Workshops

Through mindful viewing of eight feature films — today’s vehicles of myth and meaning — participants will open their hearts to gratefulness, which can be defined as a general state of resonant appreciation that can be gained from seeing what can be received from others. Recent studies and reviews have shown that experiencing gratitude can enhance well-being, life satisfaction, and overall psychological happiness while creating positive effects. This seminar offers a self-enhancing mindfulness experience through seminal films from Asia, North America, and Europe in which characters experience gratefulness as a path to resilient well-being. The films are being shown to renew these qualities in the lives of workshop participants.

This workshop employs methods developed over the course of 28 film seminars at Esalen co-led by Francis Lu and Brother David Steindl-Rast, including mindful film viewing, contemplative reflection, and group interactions focused on participants’ unique experiences of carefully curated films. This process of learning spiritual lessons from evocative films is in keeping with the teachings of Joseph Campbell —  “The images of myths are reflections of the spiritual and depth potentialities of every one of us…. Through contemplating those, we evoke their powers in our own lives to operate through ourselves.”

The viewing experience will be supported by 4K Blu-Ray video projection on a large screen and surround sound of six loudspeakers.

5.5 CE Credits for Health Professionals are available for an additional $35 fee payable to the workshop leader. For further information about the workshop, please contact Francis Lu, MD, at francislumd@gmail.com.

What if your greatest vulnerability could become your greatest strength? This transformative language arts workshop is designed for anyone ready to level up by unlocking their authenticity.

The curriculum draws from the wisdom in the instructor’s critically acclaimed book, Shame on You: How to Be a Woman in the Age of Mortification, which explores how shame is weaponized in our culture to keep us from knowing our worth and achieving our goals. Through reflective writing, shared stories, and guided readings, participants will explore ways to break free from shame’s grip and reclaim their power.

Through the act of writing and reading inspirational texts — along with learning about the instructor’s journey as a former sex worker and survivor of sexual exploitation and media humiliation — we will explore essential questions about the insidious role that shame plays in our modern lives. We will examine how shame hinders us and discuss effective ways to reclaim ourselves and our communities from its grasp.

Participants will be invited to:

• Learn about their unique shame triggers.
• Develop a greater awareness of how shame functions in our society.
• Cultivate vulnerability by sharing intimate stories in a safe space.
• Practice empathetic listening as others speak their uncomfortable truths.

By developing shame resilience, we can reconnect to our highest goals and purest ideals. We can embody our most authentic self, and embolden others to do the same. The workshop is open to people of all gender identities and expressions and is appropriate for professionals and laypeople alike. No prior writing experience is necessary; all levels are welcome, and all course materials will be provided.

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

Through mindful viewing of four feature films — today’s vehicles of myth and meaning — participants will open their hearts to encountering the beauty of being in Tao. The word Tao points toward a natural harmony that can be attained within everyday existence accompanied by a sense of the meaning of life itself as a source of resilience. This seminar will offer a self-enhancing mindfulness experience through films by Yasujiro Ozu, Akira Kurosawa, and Wim Wenders in which characters experience the beauty of being in Tao. These films are being shown to inspire similar discoveries in the lives of workshop participants.

This workshop employs mindful film viewing, contemplative reflection, and group interactions focused on participants’ unique experiences of carefully curated films. The viewing experience will be supported by 4K Blu-Ray video projection on a large screen and surround sound of six loudspeakers.

2.5 CE Credits for Health Professionals are available for an additional $35 fee payable to the workshop leader. Click here for details. For further information about the workshop, please get in touch with Francis Lu, MD, at francislumd@gmail.com

Step into a sanctuary of renewal and self-inquiry, a space where caregivers can resource and reconnect with the heart of their service. This is an opportunity to slow down, breathe, and nurture yourself through transformative practices that will replenish your soul and deepen your work with children. Open to a more embodied and authentic way of engaging with children, growing from a place of presence, curiosity, and wonder.

