Workshops

Celebrate the holiday season in the natural beauty of the Esalen land while learning the fundamental elements of Esalen® Massage.  

The Esalen® Massage approach is about working with each other as human beings, meeting in the present moment, listening, loving, and responding to what emerges naturally. Its principles combine self-care, grounded awareness practice, and presence with the skilled application of long, flowing strokes and integrated detail work to provide relief for overworked muscles.

Taught by senior instructors, the course covers the basics of giving and receiving a massage and offers a wider healing perspective for those with experienced hearts and hands. Sessions include plenty of personal instruction and at-the-table assistance to support the learning process. Time for shared self-reflection and feedback are built into the daily schedule. Come prepared to be nurtured by the healing waters of the Esalen baths and bask in the natural beauty, power, and spirit of Esalen and the Big Sur coast during this special season marking the sun’s return.

This workshop is useful for those in healing professions seeking fresh inspiration.

24 hours of continuing education provided by the faculty through Esalen® Massage and Bodywork Association Teachers.

Esalen Massage is a moving meditation, a practice in presence and mindfulness, and a loving healing art. When practiced with focused attention, massage comes from a deep, quiet place that resides inside each of us. This practice of meditation helps access the parasympathetic nervous system, where healing originates. As we give a massage, this healing state of mind can permeate the field that practitioner and receiver create together.

In guided sessions, we will explore the practice of sitting meditation to prepare and quiet our minds, and the fundamentals of Esalen Massage as a meditative and self-reflective practice. Special focus will be on quality of touch, breath awareness, centering, and sensitive rapport between partners. The signature long strokes will support a sense of wholeness and integration.  Instruction in detailed work for the shoulders, hips, limbs and neck will contribute to the massage experience. There will be supervised practice daily as students exchange massages, with the support of their experienced teachers.

Beginners as well as seasoned practitioners will welcome this week to explore Esalen Massage and meditation, while enjoying the natural beauty of the Esalen grounds.

This workshop is especially useful for those in the helping and healing professions in working with their clients and partners.

26 hours of NCBTMB approved continuing education provided by the faculty through the Esalen® Massage and Bodywork Association Teachers.

Embark on a transformative journey with the Esalen® Massage Teacher Training program, designed to empower you with the skills and knowledge to become an effective introductory-level teacher of Esalen® Massage.

This immersive training for certified Esalen practitioners launches with a month-long training at Esalen Institute, followed by a two-week module at Mimpi Menjangan in Bali (October 08-25, 2025).

• Modules I: Esalen Institute, Big Sur, CA
• Module II: Mimpi Menjangan, Bali

Senior teachers will cultivate a sense of embodied presence in the classroom and guide you in this experiential mode of instruction.

Highlights include how to organize a training, different learning methods for different learning styles, truly great massage demonstrations, group dynamics, and the joys of sharing this healing work with a global community. You will be supported between modules by experienced mentors who will guide you through your homework and each stage of your development, ensuring that you are well-prepared to inspire and educate future practitioners.

Important Notes:

• This course is presented by the Esalen Massage and Bodywork Association (NCBTMB #283720-00) for the personal development of its members. It is not under the auspices of the massage school, nor is it vocational training.
• While the overall course consists of two modules, the prices and information here pertain to Module 1 at Esalen Institute.
• Upon satisfactory completion of Module 1 and the assigned homework, you will be invited to apply for Module II, which will be held in Bali, Indonesia, on October 8-25, 2025.
• For Module II in Bali, room and board is $4,950 and up. All payments for Module II will be submitted here.
• Satisfactory completion of both modules and all homework is required in order to become an Esalen® Massage teacher.
• An additional $450 mentor fee will be paid directly to instructors in Module I.

You may apply to this program if:

• You are certified in Esalen® Massage.
• Have an active practice of minimum 2 years and have given 300 or more massages.
• Have a referral from an Esalen Massage teacher.

