Workshops

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:

• Dance, inspired by a wide range of music and the great sound of silence, supported by the benevolent presence of earth and sky.
• Learn skills for stress reduction, relaxation, and renewal through conscious movement and stillness.
• Build resonance with the movements of life around us by moving from the inside out — alone, in pairs and trios, and as a group, sometimes indoors, sometimes in nature.
• Explore and express what is alive inside us through movement, awareness practices, and sharing in pairs and as a group.
• Experience through movement all the landscapes of relating — to self, to the world, and to the great Mystery that we also are.
• Spend time on the land in sitting and walking meditation, allowing ourselves to dissolve a little into space.

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.

Now more than ever, it is important we build practices to strengthen our internal resolve and self-resourcing amidst a dynamically shifting society. Together, we will listen to our heart’s wisdom in this rich four-day journey (Monday to Friday) through sound, ceremony, and self-discovery.

In this intimate and transformative workshop, you will have the unique opportunity to experience multiple East Forest’s live music performances. Additionally, Radha will lead us in embodiment practices of Self-Awakening Yoga, Yin Yoga, and Pranayama to create an all-levels and accessible doorway to inner insights. Through the primacy of our own heart-opening and felt experience, we can discover the inner pathways to fortitude and healing.

East Forest and Radha would like to offer a certain amount of scholarship to those in need. Please apply with this form. If further assistance would be helpful, you may also apply for an Esalen scholarship.

***Please note: While the retreat space and exercises are conducive to deep inner work, the facilitators and Esalen do not condone the use of or provide substances of any kind.

• Intimate live musical performances by East Forest
• Group co-creative musical process with East Forest
• Daily morning yoga and meditation practices
• Awe-inspiring time in nature
• Yoga
• Pranayama
• Meditation and group insight exercises
• Journaling
• Dance party

This workshop includes an additional $290 faculty tuition.

All light arises from darkness, including insight, creativity, vision, joy, and possibility. The luminous darkness is the healing presence and receptivity through which we also access light. It is the field of all potential and emergence that we sometimes forget in the context of ordinary life and habit. In this deeply restorative retreat, at the threshold of a new year, we will commune with the luminous darkness to listen deeply, renew possibility, and set conscious intentions for our lives and our world in the year ahead.

Resting in embodied presence, we will reflect on and harvest lessons from the past year and release limiting beliefs. This regenerative and transformative process is about remembering who we really are — and stepping into  possibility on behalf of our collective.

We will deepen our capacity for compassion and clear seeing  through:

• Meditation and Dharma talks
• Relational mindfulness and inquiry
• Conscious movement and dance
• Embodied practices to invoke the realm of dreaming and conscious imagination and to embrace shadow and the unknown
• Reflective writing
• Deep time in nature

This workshop, inspired by Eden’s book Luminous Darkness, draws upon the wisdom streams of Buddhist meditation and mindfulness, non-duality, deep ecology, somatic awareness, and conscious dance. This work is heart-opening, transformative — and also incredibly fun!

Recommended reading: Luminous Darkness: An Engaged Buddhist Approach to Embracing the Unknown by Deborah Eden Tull

This workshop includes an additional $40 faculty tuition.

Celebrate the holiday season in the natural beauty of the Esalen land while learning the fundamental elements of Esalen® Massage.  

The Esalen® Massage approach is about working with each other as human beings, meeting in the present moment, listening, loving, and responding to what emerges naturally. Its principles combine self-care, grounded awareness practice, and presence with the skilled application of long, flowing strokes and integrated detail work to provide relief for overworked muscles.

Taught by senior instructors, the course covers the basics of giving and receiving a massage and offers a wider healing perspective for those with experienced hearts and hands. Sessions include plenty of personal instruction and at-the-table assistance to support the learning process. Time for shared self-reflection and feedback are built into the daily schedule. Come prepared to be nurtured by the healing waters of the Esalen baths and bask in the natural beauty, power, and spirit of Esalen and the Big Sur coast during this special season marking the sun’s return.

This workshop is useful for those in healing professions seeking fresh inspiration.