Together, we will embark on a journey of healing and draw from a source of collective wisdom as we explore:

• Heart-centered caretaking philosophies.
• Emotional literacy and modeling authenticity for children.
• Self-inquiry on how our childhood healing impacts our work with children.
• Reflection and introspection through journaling and time in nature.
• Deep listening and sharing circles.
• Contemplative, movement, and embodiment practices.

On this beautiful and sacred land, we will co-create a safe space to renew. Immersed in the beauty of nature, we will rediscover the childlike joy of curiosity and play, allowing the land to teach us about reciprocity and resilience. In a community of fellow caregivers, we will share stories, engage in experiential practices, and cultivate a deeper sense of connection — to ourselves and our inner world, to the experience of the children we care for, and to the precious earth that sustains us.

We will attune to our inner landscapes, listening for what is calling to be restored. Through the lens of “unlearning,” we will reflect on the beliefs and patterns that shape our caregiving, making space for new ways of being and relating. Inspired by the philosophy of the Gazebo Park School at Esalen, we’ll explore perspectives on caregiving and childhood that invite a more spacious and heart-centered approach.

By honoring the sacred work of caretaking, we will create a field of presence as our process illuminates how healing can profoundly enrich our relationships with children. This is an invitation to nourish yourself — to step into a space of experiential learning and reclaim your inner wonder and wisdom.

This workshop is best suited for guardians, educators and caretakers tending to children.

Recommended Reading: Gazebo Learning Project, A Legacy of Experimental and Experiential Early Childhood Education Legacy at Esalen by Jasmine Star Horan

How can we navigate life’s transitions with elegance, grace, and gratitude? This is a fundamental question for growth and transformation, no matter where we are in our stages of life. This workshop is designed for anyone pondering their aging process as well as active caretakers for those entering their third act. Using an experiential approach, we will move through concrete steps, including nine simple evidence-based practices, for achieving personal goals.

Together, we will discuss how to embrace challenges as opportunities by cultivating curiosity and a growth mindset at every stage of life. We will explore ways to engage in the practice of purposeful intention — to gain insights into how attention shapes our worldview and where our cognitive biases get in our way.

Building new skills and capacities is essential, much like training muscles, and we will discuss how to strengthen personal growth practices with trusted guidance, both from external mentors and our own inner wisdom. Additionally, we will explore ways to apply what we learn—accepting aging and the developmental stages of life, from adolescence to adulthood, to make peace with our mortality. Finally, we will consider steps to engage the world and bring this elegant aging program into our lives, work, and communities.

This workshop offers hands-on tools for aging with grace and elegance, empowering each of us with new insights and practices to embrace the fullness of our lived experiences. Please bring a journal to support and document your experience.

Recommended Reading: Living Deeply: The Art & Science of Transformation by Marilyn Schlitz, Cassandra Vieten, and Tina Amorok.

This workshop is more than a learning experience — it’s an invitation to connect deeply with yourself and others in a supportive and creative space. Together, we’ll explore the profound potential for healing and growth that arises when art and psychology converge. No artistic experience is necessary; this workshop is about creative expression, not perfection.

Integrating art therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), this workshop combines two evidence-based emotional and psychological growth approaches. Creating art stimulates your brain, unlocking new pathways and possibilities. Art therapy offers a dynamic way to visually explore your thoughts and emotions, providing a unique outlet for self-expression and growth. CBT complements this process by helping you identify and challenge dysfunctional thought patterns, empowering you to shift your mindset and embrace change.

• Bring your inner monster to life through art, and then engage with it through conversation to gain clarity and understanding.
• Delve into themes of control, shifting perspectives, and transformation through the power of poetry.
• Draw your own emotional landscape and gain practical tools to continue your healing journey long after our time together.
• Compose your personal Declaration of Independence (to free yourself from what keeps you stuck) and collage your flag representing your new state of mind.

Led by a board-certified art therapist, this fully interactive workshop combines drawing, collage, painting, writing, and group dialogue. Together, we’ll explore the fears, anxieties, and barriers holding you back, empowering you with tools to create meaningful and lasting change.

