Mindfulness & Spirituality
Website program category as of 2022
COME TOGETHER! A Festival of IntraConnectivity and Spirit | Day Pass
With Daniel Siegel, Elissa Epel, Little Bear Tom Nason, Rhonda V. Magee and Douglas Drummond
We live in times of high existential stress with both ever-increasing personal, societal, and global pressures and the constant pain of witnessing ecological crises and widespread social injustices. These challenges also create opportunities to reconsider our relationships to self, one another, and the planet — and to choose a life of peak purpose and interconnectedness. […]
COME TOGETHER! A Festival of IntraConnectivity and Spirit | ETMC Day Pass
With Daniel Siegel, Elissa Epel, Little Bear Tom Nason, Rhonda V. Magee and Douglas Drummond
We live in times of high existential stress with both ever-increasing personal, societal, and global pressures and the constant pain of witnessing ecological crises and widespread social injustices. These challenges also create opportunities to reconsider our relationships to self, one another, and the planet — and to choose a life of peak purpose and interconnectedness. […]
Altered States: Pathways to Expansion | Day Pass
With Sravana Borkataky-Varma, Lucia Horan, Xochitl Ashe, East Forest and Marisa Radha Weppner
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 Since time immemorial, we humans have been curious […]
Earth-Body: An Eco-Somatic Backpacking Journey & Retreat
With Noël Vietor and Ariel Johnson
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 […]
Pelvic Health Self-Care Retreat: Exploring the Pelvis Through Anatomy, Nutrition, and the Nervous System
With Anietie Ukpe-Wallace and Krishna Dholakia
I think it’s the worst thing that we do to each other as women, not share the truth about our bodies and how they work and how they don’t work. —Michelle Obama The pelvis is a powerful part of our body and is foundational to our overall health. The tissues and bones of our pelvis […]
CANCELLED | The Embodied Teacher: Purpose, Practice, Presence, Power
With Sadia Bruce
In a world aching for wisdom, clarity, and connection, the art of true teaching has never been more vital— nor more rare. Designed for yoga and embodiment teachers who feel the ache of fragmentation, stagnancy, or disconnection in their teaching, this five-day immersion invites you to sit in and ultimately teach from what philosopher Bayo […]
Capacity Building Through Healing-Centered Learning Environments
With Angel Acosta and Yolanda Ruiz
We do not think ourselves into new ways of living, we live ourselves into new ways of thinking. — Richard Rohr In a world in flux, where uncertainty is the norm, how do we cultivate the inner resilience to enact outer change? This workshop invites educators, social impact leaders, and business professionals to explore healing-centered […]
Return to Belonging: The Heart of Who We Are
With Caverly Morgan
We all long to be happy. We all long to feel at ease, to be at peace, and to know that we’re okay and we belong. When it feels like the world is on fire, when divisiveness is commonplace, it can seem harder than ever to access such belonging — both personally and collectively. Most […]
Your Brain on Sound: Rewiring Through Resonance, Mantra, and Alchemy Crystal Bowls
With Deva Munay
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 […]
Deep Rest, Recovery, and Renewal: From Burnout to Vitality
With Elissa Epel and Nichol Chase
Join us to experience deep rest and renewal! You need and deserve this. So many of us are overtaxed by constant demands, burdens, and worries, especially those of us providing extra support for others through caregiving, healthcare, activism, and other service-oriented jobs. We bring you expertise in the science, art, and practice of restoration from […]
Erotic Ecology: Awakening the Senses and Healing through Nature
With Lindsay Branham
Love is an ecological process. — Andreas Weber Most of us have lost our sensual connection to our bodies and to the living world. We have become numb to the Earth's touch. This weekend workshop offers an immersive experience in the erotic ecology pathway — a space to reawaken our sensory, pleasurable, and nourishing connection […]
Autumn Enchantment: Ritual Connection with Land and Spirit
With Fletcher Tucker and Micha Merrick
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 […]
American Detox: How to Heal in a Toxic World
With Kerri Kelly
We are living through a polycrisis — a time of profound unraveling and emergence. Old systems and structures are collapsing while new possibilities stir beneath the surface. This shift isn’t just happening “out there.” It is alive within each of us, inviting us to transform inherited stories into new ways of being, relating, and belonging. […]
Sleep Yoga: The Sleep of Clear Light
With Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
In the ancient Tibetan practice of Sleep Yoga, the primary goal is to enter the pure, luminous awareness — the clear light — that is the true nature of the mind. As a profound support for Dzogchen meditation, Sleep Yoga enhances clarity, awareness, and spiritual realization, even as the body rests. In today’s fast-paced world, […]
Souls Unfolding
With Andrea Juhan
Our sense of soul often shows up as the feeling that we are connected to and a part of something much larger than our everyday selves. Though we may manifest the self through work, relationships, and creative endeavors, we will not be fully satisfied if that deepest expression of our soul does not have its […]
Living Authentically: A Journey with Human Design
With Anne Van de Water
