Esalen is currently closed. We will reopen on Friday, 2/9.
Esalen Institute is open! However, Highway 1 to the south is closed — please review the alternate route directions.

Explore your potential.

Explore your potential.

Esalen is a holistic retreat and educational institute. Established in 1962 and considered the epicenter of the human potential movement, we are a non-profit offering comfort and space for exploration, transformation, and healing within the wilds of Big Sur’s majestic mountainscape and glittering coastline.

Our curiosity and research explores new ideas around creativity and the brain, body work, spirituality, leadership, Gestalt, plant medicine, citizen diplomacy, superhumanism, the survival of bodily death, Extraterrestrial intelligence, and more. Learn more about our story, mission, and vision.

We welcome visitors with advance reservations for workshops and massages to our California campus. This 100-acre stretch of Mother Nature boasts cliffside natural hot springs, an organic farm and garden, serene, rustic guest suites, and more.

Featured Programs & Content
Discover all the ways to visit Esalen

LEEP

Serve & Study

Our Live Extended Education Program is a re-imagined four-week experience designed for people who want to explore new ways of thinking and being. Under the guidance of world-class faculty and surrounded by a cohort of other learners, you'll be challenged to expand your personal growth edges while serving the community side-by-side with our staff.

Take the LEEP
Photo by Vera Lin

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

Transformation is For Everyone

Money should never stand in the way of human potential. Donor-funded scholarships make the healing and transformational magic of Esalen more easily accessible to a more diverse community of brains, hearts, and souls.

Apply Now

REEP

Work & Live

A three month on-site work opportunity, our Residential Extended Education Program (REEP) is designed to help you reset and reimagine, heal and explore, and learn about yourself. Work in service to the community and take advantage of the varied learning opportunities that exist within the majestic microcosm that is Esalen Institute.

REEP the Rewards
Photo by Stephanie Lewis
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