24 hours of continuing education provided by the faculty through Esalen® Massage and Bodywork Association Teachers.

Meditating in noble silence offers a special opportunity to focus inward, deeply connect with oneself, and reflect on life goals. The New Year, with its connection to the winter solstice and new beginnings, is the perfect time to silently journey inward. You are invited to set intentions and explore, through seated and moving meditation, themes of self-kindness, self-care, and nurturing.

This retreat is a quiet, reflective New Year celebration with the opportunity to discover a deep, centered place within. The week will be spent in periods of noble silence with two extended periods a day for various meditation practices. Lunch will be at a silent table. You will continue your meditation or join the open activities of the day at Esalen in mindfulness. Mark will guide you through a series of practices of both stillness and movement to build the momentum of concentration and awareness.

This mindful meditation will utilize the rich, sensual experience of Esalen — the sounds of the ocean, the feeling of the air, and the beauty of its colors and textures — as well as the rich experience of our own bodies and minds. Evenings will be open to mindfully enjoy the beauty and community, or you may choose to continue silence in inner retreat. New Year’s Eve at Esalen usually includes a community-wide celebration of some kind, which is an option but not required.

Recommended Reading: Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn

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:

• Practice meditation inside and out in nature while gazing over the Pacific Ocean. Chances are you will spot whales migrating south for the winter.
• Learn various meditation techniques, including mindfulness of breathing and Buddhist-based awareness practices.
• Experience the healing benefits of mantra recitation, singing, and devotional music (kirtan).
• Learn gentle yoga and breathwork to access deeper states of meditation.

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.

Imagine your relationship expressing the true depths of your love and commitment. If you are in love, this retreat is an opportunity to rise even higher in love. If you are in crisis, it is an opportunity for healing on the deepest level. We all carry some degree of negative programming from our past, and there are loving and effective ways to transform this programming into a positive and vibrant celebration of our connection.

During this workshop, you will experience exercises and practices for you to do with each other, therapeutic coaching of each couple by the Vissells, the support of other couples and time for sharing after each practice.

You’ll acquire a collection of tools for deeper appreciation and communication building, including healthy communication of feelings, our partner as a mirror, understanding and respecting each other’s differences, conflict resolution, healing past hurts, sexual wellness, inner child/inner parent, taking responsibility and developing a true inner connection. Take the opportunity to explore these tools with your partner during the workshop and learn to incorporate them into everyday life as you continue to improve your relationship at home. For more information, visit www.SharedHeart.org.

This workshop welcomes couples of all gender and sexual orientations.

Gestalt Practice at its core is an awareness practice in which we cultivate embodied, present-moment awareness of the unfolding experience of the here and now on a journey toward authentic growth, wholeness, and aliveness.

Drawing from the foundations of Gestalt Practice, wisdom traditions, and contemporary approaches that cultivate awareness, we’ll learn to become increasingly aware of our habitual, reactive, behavioral and emotional patterns — especially those that may no longer be skillful — for a more deeply embodied daily life. We will exercise our emotional and somatic intelligence in parallel to support, respect, and gently turn toward what arises moment to moment — to allow more space and appreciation for silence, sensation, emotional expression, and communication.

During this workshop, we will explore the rich practices and principles of Gestalt Practice. By applying them to everyday life, we’ll begin to experience the simple yet profound potential for showing up more fully and authentically for the daily presentations of living an awake life.

Gestalt Practice cultivates curiosity, equanimity, and acceptance with greater choice for creative possibilities. Rather than focusing on fixing or achievement, this approach offers methods to encourage you to:

• Cultivate awareness and embodied presence.
• Grow responsiveness, resilience, and choice.
• Trust in your organism’s inherent capacity for self-regulation and co-regulation.

Together, we’ll explore the elements of this approach, primarily through experiential personal practices, interactive exercises, and Gestalt Awareness Movement. Practices and exercises will be done solo, in pairs, triads, and groups, allowing participants to grow their awareness and learn how we can deepen our relationships — to self and others. There will be time for some participants to experience classic one-to-one Open Seat practice sessions with Steven in the roles of Initiator and Reflector while in the context of the group. To enrich our understanding, we’ll touch upon the rich history, theory, and neuroscience that supports this approach.

