*Familiar or New

Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are. —Chinese Proverb Join us for deep release and renewal as we pause to align with autumn, acknowledge the sacred cycle of life, and move gracefully through this transitory season. Autumn is a time of letting go and accepting the impermanence of things. […]

Many of us are overextended yet underfulfilled. In this highly experiential workshop, you’ll be guided through the Wise Effort Method, a powerful, ACT- and wisdom traditions-informed process to reclaim your energy and direct it toward what matters most. Through values mapping, group work, and real-life behavior experiments, you’ll be invited to identify what’s draining you, […]

The Shame Triangle is an inner dynamic of parts that many of us carry without even realizing. It includes three primary roles: an Inner Critic that attacks, a Shame Part that absorbs the blow, and an Inner Escaper that tries to avoid pain while showing up in many forms: overfunctioning, perfectionism, and overachieving on one […]

Who are we to tell our stories? How can we grant ourselves permission to write the truths we’re compelled after being told we shouldn’t?  Designed for creatives of every stripe and at every level, this workshop is a generative and inspiring experience that empowers participants to unpack their right to tell the stories that make […]

The myths that built this world — the ones that tell us who belongs, who leads, and who is worthy of care — are losing their hold, and the body knows it. Long before the mind catches up, the body has been carrying the weight of these stories: in the armor we wear, the patterns […]

The Artist lives within everyone! Art can be made out of just about anything! It’s a time to leave the critic behind and allow oneself to play, nourish, and replenish the creative spirit. It’s also a time to enjoy the company and camaraderie of like-minded peers. Now is your time to discover the joys of […]

Asanga’s Nine Stages of Staying is one of the oldest and most comprehensive systems of concentration in the Buddhist tradition. Sometimes called the Elephant Path, this approach was originated by the great Buddhist master in 506 A.D., and it is now the main method of training the mind in the Tibetan tradition.  In this weekend […]

The Earth holds us, breathes with us, moves through us.  Since time immemorial, human beings have lived in deep, reciprocal relationship with landscapes—our movements shaped by terrain, our nervous systems regulated by the rhythms of seasons and tides, our sense of self inseparable from the more-than-human world. Yet, in this modern, frenetic age, we are […]

Our instinctual nature shapes how we move through life — how we seek safety, connection, and passion. Yet this powerful aspect of us is often misunderstood or overlooked, even in spiritual work. In the Enneagram tradition, our instincts are seen as three fundamental drives — Self-Preservation, Sexual (Attraction), and Social (Adaptation) — that influence how […]

“A brain without a body couldn’t think.” — Moshe Feldenkrais “To feel is to heal. To contact is to awaken.” — Dick Price 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 […]

Join master craftsman and musician Guillermo Martinez for an unforgettable journey into the sacred traditions of Native American instrument making and music. This immersive, hands-on workshop invites you to reconnect with the spirit of sound by crafting three profound instruments: a Native American bamboo flute, a 16" elk-hide medicine drum, and a gourd crystal rattle. […]

What does it mean to remain human in the new age of artificial intelligence? In this immersive weekend workshop, we’ll explore this profound question together, journeying from awareness to empowerment to integration as we discover how to shape our relationship with AI while preserving what matters most. Through hands-on AI demonstrations, creative labs, and experiential […]

What if personal power isn’t something you earn by doing more, but something you reclaim by being more fully yourself? How might your life and relationships shift if you could lead from your truth? What if your body became your inner compass, a steady and trustworthy guide through life? This is an invitation into the […]

In the world through which I travel, I am endlessly creating myself. — Frantz Fanon Stuckness often lives deeper than thought. Many of us sense we are capable of more: more freedom, impact, honest expression, more generative relationships, more alignment with the life and work calling us forward. And yet, inherited rhythms live in the […]

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 […]

If your life were a song, what would it be? If you told the story of your heart, what tale would you tell? This workshop invites participants to discover their authentic singing and songwriting voice through creative exercises, prompts, and assignments. We will focus on opening the creative heart and bringing forth the music and […]

For thousands of years, autumnal holidays such as Samhain, Hallowe’en, and Vetrnætr have served as ceremonial foundations — connecting pre-modern peoples to landscape, ancestors, and ritual time. Many cultures believe “the veil thins” during this time, letting enchantment flood back into our world. The time is rife with opportunities to renew sacred relationships with the […]

Join us for a deeply nourishing sound immersion where sacred resonance becomes a gateway to transformation. In this weeklong workshop, we work with alchemy crystal singing bowls — instruments of subtle energy and crystalline intelligence — to harmonize the nervous system, soften emotional residue in the biofield, and awaken a more grounded, joyful state of […]

Everything begins by leaving. — Rev. Angel Kyodo Williams Life invites us into change, but rarely teaches us how to move through it well. Whether it’s a relationship ending, a role dissolving, a chapter closing, or a calling emerging, you may find yourself standing at the edge of what was ... and unsure how to […]

