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

Nourishing the Whole Writer

March 27–31, 2023

Janis Cooke Newman and Saeeda Hafiz

The practice of writing involves our whole selves. It requires both an awareness of the world around us, as well as a strong connection to how our bodies move through and respond to that world.

Taught by a published author and long-time meditator, along with a certified yoga teacher and wellness expert, this workshop is designed to nourish and inspire the whole writer. Using a combination of mindfulness exercises and yoga, free writing and self-care techniques, we’ll explore all the ways we can nurture and feed our own creativity.

Over the course of our time together, we will use guided meditations and mindfulness exercises to discover new ways of rendering the world on the page, of writing authentically about complex human emotions.

We will also spend time learning how to restore our bodies after a focused writing session, and how to use our bodies to draw out and nourish our creative projects.

Everyone will leave the workshop with both a self-care toolkit to take home, as well as strategies for developing both a daily writing and a daily mindfulness practice.

Janis Cooke Newman

Janis Cooke Newman is the author of two award-winning novels, and a memoir. She has taught writing and mindfulness workshops at Esalen and for the San Francisco Zen Center. She is a long-time practitioner of Zen.

Full Bio

Saeeda Hafiz

Saeeda Hafiz is the author of The Healing: One Woman’s Journey from Poverty to Inner Riches. She is a yoga teacher and wellness expert with certifications from the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers and the Natural Gourmet Institute.

Full Bio