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.

Esalen opens May 3, 2024

Visitors are now able to access Esalen as well as other businesses and trails in northern Big Sur via twice-daily convoys on Highway 1 operated by Caltrans.

Convoys run only at 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. each day. These are the only opportunities to travel into and out of Big Sur, so visitors must plan accordingly.

Learn more.

A week of thematic programming

Featuring Stacia Butterfield and Marques Redd

September 9–13, 2024

Choose Your Path

We humans are curious! Since time immemorial, many of us have thought deeply about non ordinary states of consciousness. Come September, embark on a weeklong, campus-wide transformative journey of self-discovery as we delve into the depths of the mind through African ritual and sacred art and through Stan Grof’s lineage practice, created while he lived at Esalen — Holotropic breathwork.

This second annual program is a unique opportunity to explore our capacity to reach an altered state of consciousness, expand awareness, and tap into the uncharted realms of the mind through our breath and body. Together with Marques Redd and Stacia Butterfield we will experience how when we alter our state of consciousness we can shift personal and global challenges into individual and collective opportunities.

While psychotropic plant medicines can induce altered states of consciousness, humans have been gifted with the ability to induce these states on our own. Using our breath and our dreams as portals, just as ancient cultures have been doing for centuries, we can open up and explore our individual and collective consciousness.

You are an explorer, and you represent our species, and the greatest good you can do is to bring back a new idea, because our world is endangered by the absence of good ideas. Our world is in crisis because of the absence of consciousness.
— Terence McKenna

Choose Your Path

Join us in experiencing this Altered States themed week at Esalen through two pathways.

African Ritual
and Sacred Art

with Marques Redd
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According to Nigerian-Igbo myth-science, human history can be divided into Four World Ages: eras of Divine Unity, Separation, Civilization, and Chaos. Blending visual art, traditional African cosmology and ritual, along with creative expression, this pathway invites profound engagement with ancient wisdom and personal discovery. You'll experience these stages through guided visualizations and breath work after watching a film that explores the four stages, then have the opportunity to create personal oracle card decks based on images from the film for dream realm guidance.

Classes will be offered in a drop-in format and open to all guests at Esalen during this week.

Register for
African Ritual & Sacred Art
Join the Waitlist
African Ritual & Sacred Art
Join the Waitlist
African Ritual & Sacred Art

African Ritual
and Sacred Art

with Marques Redd
Holotropic Breathwork with Stacia ButterfieldRegister NowJoin the WaitlistJoin the Waitlist

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Join the Waitlist

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Explore Holotropic Breathwork® as a pathway to reach non-ordinary states of consciousness. For thousands of years and across many cultures, breath work has been used to induce enhanced states of consciousness as a strategy for meaningful transformation and self-exploration. This practice first came to Esalen and developed into a lineage practice through Stan Grof, who cultivated the practice while living at Esalen. Stacia Butterfield is a long-time student of Grof who continues this work.

Please note: These sessions are open only to those who register and are not available on a drop-in basis.

Register for
Holotropic Breathwork®
Join the Waitlist
Holotropic Breathwork®
Join the Waitlist
Holotropic Breathwork®
A man dances facing the Pacific Ocean on the pool deck at Esalen.

Imagine if you pressed pause
on your life for four weeks to
give yourself time and space
to transform.

About the Faculty

Marques Redd

Marques Redd is a traditional African cosmologist, independent scholar, filmmaker, sculptor, and art curator based in Pittsburgh, PA. He has degrees from Harvard and UC-Berkeley and has trained in Afro-Cuban, ancient Egyptian, Yoruba, Dogon, Igbo, and Dagara spiritual systems.

Read more.

Stacia Butterfield

Stacia Butterfield is a certified Holotropic Breathwork® practitioner with 15 years of dedicated service and close work with Stanislav Grof, the originator of Holotropic Breathwork and a pioneering psychedelic researcher. She has also been a senior staff member coordinating, facilitating, and teaching residential training retreats across the US for many years.

Read More.

Workshop Schedule

Additional details will be posted as they become available.

Monday
5:00 pm – 5:45 pm * How to Drop into Esalen *
7:15 pm – 9:30 pm Opening Circle

Tuesday
7:30 am – 8:30 am Drop in classes
10:00 am – 12:30 pm Pathway Specific Breakout
2:30 pm – 6:30 pm Holotropic Breathwork Breakout
4:00 pm – 6:00 pm African Ritual and Sacred Art Breakout
4:00 pm – 6:00 pm Five Nocturnal Meditations Breakout

Wednesday
9:30 am – 12:30 pm Holotropic Breathwork Breakout
9:30 am – 12:30 pm Five Nocturnal Meditations Breakout
10:00 am – 12:30 pm African Ritual and Sacred Art Breakout
4:00 pm – 6:30 pm Drop in classes
7:30 pm – 9:30 pm Drop in classes

Thursday
7:30 am – 12:30 pm Drop in classes
4:00 pm – 6:30 pm Drop in classes
7:30 pm – 9:30 pm Drop in classes

Friday
10:00 am – 12:30 pm Closing Circle

See general schedule information including arrival, departure and meal times.

MONDAY

After 2:00 pm
Arrive at Esalen

5:00 pm – 5:45 pm
How to Drop Into Esalen

7:15 pm – 9:30 pm
Opening Ceremony

TUESDAY

7:30 am – 8:30 am
Optional Morning Movement

10:00 am – 12:30 pm
Path-Specific Morning Session

4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Path-Specific Afternoon Session

7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Campus-Wide Evening Event

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WEDNESDAY

7:30 am – 8:30 am
Optional Morning Movement

10:00 am – 12:30 pm
Path-Specific Closing Session

4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Drop-in Classes TBD

7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Campus-Wide Evening Event

THURSDAY

7:30 am – 8:30 am
Optional Morning Movement

10:00 am – 12:30 pm
Drop-in Classes TBD

4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Drop-in Classes TBD

7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Campus-Wide Evening Event

FRIDAY

7:30 am – 8:30 am
Optional Morning Movement

10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Closing Ceremony

By 2:00 pm
Depart Esalen

Accommodations & Tuition

The all-inclusive tuition for this workshop ranges from $1200 to $8300 depending on the type of accommodation selected. Select a Path and click Register Now for more information about accommodations, including availability.

We offer scholarship funds for those with financial need. Learn more.

Choose Your Path