This is a perfect season to awaken touch, our forgotten language. In this introductory massage course, participants will learn to listen to each other, gain the sensory skill of initiating touch, experience the felt sense of touch and muscle release, and close with a balanced tenderness. Seasoned instructors will offer exercises, demonstrations, and at-the-table guidance […]

Haruki Murakami wrote that writing a novel is like running a marathon — it requires endurance, consistency, and mental discipline over a long stretch.  In this workshop, we will look at all the ways writers, both beginning and experienced, can support themselves both creatively and physically during the novel-writing process. Using a combination of generative […]

This course builds on your previous seven rich days of exploration in CFR® Week One. During that crucial week, you laid the foundation for releasing your childhood survival patterns and moving through life with more ease and presence physically, mentally, and emotionally.  In CFR® Week 1, you reorganized the stranger you once called “self” to […]

In this five-day workshop, we will explore how sleep, dreams, and even the process of death can become gateways to deeper awareness and freedom. We’ll draw from the Tibetan contemplative traditions of dream and sleep practice to reveal how awareness continues through all states of experience. The retreat combines traditional teachings with insights from Western […]

Your Spirit Guides are speaking to you. Join the conversation. This weeklong retreat is devoted to deepening your relationship with your spiritual team as a direct and reliable source of guidance, clarity, and transformation. This work centers on real-time dialogue. You bring what is present in your life, and your Guides respond. The exchange reveals […]

Revolutionary findings in neuroscience have demonstrated that we can literally re-architect the very structure of our brains. In fact, we can even rewire our neurology to be more focused, calmer, and happier. In this workshop, Dr. Shauna Shapiro — a leading scientist studying the effects of meditation on well-being — will teach you the most […]

Conflict is no longer something happening “out there.” It lives in our conversations, our communities, and often within ourselves, shaping what feels possible and what feels stuck. In a time of rapid change and deepening division, many of us find ourselves caught inside stories that harden perspectives, narrow imagination, and limit our capacity to respond. […]

Breathing is one of the few functions in the human body that is both automatic and voluntary — happening unconsciously every moment of our lives, yet also available to conscious control. In the yogic traditions, this makes the breath profoundly significant: a bridge between body and mind, conscious and subconscious awareness, the autonomic and non-autonomic […]

In a time when many men are questioning the inherited roles, social pressures, and stories that have shaped what it means to be a man, this workshop is an invitation to courageously explore masculinity. Through movement, honest self-reflection, and the profound learning that becomes possible when men gather, we’ll uncover challenges, witness one another’s vulnerability, […]

Primordial Qigong is meditation in motion and includes the two most famous forms of Taoist Meditation: the Microcosmic and Macrocosmic Energy Circulation, in which the solar (yang) and lunar (yin) energies flow in harmony, an essential key to vitality and longevity. You will also be given the tools on how to recharge the three dan […]

Discover the art of creating color sourced directly from the land. In this immersive workshop, participants explore plant-based dyeing through mindful foraging, wildcrafting, and creative practice inspired by Esalen’s gardens and landscape. Each day begins with a grounding meditation to connect with the earth and awaken creative flow. Through hands-on exploration of resist techniques, surface […]

Do you face challenges with focus and time management? Do you struggle with emotional hypersensitivity or frustration tolerance? Do you find it hard to follow through on tasks or commitments? Or to be reliable and consistent? If so, you are not alone. Millions of people suffer daily from conditions associated with these executive function challenges. […]

What if you could use your voice to feel alive and present in your body? What would it look like to discover your own voice and fulfill its unique potential? This November, join sound therapy pioneer Eileen McKusick and transformational voice leaders and international recording artists Isaac and Thorald Koren of the Brothers Koren in […]

Have you ever held the wind? Or been held by the wind? There is a vitality in all life that is ancient, intuitive, and always accessible. This energy, like the wind, formless yet moving in all directions, creates and sustains life. The body is the doorway through which to meet this energy of being. It […]

For hundreds of thousands of years, plants have been humanity’s greatest allies, shaping culture in material and spiritual ways. Across the Northern Hemisphere, a shared cohort of plants has profoundly influenced human existence, providing sustenance, medicine, textiles, and more. Honored as wise relatives, they carry mythic and spiritual significance across diverse cultures, forming a thread […]

For thousands of years across many cultures, expanded states of consciousness have been used intentionally as a strategy for meaningful transformation and deepening one’s connection to self, community, and the natural world. In this workshop, we will gather in the rich field of community for an immersive experience and personal exploration of  these unique states. […]

We gather on this powerful land for a weekend to remember — with our bodies, minds, and spirits — all that we have to be grateful for. Amidst all of the turmoil, we come together in community to remember that we are enough as we are. Through yoga, meditation, reflection, cliff side baths, and walking […]

