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

The Luminous Darkness: Imagination, Possibility, and Conscious Intentions for 2023

January 22–27, 2023

Deborah Eden Tull

All light arises from darkness, including insight, creativity, vision, and possibility. The luminous darkness is the presence and receptivity through which we also access light. It is the field of all potential that we sometimes forget in the context of ordinary life and habit. In this deeply restorative retreat, in the first month of a new year, we will commune with the luminous darkness to listen deeply, renew possibility, and set conscious intentions for our lives and world in the year ahead.

In this workshop, we will reflect on and harvest lessons from the past year and release limiting beliefs. This regenerative process is about remembering who we really are — and stepping into  possibility on behalf of our collective.

We will deepen our embodiment of compassion and clear seeing  through:

  • Meditation and Dharma talks.
  • Conscious movement and dance.
  • Embodied practices for invoking the realm of dreaming and conscious imagination and for embracing shadow and the unknown.
  • Reflective writing.
  • Relational mindfulness.
  • Deep time in nature.

This workshop, inspired by Eden’s book Luminous Darkness, draws upon the wisdom streams of Buddhist meditation and mindfulness, non-duality, deep ecology, and The Work That Reconnects.

Recommended reading: Luminous Darkness: An Engaged Buddhist Approach to Embracing the Unknown, by Deborah Eden Tull

Deborah Eden Tull

Deborah Eden Tull, founder of Mindful Living Revolution, is a Zen meditation and mindfulness teacher, author, activist and sustainability educator. She bridges personal awakening with collective transformation. Her latest book is Luminous Darkness: An Engaged Buddhist Approach to Embracing the Unknown.

Full Bio