Through Gestalt Practice, we bear witness to ineffable mysteries that can bring us to living life more fully. Participants are invited to show up:  choosing to be present, paying attention to what has heart and meaning, and open to what life presents — letting life live through us.

The workshop is appropriate for all levels of experience with the understanding that participants are exploring a model of an awareness gym or lab — not a therapy. A welcome letter will be sent upon registration along with additional information about our time together.

Those who know the secret of sound know the mystery of the whole universe. — Hazrat Inayat Khan

Join us to honor the spirit of renewal as we tune into the frequency of love through a series of transformative sound journeys with alchemy crystal singing bowls, chimes, and more. These journeys, grounded in universal laws, can guide us into an altered state of consciousness, often called the quantum field or unity consciousness. In this expanded state, we can more easily release stress, blockages, and inner tension, thereby elevating our joy and well-being.

In this workshop, we will explore:

• Awareness: Tune into how frequencies impact your relationships and health, allowing you to rewire limiting beliefs, befriend fears, and restore your energy centers and transform your world from within.
• 7 transformative sound journeys: Experience the power of sound to bring you into deep relaxation, emotional healing, nervous system regulation, and stress release.
• Ancient and modern insights: Delve into ancient sound practices alongside modern scientific research to gain a deeper understanding of how sound transforms your life on both somatic and cognitive levels.

Each day will include specially curated sound journeys, mindfulness practices, authentic movement, bespoke teachings, metaphysical properties of crystals, and community connection. Special guest Penny Vieregge will share the poetry of Hafiz, and we’ll have a session in the Art Barn to tune into our creative instincts.Supported by the earth, healing mineral waters, fresh ocean air, and starry skies, we invite you to slow down and drop into the serenity of rest as the outside world recedes, allowing your soul’s wisdom to shine through.

Come away with peace of mind, a joyful heart, empowering self-care practices, and sacred nourishment for your soul.

Recommended Reading: The Ancient Language of Sacred Sound: The Acoustic Science of the Divine by David Elkington

This workshop includes an additional $20 in faculty tuition.

How much are you present in your own life? Most of us spend more time worrying about the future, replaying the past, or getting lost in fantasy than experiencing what life offers us right now. This moment is our opportunity to be directly intimate with our lives while learning through difficult lessons how to open our hearts.

Mindfulness — or vipassana — meditation is the practice described by the Buddha for developing wisdom, compassion, and peace by learning to be conscious and aware of what is happening in the present. Using breath, body sensations, thoughts, and emotions, we can find out how to be more fully awake. When we see directly that the nature of reality is change, we become more capable of meeting each situation with spontaneity, fearlessness, and love.

In this workshop, you’ll be introduced to this meditation practice and the principles on which it is based. There will be periods of silent sitting and walking meditation as well as discussions to help provide a foundation for your own mindfulness practice in your everyday life.

Recommended Reading:  Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to a Happier Life by James Baraz and  The Experience of Insight by Joseph Goldstein

Our ever-increasing intimacy with technology means we live more of our lives with, through, and mediated by it. This carries both opportunities and risks to our social, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual dimensions. Many are experiencing a sense of soul loss — a contracted disconnection caused by distraction, social comparison, loneliness, and lack of true connection, both inner and outer.

The conscious cultivation of awareness through practices that teach us how to pay attention to our own experience as a witness — to see ourselves as a subject of life rather than an object life is happening to — can be incredibly empowering. Sará King and Eve Ekman offer an alchemical opportunity to meet, map, and transform how we relate to technology and reveal its liberatory potential for enhancing embodied awareness and social justice.

Sará is a contemplative neuroscientist dedicated to research and training our experience of mind and consciousness at an embodied level and weaving loving kindness into our active practice of social justice. Eve is a contemplative social scientist who works through wide-scale application of technologies to increase emotional awareness and compassion.

