Altered States: Pathways to Expansion

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

We humans are curious and since time immemorial, think deeply about non ordinary states of consciousness.

Embark on a weeklong campus-wide transformative journey of self-discovery with Esalen community as we delve into the depths of the mind through African ritual and sacred art, dream and sleep yoga modalities, and Holotropic breathwork. This 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 leading edge faculty: Marques Redd, Stacia Butterfield, and Andrew Holecek — through an amalgam of pathways 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.

Choose a pathway below  to dive more deeply into a modality for part of this workshop.