From breath to sensation to emotion, this experience is an embodied approach to movement generation and artistic expression. Theatre and dance are combined with somatic and embodiment coaching to help you unlock your emotional and vocal potential, deepen your connection to your body, and develop your unique groove and movement style.

Each day begins with meditation and visualization to awaken your senses, followed by continuous improvisational exercises and instinctual games that integrate both movement and voice. You’ll explore emotional expression, finding balance between slow introspection and explosive release. Designed to deepen body-sense listening, impulse work, vocal awareness, and emotional range, these techniques create a playful, safe, and supportive environment for self-discovery and growth.

Throughout the week, you’ll work collaboratively in pairs and small groups to learn from one another and establish a sense of community. You will be invited to develop a movement vocabulary you can call your own and integrate your skills into a mini-solo piece, which you’ll have the option to perform.

Bring a notebook and pen, your curiosity, and a sense of play to uncover past limiting habits and amplify your emotional range through sound and movement.

Step away from the noise of daily life and reconnect to the sanctuary of your own heart, where love — in its purest, most expansive form — resides. This retreat invites you to reconnect with the boundless love that lives within you, a love that transcends conditions, circumstances, and partnerships.

Through yoga, sound healing, chanting, breathwork, dance, and community connection, we will journey together, rediscovering the boundless love that remains constant and unwavering. Whether in partnership or standing alone, this is an opportunity to experience “capital L” love — the love that never fades.

Join us on this sacred journey back to love, where the mind quiets and the soul reawakens so you may carry this timeless, unwavering love with you into all that you do.

Come to Esalen for the long summer days and be greeted with a dynamic, nourishing yoga experience. We will create pathways to heal and reclaim our bodies and voices so we can share authentically.

Let’s turn down the noise and tune into the heart’s rhythm with Janet Stone and DJ Drez. This will be a weekend of movement, music, and creativity to reset and connect with joy.

This workshop includes an additional $100 faculty tuition.

Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend and protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street into a sacred bond.

― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

Foraging is the antidote to our too-too-busy lives and convoluted, complex food systems. When we are out in nature, we learn to live by nature’s rules. Check the tides before heading out for clams, sea urchins, or seaweed. Notice rain patterns for optimal mushroom hunting. Learn the plants and trees that are delicious and can heal what ails you. Be very grateful to be an earthling.

What if we receive the generosity of planet Earth with reverence and pass it along? Could we then become a keystone species that improves habitat for ourselves and all other life that share this planet?  

In this immersive, experiential workshop, we’ll explore:

• Practical tips and education for foraging wild foods found in the woods, coast, and urban/suburban edges.
• Hands-on wildcrafting and techniques to preserve wild food.
• Deeply visceral (and fun) experiences in nature, following nature as a guide for healthful and seasonal eating.
• Journal prompts crafted to deepen our awareness of the natural world and open ourselves to transformation, creativity, and new culinary possibilities.

Big Sur is a spectacularly beautiful place, and gathering wild food is an intimate and fascinating way to discover it. Come spend a weekend tapping into your right brain, your animal body, your free spirit, your awe and wonder. Come fall in love with nature through wild foods.

Since time immemorial, movement, dance, and the expressive arts have provided individuals and communities with a sense of soulful expression, healing, inspiration, spirit, and connection. We now need to reconnect with these ways more than ever.

The Life/Art Process®, developed by Anna Halprin and Daria Halprin, bridges body awareness, art expression, and psychological processes, providing people with an opportunity to experience dance and the expressive arts as a way to learn, heal, expand creativity, and develop new strategies for personal and professional life. This groundbreaking, innovative approach to human development, embodied creativity, and transformative learning began in the 1950s, and the tradition continues today.

Daria Halprin’s work connects dance, somatics, psychology, and artistic practices to foster personal, group, and community development and creativity. In this workshop, movement, dance, drawing, poetic dialogue,  reflective exchanges, and witnessing practices will generate new thresholds of exploration and expression, catalyzing new resources for daily life.