“Enoughness” is the starting point of any journey toward gratitude. We begin to fully take in the profound gift of all that is unfolding only when we recognize that we are enough.  With Esalen as our transformative container, let’s meet during the week of Thanksgiving. Let’s honor the land and the Esselen people, the indigenous […]

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. – Alan Watts This Thanksgiving week, you are invited into a living inquiry of what it means to be fully, authentically human in a deeply mysterious world. In a season of reflection and gathering, […]

All people have an innate ability to move toward healthy, satisfying relationships. Old patterns of behavior and fixed ideas formed in early relationships may block our ability to communicate and make contact with the people in our lives. The Gestalt approach aims to increase awareness of these patterns and our ”unfinished business” by relating in […]

Master Chungliang “Uncle Al” Huang, one of Esalen’s most cherished faculty members, brings 50+ years of teaching  experience to welcome you into China’s ancient practice of qigong.  During this workshop, Master Huang will teach the most essential qigong exercises — guiding students through energetic practices of movement, storytelling, and subtle energy work. This is an […]

Every yoga posture embodies a story. Every story embodies a posture. The warrior's focused intention, the divine monkey's formidable leap, the lotus's sacred stillness — these are not mere ideas but encapsulations of physical practice. Encoded in each āsana is a mythic psychology: a map of consciousness, a demand on the practitioner, a doorway into […]

To be truly creative, to let go of preconceived restrictions, is to allow yourself the freedom to flow. Taoist wisdom calls this Wu Wei — the art of not interfering with what is already happening. During this weeklong workshop, we will playfully reinvent Tai Ji forms with ancient Tai Ji rituals, Five Moving Forces of […]

Esalen® Massage combines partner-based attentiveness with the overlaying energetic field. This workshop presents the 12-meridian system of Asian medicine, attuned to Esalen Massage’s slow-flowing strokes. The intent is to facilitate release of long-held muscle tension while providing pauses and point work to nourish and harmonize. This energetic alignment can encourage resilience, lift the heart, quell […]

Grof® Breathwork, developed as “holotropic breathwork,” was born at Esalen in the 1980s by Stanislav and Christina Grof. This powerful practice offers participants the opportunity to enter expanded states of consciousness through accelerated breathing, evocative music, and supported somatic release.  Through this practice, we “journey” using our breath, opening to the psyche’s intrinsic intelligence for […]

The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them to the impossible. — Arthur C. Clarke Imagination is the foundational ingredient in problem solving – the ones in your own life as well as problems in society. Yet how many courses in imagination did you take […]

Practice is a seedbed of miracles. —Esalen Institute Co-Founder Michael Murphy What positive shift would create the most meaningful change in your life right now? Your extraordinary potential is built into your DNA and awaits your discovery. In this enlivening workshop, experience the essence of Integral Transformative Practice® (ITP), a living platform for growth, well-being, […]

Join ceremonial leader and wisdom carrier Erika Gagnon on a sacred journey, as we gather together and explore traditional healing wisdom and the importance of ancestral lineage, ceremonies and rituals, sacred altars, medicinal plants, and the origins of dis-ease in our physical, mental/emotional, spiritual and soul bodies. You are your greatest healer and greatest medicine, […]

In an economy predicated on capitalizing our attention, what if we apprenticed ourselves to ecological forces whose temporality refuses capture? How might sitting at the feet of a glacier, as our elder, liberate our presence? Enter this five-day apprenticeship with the glacier as a teacher, following the glacier’s quality of time as a grammar for […]

Our oldest traditions carry the same instruction for this moment, the winter solstice, the longest night of the year: go in. Many who have touched the sacred through mystical states, grief, love, or a profound life transition carry an unfinished question: How do I live in service to what I have seen? This workshop is […]

Winter solstice is a time to reflect — to cultivate vitality and nurture ourselves. The dark days of winter are an opportune time to slow down and make space for self-care. This winter solstice yoga retreat will focus on cultivating inner awareness. By practicing in community, we build inner vitality and brightness to return home […]

How can those of us who yearn without belief or ritual find our way? Many of us have lost our connection to a mainstream faith, or maybe never had it. We long to find more, even if we are afraid that it may not be there. Some of us have experienced our worlds cracked open […]

Let’s be real — queer men are already masters of reinvention. We’ve learned to shapeshift, decode signals, seduce with a glance, armor up when needed, and sometimes dissociate in the name of survival. Our sexuality has been a battlefield and a playground — sometimes both in the same night. Sexuality offers a lens through which […]

Winter Solstice marks a sacred turning point — the threshold where darkness begins to yield to the returning light. As nature grows quiet and the earth turns inward, we are invited to slow down, listen deeply, and tend the inner flame. Guided by the wisdom of the chakra system, this immersive retreat explores the seven […]

