Workshops

At the very heart of “belonging” is the word “long.” To be-long to something is to stay with it for the long haul. It is an active choice we make to a relationship, to a place, to our body, to a life because we value it. Even knowing that it may not be all that we hope it to be, we are keeping the long view of what is possible, and our life becomes an offering to making it so. ― Toko-pa Turner, Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home

There is an irony in living in a world with so many “things” to pursue and so many of us feeling a deep sense of disconnection and alienation. Our fierce individualism often leaves us separate from our bodies, one another, and the Earth. “Belonging” is always an integral strand in our many deeply woven threads to self, our communities, and the Earth. We long to belong, and we are created for connection. Building places of belonging begins with the self, trickles out to our wider circles, and ultimately connects us to the entire world.

This five-day workshop will dive into the dynamics of separation and belonging across these many dimensions, utilizing a mix of teachings, dialogue, and embodied experiences. We will draw on the richness of ecopsychology and the playfulness of the 5Rhythms® moving meditation, and we’ll engage in restorative time in contemplation in the natural landscape of Esalen. While holding the difficult emotions and realities of our present times, we will nurture curiosity and hone our intuition to evoke a sense of belonging within ourselves, with one another — across our uncomfortable differences — and with all sentient beings.

Participants in this workshop will experience:

• 5Rhythms moving meditation
• Contemplative meditation
• Teachings within ecopsychology and ecological and social awareness
• Community dialogues
• Time in nature
• Dreaming and journaling

Participants should be prepared to work with challenging material, to encounter difficult and joyful emotions, to engage in experiential practices, including the 5Rhythms movement meditation, and to play within a respectful, compassionate community. We will investigate the ways in which we form connections with others and our various communities, and we will experience the deep fulfillment that comes from greater connectivity.

Recommended Reading: Returning the Self to Nature: Undoing Our Collective Narcissism and Healing Our Planet by Jeanine M. Canty, Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home by Toko-pa Turner, Sweat Your Prayers by Gabrielle Roth

This workshop has an additional $100 of faculty tuition.

Have you created the impact you want? Are you showing up the way you’d like? Are you going in the right direction? You have never before been where you are right now. You have never been the age you are today, never had the experiences you now possess. This is your time to pause and reflect. We rarely allow ourselves the opportunity to stop and look at what is changing — or discover what we truly need to feel fulfilled.

This very interactive workshop will include lots of experiential exercises. Though we will cover valuable theory and there will be plenty of reflection time, this will not be a series of talks/lectures. There will be movement, coaching, a little dance, and lots of opportunity to share insights. Active participation is strongly encouraged; however, participation will always be voluntary.

Our goal is to step back from our lives and renew. We will create a courageous community to challenge,nurture and express ourselves. Participants will have the opportunity to learn what brings them joy and purpose, and then cultivate a vision to serve as a foundation for both the next year and next phase of life.

We will engage in a progression of individual and group exercises focused on reflection, movement, and listening to our inner wisdom. We’ll discover how to navigate major life transitions and learn skills to access our intuition. We will uncover the behaviors that support our overall success, and reveal which ones undermine our goals and fulfillment. If you are passionate about having a more powerful and authentic impact on the world around you, this program of renewal will be especially valuable.

One of life’s great paradoxes is that we all inhabit the same world, yet no single person, living being, or object within it is exactly like anything else. Thus, difference — the sheer diversity of the world’s countless inhabitants — is arguably the most immediate fact of our shared reality.

This seminar style workshop asks: What does it take to properly apprehend the world’s diversity and respond to it with curiosity, open-heartedness, humor, and joy, rather than anxiety, fear, and violence? How can we combat rising xenophobia in our local communities and social spheres by productively engaging with, rather than denying or banishing, alternative perspectives and worldviews? In other words, how can each of us learn to “think like a multiverse”?

Drawing from literature, philosophy, and popular culture, we will consider diversity and heterogeneity not as a problem to be solved or a threat to be feared, but rather as a field of imaginative possibilities for the formation of new relationships across differences.

