Summertime. It’s more than a season. It’s a feeling of vitality, a celebratory vibe that harmoniously syncs with all that blooms, fueled by the solar rays of our longer-lit days. Summertime conjures a feeling of freedom and possibility, a kind of joy-filled altered state that many wistfully wish could last forever.
In June, we are rocking off with an artful curation of new and old-school activations and reflections with our Summer Groove series. Prepare to fill your mind, body, and soul tanks to the brim!
Later in the month, Esalen board member Sravana Borkataky-Varma and author and journalist Erik Davis unite for Embodied Writing and Spiritual Practice. This unique blended experience, part writing workshop and part tantric retreat, supports writers and aspirational writers as they move past their blocks and into a flow state of productivity and self-awareness. In preparation, Sravana and Erik are sharing this simple three-step writing exercise designed to fuel creativity.
Meanwhile, Holotropic Breathwork®, the transformative practice developed at Esalen by Stan Grof, returns! Facilitator Stacia Butterfield brings Expanded States of Consciousness as a Path to Healing and Transformation to campus this July. “I have people say to me all the time, ‘The most psychedelic experience I’ve ever had was a Holotropic Breathwork session,’” says Stacia.
And finally, late July uniquely brings together Daniel Siegel, Elissa Epel, Tom Little Bear Nason, Rhonda V. Magee, and Douglas Drummond for the workshop, Cultivating Personal, Social and Planetary Flourishing for Healing Connections. Through meditation and mindfulness practices lets decrease the individual pressures and pain we take on when witness to ecological crises and widespread social injustices, and focus on the cultivation of opportunities where we can reconsider our relationship to self, one another, and the planet — and thus, choose a life of peak purpose and interconnectedness.
We all are curators of the past, unfolding our own origin stories and legacies into the present to unleash something dynamic and different representing who we are today and tomorrow. Esalen co-founders Michael Murphy and Dick Price encountered and explored altered states of being in dramatically different ways. Their experiences were equally transformative, catapulting both men into parallel lifetimes of seeking. Both found their ways through altered states, and both looked to more than just psychedelics as the routes to healing and expanding the mind.
As a laboratory of big ideas, Esalen nourished pioneering scholars who came here to experiment with meditation, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, and other practices to benefit the mind, body, and soul. Collectively and individually, they discovered modalities with meaningful mental health benefits that danced toward feelings of enlightenment through their frequent practice. Our latest video considers where our past has led us and how differently we now regard depression and the unknowns of the mind.
For the first time ever, guests can book sleeping accommodations within Yurtville. We are excited to offer stays with panoramic ocean views from our spacious, handcrafted wooden yurts. Fun fact: They were first built by David Raitt (brother of musician Bonnie Raitt).
Missing our shared accommodation options? The pandemic hit pause on potentially meeting new lifelong friends through shared quarters. However, we are once again offering lower-cost communal sleep options with our three-bed lofted room setups. Bring your crew or assemble a new one!
We have also added a new luxe offering with Rolf Suite. An homage to fascia pioneer Ida Rolf, these newly renovated digs include some of the best views on campus, a private kitchen area, recycled redwood beds, and your own private outdoor space.
Come rain or shine, hell or high water, June gloom will not be a bummer here at Esalen. Rather, we're focused on the upbeat to capture some late 60s summer magic with our super fun Summer Groove series. It’s throwback meets future forward with sunrise soundbaths, Michael Murphy-led meditations, drum circles with Babatunde protegee Sanga of the Valley, tobacco ceremonies with Erika Gagnon, themed parties by the pool, floating flower mandalas and dandelion crowns, mass metta meditations, evening soul shakedowns + so much more!
What does it mean to reach toward your growing edge? It might involve some discomfort, perhaps a bit of vulnerability. Expanding our individual capacity can also feel exciting and exhilarating. There is an activated art to pushing into what we typically avoid, and it takes a bit of self-aware stretching to move beyond our fears. Esalen is now producing its own homespun programming — Esalen Deep Growth Experience (EDGE), a new transformational accelerator. This one-month workshop is designed to provide the visionary within each of us the spaciousness needed to unfurl and blossom in individual splendor. Led by four stellar Esalen faculty-in-residence, this synergistic deep dive launches in June and returns in September and December.
Our scholarship opportunities are expanding with a commitment to quadruple the Esalen scholarship fund. As a non-profit organization, we welcome your generosity and support to help us widen access to Esalen for more humans seeking personal growth, healing, and transformation.