Morning sessions will focus on somatic awareness and individual and group movement exploration to tune the physical body to sensation and feeling. Afternoon sessions will facilitate creative encounters through dance, drawing, and spoken and written narratives to explore our life experiences. Evening sessions will be devoted to questions generated by the day’s work, reflection, and releasing activities, including creative play and meditative art practices.

Participants will be invited to:

• Experience how movement, dance, and expressive arts can be applied to their personal and professional practices.
• Develop body/mind awareness and connection.
• Expand creative expression.
• Experience improvisation and performance.
• Explore old material in new ways and generate new resources to bring into daily life.
• Play with artistic expression as a psychological tool.

Daria will be joined by Guest Musician Miles Lassi. Miles has performed in over 150 cities throughout North America, Europe, and Asia with many different ensembles, ranging from the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall to national Broadway tours like the Tina Turner Musical. He has also recorded with many award-winning artists.No previous artistic experience is necessary. This workshop is designed for everyone

.Recommended Reading: The Expressive Body in Life, Art and Therapy by Daria Halprin

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 5 day workshop, we will naturally dive into a deeper learning experience with much more material than we can cover in a weekend. The extra time allows for a fuller integration of all the practices. Each couple will experience exercises and practices to do with each other, therapeutic coaching by the Vissells, the support of other couples, and time for sharing after each practice.

We will share 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.

Tibetan yogis, monks, and nuns are human like you and me; they have feelings, emotions, and obstacles in their lives, and they understand ancient yogic practices that help them enrich those lives and overcome those obstacles. These same practices can benefit and transform our lives, too.

Tibetan mind-energy-body wellness practices remained secret recipes for centuries. Only in the last couple of decades, as they have been researched scientifically, have they started to become known in the West, where they are now practiced by thousands of people. Those who engage with them can discover and tap into a radical sense of presence — an aliveness in the midst of chaos, like a lotus flower coming out of the mud or the sun illuminating everything without bias.

During this workshop, participants will have the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of Tibetan mind-energy-body wellness by:

• Experientially practicing meditative yogic techniques.
• Utilizing the healing power of breath-energy and sounds as links to support a healthy body and a more aware state of mind.
• Discussing the current scientific research in the field.

All are welcome at this workshop, which will encourage participants to explore the potential of their subtle bodies as described in yogic and medical texts. Composed of channels and chakras, these powerful tools for meditative practice can benefit all and be brought into everyday life.

Our clown is the authentic, curious, and playful version of ourselves. Clowning as a life practice is the balancing of our light and shadow while laughing at our attachments. Clown is about being soft, brave, and available to the moment. This workshop is an immersion practice that explores our deepest, most vulnerable, creative self.

Using tools found in improvisation, meditation, altered states, and movement practice, we will explore clowning as a spiritual practice. The work begins with exercises that help you drop into the body and descend from the mind to access the clown state. With the foundation of a sacred container, we will engage in primarily nonverbal, physical games and rituals that give birth to organic impulses inspired by the child within. There is no pressure to perform, but an invitation to get lost inside yourself, an openness to go beyond your comfort zone, and a willingness to play within the moment.

There is nothing to learn but rather much to uncover — to allow us to move through life in a more open state, with a greater connection to ourselves and the world. This workshop is physical, open, and accessible for diverse bodies. Come unravel the clown within! Please come unprepared and ready to explore.

Recommended reading: Animal Joy by Nuar Alsadir, Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey, Stillness Speaks by Eckhart Tolle

Summer is the time to take a break, step off the treadmill of modern life, take care of oneself, and refill the tanks before gearing up for the busyness of fall. What does taking care of yourself really mean—for you? What do you want and need at this moment in your life; what genuinely takes care of you?

For many women, these are questions we never ask ourselves, much less express or dare to live by. We’ve been trained to know what everyone else wants and needs but not what we want and need. We know who we are in all of our roles to and for other people, but not who we are for ourselves. We sacrifice authenticity for likability, abandoning ourselves in order to be pleasing and manage other people’s perceptions of us. But there’s a longing inside us that wants to live a more truthful and vital life—a life that’s truly ours.  