Recommended Reading:

• Hostage at the Table by George Kohlreiser  (required)
• The Educated Heart by Nina McIntosh (required)
• The Art of Receiving and Giving: The Wheel of Consent by Betty Martin (required)
• Teaching Massage: Foundation Principles in Adult Education for Massage Program Instructors by Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals (required)
• Designing & Leading Life-Changing Workshops: Creating the Conditions for Transformation in Your Groups, Trainings, and Retreats by Ken Nelson et al.
• What it takes to Heal by Prentis Hemphill

In this introductory workshop, couples, partners, and friends will refine their relationship with touch, our forgotten language. Participants will be encouraged to ask for what they want,  listen to each other, gain sensory skills in initiating and receiving touch, experience the felt sense of muscle release, and close with a balanced tenderness.

Seasoned instructors will offer exercises, massage demonstrations, and at-the-table guidance during paired practice. The simple principles of Esalen® massage – presence, attending rather than fixing, self-care, and slow-paced strokes encompassing the body – will build a heartfelt experience with our partner or friend, and perhaps most significantly, ourselves.

By the final session, participants will share and take home the basics of a classical Esalen massage. Experienced practitioners and caregivers will find it refreshing to apply the Esalen method and notice its effect as their rhythm slows and the mind becomes focused on compassionate contact rather than technique.

Touch soothes us and evokes an opening to spirit. Participants experience a healthy balance of body, mind, and the vast awe of this natural setting. The edgy wildness of Esalen’s grounds, canyons, hot springs, and mountain backdrop sustain deeper connection.

Healing ourselves is a journey of return. During this weekend workshop, you will be invited to learn about the practice and traditions of “curanderisma” (folk medicine) to bring forth awareness and attune us to our individual healing journeys. Through meditative and contemplative practices, touch, prayer, plants, and natural elements, their work honors a lineage of centuries-old wisdom to bring a sense of well being to those seeking renewal.

This workshop will include:

• Optional morning movement and mediation practice.
• The Point of Origin: A session focused on the navel and abdominal massage for somatic release and greater self connection.
• Barridas (Plant Sweepings): Foraging and working with plant and herb bundles to cleanse energies.
• Empathic Connection: An exploration with our intuition, revealing how to listen and connect with each other, and ourselves, more deeply.
• Limpia con Huevo (Washing with an Egg): A lesson sharing the practice of clearing and divining one’s energies with the use of an egg.
• Evening Moon Meditation and Flowering Bathing.

Through Margaret and Michael’s teachings, you're invited to connect to your own innate healing potential and have the ability to support others with love and intention.

The Brahmavihārās (divine abodes) are profound practices that uncover your natural capacity to live your life easefully with love, connection, wisdom, and joy. In this experiential workshop, we’ll use daily guided meditation practices, storytelling, song, relational mindfulness practices, self-directed neuroplasticity, yoga, and somatic play to explore the classical Buddhist Heart practices known as the “boundless states” or the “four immeasurables.”

In this workshop, we will explore the four Buddhist virtues and ways to cultivate them, including:

• Loving-kindness (metta) practices for self-acceptance, relational healing, gratitude, forgiveness, and kinship with all beings.  
• Compassion (karuna) practices for tenderness, resilience, an open-heart to suffering, and a greater sense of our shared humanity.
• Sympathetic joy (mudita) practices for enthusiasm, authentic joy, generosity, and celebratory participation in life.
• Equanimity (upekka) practices for wisdom, perspective, clarity, and an unwavering sense of trust.

Our days will follow a nourishing schedule of experiences and reflections balanced harmoniously with relaxing meals, community connection, and starlit soaks in Esalen’s healing baths. Music, nature, poetry, shadow work, journaling, breathwork, and ritual will all be artfully woven into our time together.

Whereas some spiritual practices are aimed at otherworldly enlightenment, the four divine abodes help us awaken to the beauty, clarity, and vast possibility available right here in our complex, often messy, mundane, and wholly sacred human experience. They are a pathway to unburdening ourselves of self-doubt, resentment, and regret. They guide our way home to that wellspring in our hearts from which unconditional love flows, where we contact our wholeness, discover radical acceptance, and remember our belonging in this world.

