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Life as Ceremony: South American Indigenous Wisdom for Healing and Connecting With the Earth
July 25–29, 2022
July 25–29, 2022
with Xochitl Ashe

Please note: On Wednesday September 20, online registration may be unavailable for up to 15 minutes while system maintenance is performed. If the 'Register Now' page does not load, please wait about 15 minutes and try again.

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Need a scholarship? Apply here.

Need a scholarship? Apply here.

We need the medicine of joy and magic and fun.

These are the times that all indigenous prophecies have spoken about. We are in a place in our human journey where we need guidance and support the most while we navigate world events, the pandemic, climate change, and our own individual traumas. Humanity is longing for community connection, healing, and ceremony with the Earth more than ever.  

Join us for a week of ceremony with the Earth wisdom teachings from Mesoamerica and Peru as we reconnect, heal, and nourish our hearts. We will work with our ancestors to build our spiritual support team and partake in a plant medicine ceremonies with Cacao. We will learn various daily spiritual practices that include offerings to the land to help you create and connect to the magic in you and your life.

Our week will feature two guest faculty, who will bring their magic to enhance our understanding over the course of the week…

Kyle McBride is an international chef, food justice advocate, ferment and wild food enthusiast. He draws inspiration from the abundance and diversity of nature and seeks to honor our sacred connection to the earth through his food.

Marisa Anita Reyes is a community leader and medicine woman who uses her voice, the charango, harmonium, frame drum, and crystal bowl to take people on a journey to open their hearts, meet their ancestors and connect to Spirit.

During our time together we will…

  • Learn and embody the ancient Peruvian philosophy of belonging to ourselves, each other, and the Earth.
  • Create an ancestral altar to connect with the ancient energies of the land.
  • Engage in practices to support the ancestral connection beyond your workshop.
  • Offer daily Earth-based ceremonies to deepen your connection to Earth and the land you are on, including foraging for fresh ingredients to create a sacred meal that we will share.
  • Be supported by two sacred plant medicine cacao ceremonies in a safe space that supports our heart wellbeing and healing.
  • Experience the power of healing in community.

Being at Esalen provides us a special opportunity to be in connection with the elemental spirits of the native coastline and the sacredness of the land where the sweet and thermal waters meet the ocean.

Learn more about the requirements to receive continuing education credit.

Lead photo:
Xochitl Ashe

Xochitl Ashe

Xochitl (So-chil) Ashe is a trained herbalist with deep indigenous roots. Initiated at the age of sixteen in her Peruvian healing traditions, she has been a conduit for sacred medicines and herbs for twenty years. She works with transformational cacao and mushroom ceremonies in Mexico, especially attending to generational trauma.

Read More

Categories:
Category :   
Workshop Schedule

Mon 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Tue - Thu 9:30 am – 1:00 pm
Tue - Thu 4:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Fri 9:30 am – 12:00 pm

Summer Groovers will experience Esalen in a format similar to our Self Guided Explorations workshops. Each Summer Groove week or weekend will open and close with a circle, and be filled with festive, nostalgic activities that harken back to those days of yore.

More activities can be found on our open class schedule.

See general schedule information including arrival, departure and meal times.

Accommodations & Tuition

Click Register Now to view availability of accommodations and all-inclusive, program-specific tuition. Please note that not all accommodation levels are available for every workshop and additional faculty fees may apply.

We offer scholarship funds for those with financial need. Learn more.

Please note: On Wednesday September 20, online registration may be unavailable for up to 15 minutes while system maintenance is performed. If the 'Register Now' page does not load, please wait about 15 minutes and try again.

Accommodations & Tuition

Click Register Now to view availability of accommodations and all-inclusive tuition that includes lodging, three meals per day, access to the baths, and all activities on the Summer Groove schedule.

We offer scholarship funds for those with financial need. Learn more.

Accommodations & Tuition

For this workshop, you will register and pay for accommodations and tuition in two separate steps.