This is a workshop for that longing. Through teaching, meditation, journaling, and dyad and group dialogue, you will be invited to:

• Become aware of where and how you abandon yourself by taking care of others at the expense of yourself.
• Free yourself from the likability cage and let go of being who everyone else needs you to be.
• Make the shift from doing self-care to being self-caring, rebuild your relationship with yourself to be on your own side, and reconnect with your truth.  
• Bring your own still small voice back into the conversation and into your life.
• Build the tools (and courage) for an authentic life, tell the truth, and value a relationship with yourself as much as with others.
• Come to trust, believe, and know that you matter.

The good news is this: Once you recognize the call of your own wanting, you’re already in the process of changing and reconnecting with your inherent vitality. “What do I want?” starts showing up as a question that matters, and indeed, you start showing up as someone who knows that she matters. Join this weekend of adventure and build the real-life tools, behaviors, and choices to live this change forward and create a truthful and self-affirming life.

Recommended Reading: The Emotionally Exhausted Woman: Why You’re Feeling Depleted & How To Get What You Need By Nancy Colier

Experience five days of deep rest, reflection, and rejuvenation through movement, guided meditation, and the profound practice of Yoga Nidra. This workshop is designed to restore the body, clear the mind, and shift the habitual patterns that keep us from experiencing a state of calm, clarity, and balance.

Yoga Nidra, which translates to “yogic sleep,” guides you to that liminal state between wakefulness and sleep, where you can systematically release stored physical, emotional, and mental tensions. In this state, you can let go of old beliefs and habits that keep you stuck in the past and fearful of the future. With this practice, you can fully experience your emotions while knowing that there is unchanging, unshakable ground beneath you — a calm inner presence that allows you to see clearly and navigate life with greater ease.

Throughout the retreat, we will work with our bodies and minds, creating clear intentions to shift from living by unconscious, automatic programming and find a new perspective — an aware, deliberate way of being. You’ll explore how to bring this newfound awareness of your true self into your personal life, relationships, work, and moments of solitude and love.

Together, we will cultivate new tools to help us navigate when we feel lost, tired, or confused and forget who we are. These guiding instruments can help us negotiate life’s challenges, welcome them as opportunities, and remember our true nature.

This workshop is a unique opportunity to recognize your wholeness, the truth of who you are, and the inner peace that has always been within you — that unchanging, unshakable ground of being that you are. All that is being asked of you is to show up, lie down, and let go. Yoga Nidra will do the rest.

What to bring: blankets, a yoga mat, an eye pillow, and anything else you need to lie comfortably on the floor for extended periods. We’ll also have opportunities to practice outdoors, so make sure you have layers to stay comfortable in varying conditions.

Recommended Reading: Yoga Nidra: The Art of Transformational Sleep, by Kamini Desai; and Yoga Nidra: A Meditative Practice for Deep Relaxation Healing, by Richard Miller

“You didn’t come into this world. You came out of it, like a wave from the ocean. You are not a stranger here.”~ Alan Watts

Throughout the ages and across cultural traditions, nature has inspired the human spirit. The wilderness of Big Sur allows us to imprint the collective wisdom of this alive and wild coast in our bodies. The ancient redwood-forested canyons, dramatic meeting of earth and sea, and soft grassy hills remind us of the presence, wisdom, and deep sense of belonging that live in each of us.

This workshop will present simple yet profound practices designed to help us access our connections with the essential movement processes of life — and enhance our capacity to both participate and innovate. Along with physical practices, group discussions, and direct experience of nature, we will draw on ancient movement traditions of tai chi, aikido, and contemporary somatic practices that offer ways of centering, grounding, and knowing our belonging to the greater community of being.

During our time together, we will venture out on four to eight-mile hikes. Being immersed in the wild we are in an intimate embodied sensory dialogue that literally invites us to come to our senses. We will experience increasingly refined awareness and explore perceptual practices to enhance our sensitivity to all the wilderness offers, and reawaken the elements of wilderness within. With awakened senses, we can receive nature’s richness and beauty, inspiring a deepening relationship with grounding, centering, and embodiment.