This weekend workshop will include three main pillars:

• Stilling the mind for foundational practices to develop a mind that feels clear, easeful, and open.
• Opening awareness through practices of self-inquiry and reflection on the myriad layers of awareness within us, with others, and the greater seen and unseen world around us.
• Tenderizing the heart with creative, compassionate personal storytelling.

These experiential practices ground the concept of “justice” as the act of creating intentional space of love and applying active “loving-awareness-in-action” to ourselves and others. Our capacity to gently encourage and guide our attention back to our body in the present moment and sense what we are thinking, feeling, emoting, and remembering is a superpower that should be developed, not taken for granted.

In a world where we must constantly question the “realness” and authenticity of the stimuli we encounter, developing space that empowers us to know our own experience as valid and real might be one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves.

For thousands of years across many cultures, enhanced states of consciousness have been used as a strategy for meaningful transformation and self-exploration — marking life’s major transitions and rites of passage and deepening one’s connection to self, community, and the natural world.

In this workshop, we will gather in the rich field of community for an immersive experience and personal exploration of enhanced states of consciousness. Our time together will include strategies for navigating, integrating, and preparing for these experiences. Holotropic Breathwork® offers language, method, and structure for turning inward and working with deeply personal material as it emerges, uniquely, from one’s own intrinsic intelligence. We will be supported by time-honored practices that are simple, yet powerful. These unique states can offer us unmediated access to the self as a deep source of healing, insight, and evolutionary potential. Participants will experience four Holotropic Breathwork sessions, with two as “breather” and two as “sitter.” Your time assisting others in “non-ordinary state” space will complement your personal exploration. Additionally, contemplative practice, movement, expressive arts, and time in community will support the integration process throughout the week.

Originating from the pioneering psychedelic researcher, Stanislav Grof, and his late wife, Christina Grof, Holotropic Breathwork is a particularly useful practice for those interested in or training to work in psychedelic-assisted therapy.

This workshop is suited for all those of heart who are curious about exploring enhanced states of consciousness and opening to an evolutionary process of unfolding. New or novice explorers/breathers are very welcome, along with experienced navigators/breathers. The fundamental urge to grow, to heal, and to be transformed in a truly authentic way drives us not outward but inward, toward the depths of our own being, toward a deep mystery within. This inward journey strengthens and nourishes our senses in a way that can revitalize our daily lives with creative and emergent energy.

Recommended Reading: Holotropic Breathwork by Stan Grof

Join Heidi Rose Robbins for an enlivening exploration of your astrological chart. Through group study, movement, writing, and poetry, we’ll bring our astrological map to life — and in so doing, we will practice loving, act courageously, and fully embrace our next life steps.

In this workshop, we will come together in the beauty of the circle to reflect and share wisdom. Your astrological chart is a lens through which you can see yourself and the gifts you have to share. As we study the map of the heavens from the moment we are born, we can become ever more generous and daring, naming our fears and uncertainties and courageously offering up our gifts to liberate love in others and ourselves.

During our time together, we will focus on:

• Exploring our personal astrological charts to uncover our greatest strengths, challenges, and clues about our future paths.
• Embodying astrological energies by moving and stretching our bodies into new spaces. No prior movement experience is required.
• Journaling and collage to visually and artistically express the planets and astrological signs in our charts.
• Using poetry to reveal and embody different aspects of our astrological map.

Once we receive your birth data, we will prepare your unique astrological chart, and you will receive it in the workshop! All are welcome. Previous knowledge of astrology, poetry, or movement is not necessary. Come with an open mind and a willingness to embrace the richness of your astrological chart.

Recommended reading: Everyday Radiance: 365 Zodiac-Inspired Prompts for Self-Care and Self-Renewal by Heidi Rose Robbins; Zodiac Love Lettersby Heidi Rose Robbins; Wild Compassion by Heidi Rose Robbins

This workshop includes $10 for workshop materials.

When was the last time you gave something your undivided attention? Nearly 2,500 years ago, Buddha worried we had become too distracted — and that was before paper, let alone smartphones. In 2022, our days are filled with convenient distractions that promise happiness while mostly delivering busyness and frustration. So many of us today live life in a hectic fog, working too much and noticing too little.