Who will you become when you put down your phone and pick up your life?  In just two decades, technology has rapidly reshaped our psyches, relationships, and communities. The average person now spends the equivalent of 61 to 80 days a year on their smartphones. Apps increasingly frack our attention while human empathy has steadily […]

Now more than ever, it is important we build practices to strengthen our internal resolve and self-resourcing amidst a dynamically shifting society. Together, we will listen to our heart’s wisdom in this rich four-day journey (Friday to Monday) through sound, ceremony, and self-discovery. In this intimate and transformative workshop, you will have the unique opportunity […]

The hands will often solve a mystery that the intellect has struggled with in vain. — Carl Jung Sometimes the wisest part of you speaks through images. Inspired by the work of Carl Jung, SoulCollage® is a powerful expressive arts method that invites your authentic inner voice to come forward. Through this accessible yet profound […]

Pleasure is the measure of your aliveness. It is not frivolous — it is your birthright, your compass, and your healing. — Anonymous What if your pleasure is the key to your liberation? What if it could be your prayer, your medicine, and your power? When was the last time you felt fully alive in […]

Soul is flow. It’s an ever-changing play of sensations and feelings. It’s how the deathless presence meets and moves our finite human body. In this workshop, we will reclaim the body-in-motion as a doorway to the life unfolding just under the surface of everyday forgetting. A formless dance form, Soul Motion® allows for passionate, full-bodied […]

We are living at speeds the nervous system was never designed to sustain. In a culture organized around acceleration, optimization, and constant responsiveness, the present moment increasingly becomes something to manage rather than inhabit. Over time, this accumulates in the body as urgency, fragmentation, exhaustion, and the persistent feeling of being unable to fully arrive […]

Come to dance and be danced! Move until you are moved. Dance until the dancer disappears and only the dance remains. —Gabrielle Roth The gateway of the body is a powerful vessel that allows us to move and be moved. During this unique seven day retreat, we will dance into and through the gateway of […]

Bring in the New Year with a rejuvenating week of meditation, music, and gentle yoga, guided by Buddhist teacher and author Lopön Chandra. As winter invites us to slow down and turn inward, we’ll explore “wintering” — the art of embracing rest, renewal, and the quiet gifts of this season. Enjoy meditation sessions, both indoors […]

In play we can discover a curious version of ourselves, while balancing our light and shadow and laughing at our attachments. This workshop invites us to be soft, brave, and available to the moment. This is an immersive practice that explores our most vulnerable and creative self. Using tools found in improvisation, meditation, altered states, […]

If you are capable of living deeply one moment of your life, you can learn to live the same way all the other moments of your life. — Thich Nhat Hanh This workshop is for anyone feeling the need to slow down, reconnect with themselves, and step into the New Year relaxed and awake. Whether […]

When the ground falls out from underneath us, our instinct is usually to cling tightly to the beliefs, stories, relationships, and identities that give us the greatest sense of stability and comfort. But what if we viewed these moments as wondrous opportunities instead of terrifying threats? Could the experience of groundlessness offer an unexpected freedom […]

An apology will shut a conversation down. A good repair opens one up. — Dr. Becky Kennedy Conflict is inevitable. The health of a relationship depends not on whether conflict happens but on how skillfully we repair. The Art of REPAIR is a practical, embodied, and deeply relational process that transforms rupture into connection, clarity, […]

Dance is one of the world’s most ancient transformative rituals. From the whirling dervishes to the shamans, the waltz to the rave, we dance for joy, healing, and connection — guided by wisdom that transcends the thinking brain. As the old year ends and the new begins, come to sweat, honor the past, and make […]

If your thoughts, decisions and actions are not being determined by your own highest values, they are certainly being determined by someone else's. — Living a Values Based Life  Join this engaging, interactive experience designed to support the discovery, clarification, and meaningful application of your highest personal values. It's a surprising fact of life that […]

Deep Bodywork®, when applied with great sensitivity, is one of the most effective healing modalities available to the professional bodyworker. It combines the integrating qualities of flowing massage with therapeutic deep tissue work to promote relaxation, restore tissue health, and support long-term structural change. Developed by the Hollomans over the course of 40 years, the […]

The simplest pattern is the clearest. Content with an ordinary life, you can show all people the way back to their own true nature — Laozi (Lao Tzu), Tao Te Ching, verse 65 When we tend to and align with the cycles and seasons, we glimpse the divine. The period between the start of the […]

What if your greatest vulnerability could become your greatest strength? This transformative language arts workshop is designed for anyone ready to level up by unlocking their authenticity.  The curriculum draws from the wisdom in the instructor’s critically acclaimed book, Shame on You: How to Be a Woman in the Age of Mortification, which explores how […]