All evenings and most meals will be at Esalen. All levels of experience are welcome, although participants should be prepared for vigorous physical activity that the mountains of Big Sur require — and the opportunity to simply sit still in quiet reflection. More information and a waiver will be sent upon registration. For an equipment list and frequently asked questions about Steven’s workshops, visit FAQs.

An additional $80 of faculty tuition and $40 to cover park fees have been added to this workshop.

This course builds on your previous seven rich days of exploration in CFR® Week One. During that crucial week, you laid the foundation for releasing your childhood survival patterns and moving through life with more ease and presence physically, mentally, and emotionally.

You reorganized the stranger you once called “self” to become more objective, compassionate, curious, and hopeful, changing how you live with yourself and others.

We will continue excavating and healing old patterns that no longer serve you. You will gain more appreciation for how embodied movement can serve as a portal to your soul.  Using newly experienced body wisdom, you will uncover what has been hidden, held back, and inhibited, your fullest expression of ease, joy, and authentic self.

Bring your lingering issues, past injuries, and a desire for freedom on all levels. Leave more deeply connected to your body and present in your soul.

Please note: This is an advanced class. Participants must have taken CFR® Week 1.

We all face death, but how many of us are actually ready for it? Whether our own demise or that of a loved one comes first, how prepared are we? This workshop offers a wide array of resources and teachings to help participants address that final unfinished business and make the most out of every moment that comes before it.

All of life is held within the context of its inevitable extinction. By acknowledging and preparing for death now, we will find ourselves living more fully and fearlessly. Join us as we celebrate the preciousness of life, and ready ourselves and others for this final journey. We will explore how to die a good death and help others pass, engaging with meditations and contemplations that prepare us for letting go. As the Buddhist tradition proclaims, “If you die before you die, then when you die, you will not die.”

With preparation, we can transcend death, turning the greatest obstacle into a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and even attain enlightenment. The bardo teachings lead to the death of death. The journey through the bardos is a journey into our mind, so by exploring the bardos, we are exploring ourselves. The teachings apply to any moment that ends – which means they also relate to daily life and can help you live fully within the time you are given.

Together we’ll explore:

• Meditations that prepare you for the end of life
• Teachings that support the meditations
• Discussion groups to create a sense of community  

We hope you’ll join us for this exploration into the unknown, so that we may all return – fearless, and full of compassion for ourselves and those transitioning from this life.

Recommended Reading: Preparing to Die by Andrew Holecek

The Yoruba divination tradition of Ifá is arguably the most widely practiced Indigenous religious/wisdom tradition in the world. Millions across the globe increasingly turn to Ifá, commonly described as existing to “mend our broken world,” for wisdom that brings order and peace to their lives.

In this workshop, we will explore and apply the fundamental concepts and insights of Ifá — such as embodied philosophy, archetypes as cosmic order, and divine balance and complementarity — to help us identify, understand, and live in harmony with the cosmic order undergirding all of existence and our own individual lives and purposes.

By tapping into our previous experiences and practical demonstrations with sacred art, Indigenous archetypal storytelling, and encounters with the natural world, we will develop tools for embodying wisdom and allowing it to transform first ourselves, and then the world around us.

We’ll learn how the Yoruba cosmology and Ifá transcend common modern binaries, such as mind/body, physical/spiritual, and even good/bad, and practice getting in touch with a direct form of transformational knowledge that promotes deep understanding and cosmic balance.

Toward the end of the workshop, Robin Garcia, an expert scholar-practitioner of the global Ifa tradition, will lead individual divination sessions to help us, through Ifá’s timeless wisdom, learn more about who we are, how we should live, and how to maintain harmony with the cosmic order all around us.

The latest research clearly demonstrates the powerful impact emotional experiences have on our health and longevity. While we know this to be true, we don’t always know how to be emotionally well.

During this weekend, we’ll open the door to greater emotional intelligence and perception. With a combination of lectures, interactive exercises, live music, breathwork, movement (yoga and dance), and meditation, we’ll practice understanding our feelings — and how to respond to them.

