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

Make Peace With Your Mind: How Mindfulness and Compassion Can Help Free You From the Inner Critic

February 17–19, 2023

Mark Coleman

Have you noticed the painful effects of  self-judgment? Do you feel tormented by negative critical self-talk and the harsh words of the inner critic?  Are you prone to judging everything you do as not good enough, not quite right, not living up to some impossibly high standard. Do you find yourself harshly judging your meditation, your practice or your other spiritual practices?

If you wish to be more free from the influence of the inner critic, then this workshop offers tried and tested methods for overcoming the challenges of self-judgment

During this course you will be shown:

  • How to recognize judging thoughts;
  • Learn to deal effectively with inner critic attacks
  • Discover how to distinguish between negative judgment and wise discernment
  • The importance of self- acceptance, self-compassion and  love as an antidote to the critic
  • The need and role of humor in helping us with the critic
  • Cultivating forgiveness in response to judgment

The course will be a combination of talks, and interactive exercises, mindfulness, self-compassion and loving kindness techniques and meditations. This will be a practical and experiential  course taught with lightness, compassion and humor and the need to not take ourselves too seriously.

Mark Coleman

Mark Coleman is a Buddhist meditation teacher who has been teaching insight meditation for 20 years. He is author of Awake in the Wild, From Suffering to Peace, and Make Peace with Your Mind, and leads nature-based meditation retreats and mindfulness teacher trainings in the U.S. and Europe.

Full Bio