There is a different way. For this weekend workshop, we will disconnect, slow down, and meditate together. We will learn the ancient Zen practice of sitting still, bringing our full awareness to what is now.

Our time together will follow a gentle schedule of sitting meditation punctuated by brief lectures, group discussion, relaxing meals, and soaks in the healing baths, all while exploring the process and practice of mindful living. We’ll be listening to our own bodies, noticing the food we eat, and truly engaging with the people around us – exploring what it means to be fully present.

Together we will explore everything you need to start, revive, or deepen your daily meditation practice. You will receive instruction in traditional Zen Buddhist meditation and we will sit together in guided sessions, practicing what we’ve learned. We’ll work together on everything from the mechanics of sitting posture to the mental barriers we all face. We’ll discuss how to overcome common obstacles to meditation and the many ways to incorporate more mindfulness and presence into our daily lives.

Whether you’re brand new to meditation or even if you’ve been practicing for years, join us in learning how to bring meditation into your life and mindfulness to your work and home – today and every day. Come reclaim a healthier and happier way to be.

Recommended Reading: Buddha’s Office, by Dan Zigmond

Join bestselling author, Grammy-nominated musician, and award-winning speaker Justin Michael Williams in this transformational and deeply interactive workshop at Esalen Institute. By blending science-backed strategies with empowerment, this session is designed to unlock your full potential and foster a space of connection, wellness, motivation, and confidence.

In this inspiring journey, you will:

• Explore the 6 Life Zones to find the key areas required for fulfillment in the full 360 degrees of your life.
• Discover how to change your habits and reach your goals by learning the untold science-backed methods of transformation and achievement.
• Create your power action plan for the year ahead to help you overcome limitations and keep the drive to succeed.
• Experience the uplifting power of music to bring the change from your mind to your heart, along with resources to take home after you leave campus.

Together, we’ll create your personal action plan for 2025 and define your next steps with a simple and proven method that you can take into the new year. This is your moment to reset, renew, overcome fear and self-doubt, and say “yes” to everything that lies ahead. Awaken your true power for the year ahead!

This program has been designed from the ground up to welcome people of all genders, races, identities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Join us!

Recommended reading: Stay Woke, by Justin Michael Williams

To encounter someone, something, or someplace implies that it’s unexpected or a surprise. Encountering the moment means coming face-to-face with the unknown. In movement practice, we train ourselves to stay open, curious, centered, and responsive at the front edge of any encounter — counterbalancing those innate primal reactions to fight, flee, freeze, or please.  

Rather than withdrawing, playing it safe, or tolerating things you shouldn’t, imagine being adept at staying present and standing your ground clearly and authentically. Picture a world where we are able to express opinions, feelings, discontents, and appreciations skillfully while remaining wholeheartedly open to outcome and change.  

In this workshop, within a supportive and challenging environment, we will create “safe emergencies” — situations intense enough to command our attention that are managed with care and support, to help us risk moving beyond habitual self-defeating patterns. Participants can receive real feedback and gain plenty of practice making new choices in relation to others.  

20 CE units available for full attendance of this course.

• CE credits for psychologists are provided by the Spiritual Competency Academy (SCA) which is co-sponsoring this program. The Spiritual Competency Academy is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Spiritual Competency Academy maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
• The California Board of Behavioral Sciences accepts CE credits for LCSW, LPCC, LEP, and LMFT license renewal for programs offered by approved sponsors of CE by the American Psychological Association.
• LCSW, LPCC, LEP, and LMFTs, and other mental health professionals from states other than California need to check with their state licensing board as to whether or not they accept programs offered by approved sponsors of CE by the American Psychological Association.
• SCA is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN Provider CEP16887) for licensed nurses in California. RNs must retain their certificate of attendance for 4 years after the course concludes.
• For questions about receiving your Certificate of Attendance, contact Nicole@AndreaJuhan.com.
• For questions about CE, contact Spiritual Competency Academy at info@spiritualcompetencyacademy.com.