This workshop is more than a learning experience — it’s an invitation to connect deeply with yourself and others in a supportive and creative space. Together, we’ll explore the profound potential for healing and growth that arises when art and psychology converge. No artistic experience is necessary; this workshop is about creative expression, not perfection. […]

Explore the dynamic connections between mind, body, and lifestyle for optimal vitality. Drawing from decades of research, this workshop weaves together the latest scientific insights in metabolic health and mindful eating with experiential practices to support greater awareness and agency in your approach to well-being. Participants will engage in evidence-informed practices derived from clinical trials […]

What if joy isn’t something you chase but something you relax into? Many of us spend our lives searching for happiness while carrying the very tension that keeps us from experiencing it. This workshop offers another possibility: that joy isn’t something we create but something we uncover — emerging naturally as the body softens, the […]

We rarely give ourselves permission to stop and ask the hard questions: Are you showing up the way you'd like? Have you created the impact you want? Are you going in the right direction?  This workshop is for anyone who knows they are at a threshold and want more aliveness and truth in the next […]

Love is an ecological process.  — Andreas Weber  Our sensual connection to our bodies and the living world is under threat. We have become numb to the Earth's touch.  But the Earth is calling us home. Are you yearning for the analog, messy, and real? Do you desire to return to your body and shed […]

This workshop invites you to explore the creative spirit that resides within each of us. Whether you are an experienced artist or simply seeking to uncover your potential, this meditative experience promises to be enriching. We will begin with colored pencils to open our hearts and let creativity flow naturally. Then, with acrylic paints, participants […]

Asanga’s Nine Stages of Staying is one of the oldest and most comprehensive systems of concentration in the Buddhist tradition. Sometimes called the Elephant Path, this approach was originated by the great Buddhist master in 506 A.D., and it is now the main method of training the mind in the Tibetan tradition.  In this weekend […]

How we sit, stand, move, and respond to our inner and outer world reflects deeply ingrained patterns wired into our nervous systems since childhood. They reflect our early solutions to physical survival in our family system. Out of awareness, these beliefs and strategies can still run our adult lives, limit our choices, and prevent physical […]

What does it mean to be fully, authentically human? Gestalt Practice offers an invitation to pause, to sense, and to come into direct contact with the unfolding experience of our lives. At its core, it is an awareness practice in which we cultivate embodied, present-moment awareness of the here and now on a journey toward […]

When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy. —Rumi Embark on a five-day journey of creative discovery in a space that nurtures playful practice and community above all. This art immersion is an invitation to explore an array of techniques and mediums, including: Torn paper collage Color […]

Imagine your relationship expressing the true depths of your love and commitment. If you are in love, this retreat is an opportunity to rise even higher in love. If you are in crisis, it is an opportunity for healing on the deepest level.  We all carry some degree of negative programming from our past, and […]

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, this work honors a lineage of […]

When did you stop singing? When did you stop being enchanted by stories? When did you stop being comforted by the sweet territory of silence? —Gabrielle Roth Your life is not simply a project to be managed but a mythopoetic mystery to be lived. Take a break from the mundane and let yourself be enchanted […]

Your legacy is not just something you leave behind. It is something you create through the way you live each day. This is an invitation to reflect on the deeper impact of your life, relationships, work, creativity, and leadership — and to consciously embody the legacy you are here to live.  Through guided practices, storytelling, […]

Midwinter invites us to slow down, listen deeply, and remember what truly nourishes us. Beneath the surface of apparent stillness, roots deepen. Seeds quietly prepare. Life is already organizing itself for spring. What if our own hearts follow this same rhythm? Join us for a restorative week of immersive sound journeys, contemplative practices, movement, creative […]

A journey to heal oneself and awaken deeply from within. Through meditation, yoga, and time in nature, we will tap into the stories our bodies have to tell and develop skills to nourish ourselves in 2027. This workshop focuses on the transition from one year to the next as an opportunity to purposefully cultivate a […]

Explore your unique creative process and express your human potential in a weekend deep dive with The Brothers Koren. Discover your distinct creative personality and how to find harmony and coherence in your own creative process. The brothers specialize in facilitating a safe space for you to move beyond the inhibitions and align to your […]

Join Heidi Rose Robbins and her team for an enlivening exploration of your astrological chart. Through poetry, movement, writing, and group counsel, we’ll bring our astrological map to life — and in so doing, we will practice loving, act courageously, and fully embrace our next life steps.  In this workshop, we will come together in […]

The Artist lives within everyone! Art can be made out of just about anything! It’s a time to leave the critic behind and allow oneself to play, nourish, and replenish the creative spirit. It’s also a time to enjoy the company and camaraderie of like-minded peers. Now is your time to discover the joys of […]

