 5Rhythms® movement practice. Answer the call of 55000 Highway 1’s healing waters and travel with Douglas and Little Bear on a hero’s journey. Together, we will explore what it means to embody the sacred masculine in this modern world. With courage, integrity, and receptivity, we will create renewed understandings of masculinity as a group and learn how we, as men, can “walk our talk.”
Healthy and uplifting rites of passage have always been an important aspect of humanity, yet they are largely missing from modern society. People from all walks of life and religions have historically gone through different experiences and coming-of-age ceremonies to prove they were ready to move into their next stage of life. Men were traditionally taught by their fathers, grandfathers, and uncles, but this traditional upbringing is now missing for many. In order to overcome today’s accepted norms of masculinity, it is important for men to be able to find solace with one another, learn from one another, and relate at the heart level.
In this weeklong workshop, we will have the opportunity to:
The intentions for our week together are to create a sacred space for men to come together and reignite our sacred fire, as well as to build a new bridge to manhood — to gentle warriorhood.
This workshop includes an additional $110 of faculty tuition.
Somewhere inside you – buried deeply, or maybe just below the surface – there is a story you’ve been wanting to tell. Movement and mindfulness practices are carefully curated to support moving past your creative obstacles and connect you with your inner voice. We invite you to connect to that deeper authentic story and that deeper authentic You. No matter where you are on your journey, beginner or expert, there is space for you here.
During this weeklong, we will disconnect from our devices and our default-world lives and immerse ourselves in the open air of Esalen. You will be invited to move your body, find your breath, observe your mind, and fill pages with your words. Through the writing session, participants will be guided to relinquish fear and live fully in their creativity.
This workshop will include:
As educators, storytellers, and human do-ers, Darnell and Cara truly believe in growth and happiness. They invite you to lean into the symbiotic relationship between storytelling and movement and the magic that happens when they come together. This workshop intends to foster an environment that will encourage you to confidently call yourself an artist and have the opportunity to cultivate techniques and rituals that will fuel your creativity and give you the audacity to integrate it all into your daily lives.
What shackles bind your higher self’s ascent? What reservoirs of latent power lie dormant within your being? How can you deepen your communion with your highest self to unleash its limitless potential and guiding light?
Embark on a sacred journey of soul discovery with medium and spiritual guide AJA and multidisciplinary hypnotherapist Laurnie Wilson. Immerse yourself in a deeply personal exploration across four nights to elevate your connection to your higher self and spirit guides and unveil the profound blueprint of your soul’s journey.
Our experience begins with a sacred ceremony, grounding us in intention and opening the gates to divine wisdom. We’ll be guided by AJA each morning as she leads us through the veils of consciousness to commune with our spirit guides and discover insights in the form of spiritual activations.
In the afternoons, Laurnie’s HypnoYoga sessions will help you integrate these revelations, nurturing your body and spirit to support your understanding of your unique essence.
Each evening, AJA will channel messages from your spirit guides to illuminate your path and help guide you toward your soul’s purpose. Meanwhile, Laurnie will help you explore your soul’s blueprint and empower you to embody the changes necessary for transformative growth.
As our journey culminates, a powerful closing ceremony will help you seal your newfound connection to your higher self and spirit guides to infuse you with clarity and purpose. You’ll return home with new tools to understand your own divine blueprint and translate revelations into tangible changes in your life.
You hold the key to your inner compass. Join us and gain the tools to unlock the limitless potential of your soul.
We gather on this powerful land for a weekend to remember — with our bodies, minds, and spirits — all that we have to be grateful for. Amidst all of the turmoil, we come together in community to remember that we are enough as we are. Through yoga, meditation, reflection, cliff side baths, and walking on Esalen’s healing land, we will return to our hearts. We’ll be joined by incredible guest teachers and musicians, sharing their expertise, wisdom and gratitude with us.
Together, we’ll explore dynamic yoga asana, pranayama, chanting, meditation, and yoga nidra. Let’s recognize each breath as a gift, as we’re nourished by delicious organic meals, the natural hot springs, walks among the majestic redwoods, or simply curling up in an ocean-view chair. Whether you come alone or with loved ones, you are sure to return to your daily rhythm with a newfound sense of ease, inspiration, and deep gratitude for the life you’re living.
This workshop includes an additional $110 faculty tuition.
“Enoughness” is the starting point of any journey toward gratitude. We begin to fully take in the profound gift of all that is unfolding only when we recognize that we are enough.
With Esalen as our transformative container, let’s meet during the week of Thanksgiving. Let’s honor the land and the Esselen people, the indigenous stewards of this place, as we remember the awe of the natural world around us and the life force within us.
Throughout the week, we will practice giving thanks for the world around us. We’ll cultivate curiosity and wonder for the life we have here and now. We’ll begin to move our attention away from the long list of “lack” that can consume our days.
To support the cultivation of this state of being, we will include daily practices to create suppleness in mind, spirit, and body:
We will return to the present to reclaim and embrace ourselves in our wholeness as enough. We will attend to all the ways we are enough, give enough, get enough, and have enough so we can lay claim to the power of life pulsing through us.