Esalen Massage is a moving meditation, a practice in presence and mindfulness, and a loving healing art. When practiced with focused attention, massage comes from a deep, quiet place that resides inside each of us. This practice of meditation helps access the parasympathetic nervous system, where healing originates. As we give a massage, this healing state of mind can permeate the field that practitioner and receiver create together.

In guided sessions, we will explore the practice of sitting meditation to prepare and quiet our minds, and the fundamentals of Esalen Massage as a meditative and self-reflective practice. Special focus will be on quality of touch, breath awareness, centering, and sensitive rapport between partners. The signature long strokes will support a sense of wholeness and integration.  Instruction in detailed work for the shoulders, hips, limbs and neck will contribute to the massage experience. There will be supervised practice daily as students exchange massages, with the support of their experienced teachers.

Beginners as well as seasoned practitioners will welcome this week to explore Esalen Massage and meditation, while enjoying the natural beauty of the Esalen grounds.

This workshop is especially useful for those in the helping and healing professions in working with their clients and partners.

26 hours of NCBTMB approved continuing education provided by the faculty through the Esalen® Massage and Bodywork Association Teachers.

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.  

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

Are you ready to take a break from your routine? Are you ready to stop outside distractions from crowding your innermost world? To relax and rejuvenate?

This weekend yoga retreat invites you to slow down, feel, experience, and remember your innate freedom. With meditative yoga practices and enriching rituals, you will be guided through inquiries that strengthen your foundation for clarity and meaning while helping you soften into your innate essence.

During this weekend, we will:

• Take time to explore the healing power of breath and body connection.
• Rekindle an intimate relationship with nature.
• Experience sound healing to nurture and support the subtle energy body.

Receive nourishment from your practice, this sacred land, and the community at Esalen. Return home with a deeper sense of self and purpose.

Note: You are invited to detox from or minimize the use of all electronics during your time here. Some yoga experience is recommended.

BIPOC Scholarship: Jovinna offers one BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, person of color) scholarship for this workshop.  For more information on how to apply, please contact her at jovinna@gmail.com

This workshop includes an additional $35 of faculty tuition.

What role does dominant culture play in how we experience the sensations, thoughts, feelings, and deeper existential mysteries of our bodies?

Roger Kuhn, a Poarch Creek Two-Spirit Indigequeer activist, artist, sex therapist, and somacultural theorist, believes that viewing our bodies through a somacultural lens can help us better understand how dominant culture informs and, all too often, misinforms our relationships to them.

Somacultural liberation is an embodied practice that helps individuals connect with the intersections of their identity. Kuhn’s revolutionary mode of inquiry illuminates the full impact of our cultural reality in shaping both our individual and shared sense of self.

Over the course of the workshop, participants will:

• Explore how cultural contexts shape our relationship with our bodies.
• Gain insights into somatic practices that facilitate liberation and healing.
• Develop tools to regulate the nervous system and integrate somatic awareness into our personal and professional lives.
• Foster personal growth through embodied exploration and reflection.
• Cultivate embodiment practices for self-expression and empowerment.

This workshop is ideal for therapists, coaches, healthcare professionals, activists, and anyone interested in exploring the impact culture has played in their personal and collective experiences and the pathways to liberation.

Recommended reading: Somacultural Liberation by Roger Kuhn

Attention is the beginning of devotion. – Mary Oliver

How might we find fulfillment in this new year? Beneath all the noise, what do you truly care about? A life of fulfillment requires fostering connection and paying attention to what truly matters to you. With the rapid pace of life, it’s easy to lose sight of what you’re devoted to. In this workshop, you’ll have tranquil, uninterrupted spaciousness for yoga, inquiry, and contemplative practice to clear your mind and imbue your heart 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 writing. With equal parts courage and tenderness, we’ll hone our hearts and minds to be vessels for devotion, ready to live this “one wild and precious life” with true purpose and grounded joy.

Together, we’ll explore:

• Yoga and embodiment practices
• Contemplative practice, writing, and self-inquiry
• Fire, water, and sound ceremony
• Meditation, music, and captivating storytelling

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.

