Workshops

Join us for an extended opportunity to explore the true essence of Esalen, and find yourself in the process. Like a snapshot of all that we do here on campus, this workshop is composed of enlivening and heart-opening classes that are driven by Esalen’s founding areas of focus: Heart, Mind, Body, Spirit, and Community.

During this month-long program, a cohort of like-minded students will have the opportunity to lean into the richness and diversity of programming that has both grown up on campus and is being infused into its current culture. In addition to working in service to the running of Esalen, the workshop classes have been designed to support the process of healing, transformation, and joy.

Classes will be led by the Esalen Resident Faculty Team, each bringing something uniquely transformative to the daily experience. Practices will include:

• Gestalt Awareness Practices
• Esalen-style “check-ins”
• combinations of breathwork, yoga, and inspirational writing practice
• Dance and movement
• And more!

Come experience Esalen for a heartful and healing month of service and transformation!

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:

• Journaling and creative writing
• Creative pathways to finding and writing your story
• Hatha-inspired yoga movement and restorative yoga
• Yoga Nidra and awareness meditations
• A playful and supportive community to cultivate your inner artist

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.

Uncertain times have shaken and are shaking our habitual ways of being. Individually and collectively, we are experiencing anxiety, disconnection, and the reality of impermanence even as we begin our journey into the ever-forming new “realities.” Now more than ever, we need to let our somatic system know safety by connecting to our somatic and emotional intelligence, easing into open-hearted social connections and the natural world — so we may settle and ground in our organism’s capacity for resilience, self-regulation, and inherent belonging.

A sense of deep belonging and connection is the natural state of our being. Our nervous system and physiology are wired to feel belonging. We are being called to greet change in manners not previously known to most of us — individually and collectively. To know and feel our belonging in these times asks us to grow awareness — to cultivate genuine heartfelt curiosity, to have courage to feel our vulnerability, and increase our capacity for authentic compassion.

Together, we’ll explore using a variety of practices:

• Grounding and centering tools and techniques that let our nervous system, physiology, and heart feel safe and move from habitual reactivity: to choice, resilience, and trust in the body’s innate wisdom.
• Practical sitting, walking, and laying awareness practices that build mindfulness, somatic intelligence, and embodied connection will be introduced and practiced daily.
• Gestalt Awareness Movement practices that invite us to trust our body’s capacity for organismic self-regulation and co-regulation.
• Neuropsychological concepts and practices that can be perceptually felt and embodied in our daily life while feeling our awakening heart and inherent belonging.
• Through exercises and time together in group, paired, and solo practices, we will have space to connect with Self, others, and the natural world on the Esalen grounds.

Listening deeply, life conspires to let us know the heart of interconnectedness even in the midst of the unknowable. We will draw from various wisdom traditions, contemplative practices, contemporary somatic and neuropsychology to explore ancient, yet new ways of belonging to ourselves, others, and to the other-than-human world to which we participate. When we embody the birthright of our interconnectedness and the heart of belonging, ever-changing life lives through us.

This workshop is appropriate for all levels of experience with the understanding that participants are exploring in a model of education and growth. Please expect to be indoors with some sessions outdoors on the Esalen grounds. A welcome letter will be sent upon registration along with additional information about our time together.

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:

• Breathwork
• Meditation
• yoga asana
• Philosophy
• Journaling
• Yoga nidra

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:

• Dynamic chakra-based vinyasa, Cristi’s signature yoga practice, enhanced by mudra, pranayama, and prayer, and supported by the sacred rhythms and healing soundscapes of DJ Marques Wyatt and Donna De Lory.
• Kundalini kriyas and embodied dance to connect deeply with the elements and awaken each chakra.
• The deep exhale experience for heart healing and self-love to encourage authentic self-expression.
• Deep relaxation and soma practices designed to restore and relax, including savasana serenade by Donna De Lory.
• Vocal embodiment to discover the joy and healing power of your voice, accompanied by live music healing that touches the soul.

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.

Join ceremonial leader and wisdom carrier Erika Gagnon on a sacred journey as we gather to look at our ancestral lineage and how our ancestors continue to influence and affect our lives today.

Gratitude for our ancestors! We are the reality of their dreaming. We are the tip of the arrow of our entire ancestral lineage, which traces back to the beginning of time. You are your greatest healer and greatest medicine. This is your opportunity to examine what that means while sharing healing wisdom and practices. This workshop will offer the tools to transform and transmute ancestral trauma, as well as other forms of trauma and unhealthy life patterns.

We all inherit our ancestors’ gifts, as well as their traumas. This is true if you are of European, African, Indigenous, Asian, or Arabic origin, any other ancestry, or are multi-racial.

