Esalen Institute is open! However, Highway 1 to the south is closed — please review the current travel advisory.
Learn More.

Learn more.

Due to road closures along Highway 1 to our north and south, Esalen is closed through April 11.
Esalen Institute is open! However, Highway 1 to the south is closed — please review the current travel advisory.
past workshop

100-Hour Esalen® Massage Professional Training

January 14 – February 2, 2024

Nora Matten and Deborah Anne Medow

The Esalen® Massage professional training teaches the famed Esalen method and its underlying philosophy through an immersive experience at the Institute. Designed for certified bodyworkers seeking to deepen their skills, this 100-hour curriculum builds on Esalen’s legacy of interweaving body, mind, and spirit in a natural setting. Participants will have time to reflect and nurture themselves at the redwood canyon and mineral hot springs. After course completion, these graduates may call themselves Esalen Massage professionals.

This workshop includes:

  • The basic methods and techniques of Esalen Massage.
  • Daily exercises in mindful centering and self-reflection.
  • Awakening the senses and the art of being present.
  • Compassionate communication, which is the heart of the work.
  • Supporting the body-mind connection and process.
  • Right livelihood ethics and business practices.

Through lectures, demonstrations, and supervised practice, you will learn optimum body mechanics to support the slow flow of our signature long strokes, three-dimensional detail work, assisted movement, and energy balancing. The results will permeate every aspect of your life. The workshop pace allows ample time for personal integration and practice.Successful completion requires full class attendance, two hands-on assessments, and fifteen documented massages at your home site.

This workshop offers CE credit through the NCBTMB (National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork). There is a $115 certificate fee. We look forward to sharing our love for Esalen Massage with you.

Advanced for post-certification students only. Please supply certificate type, source, date and number.

Recommended Reading: Full-Bodied Presence by Suzanne Scurlock-Durana, Touch, the Neurobiology of Health by Michael Changaris, and Bodymind by Ken Dychtwald.

Nora Matten

Nora is passionate about teaching people to come more deeply into contact with themselves and others through the art of touching with presence, sensitivity and listening hands. She draws on twenty-three years of exploring body, mind, heart and soul as an Esalen® Massage practitioner and international teacher with focus on massage and embodiment.

Full Bio

Deborah Anne Medow

Deborah Anne Medow, long-time Esalen workshop leader, yoga instructor, and bodywork practitioner, has spent more than fifty years studying, learning, practicing, and teaching various forms of massage, bodywork, yoga, meditation, movement, and awareness practices, drawing from Eastern and Western traditions.

Full Bio