Imagine reaching the end of your life and realizing your biggest regret is that you never found the courage to live authentically because you lived the life others expected. In this workshop, we will embark on a transformative journey inspired by the wisdom of Human Design and the spirit of Esalen. Human Design blends ancient […]
Meditation and Modern Life: A Zen Meditation Retreat
With Dan Zigmond
When was the last time you gave something your undivided attention? Nearly 2,500 years ago, Buddha worried we had become too distracted — and that was before paper, let alone smartphones. In 2022, our days are filled with convenient distractions that promise happiness while mostly delivering busyness and frustration. So many of us today live […]
Awaken Your Extraordinary Potential with Integral Transformative Practice® (ITP)
With Pam Kramer and Max Gaenslen
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, […]
The Spirit Bridge: A Portal Between Realms
With Aja Daashuur
There’s a threshold where the seen and unseen meet. A bridge between this life and the spirit world — and we can learn how to access it with openness, practice, and trust. Join AJA Daashuur, medium and spiritual guide, for this weeklong experience designed to open the veil between worlds and deepen your personal connection […]
Healing Wisdom for Modern Times: You Are Your Greatest Healer
With Erika Gagnon
Join ceremonial leader and wisdom carrier Erika Gagnon on a sacred journey, as we gather together and explore the healing wisdom of the “Americas.” We will learn about the importance of ancestral lineage, ceremonies and rituals, sacred altars, medicinal plants, and the origins of dis-ease in our physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual bodies. You are your […]
The Source of the Enneagram Revealed: Oscar Ichazo’s Fixations Training
With Roger Zim and Sascha von Meier
Whether you’re brand new to the Enneagram or have spent years exploring its insights, The Fixations Training, developed by Oscar Ichazo, offers a rare opportunity to experience the system in its original context. Before the Enneagram became widely known as a personality typing tool, it was part of a profound inner map designed to help […]
The Soul is a UFO: Understanding and Embracing Transcendence
With Jeffrey J. Kripal and Kevin Cann
What happens when we refuse to dismiss mystical, metaphysical, and anomalous experiences as mere fantasy, pathology, or accident? What if these moments — often brushed aside by mainstream discourse — actually reveal deeper structures of consciousness and reality? The Soul Is a UFO offers an imaginative, grounded space to explore such questions — designed for […]
The Depths of Vision: Jung, Psychedelics, and the Practice of Integration
With John W. Price
In an era fascinated by peak experiences and personal revelations, the deeper task of transformation is often overlooked. This workshop offers a grounded path for those who have touched something sacred — through psychedelics, mystical states, or profound life transitions — and are now asking, How do I live in service to what I’ve seen? […]
Laughter, Sound, and Consciousness
With LARAAJI and Arji OceAnanda
Are you ready to escape the grip of everyday seriousness and soften into your own vibrant aliveness? Join us for a soul-soothing, laughter-filled playshop designed to help you lighten up, loosen your edges, and let yourself flow. Set against the breathtaking backdrop of Big Sur and the healing spirit of Esalen, this immersive experience is […]
The Practice of Slowing Down
With Ayana Young and Brontë Velez
In a time of constant noise and urgency, this is an invitation to slow down and enter into a deep and quiet rhythm with the more-than-human world. Through silence, movement, prayer, and time on the land, this workshop is a space to listen to our bodies, to the Earth, and to what arises when we […]
Solstice Hearthfire: Celebrate the Rebirth of Your Inner Light
With Micha Merrick
Gather with us on the longest night of the year for a weekend of deep ritual, mythic remembrance, and communal rebirth. As the sun pauses in stillness, we will circle the hearthfire to honor the turning of the wheel and the return of the light through sacred ceremony, fire circles, folklore, green magic, herbcraft, candlelit […]
Natural Healing: A Spiritual Journey of Return
With Margaret Harrsen and Michael Ventura
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 […]
The Luminous Darkness: Imagination, Possibility, and Conscious Intentions for 2025
With Deborah Eden Tull
All light arises from darkness, including insight, creativity, vision, joy, and possibility. The luminous darkness is the spacious presence and receptivity through which we also access light. It is the field of all potential and emergence that we sometimes forget in the context of ordinary life and habit. In this deeply restorative retreat, at the […]
Gateways: A 5Rhythms® Movement & Mindfulness Retreat
With Lucia Horan and Douglas Drummond
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. Together, we will dance into and through the gateway of the new year, crossing the thresholds […]
Starting the New Year Meditation Retreat: Self-Love and Kindness That Benefits All
With Mark Abramson
This retreat is a quiet, reflective New Year celebration with the opportunity to discover a deep, centered place within and brings together the rich, sensual experience of Esalen — the sounds of the ocean, the feeling of the air, and the beauty of its colors and textures with an opportunity to deeply connect with oneself […]
Awaken Your Heartfelt Intentions Through Movement, Sound, and Stillness