First, sign up and pay tuition directly to

Second, click Book Accommodations from this page and enter the password to complete your reservation to stay at Esalen.

Prices for accommodations include your lodging, meals, open classes, and use of the baths and other facilities. View partner program accommodations pricing.

COVID Update

As of June 30, 2023 we no longer require a negative COVID test at the time of check in. Please read our current COVID safety guidelines for complete details prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

All guests and faculty must provide proof of negative test results at time of check-in. Please read our current COVID safety guidelines for complete details prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

In addition to proof of vaccination, all guests and faculty must provide proof of negative test results at time of check-in. Please read our current COVID safety guidelines for complete details prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

Effective January 7, 2022 in response to the rapid spread of the new Omicron variant, all guests and faculty will provide proof of negative PCR, NAAT, or antigen test results at time of check-in. The test must be taken within 72 hours nd results must come from a laboratory or healthcare provider.Please read our updated COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

Effective December 15 in accordance with new guidance from Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Department of Health, all guests, students, staff, residents, and faculty are required to wear masks in all indoor public settings, irrespective of vaccine status, for the next four weeks (December 15, 2021 through January 15, 2022). Please read our updated COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

Effective November 19, 2021, in accordance with new guidance from the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, all guests, students, staff, residents, and faculty are no longer required to wear masks indoors on campus. Please read our updated COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

Starting November 5, 2021, due to substantial levels of COVID-19 transmission in Monterey County, a mask mandate established by the Monterey County Board of Supervisors will go into effect. Please read our COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

All guests will be required to provide proof of vaccination upon arrival starting September 3, 2021. Please read our COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

Masks are no longer mandated indoors or outdoors, except during massage sessions. Guests are not required to provide testing or vaccination verification before arriving on campus. Please read our COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.

All-inclusive Pricing

with Xochitl Ashe

July 25–29, 2022
Register Now
We need the medicine of joy and magic and fun.

These are the times that all indigenous prophecies have spoken about. We are in a place in our human journey where we need guidance and support the most while we navigate world events, the pandemic, climate change, and our own individual traumas. Humanity is longing for community connection, healing, and ceremony with the Earth more than ever.  

Join us for a week of ceremony with the Earth wisdom teachings from Mesoamerica and Peru as we reconnect, heal, and nourish our hearts. We will work with our ancestors to build our spiritual support team and partake in a plant medicine ceremonies with Cacao. We will learn various daily spiritual practices that include offerings to the land to help you create and connect to the magic in you and your life.

Our week will feature two guest faculty, who will bring their magic to enhance our understanding over the course of the week…

Kyle McBride is an international chef, food justice advocate, ferment and wild food enthusiast. He draws inspiration from the abundance and diversity of nature and seeks to honor our sacred connection to the earth through his food.

Marisa Anita Reyes is a community leader and medicine woman who uses her voice, the charango, harmonium, frame drum, and crystal bowl to take people on a journey to open their hearts, meet their ancestors and connect to Spirit.

During our time together we will…

  • Learn and embody the ancient Peruvian philosophy of belonging to ourselves, each other, and the Earth.
  • Create an ancestral altar to connect with the ancient energies of the land.
  • Engage in practices to support the ancestral connection beyond your workshop.
  • Offer daily Earth-based ceremonies to deepen your connection to Earth and the land you are on, including foraging for fresh ingredients to create a sacred meal that we will share.
  • Be supported by two sacred plant medicine cacao ceremonies in a safe space that supports our heart wellbeing and healing.
  • Experience the power of healing in community.

Being at Esalen provides us a special opportunity to be in connection with the elemental spirits of the native coastline and the sacredness of the land where the sweet and thermal waters meet the ocean.

Learn more about the requirements to receive continuing education credit.