Exploringe the renowned Esalen® Massage at its place of origin. This workshop offers an introduction to the foundational concepts and flow of the Esalen approach through a blend of experiential exercises, lecture-demonstrations, guided hands-on practice, and personal reflection. Participants engage with key elements found in meaningful massage experiences: breath awareness, mindful centering, body mechanics, quality […]

Fostering close and connected relationships is one of the most important things affecting the quality of our lives. Cultivating trust and openness with a loved one, whether with an intimate partner or friend, is an essential aspect of any successful, supportive relationship. This weekend, Perry and Johanna Holloman, intimate partners and friends for over 30 […]

What if play could become a path of presence? Mindful improv brings together the liveliness of improvisational theater with the steadiness of mindfulness practice. Improv is spontaneous, expressive, and often funny; mindfulness is quiet, attentive, and still. Though they may seem like opposites at first, both invite us into openness, curiosity, acceptance, and the freedom […]

Power without surrender is force. Surrender without power is collapse. True freedom comes from knowing how to embody both. BDSM is often misunderstood as only rough sex or kink, but at its core, it’s the consensual exploration of power dynamics. It can include play with dominance and submission, sensation, and restraint — but ultimately, it’s […]

To encounter someone, something, or someplace implies that it’s unexpected or a surprise. Encountering the moment means coming face-to-face with the unknown. In movement practice, we train ourselves to stay open, curious, centered, and responsive at the front edge of any encounter — counterbalancing those innate primal reactions to fight, flee, freeze, or please.   Rather […]

What lies behind today’s evidence-based mind-body practices for well-being, resilience, and purpose? This three-day workshop explores the deep lineages and sacred traditions from which many modern methods arise, guided by teachers who walk both worlds of rigorous science and timeless wisdom. At MD Anderson Cancer Center, Alejandro Chaoul pioneered programs to support patients with chronic […]

Join LaVerne McLeod and Melanie DeMore for a weekend of exploration and celebration of Black History Month as we express ourselves, connect, play, and honor humanity. Together, we will explore what it is like to walk in another person’s shoes to understand and empathize with viewpoints that might differ from our own. We will build […]

For thousands of years across many cultures, expanded states of consciousness have been used intentionally as a strategy for meaningful transformation and deepening one’s connection to self, community, and the natural world. In this workshop, we will gather in the rich field of community for an immersive experience and personal exploration of  these unique states. […]

Our sense of self develops in connection with others and our experiences in early relationships. They shape our beliefs — about ourselves, other people, and what is possible for us in our lives. While we cannot change the past, we can change the parts of our lives that we find difficult or unfulfilling through new […]

What would happen if you stopped editing yourself before you began? This embodied writing workshop is designed to get you out of your head and into your body — where the stories that refuse to stay quiet live. Through writing, movement, and deep listening, participants access material often buried beneath politeness and perfection. This is […]

Have you noticed the painful effects of self-judgment? Do you feel tormented by negative critical self-talk and the harsh words of the inner critic?  Are you prone to judging everything you do as not good enough, not quite right, or not up to some impossibly high standard? Do you find yourself harshly judging your meditation, […]

What would happen if you stopped editing yourself before you began? This embodied writing workshop is designed to get you out of your head and into your body — where the stories that refuse to stay quiet live. Through writing, movement, and deep listening, participants access material often buried beneath politeness and perfection. This is […]

Everything I have experienced in my life I use to make art.—Anna Halprin  What if everything you’ve experienced in your life could be danced? What if an image drawn carried a message for healing? What if a dance inspired a drawing and a drawing inspired words for a poem and the poem transformed a difficult […]

Deep in the human mind and body are vast capacities for self-transcendence, felt in experiences of awe, compassion, gratitude, and profound beauty. These emotions enable us to gain perspective on our stresses, quiet the voice of the transactional self, orient to the well-being of others, and find a commitment to all sentient beings. These emotions […]

“A brain without a body couldn’t think.” — Moshe Feldenkrais “To feel is to heal. To contact is to awaken.” — Dick Price 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 […]

Join Janet in this nourishing and revitalizing weekend, designed to replenish the nervous system and adrenals, boost the immune system, and ground our hearts and minds in simplicity. We will drop down through body-mind-spirit to find space between effort and surrender, allowing our internal systems to release toxins and integrate the powerful wellness generated by […]

Life invites us into change, but rarely teaches us how to move through it well. Whether it’s a relationship ending, a role dissolving, a chapter closing, or a calling emerging, you may find yourself standing at the edge of what was — and unsure how to step into what comes next. This immersive weekend retreat […]

In a world that asks us to move faster, produce more, and stay continually switched on, there is another rhythm waiting beneath the noise — the steady pulse of our own being. As an act of protest, we invite ourselves to slow down, listen inward, and remember what it feels like to feel and heal. […]

