Altered States: Pathways to Expansion | Locals OWN Accommodations

With Sravana Borkataky-Varma, Lucia Horan, Xochitl Ashe, East Forest and Marisa Radha Weppner

September 4 - 8, 2023

Workshop Schedule

Monday
5:00 pm – 5:45 pm *How to Drop Into Esalen*
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm

Tuesday: Bodies & Movement
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Optional Open Yoga Class
10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Pathway Through Movement
1:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Optional Meditation Session
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Panel Discussion: Connecting in Movement to Find Altered States (Live Streaming Event)
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Optional Sound or Movement Experience

Wednesday: Plant Medicine & Psychedelics
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Optional Open Yoga Class
10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Pathway Through Movement
1:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Optional Meditation Session
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Panel Discussion: Engaging With Plant Medicine & Psychedelics to Find Altered States
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Cacao Ceremony

Thursday: Sound
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Optional Open Yoga Class
10:30 am - 12:30 pm
Pathway Through Movement
1:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Optional Meditation Session
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Panel Discussion: The Power of Sound in Experiencing Altered States (Live Streaming Event)
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Sunset Ceremony Concert with East Forest

Friday
7:30 am - 9:00 pm
10:30 am - 12:30 pm

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

  • Locals Rate Own Accommodations – $900.00

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 and have thought deeply about altering our state of consciousness.

In this weeklong campus-wide program — together with Sravana Borkataky-Varma, Xotchitl Ashe, East Forest, Lucia Horan and Esalen in-residence faculty — we will explore and experience how, through an amalgam of pathways, altering our states of consciousness can shift personal and global challenges into individual and collective opportunities.

Moving the body through dance, calming and focusing the mind through meditation, uniting the mind and body through yoga can be just as effective a way to alter one’s consciousness as the more familiar exploration through mind-altering plants. Within the majesty of Mother Nature, people have long-documented the magnitude of their experiences in the natural world as creating transformative pathways to entering a trance state.

The arts are also a potent pathway into this space — a poem, a painting, a film, a piece of music can carry the consciousness shifting electricity that leads us toward a mystical experience. Esalen co-founder Michael Murphy, for example, brought his mystical experience through sport to life through his novel, Golf in the Kingdom.

Through these lenses, Esalen Institute is curating a wide array of conventional and non-conventional approaches to reaching an altered state. Indeed, we will dive deep into entheogens, and in community experience the potency of cacao in sacred ceremony. Together we will immerse in these equally potent and sacred modalities.

For many, altered states are perceived to be limited singularly to entheogens and psychoactive substances. The conscious and unconscious reality? There are many different substance and plant-free pathways to reaching and immersing into altered states. Come explore with us and journey on your own consciousness adventure!

The local’s rate is available to Monterey County residents with their own off-site accommodations. Click the Register Now button to view availability and pricing.

About the Leaders

Sravana Borkataky-Varma

Sravana Borkataky-Varma, PhD, is a historian, educator, and social entrepreneur. As a historian, she studies Indian religions focusing on esoteric rituals and gender, particularly in Hindu Śākta (Goddess) Tantra traditions. As an educator, she is an instructional assistant professor at the University of Houston. At present, she is a Center for the Study of World […]

Learn more about Sravana Borkataky-Varma

Lucia Horan

Lucia Horan was born and raised in the Esalen community. She is a leader, wife, and mother. She has been teaching since 1998. Lucia received lifelong direct training with Gabrielle Roth in the 5Rhythms® method. She is formally empowered to teach Buddhist mindfulness in all capacities. She is a certified Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness teacher.   www.luciahoran.com

Learn more about Lucia Horan

Xochitl Ashe

Xochitl (So-chil) Ashe is a trained herbalist with deep indigenous roots. Initiated at the age of sixteen in her Peruvian healing traditions, she has been a conduit for sacred medicines and herbs for twenty years. She works with transformational cacao and mushroom ceremonies in Mexico, especially attending to generational trauma.

Learn more about Xochitl Ashe

East Forest

East Forest is a multidisciplinary artist, producer, and ceremony guide. His work explores living authentically within a modern context by weaving together elements of electro-acoustic live music, nature, technology, brain science, and guided meditation. His "ceremony-concerts" utilize a skilled mostly instrumental repertoire to create space for an emotive inner journey; the catalog includes over 30 […]

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Marisa Radha Weppner

Marisa Radha Weppner is a mom, author, DJ, teacher, minister, psychedelic therapist, community organizer, life coach, podcaster, and entrepreneur. She has taught yoga since 2002. Known for her authentic self-expression, humorous yet grounded, she empowers others to embody their soul’s wisdom, bringing a real-world mix of eastern spirituality and western psychology to her students for […]

Learn more about Marisa Radha Weppner

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