In this workshop, you will learn how to identify and honor all of your ancestors’ positive attributes, as well as heal the discordant or destructive energies you have inherited from your, racial, social, cultural, religious and/or historical heritage.

Together, we will examine the origins of “dis-ease” in our bodies, minds, spirits, and souls and how to heal and realign them. We will discuss the importance of ceremonies, sacred altars, and medicinal plants in this healing process. You will be offered the opportunity to participate in a traditional South American healing ceremony, a sound healing and “doctoring” ceremony, and a water blessing prayer ceremony.

You are invited to reconnect to your authentic wisdom and power with clarity, gratitude, and forgiveness. When you honor and heal your ancestral lineage and connect to the natural and spiritual elements of this planet, you strengthen your connection to the sacred in everyday life.

Note: Please bring a journal to write in and items for our altar, including photographs of loved ones and 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 embraces the tradition of the gift economy and reciprocity. The leader’s 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 and value and their desire to support Erika and her ongoing work.

BIPOC SCHOLARSHIP: Erika has established a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, person of color) scholarship for her workshops. For more information on receiving one to participate, please contact her at ErikaGagnon11@gmail.com.

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.

Integrative Gestalt Practice™ is a method of self-inquiry developed by Perry and Johanna Holloman over the last 30 years. Self-inquiry is a powerful practice for discovering and living that which is most authentic in us.

This in-depth program is for those wanting to experience the practice of Gestalt Inquiry to support their self-exploration. Integrative Gestalt Practice is particularly helpful in life transitions and vital questions affecting the quality of our lives and relationships (family, friends, intimate partners), careers, and overall life purpose. The powerful tools presented in this seminar can help support the emergence of what is most authentic in us and will continue to be helpful in daily life long after. The practice of Gestalt Inquiry can imbue us with an internal sense of agency, clarity, and strength and connect us to what many describe as a sense of “inner guidance.”

Gestalt places high value on the development of awareness. Working within a group setting allows all participants to connect and learn about themselves and can shed light on how we relate to essential elements in our lives. Exercises done in dyads and triads help participants “metabolize” individual experiences, creating a powerful container for self-exploration and personal transformation.

Perry and Johanna will combine experiential practices involving breath, movement, and structured “inquiries” with individual “open-seat” work to create a well-rounded program suited for people who want to self-explore in a safe group setting.

Recommended Reading: Gestalt Therapy Verbatim by Frederick S. Perls and Steve Andreas and The Unfolding Now by A. H. Almaas

This workshop includes an additional $50 faculty tuition.

This workshop is your opportunity to reckon with the digitization of our times, reclaim the lost self from technology, and rewire your relationship to creativity.

“What will you do with your one wild and precious life?” Mary Oliver asked in her beloved poem The Summer Day. The average person now spends 61 to 80 days each year on their smartphone devices, and technology companies are becoming even more effective at designing apps that psychologically captivate and sustain the attention of hundreds of millions of people. We are faced with a collective conundrum that holds great grief for what we have lost and great opportunities for what we might create moving forward.

Recent psychological research shows that individuals with insecure attachment styles (anxious or avoidant) are more vulnerable to compulsive relationships with their smartphones as they attempt to experience a reliable ‘secure base’ through devices over direct relationships.

How can we remember the power that lies in our hands? How can we reclaim our unlived lives, rewire our neuropsychology in community, and shift our attention toward our souls’ longings and creative potential?

With the support of a community, a collective of creative souls, each day together will include:

• A guided morning meditation practice for connecting internally to self.
• A reading and reflection on the poem of the day.
• An instructive lecture on the latest psychological and attachment research on the impact of technology on the human experience.
• A collective creative practice of engaging with others to embrace discomfort and the practice of being with the unknown intentionally.
• Personal time to be with the land and one’s own creative muse.
• Community evening gatherings, including heart-warming practices to rest and digest.

Your hands are the living hands of your ancestors — and we are here for such a brief, precious time. In this one life, something uniquely expressed is meant to come through you, and you have this opportunity to bring something new onto this resilient earth and into this fragile world. Put down your device and reclaim your creative right to contribute the art that can only come through your hands.

The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them to the impossible. — Arthur C. Clarke

Imagination is the foundational ingredient in problem solving – the ones in your own life as well as problems in society. Yet how many courses in imagination did you take during your K to12 education? Were you ever taught how to explore, harness, and apply it? How many healthcare professionals have taught you evidence-based ways to use imagination to enhance healing and recovery? Have you ever been taught how negative forms of imagination can contribute to depression, anxiety, or worse?

This workshop focuses on the science, power, and magic of imagination.