Lead photo:
Xochitl Ashe

Xochitl (So-chil) Ashe is a trained herbalist with deep indigenous roots. Initiated at the age of sixteen in her Peruvian healing traditions, she has been a conduit for sacred medicines and herbs for twenty years. She works with transformational cacao and mushroom ceremonies in Mexico, especially attending to generational trauma.

Read More

Workshop Schedule

Mon 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Tue - Thu 9:30 am – 1:00 pm
Tue - Thu 4:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Fri 9:30 am – 12:00 pm

Summer Groovers will experience Esalen in a format similar to our Self Guided Explorations workshops. Each Summer Groove week or weekend will open and close with a circle, and be filled with festive, nostalgic activities that harken back to those days of yore.

More activities can be found on our open class schedule.

See general schedule information including arrival, departure and meal times.

Accommodations & Tuition

Click Register Now to view availability of accommodations and all-inclusive, program-specific tuition. Please note that not all accommodation levels are available for every workshop and additional faculty fees may apply.

Accommodations & Tuition

Click Register Now to view availability of accommodations and all-inclusive tuition that includes lodging, three meals per day, access to the baths, and all activities on the Summer Groove schedule.

We offer scholarship funds for those with financial need. Learn more.

Accommodations & Tuition

For this workshop, you will register and pay for accommodations and tuition in two separate steps.

First, sign up and pay tuition directly to

Second, click Book Accommodations from this page and enter the password to complete your reservation to stay at Esalen.

Prices for accommodations include your lodging, meals, open classes, and use of the baths and other facilities. View partner program accommodations pricing.

COVID Update

As of June 30, 2023 we no longer require a negative COVID test at the time of check in. Please read our current COVID safety guidelines for complete details prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

All guests and faculty must provide proof of negative test results at time of check-in. Please read our current COVID safety guidelines for complete details prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

In addition to proof of vaccination, all guests and faculty must provide proof of negative test results at time of check-in. Please read our current COVID safety guidelines for complete details prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

Effective January 7, 2022 in response to the rapid spread of the new Omicron variant, all guests and faculty will provide proof of negative PCR, NAAT, or antigen test results at time of check-in. The test must be taken within 72 hours nd results must come from a laboratory or healthcare provider.Please read our updated COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

Effective December 15 in accordance with new guidance from Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Department of Health, all guests, students, staff, residents, and faculty are required to wear masks in all indoor public settings, irrespective of vaccine status, for the next four weeks (December 15, 2021 through January 15, 2022). Please read our updated COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

Effective November 19, 2021, in accordance with new guidance from the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, all guests, students, staff, residents, and faculty are no longer required to wear masks indoors on campus. Please read our updated COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

Starting November 5, 2021, due to substantial levels of COVID-19 transmission in Monterey County, a mask mandate established by the Monterey County Board of Supervisors will go into effect. Please read our COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

All guests will be required to provide proof of vaccination upon arrival starting September 3, 2021. Please read our COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

Masks are no longer mandated indoors or outdoors, except during massage sessions. Guests are not required to provide testing or vaccination verification before arriving on campus. Please read our COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.

All-inclusive Pricing

with Xochitl Ashe

July 25–29, 2022
Choose Your Path
We need the medicine of joy and magic and fun.

These are the times that all indigenous prophecies have spoken about. We are in a place in our human journey where we need guidance and support the most while we navigate world events, the pandemic, climate change, and our own individual traumas. Humanity is longing for community connection, healing, and ceremony with the Earth more than ever.  

Join us for a week of ceremony with the Earth wisdom teachings from Mesoamerica and Peru as we reconnect, heal, and nourish our hearts. We will work with our ancestors to build our spiritual support team and partake in a plant medicine ceremonies with Cacao. We will learn various daily spiritual practices that include offerings to the land to help you create and connect to the magic in you and your life.

Our week will feature two guest faculty, who will bring their magic to enhance our understanding over the course of the week…

Kyle McBride is an international chef, food justice advocate, ferment and wild food enthusiast. He draws inspiration from the abundance and diversity of nature and seeks to honor our sacred connection to the earth through his food.