With Tracy Lease and Miyu Tamamura
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 […]
Mindfulness, Metabolism, and Mitochondria: Improve Your Vitality, Nutrition, and Metabolic Control
With Elissa Epel and Robert Lustig
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 […]
Luminous Coherence: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, Lasting Freedom
With Rod Stryker
Even after years — even decades — of practice, many of us still find ourselves caught in loops of fear, self-criticism, or reactivity. Old wounds and unconscious triggers live in the body and mind, silently shaping our perception and choices. In a world increasingly defined by disconnection, distraction, and overwhelm, the need for practices that […]
Meditation and Modern Life: A Zen Meditation Retreat
With Dan Zigmond
When was the last time you gave something your undivided attention? Nearly 2,500 years ago, Buddha worried we had become too distracted — and that was before paper, let alone smartphones. Today our days are filled with convenient distractions that promise happiness while mostly delivering busyness and frustration. Many of us live life in a […]
Stop Holding Yourself Back
With Justin Michael Williams
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 — […]
Being Present for Your Life: Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation
With James Baraz
How much are you present in your own life? Most of us spend more time worrying about the future, replaying the past, or getting lost in fantasy than experiencing what life offers us right now. This moment is our opportunity to be directly intimate with our lives while learning, through difficult lessons, how to open […]
Sacred Clown: Reconnecting to Self Through the Spirit of Play
With Jet Eveleth
Our clown is the authentic, curious, and playful version of ourselves. Clowning as a life practice is the balancing of our light and shadow while laughing at our attachments. We will explore being soft, brave, and available to the moment. This workshop is an immersion practice that explores our most vulnerable and creative self. Using […]
Attuning to Love: A Sonic Sanctuary for Your Heart with Crystal Singing Bowls
With Deva Munay
Love is the bridge between you and everything. — Rumi What happens when we devote ourselves to attuning the heart through sound, breath, movement, and presence? In the beautiful setting of Esalen Institute, on the threshold of World Sound Healing Day and Valentine’s week, we’ll gather to awaken and stabilize the frequency of love in […]
Make Peace with your Judging Mind: How Mindfulness and Compassion Can Help Free You from the Inner Critic
With Mark Coleman
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, […]
Stages of Tranquility and Insight
With Dustin DiPerna
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 […]
Free Your Energy, Transform Your Life: Liberate Emotions and Creative Change with Biofield Science, Psychoneuroimmunology, and Tantric Healing
With Shamini Jain
Discover the profound connection between ancient practices and modern science as we explore the transformative potential of the biofield. Western science is uncovering the power of this energy for healing, from cells to communities. Published research demonstrates how subtle energy healing can reduce pain, alleviate anxiety, shift hormone and immune function, and even prevent the […]
Tibetan Dream Yoga
With Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
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 Inverted Tree: Living from the Spine Through Movement, Meditation and Mantra
With Dhruv Nagar
Explore the spine as the body’s sensorial continuum. Engage the breath, senses, movement, sound, words (mantra), imagination, and feelings to curate somatic experience and immersion. Sensitize to the rhythms and energies of the cerebrospinal axis that hold infinite potential for growth and transformation. The spinal nerves, centers, and energies are a bridge between the body’s […]
Past Lives and Present Questions: What Can Children’s Past Life Memories Tell Us About Human Existence
With Jim B. Tucker and Christine McDowell Tucker
What if reincarnation is not a mere cultural belief or spiritual metaphor, but an emergent data set pointing toward a deeper structure of reality? For over sixty years, researchers at the University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies have compiled more than 2,000 rigorously documented cases of young children who recall past lives — often […]
Awakening Spring Within: Somatic Herbalism, Plant Spirit Meditation, and Nature Connection
With Marysia Miernowska
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 […]
Yoga Nidra Retreat: Rest, Restore, and Remember Who You Are
With John Vosler
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," […]
Healing Ourselves & Our lineage: Gratitude for Our Ancestors
With Erika Gagnon
Gratitude for our ancestors! We are the reality of their dreaming. We are the tip of the arrow of our entire ancestral lineage, which traces back to the beginning of time. We all inherit our ancestors’ strength & resilience, their wisdom & their gifts, as well as their pain and trauma. Join ceremonial leader and […]
Sacred Tobacco: Hapé and the Art of Presence
With Glauber Loures de Assis
Hapé, a sacred tobacco preparation, has been used by Indigenous peoples across the Amazon as a medicine for clarity, presence, and connection for centuries. Blown gently into the nostrils, this finely ground blend of tobacco leaves and sacred ashes activates the senses in a unique way, opening inner vision and anchoring attention in the present […]