• The science: You’ll learn about newly discovered territories of imagination and how it is being redefined as one of the most important skills we can cultivate. You will explore the neurodiversity of imagination and create your own imagination profile.
• The power: You’ll take away tools to implement imagination into your physical and emotional healing, your relationships, and your work to powerfully imagine the next steps in your own life’s journey.
• The magic: You’ll explore the further reaches of imagination to create an extraordinary life. Discovering how altered states of consciousness, shamanism, psychedelics, and virtual reality/AI can provide access to a wellspring of wisdom and embodied imagination. Let whimsy and wonder re-enchant your life and our world.

Imagination is the seed of every invention and every social movement. It has led to nearly every scientific discovery, every building that has been built, every piece of art, film, story, every ship that has ever sailed, and every mission to outer space. Almost every human advancement has been sparked by the question, “What if?”

Through interactive presentations, experiential practices, self-inquiry, thought experiments, and speculative dialogue, you will explore truths that emerge from art, fiction, and fantasy — and return with new knowledge, tools, and inspiration.

Cassandra will be joined by guest faculty Fabrice Guerrier who brings experience knowledge of collective worldbuilding, futurism, poetry, and creative writing. Fabrice will provide unique perspectives and engaging experiential exercises to our work (and play) with imagination.

Do you face challenges with focus and time management? Do you struggle with emotional hypersensitivity or frustration tolerance? Do you find it hard to follow through on tasks or commitments? Or to be reliable and consistent? If so, you are not alone.

Millions of people suffer daily from conditions associated with these executive function challenges. Though commonly referred to as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), these symptoms are not limited to this single condition, and they are often exacerbated by our complex, fast-paced, high-tech lives.

ADHD and related issues often leave people with a sense of self-doubt, shame, or unworthiness. The good news is that with mindfulness, compassion, and the application of skillful techniques, it is possible to move through life more effectively with care and wisdom.

In this workshop, through engaging in various mindfulness meditations, loving kindness and forgiveness practices and contemplative inquiry, you will discover how these challenges interrupt our functioning, how to navigate them, and how we can meet ourselves with compassion, forgiveness, and a good sense of humor.

Somewhere deep in you, there is a home where silence and stillness reside. A place where infinite potentiality abides, ready to emerge and unfold. This is the sanctuary of the soul. The soul has a pulse and its rhythm beckons you to live your own unique destiny.  To move in this rhythm requires courage and deep listening.

Join Jovinna on the sacred land of Esalen where its wild beauty conjures the soul to wander freely. Here, you inhabit your body, refine the senses, expand the mind and heart, and tap into your Soul’s purpose. As 2024 nears completion and the winter months are approaching, it is time to slow down, shed what has calcified your soul and return to that which holds the deepest meaning.

During this week we will dive into different practices to quiet the mind, rest the body and journey inward. These practices include:

• Time and ceremony in nature
• Deep meditative yoga, breath awareness, and conscious dance
• Study of The Koshas, a yogic map of being
• Sound healing
• Contemplation

Let’s rewrite our stories to infuse magic and joy for the generations to come. May our time together bring us clarity to live fully the longing of our Souls, and may we become nourishment to the earth, to ourselves and to each other.

Please bring a journal and two stones from nature.

This workshop includes an additional $100 faculty tuition.

Emotional well-being is the next frontier of health and a central challenge of the 21st century, according to US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.

Guided by Berkeley Professor Dacher Keltner, scientific consultant on Pixar’s Inside Out and Inside Out 2, we will tour the latest science and practice of emotional well-being.  In this workshop we will consider emotions in the body and brain; emotional expression and intelligence; how emotions influence our relationships, narratives, and search for meaning; and emotional regulation, wisdom, and acceptance.

Grounded in these advances, participants will:

• Explore the power language and culture has in shaping our capacity to understand emotions in a granular and complex way.
• Gain awareness of their own core passions and how they guide their sense of identity and meaning.
• Become skilled in the practice of emotional intelligence and in expressing and seeing emotion in others clearly and with authenticity.
• Gain an understanding of the centrality of emotions to relationships and how to cultivate kindness, forgiveness, love, and play
• Learn tools for emotional regulation, how to gain perspective while experiencing hard emotions such as anger and shame, and to practice acceptance by seeing the wisdom of emotions.
• Gain insights into cultivating emotions beneficial for intimate and work relations.
• Understand the role of emotions in our personal, moral, and spiritual lives.

The right balance of emotions could make up a majority of our well-being, and this course will provide the insights, tools, and practices to move us toward greater meaning in life.

Recommended Reading: Understanding Emotions by Dacher Keltner, Keith Oatley, Jennifer Jenkins

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:

• Yoga to yoke body and mind for present-moment awareness.
• Meditation to cultivate concentration and empathy.
• Chanting with bhakti yoga, the practice of the heart.

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:

• 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.