We’ll explore emotional wellness through the lens of Ayurveda, customizing our healing based on what we are experiencing in real time. This, in turn, increases our depth of connection with ourselves and others.

In this experiential workshop, we’ll be invited to learn Ayurvedic approaches to:

• Emotional wellness
• Self-assessment
• Psychospiritual healing
• Customizing healing tools

The movement session will be guided by guest faculty Sunshine Zerda, featuring a transformational dance experience with somatic release. Everyone, from beginners to advanced students of Ayurveda, is welcome.

Recommended Reading: Ayurveda for Yoga Teachers and Students by Dr. Siva Mohan (Chapter on Emotional Wellness)

Matter is Energy … Energy is Light … We are all Light Beings — Albert Einstein

Each of us walks around within our own energy halo. When two people touch, they spark an energetic exchange. This felt relationship is the heart and soul of Esalen® Massage. With a spirit of gratitude, we invite you to learn and experience the massage that we developed here at the Institute that has since spread around the world. Esalen Massage is known for its flowing integrated strokes, offered from a grounded and centered place. The slow pace and detail provide entry to states of relaxation, connection, and balance.

This course expands the massage experience by incorporating an energetic awareness, allowing us access and interaction with the energy patterns that exist around and through our bodies. Meditation enriches the journey, lighting up a connection to our own deeper patterns. Two senior massage teachers will guide the class during this informative and fun experience. Teaching methods include experiential exercises, brief lecture demonstrations, lots of supervised hands-on practice with classmates, and shared self-reflection.

All levels of experience are welcome, including practitioners and caregivers seeking a fresh focus.
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NCBTMB CE Status Pending

Imagine reaching the end and realizing your biggest regret is that you never found the courage to live authentically because you lived the life others expected. In this workshop, we will embark on a transformative journey inspired by the wisdom of Human Design and the spirit of Esalen. Human Design blends ancient wisdom from astrology, the I Ching, the Kabbalah, and the Hindu-Brahmin chakra system with cutting-edge insights from quantum physics to create a holistic system of self-knowledge.

We’ll explore ways to embrace our true selves, understand our inner guidance system, make wise choices, and unlock our highest potential. Practical applications will include daily decision-making, personal development, and enhancing relationships. We’ll also engage in embodiment practices, integration practices, and interactive sessions to deepen understanding.

This workshop invites you to embrace your authenticity and discover your potential. By loving your true self, following your inner authority, making wise choices, and understanding your greater purpose, you can transform your life.

Participants must bring the specifics of their birth, including their birthplace and time, along with a journal. Join us in mastering authentic living to unlock your potential within a supportive community.

Have you ever wanted to learn how to grow your own food? Experience a dynamic week in the Esalen Farm and Garden and fully participate alongside our talented and experienced staff. Local food security is a major issue facing communities worldwide. It is said that there is no greater form of activism than growing one’s own food—no greater sense of connection to the land than sowing, cultivating, and harvesting from the earth that sustains us. This is the essence of SLOW food (Sustainable, Local, Organic and in respect to the Wild).

Come into a deeper relationship with and celebration of the whole process. By working directly with the Esalen Farm and Garden crew, you will experience the joys and challenges that come with making a garden thrive.

Our days together will include:

• Hands-on experience: harvesting, composting, bed preparation, seed starting, cultivation, irrigation systems, transplanting, and other farming techniques.
• Daily curriculum sessions: diving deeper into specific topics, with space to ask questions and have discussions.
• Community and connection: working together to cultivate teamwork and meaningful relationships.

From a seed planted with intention, the world can change. Participate in the amazing cycles of the season in the garden. We will cultivate community with each other and be part of the magic in the fields of the Esalen Farm & Garden. You are invited to learn about organic and regenerative farming practices that embody our mission of human potential in harmony with nature. Join the legacy of this collaborative creative project, grow healthy, nutrient-rich foods, and become part of the next generation of growers, educators, and land stewards to build connected, thriving, and ever-strengthening communities.