Marisa Anita Reyes is a community leader and medicine woman who uses her voice, the charango, harmonium, frame drum, and crystal bowl to take people on a journey to open their hearts, meet their ancestors and connect to Spirit.

During our time together we will…

  • Learn and embody the ancient Peruvian philosophy of belonging to ourselves, each other, and the Earth.
  • Create an ancestral altar to connect with the ancient energies of the land.
  • Engage in practices to support the ancestral connection beyond your workshop.
  • Offer daily Earth-based ceremonies to deepen your connection to Earth and the land you are on, including foraging for fresh ingredients to create a sacred meal that we will share.
  • Be supported by two sacred plant medicine cacao ceremonies in a safe space that supports our heart wellbeing and healing.
  • Experience the power of healing in community.

Being at Esalen provides us a special opportunity to be in connection with the elemental spirits of the native coastline and the sacredness of the land where the sweet and thermal waters meet the ocean.

Choose Your Path

Workshop Schedule

Mon 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Tue - Thu 9:30 am – 1:00 pm
Tue - Thu 4:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Fri 9:30 am – 12:00 pm

Summer Groovers will experience Esalen in a format similar to our Self Guided Explorations workshops. Each Summer Groove week or weekend will open and close with a circle, and be filled with festive, nostalgic activities that harken back to those days of yore.

More activities can be found on our open class schedule.

See general schedule information including arrival, departure and meal times.

Accommodations & Tuition

Click Register Now to view availability of accommodations and all-inclusive, program-specific tuition. Please note that not all accommodation levels are available for every workshop and additional faculty fees may apply.

We offer scholarship funds for those with financial need. Learn more.

Accommodations & Tuition

Click Register Now to view availability of accommodations and all-inclusive tuition that includes lodging, three meals per day, access to the baths, and all activities on the Summer Groove schedule.

We offer scholarship funds for those with financial need. Learn more.

Accommodations & Tuition

For this workshop, you will register and pay for accommodations and tuition in two separate steps.

First, sign up and pay tuition directly to

Second, click Book Accommodations from this page and enter the password to complete your reservation to stay at Esalen.

Prices for accommodations include your lodging, meals, open classes, and use of the baths and other facilities. View partner program accommodations pricing.

COVID Update

As of June 30, 2023 we no longer require a negative COVID test at the time of check in. Please read our current COVID safety guidelines for complete details prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

All guests and faculty must provide proof of negative test results at time of check-in. Please read our current COVID safety guidelines for complete details prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

In addition to proof of vaccination, all guests and faculty must provide proof of negative test results at time of check-in. Please read our current COVID safety guidelines for complete details prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

Effective January 7, 2022 in response to the rapid spread of the new Omicron variant, all guests and faculty will provide proof of negative PCR, NAAT, or antigen test results at time of check-in. The test must be taken within 72 hours nd results must come from a laboratory or healthcare provider.Please read our updated COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

Effective December 15 in accordance with new guidance from Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Department of Health, all guests, students, staff, residents, and faculty are required to wear masks in all indoor public settings, irrespective of vaccine status, for the next four weeks (December 15, 2021 through January 15, 2022). Please read our updated COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

Effective November 19, 2021, in accordance with new guidance from the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, all guests, students, staff, residents, and faculty are no longer required to wear masks indoors on campus. Please read our updated COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

Starting November 5, 2021, due to substantial levels of COVID-19 transmission in Monterey County, a mask mandate established by the Monterey County Board of Supervisors will go into effect. Please read our COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

All guests will be required to provide proof of vaccination upon arrival starting September 3, 2021. Please read our COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.

COVID Update

Masks are no longer mandated indoors or outdoors, except during massage sessions. Guests are not required to provide testing or vaccination verification before arriving on campus. Please read our COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.

All-inclusive Pricing