Each day will be an exploration of practices and tools that can cultivate and make space for a sense of contentment —and a chance for “giving” to ripple out into the world with grace and gratitude.
This workshop includes $220 additional faculty tuition.
Join us for a transformative journey to rekindle the seven flames of consciousness within you. Led by Cristi Christensen, with musical guidance and scoring by renowned DJ Marques Wyatt and the celestial vocals of Donna De Lory, this five-day workshop over Thanksgiving week invited you to shift from a life of “meh” to a resounding “yay!” It’s a chance to rediscover joy, light, and whatever you feel is missing or unlit within you.
This immersive experience includes:
Prepare to awaken chakra energy for a full-body creative awakening, revel in self-love, and form a deeper connection to your authenticity.
In this workshop, you’ll discover the tools to locate the divinity within and carry practices home to cultivate your inner light.
In the embrace of all that you are, find the balance between depth and sweetness, between igniting and nurturing. As we explore breathwork, mantra, mudra, yoga, and dance, we will embark on a path of self-discovery and renewal, opening up to the power of consciousness and illumination. This workshop isn’t just an event; it’s a turning point, guiding you to reveal and relish the auspicious radiance of your innermost soul beauty.
Join us for a journey to illuminate your Thanksgiving week and help you transform the way you view and live life itself.
Recommended Reading: Chakra Rituals by Cristi Christensen
Master Chungliang “Uncle Al” Huang, one of Esalen’s most cherished faculty members, brings 50+ years of teaching experience to welcome you into China’s ancient practice of qigong.
During this workshop, Master Huang will teach the most essential qigong exercises — guiding students through energetic practices of movement, storytelling, and subtle energy work. This is an experience for those who wish to sustain a daily practice for the mind, body, and spirit.
Master Huang will teach easy-to-absorb, adaptive exercises and assist you through metaphors, visualization, sonic chanting, meditation, and deep circular breathing methods. Participants will hear about the great history of this ancient practice as Master Huang shares his vast wealth of knowledge.
A fun, joyful weekend for all ages and levels of practitioners! We will learn to incorporate this healthy practice as a consistent habit: Wei Wu Wei — “doing by not doing, spontaneously.”
Beginners and “advanced beginners” are welcome.
To be truly creative, to let go of preconceived restrictions, is to allow yourself the freedom to flow. Taoist wisdom calls this Wu Wei — the art of not interfering with what is already happening.
During this weeklong workshop, we will playfully reinvent Tai Ji forms with ancient Tai Ji rituals, Five Moving Forces of Nature, and traditional Tai Ji motifs. We will explore, improvise, and evolve to find renewed and refreshed ways to dance the open structures of this ancient wonder of movement meditation.
With more than fifty consecutive years of teaching experience at Esalen, Master Huang creates a unique Tai Ji class for practitioners at all levels. Come prepared to enjoy “Uncle Al’s” storytelling, energy practices, and qigong mastery in this creative “Living Your Tao” Tai Ji experience.
Winter solstice is a time to reflect — to cultivate vitality and nurture ourselves. The dark days of winter are an opportune time to slow down and make space for self-care. This winter solstice yoga retreat will focus on cultivating inner awareness. By practicing in community, we build inner vitality and brightness to return home renewed.
During this retreat, we will combine three healing practices to revitalize the body and calm the mind in the exquisite and rejuvenating natural environment of Esalen.
Together, we will focus our attention on being by using:
The word solstice is derived from the Latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still) because the seasonal movement of the sun’s path appears to come to a stop before reversing direction at the solstices. Moving into stillness, we can return to our lives refreshed and strengthened for the new year to come.
All levels are welcome.
This workshop includes an additional $45 faculty tuition.
Soul is flow. It’s an ever-changing play of sensations and feelings. It’s how the deathless presence meets and moves our finite human body. In this workshop, we will reclaim the body-in-motion as a doorway to the life unfolding just under the surface of everyday forgetting.
A formless dance form, Soul Motion® allows for passionate, full-bodied movement as well as mindful inner explorations, art-making, ritual, and luscious lounging. Together, we will integrate conscious movement, body-based inquiries of Gestalt Practice, and the stillness of nature for a process to transform body, heart, and spirit.
Soul Motion is a meeting between self and other in a dance that is deeply creative, nourishing, and transforming. It is a movement toward the dynamic stillness at the center of all things — the place of rest at the heart of sound and motion.
During this week together, we will:
Open to anybody willing to move, pause, listen, and truly relax into one timeless moment. This workshop is especially helpful for people in the healing professions who work with clients, patients, and students.
Bring in the New Year with a rejuvenating week filled with meditation, yoga, hot springs, and the time and space to release the old and welcome the new. We’ll slow down and experience the benefits meditation, gentle yoga, and music offer the body, mind, and soul. Buddhist teacher and author Lopön Chandra will share expert guidance to help you release into grounded presence with ease and comfort.
In this retreat, you will have the opportunity to:
This will be a week of fun, relaxation, and rejuvenation to get you recharged for the coming year. Whatever your spiritual path or meditation experience, you are welcome just as you are. No prior experience is required. Seated and supine meditations will be offered. All are welcome.
This workshop has additional $25 faculty tuition.
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