Fostering close and connected relationships is one of the most important things affecting the quality of our lives. Cultivating trust and openness with a loved one, whether with an intimate partner or friend, is an essential aspect of any successful, supportive relationship.

This weekend, Perry and Johanna Holloman, intimate partners and friends for over 30 years, will share the most effective tools and practices they have developed to nurture their connection to each other.

The primary tool Perry and Johanna will share is called Gestalt Inquiry. This easy-to-learn, powerful practice provides a safe context for exploring the most meaningful and sensitive aspects of relationships. Perry and Johanna like to think of it as a practice that becomes a continuing part of any successful long-term relationship because it places high value on compassion, respect, and love of truth. As we learn to discover and safely express what is true for us, individually, as a couple, or as friends, we deepen our heart’s capacity for intimacy and connection, which leads to a more fulfilling and meaningful shared life.

During our time together, you will learn practices and resources to integrate into your everyday life, such as:

• Embodied practices involving movement, breath, meditation, and awareness to develop a sense of palpable presence as the foundation upon which your relationship can flourish.
• The Art of Conscious Communication: learning to care as much about understanding our partner and what they’re communicating as we care about being heard and understood by them.
• How to express needs, feelings, and appreciations in an attuned manner to deepen relational trust.
• Understanding the “distancing behaviors” we engage in, usually as an unconscious form of defense against vulnerability and contact.
• Learning to co-regulate each other in structured exercises, emphasizing compassion and respect so presence-based relating naturally arises.

This workshop is for couples of all genders and sexual orientations. A couple may be any two people with a history who desire a better future together, e.g., friends, partners, married or divorced spouses, parent and child, siblings, and others.

This workshop includes an additional $50 faculty tuition.

This interactive workshop is designed to ignite your creativity and foster connections through the transformative power of improvisation, play, and imagination. Embark on a captivating journey in which science and spontaneity collide, delve into the world of improvisation, and discover its transformative impacts on the brain.

Find out how engaging in playful activities can stimulate the neural pathways linked to flow, enhance cognitive flexibility, and build emotional resilience. Through scientifically grounded interactive exercises, you’ll learn how improv can shape your mindset and improve your well-being.

Together, we’ll experience the delight of collaborative exploration and engage in partner exercises and group games. You’ll forge meaningful connections with fellow participants as you create spontaneous stories and navigate laughter-filled challenges. Through an unforgettable blend of science, creativity, and connection, we will unleash the imagination and welcome the unexpected with open arms!

Whether you’re new to improv or a seasoned performer, our workshop provides an open and encouraging space for exploration, learning, and growth. Join us for this adventure of self-discovery through play that will leave you feeling inspired, energized, and ready to embrace change.

Immerse yourself in a restorative workshop designed specifically for male-identifying people of color. This unique experience offers a sanctuary for growth and self-discovery, fostering a supportive community where participants can connect and build meaningful relationships.

Black boys and men of color have limited opportunities to engage in mind-body healing practices, and there are not nearly enough representations of Black male wellness; this workshop provides tools for transformation, healing, and empowerment while also addressing the interconnected issues of mental health, racial disparities, and community well-being.

Danny and Darnell combine meditation, yoga, and reflective writing to create a nurturing space for participants to explore their inner selves and cultivate mindfulness. Through guided meditations and intention-setting exercises, participants will center their energy and focus on their personal growth journey.

This workshop features:

• Rejuvenating Hatha Yoga sessions, engaging participants in gentle stretches, balancing poses, and breathing exercises to promote physical and mental well-being.
• Yoga Nidra sessions to provide deep relaxation and inner exploration for a meditative state of consciousness.
• Reflective writing sessions to offer a profound opportunity for self-discovery and life visioning, guided by thoughtful prompts.
• Shadow work writing sessions to confront and integrate repressed aspects of the self for holistic healing.
• Somatic movement, breathwork, and primal movement exercises to facilitate healing and emotional release.
• Healing circles to enrich the experience, fostering support and collective healing energy.

With reflective writing and a closing circle, participants will be able to process their experiences, express gratitude, and set future intentions to carry them well beyond Esalen.