Each day, we will zoom in on a distinct framework for thinking about diversity and multiplicity. These include:

• Gloria Anzaldúa’s theory of “mestiza consciousness,” a feminist model for thinking about the cultivation of cross-racial and cross-gender bonds.
• The Indigenous kinship worldview, a spiritual cosmology that conceives of human beings as having a relationship of mutual exchange and reciprocity with the planet.
• Cosmopolitanism and radical democracy, a political theory that centralizes the importance of negotiating vastly different points of view on the nature of the “good life.”
• Psychedelic experience, a millennia-spanning, global consciousness-raising practice intended to aid human beings in extending their imagination outward from the self to commune with a wider network of cosmic relationships.

Throughout the week, we will combine the study of key texts in these various philosophies with recent popular media and experiential exercises to practice and integrate these ideas into our everyday lives. We will write about our encounters with non-human plant life on campus, imagine and describe different versions of ourselves across a fictional multiverse, and identify and respond to differences in temperament, personality, style, and tastes within the group.

This workshop will integrate elements of academic or intellectual learning with practical writing and group exercises, and participants are encouraged (though not required) to complete the recommended readings in advance. Much of our meetings will be grounded in facilitated discussion and dialogue about what we’re reading and watching. This discussion-based format will allow us time to process and synthesize new ways of apprehending differences collaboratively.

Recommended Reading:

• Gayle Rubin, “Of Catamites and Kings: Reflections on Butch and Gender” (1992): 11 pages.
• Gloria Anzaldúa, “Preface” and “Chapter 7: Towards a New Consciousness,” in Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (1987): 14 pages.
• Film Screening: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2022) [Available on Netflix]
• Michael Pollan, “The Neuroscience: Your Brain on Psychedelics,” How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence (2018): 15 pages.
• Robin Wall Kimmerer, “Skywoman Falling,” “The Gift of Strawberries,” and “Learning the Grammar of Animacy,” Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants (2015): 34 pages
• Jenny Slate, “Treat,” “Introduction/Explanation/Guildlines for Consumptions,” “My Mother,” and “Kathleen: Dog-Flower Face” in Little Weirds (2020): 20 pages.
• Film Screening: My Octopus Teacher (2020) [Available on Netflix]
• David Hollinger, “Preface” to Cosmopolitanism and the Problem of Solidarity: Studies in Ethnoracial, Religious, and Professional Affiliation in the United States (2006): 8 pages.
• Sheldon Wolin, “Democracy, Difference, and Re-cognition,” in Fugitive Democracy: and Other Essays (2016): 16 pages.
• Jeff Vandermeer, Annihilation (2014)

With the exception of the novel Annihilation, all readings will be made available in pdf form in advance of the workshop.

Step into a sanctuary of renewal and self-inquiry, a space where caregivers can resource and reconnect with the heart of their service. This is an opportunity to slow down, breathe, and nurture yourself through transformative practices that will replenish your soul and deepen your work with children. Open to a more embodied and authentic way of engaging with children, growing from a place of presence, curiosity, and wonder.

Together, we will embark on a journey of healing and draw from a source of collective wisdom as we explore:

• Heart centered caretaking philosophies.
• Emotional literacy and modeling authenticity for children.
• Self-inquiry on how our childhood healing impacts our work with children.
• Reflection and introspection through journaling and time in nature.
• Deep listening and sharing circles.
• Contemplative and embodiment practices.

On this beautiful and sacred land, we will co-create a safe space to renew. Immersed in the beauty of nature, we will rediscover the childlike joy of curiosity and play, allowing the land to teach us about reciprocity and resilience. In a community of fellow caregivers, we will share stories, engage in experiential practices, and cultivate a deeper sense of connection — to ourselves and our inner world, to the experience of the children we care for, and to the precious earth that sustains us.

We will attune to our inner landscapes, listening for what is calling to be restored. Through the lens of “unlearning,” we will reflect on the beliefs and patterns that shape our caregiving, making space for new ways of being and relating. Inspired by the philosophy of the Gazebo Park School at Esalen, we’ll explore perspectives on caregiving and childhood that invite a more spacious and heart-centered approach.

By honoring the sacred work of caretaking, we will create a field of presence as our process illuminates how healing can profoundly enrich our relationships with children. This is an invitation to nourish yourself — to step into a space of experiential learning and reclaim your inner wonder and wisdom.

This workshop is best suited for guardians, educators and caretakers tending to young children.

Recommended Reading: Gazebo Learning Project, A Legacy of Experimental and Experiential Early Childhood Education Legacy at Esalen by Jasmine Star Horan