No matter who you are, where you are on your spiritual path, or what you’ve been through, discovering renewal is possible. Join us if you long for a deep, playful, tenderizing workshop that may touch your heart and leave you forever transformed.

This workshop is the perfect opportunity for you to enjoy the natural beauty of Esalen’s springtime bloom while gaining a foundation in Esalen® Massage. Senior teachers will guide you in this experience of connection and presence translated to the massage table.

Through lecture, demonstration and practice with your co-students, you will be introduced to the essentials, including quality of touch, rapport, a deep respect for our natural impulse toward healing, and mindful body mechanics. You will listen to what is felt as well as what is said. You will learn how to comfortably drape, and how to easily apply the foundational long, integration strokes, detail work,  and gentle stretches. You will have plenty of time for guided practice and to effectively share your experience. At the end of the week you will be able to give a simple massage to friends and family back home.

Esalen massage promotes feelings of wholeness and reconnects us with our natural state of being. Teaching tools include experiential exercises to awaken the senses, demonstrations, and tableside guidance appropriate for you. The class is appropriate for the new and curious as well as the professional who would like to rejuvenate their senses and the quality of their touch.

26 hours of continuing education provided by the faculty through Esalen Massage and Bodywork Association Teachers.

This workshop invites you to enjoy Esalen in the springtime as you gain foundational skills in our famed massage modality. Char and Lori will guide you in this experience of mindful touch translated to the massage table. Through lectures, brief demonstrations, and supervised practice, they will introduce the basics: quality of touch, rapport, massage skills with “the listening hand” and effective body mechanics.

The slow-paced practice of Esalen massage sets the stage for a pleasurable natural healing process to emerge, rather than any focus on “fixing.”  You will learn how to drape and how to easily apply Esalen’s signature integrative strokes, detail,  gentle stretches, with a concluding pause. You will be encouraged to effectively share your experience. You may even enjoy giving a massage  as much as receiving one.

Classroom tools include exercises designed to awaken the senses and illuminate the value of boundaries in healing work, demonstrations, and tableside guidance tailored specifically for your experience level. The class is appropriate for the new and curious as well as the professional seeking to refresh their senses and the quality of their touch.

10 hours of continuing education provided by the faculty through Esalen Massage and Bodywork Association Teachers. For more information on CE email EMBA@esalen.org.

“A brain without a body couldn’t think.” — Moshe Feldenkrais

“We want to get you to a place where gravity is your friend, a nourishing force.” — Dr. Ida P. Rolf

Human beings are relational by nature. We are an intricate web of anatomy, energy, space, and time that takes shape through our life experiences. Our physical structure, function, and sense of self are reflected in our fascial layers and formed by our early development, by principles of self-organization, and by how we engage with our environment.

When we fall into habitual patterns, parts of ourselves become undeveloped, unseen. If our bodies are given a setting in which to relate to gravity, others, and our environment with curiosity and attunement, we can be free to move and relate with more choice and ease.

Using the grounds, waters, and spirit of Esalen as our laboratory, Kate and Kevin will use the Feldenkrais Method and Gestalt process as a guide to contact and nurture the influences of the subtle body – our relationship to ground, gravity, and the space between.

In this workshop, participants will:

• Identify the habitual relational patterns that prevent us from cultivating ease in our lives.
• Investigate how the subtle body is influenced by the principles of emotional anatomy, tensegrity, neuroplasticity, and self-organization through experiential movement.
• Be guided through Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement (ATM) lessons tailored toward the subtle body and creating more sophistication in functional movement.
• Explore sensation, weight, gravity, and relationship through movement and contact.
• Learn tools of Gestalt Relational Process to increase presence and awareness and integration of ourselves.

Recommended Reading: Feldenkrais, The Potent Self: A Study of Spontaneity and Compulsion; Gladis, Tales of a Wounded Healer: Creating Exact Moments of Healing; Bodywise: An Introduction to Hellerwork for Regaining Flexibility & Well-Being.