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

Nature Therapy from Self to World: A Love Thy Nature Earth Day Weekend

April 22–24, 2022

with Sylvie Rokab

What if your grief from witnessing the assaults on Nature could be tended by Mother Nature herself? And what if tending that grief could empower you to better steward your life and world?

This Earth Day weekend cradles you in the arms of Nature so the intimacy of that relationship takes you on a journey of mutual healing.

On opening night, Nature Therapy guide and filmmaker Sylvie Rokab welcomes you with a screening of her award-winning film Love Thy Nature followed by a Q&A. The other sessions invite you into a kaleidoscope of talks, group sharing, solo contemplation, and communion with the Esalen land, the beings that reside there, and the breathtaking coastline — deepening connection with Nature, others, and self.

Throughout the weekend, we will…

  • Engage in deep sharing and deep listening
  • Join together in a tea ceremony with music and poetry
  • Learn about and practice forest bathing
  • Create a mindful practice to be taken with you — wherever you go!

This amalgam of the ancient practices of mindfulness, forest bathing, and storytelling help participants transmute challenging emotions into hope, motivation, and passion for compassionate environmentalism — one that transcends divisions and reveals a mutual caring with Mother Nature.

Sylvie Rokab

Passionate about healing people, the collective, and the world, Sylvie offers powerful tools that help participants access the wellness, wonder, and wisdom that can only be found with nature. She is a certified mindfulness teacher, nature-therapy guide, and Emmy-nominated filmmaker.

Full Bio