Matter is Energy ... Energy is Light ... We are all Light Beings — Albert Einstein Each of us walks around within our own energy halo. When two people touch, they spark an energetic exchange. This felt relationship is the heart and soul of Esalen® Massage. With a spirit of gratitude, we invite you to […]

We all have a story to tell. But turning your life into an engaging and meaningful narrative requires both keen self-awareness and a working knowledge of basic storytelling. This experiential workshop invites writers at all levels, from personal journalers to published authors, to cultivate the skills needed to tell the most compelling — and truest […]

Experience five days of deep rest, reflection, and rejuvenation through movement, guided meditation, and the profound practice of Yoga Nidra. This workshop is designed to restore the body, clear the mind, and shift the habitual patterns that keep us from experiencing a state of calm, clarity, and balance. Yoga Nidra, which translates to "yogic sleep," […]

Your crown has been bought and paid for. All you have to do is put it on. — James Baldwin Most people don’t actually fear failure; they fear their own brilliance. In this weeklong journey, we’ll explore how subtle self-sabotage, shrinking, and doubt prevent us from claiming our gifts. Through coherence coaching, embodied exercises, and […]

Perimenopausal and menopausal transitions are more than biological phases to endure; they are sacred passages that forge a woman into her fullest expression — as a truth-bearer, a pathfinder, a beauty maker, and a new creation.   When the monthly cycles end, you'll undergo tremendous transformations in your body, mind, emotions, and psyche. Crossing this monumental […]

You carry Mother Earth within you. She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment. In that insight of inter-being, it is possible to have real communication with the Earth, which is the highest form of prayer. – Thich Nhat Hanh Join herbalist, medicine woman, and plant spirit teacher Marysia Miernowska […]

Enter the innate intelligence of your body — a space to soften the pressures of daily life, unwind habitual stress patterns, and reconnect with the subtle language of sensation, movement, and presence. Across ten hours of experiential somatic practice, you’ll be led through a blend of nervous system regulation practice, intuitive movement, memory reprocessing, dance […]

Joseph Campbell used to celebrate his birthday at Esalen. When asked why, he’d recount how Carl Jung — wondering, “What myth am I living by?” and realizing he didn’t know — wrote, “I took it upon myself to get to know ‘my’ myth, and I regarded this as the task of tasks.”  “That’s what a […]

It takes discipline to be a free spirit. — Gabrielle Roth What if peace begins not with agreement, but with our capacity to remain human, alive, and connected in the presence of difference? This five-day retreat invites you into a joyful, energizing, and deeply experiential exploration of how we move — within ourselves, toward one […]

Freeing yourself from conditioned patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior takes more than stillness or intellectual inquiry. Real and lasting change requires rewiring the brain — but we can't change until we feel safe to do so. This is why learning to enter states of coherence elevates our capacity to build new patterns in their […]

Our ancestors explored spirit-led movement to embody ecstatic states for generations. Whether as a form of celebration, mourning, or prayer, ecstatic dance has long served as sacred medicine, healing the hearts of individuals and communities.  Join us on this sacred land for a transformative weekend of ecstatic dance ceremony — a journey to tap into […]

The March equinox, a time of transition and harmony, is a wonderful opportunity to deepen our practice of yoga. The light is returning from the dark days of winter, and balance is our theme — both on the yoga mat and for our emotional and spiritual selves. Just as the plants are beginning to bud, […]

We sleep one-third of our lifetime, an average of 20 to 25 years. Dream yoga is a practice that spans every moment, waking and sleeping. It is a powerful tool of awakening used for hundreds of years by the great masters of the Tibetan traditions. Foundational practices in dream yoga change the practitioner’s relationship to […]

The voice is calling me, to come home, to the river that is flowing within me. — Sophia Tuv The voice is more than sound — it is the breath of our being made audible, the vibration of our essence moving through space. It is our most innate instrument, a direct channel between the soul […]

Since falling in love is biologically natural, but sustaining love is biologically unnatural, Soul Mate focuses on the art and discipline of sustaining love. You begin with learning how to appreciate your partner so specifically and frequently that your partner feels fully seen and loved.  You then practice both the art and discipline of hearing […]

What if what we experience wasn’t always a serious endeavor, but rather an invitation to play, to grow and to learn? Hindu philosophy encapsulates this idea in the Sanskrit word Lila, which means “divine play.” Lila suggests that creation isn’t an obligation but a spontaneous and joyful expression of the divine. Perhaps we’re so deeply […]

Know from the rivers in clefts and in crevices: those in small channels flow noisily, the great flow silent. Whatever’s not full makes noise. Whatever is full is quiet. — Buddha We treasure this life, and yet we rarely can hear ourselves think. We are constantly being bombarded and absorbing information at a dizzying pace. […]

