The Mandala of Emotion: Where Science Meets the Sacred

With Chandra Easton and Eve Ekman

April 13 - 17, 2026

Workshop Schedule

Monday
5:00 pm – 5:45 pm*How to Drop into Esalen*
7:15 pm – 9:30 pm
Tuesday
9:30 am – 12:30 pm
4:00 pm – 6:15 pm
Wednesday
9:30 am – 12:30 pm
4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Thursday
9:30 am – 12:30 pm
4:00 pm – 6:15 pm
Friday
9:30 am – 12:00 pm

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

  • Sleeping Bag Space – $945.00
  • Bunk Bed Space – $1,245.00
  • Standard Shared Space – $1,565.00
  • Standard Queen Room – $2,065.00
  • Standard Room Two Beds – $3,265.00
  • Premium Queen Room – $3,005.00
  • Premium King Room – $3,225.00
  • Premium Plus King Room – $3,645.00
  • Premium Wooden Yurt – $3,645.00
  • Premium Wooden Yurt Two Beds – $3,645.00
  • Price House Suite – $4,925.00
  • Rolf Suite – $6,965.00
  • Point House – $6,965.00
  • Fritz Point House – $6,965.00
  • South Point House – $8,565.00

In every wisdom tradition, emotions are gateways to awakening. Joy, sorrow, longing, irritation, compassion — each carries insights that open us to clarity and equanimity. Within the mandala of our inner life, nothing is left out. Every emotion holds a teaching and a wisdom quality — and because emotions are relational, this retreat emphasizes self-reflection to foster resilience and care in our relationships.

Chandra Easton and Eve Ekman, longtime friends, lovers of the dharma, and scholars of the mind, will guide a journey into the heart of emotional awareness. This five-day workshop, rooted in Tantric Buddhism, contemplative science, and embodied practice, will honor the universality of emotions and explore the wisdom each one holds. Our time together will invite intimacy with our own hearts and a quantum view of interconnection that underlies our world.

Central to our time together is the Mandala Method, a multidimensional path drawing on Buddhist psychology, sound, elemental wisdom, and somatic awareness. Through meditation, movement, art, music, and nature, participants will learn to meet emotions as trusted companions on the path of awakening.

We’ll also engage with Cultivating Emotional Balance (CEB), a contemplative, science-based training Eve has taught for over 15 years. CEB offers both microscopic precision to map emotional patterns and a telescopic view to place them in the broader context of life, relationships, and mind science.

Retreat practices include:

  • Guided meditations rooted in the Mandala Method and CEB
  • Mapping emotional experience for clarity and meaning
  • Somatic, elemental, artistic, and musical practices
  • Group dialogue to uncover emotional wisdom

This workshop welcomes all who long to deepen emotional wisdom, savor joy, and rest in true equanimity. No prior meditation experience is required — only an open heart and curious spirit.

About the Leaders

Chandra Easton

Chandra Easton is a teacher, author, and translator of Tibetan Buddhist texts. She has taught Buddhism and Hatha Yoga since 2001 and co-translated Sublime Dharma: A Compilation of Two Texts on the Great Perfection, published in 2012. She is a Vajra teacher, Dorje Lopön, at Tara Mandala Retreat Center, founded by Lama Tsultrim Allione. While […]

Learn more about Chandra Easton

Eve Ekman

Eve Ekman, PhD, MSW, is a contemplative social scientist, teacher, and scholar focusing on emotional awareness, empathy, meditation, and interventions to alleviate burnout and promote well-being. Eve draws from interdisciplinary skills and first-person experiential knowledge from clinical social work, integrative medicine, contemplative science, and meditation. She did her MSW and PhD at UC Berkeley and […]

Learn more about Eve Ekman

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