If a weekend or a week workshop isn’t enough, imagine if you could stay longer and press pause on your everyday life. Dedicate four weeks to explore yourself and start the journey of personal transformation in one of our Live Extended Education Programs. If you’re ready to take the LEEP, we’re accepting applications for these exciting programs.
Integrative Gestalt Coaching, July 1–28, 2023 with Perry Holloman and Johanna Holloman
Meditation as Medicine for the Mind: Tibetan Yogic Practices for Health and Well-being, July 29 – August 26, 2023 with Alejandro Chaoul
Ground of Belonging: An Embodied Inquiry into Courage, Connection and Community, September 23 – October 20, 2023 with Steven Harper
Streams of Energy: Eastern Bodywork and Movement, October 21 – November 17, 2023 with Jim Gallas
Esalen® Massage Professional Certification, November 18 – December 16, 2023 with Brita Ostrom
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Stanislav Grof, the psychedelic pioneer and father of Holotropic Breathwork, talks early days at Esalen, discovering his life’s work, and how building a garden in a patch of poison oak led to the supportive “breathers” and “sitters” system.
Why rush through life if conscious breaks allow you to embrace and celebrate the world’s singular beauty? Esalen taught Marleen Thaler to slow down and surrender to the healing power of nature, community, and self-care.
Can we change our philosophical and existential outlook without psychedelics?. Check out these reads that explore how to dream, breathe, or dance your way into a mindfully altered you.
Robert Albert, an alumnus of our month-long Live Extended Education Program (LEEP), shares a personal story of dropping into a non-ordinary state of consciousness and expanding awareness.
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Esalen scholar and teacher Marleen Thaler, who has dedicated her academic research to modern interpretations of kuṇḍalinī, explores the history of this spiritual energy practice — and Esalen’s role in sharing it with Western minds and bodies.
Roller skating massage therapist and “vibe curator” Nick Ayers talks poolside parties, the musical massage table he invented, and his superhero alter ego, Silky Slim. Amen to being “vulnerably witnessed in one’s authenticity” to bring us closer to our humanity!”
Stanislav Grof, the psychedelic pioneer and father of Holotropic Breathwork, talks early days at Esalen, discovering his life’s work, and how building a garden in a patch of poison oak led to the supportive “breathers” and “sitters” system.
Why rush through life if conscious breaks allow you to embrace and celebrate the world’s singular beauty? Esalen taught Marleen Thaler to slow down and surrender to the healing power of nature, community, and self-care.
Can we change our philosophical and existential outlook without psychedelics?. Check out these reads that explore how to dream, breathe, or dance your way into a mindfully altered you.
Robert Albert, an alumnus of our month-long Live Extended Education Program (LEEP), shares a personal story of dropping into a non-ordinary state of consciousness and expanding awareness.
Esalen scholar and teacher Marleen Thaler, who has dedicated her academic research to modern interpretations of kuṇḍalinī, explores the history of this spiritual energy practice — and Esalen’s role in sharing it with Western minds and bodies.
Roller skating massage therapist and “vibe curator” Nick Ayers talks poolside parties, the musical massage table he invented, and his superhero alter ego, Silky Slim. Amen to being “vulnerably witnessed in one’s authenticity” to bring us closer to our humanity!”
Stanislav Grof, the psychedelic pioneer and father of Holotropic Breathwork, talks early days at Esalen, discovering his life’s work, and how building a garden in a patch of poison oak led to the supportive “breathers” and “sitters” system.
Why rush through life if conscious breaks allow you to embrace and celebrate the world’s singular beauty? Esalen taught Marleen Thaler to slow down and surrender to the healing power of nature, community, and self-care.
Can we change our philosophical and existential outlook without psychedelics?. Check out these reads that explore how to dream, breathe, or dance your way into a mindfully altered you.
Robert Albert, an alumnus of our month-long Live Extended Education Program (LEEP), shares a personal story of dropping into a non-ordinary state of consciousness and expanding awareness.
Esalen scholar and teacher Marleen Thaler, who has dedicated her academic research to modern interpretations of kuṇḍalinī, explores the history of this spiritual energy practice — and Esalen’s role in sharing it with Western minds and bodies.
Roller skating massage therapist and “vibe curator” Nick Ayers talks poolside parties, the musical massage table he invented, and his superhero alter ego, Silky Slim. Amen to being “vulnerably witnessed in one’s authenticity” to bring us closer to our humanity!”
Esalen Institute
55000 Highway 1
Big Sur, CA 93920
US: 1-831-667-3000
info@esalen.org
