Introduction to Esalen® Massage: The Art of Healing Touch
With Silvia Guersenzvaig and Jenny Pareno
September 19 - 21, 2025
This workshop invites you to enjoy Esalen in the fall as you gain foundational skills in our famed massage modality. Silvia and Jenny will guide you in this experience of mindful touch translated to the massage table. Through lectures, brief demonstrations, and supervised practice, they will introduce the basics: quality of touch, rapport, massage skills with “the listening hand” and effective body mechanics.
The slow-paced practice of Esalen massage sets the stage for a pleasurable natural healing process to emerge, rather than any focus on “fixing”. You will learn how to drape and how to easily apply Esalen’s signature integrative strokes, detail, and gentle stretches with a concluding pause. You will be encouraged to effectively share your experience. You may even enjoy giving a massage as much as receiving one.
Classroom tools include exercises designed to awaken the senses and illuminate the value of boundaries in healing work, demonstrations, and tableside guidance tailored specifically for your experience level. The class is appropriate for the new and curious as well as the professional seeking to refresh their senses and the quality of their touch.
10 hours of continuing education provided by the faculty through Esalen Massage and Bodywork Association Teachers. For more information on CE email EMBA@esalen.org.
About the Leaders

Silvia Guersenzvaig
Silvia Guersenzvaig is a certified international Esalen Massage® teacher and astrologer since 1977. She is a bilingual practitioner and international teacher of Transformational Kinesiology® and creator of AstroSoma, a healing method that combines energy muscle testing and astrology. Email Me www.transform4joy.com
Learn more about Silvia GuersenzvaigJenny Pareno
Jenny Pereno has been an integral part of the Esalen community for over a decade, as massage therapist and instructor. She also maintains a private massage practice in San Luis Obispo, California, which she calls home. Beyond her nurturing hands, her adventurous spirit shines through as an avid trail runner and marathon racer. She finds […]
Learn more about Jenny ParenoCategory : Massage & Healing Arts