This workshop will give you the tools to help you stop holding yourself back. Whether you have a desire to lose 20 pounds, write a book, launch a business, start a side hustle, open your heart to love, shift your relationship with money, or figure out your next chapter — whatever goal you set — […]

What happens when we look beyond the familiar boundaries of the mind and begin to explore what psychedelics can teach us about consciousness, mental health, and healing?  Through science, dialogue, embodiment, music, and direct human experience, this educational journey will explore a groundbreaking new paradigm for mental healthcare: one that sees psychological suffering not simply […]

Take a week-long journey into the cartography of self — mapping the terrains that live beneath language — where breath meets bone, memory lives in muscle, story shapes identity, and the future self waits patiently to be remembered. Through breathwork, somatic movement, writing, sound, and relational mirrors, we’ll explore distinct layers of being. Each day […]

We live in an age of extraordinary access to information, and many of us are hungry for a deeper way back into our bodies and the felt experience of being alive. In this five-day workshop, you will explore what it means to move toward a more embodied, regenerative relationship with the world, one step, one […]

Join this weekend of joyful exploration into the distance between the head and the heart with teachings that bridge dance and meditation. One releases energy outward, the other inward. One explores the freedom we express and let be witnessed, and the other the inner courage to reimagine ourselves, our past, and our future. The retreat […]

Learn to call on your spirit guides and tap into your intuitive mind. Join us in a transformative workshop combining scientifically proven brain-enhancing techniques with intuitive guidance to help you break free from self-limiting patterns and create the life you desire. This workshop brings together two powerful approaches to help you develop tools for personal […]

Join master craftsman and musician Guillermo Martinez for a hands-on journey into the art of Native American flute making. Working with cedar wood and the patient rhythms of handcraft, you’ll create a Native American-style flute of your own — shaped, tuned, finished, and ready to play. Throughout the workshop, you’ll be guided step by step […]

Revamp, reinvigorate, and polish your luminous self this Spring with innovative yoga practices for body, mind, and spirit! This yoga renewal workshop includes energizing movement, flow yoga, core activations, meridian sequencing, tapping, rejuvenating holds, and cleansing rituals based on the five elements.  Yoga for the skin sloughs off the old with a potent five-step cleansing […]

You are never truly alone — loving guidance has always been by your side. Your spirit guides, part of your soul family and spiritual GPS, are waiting to assist, support, play, and dance with you. In this five-day immersion, you’ll explore how to access their wisdom with patience, trust, and an open heart, and discover […]

Revolutionary findings in neuroscience have demonstrated that we can literally re-architect the very structure of our brains. In fact, we can even rewire our neurology to be more focused, calmer, and happier. In this workshop, Dr. Shauna Shapiro — a leading scientist studying the effects of meditation on well-being — will teach you the most […]

The most practical thing you can do for yourself is remember how to feel again, and be able to express it. Many men are running on empty, tense in the body, stuck in their heads. This weekend utilizes movement, breath, rhythm and voice to bring you back into your body and into real community with […]

What if sleep could be more than just crashing into your pillow at the end of a long day? What if it could be a portal to transformation and self-discovery? In this workshop, we’ll dive into the ancient Daoist art of sleep alchemy, where the Wudang Hibernating Dragon and Five Dragons Sleeping methods teach you […]

We rarely give ourselves permission to stop and ask the hard questions: Are you showing up the way you'd like? Have you created the impact you want? Are you going in the right direction?  This workshop is for anyone who knows they are at a threshold and want more aliveness and truth in the next […]

Join ceremonial leader and wisdom carrier Erika Gagnon on a sacred journey to look beyond the false duality of a divided self and the destructive concepts of “self versus other” and “self versus nature” to rediscover how to live in harmony within ourselves and with the world around us. We live on a constant spectrum […]

In this light-polluted and highly distracted age, it’s more important than ever to find a way to stay centered and balanced. Dark retreat offers that way. An ancient spiritual and shamanic practice, dark retreat traditionally entails spending time — from hours to weeks — in a totally dark cabin or cave. It has been practiced […]

We are erotic primates living in culturally imposed domestication. We have the lineage and bodies of hunter-gatherers, but we exist in a modern context that is deeply afraid of Eros. Like other domesticated animal species, we have been removed from the wild to live a more settled life. For many of us, this has had […]

The Earth holds us, breathes with us, moves through us.  Since time immemorial, human beings have lived in deep, reciprocal relationship with landscapes—our movements shaped by terrain, our nervous systems regulated by the rhythms of seasons and tides, our sense of self inseparable from the more-than-human world. Yet, in this modern, frenetic age, we are […]

Come with an open mind and an open heart, and allow consciousness to meet you where you are. Across cultures and throughout history, humans have reported subtle perceptual capacities — deep intuition, nonlocal connections, and heightened sensitivity to energy and emotion — that extend beyond ordinary awareness. While such experiences were once considered natural aspects […]