Esalen Catalog Spring 2020

January – June 2020

The Power of Our Potential Every day we see evidence that our world is changing.

Every generation has likely felt this, yet perhaps not at the level of global impact or at the break-neck speed that we are experiencing today. Some may believe that we’ve lost touch with our humanity and the result will be a dark future for people and our planet. We are threatened by extinction: not only of biodiversity but extinction of the human experiences that allow us to connect at a deeper level.

At Esalen we are watching these changes with our eyes wide open. We believe the way forward must be guided by the power of our innate potential and what we can learn from each other in order to find the best in ourselves — both for our individual well-being and for our collective future. How do we tap into this potential? This question has been a driving force in recent conversations regarding Esalen’s path forward. What we continue to hear from people is an urgent desire, even imperative, to reconnect to our humanity as part of our effort to increase our mission impact and help address some of our greatest societal challenges.

For nearly six decades, Esalen has been a place for exploring what it means to be fully human. We are a place to ask the questions that can’t be asked anywhere else; a place to challenge limiting beliefs in the pursuit of growth and integration; a place to be vulnerable so that we may face our fears and, in doing so, come away transformed. All of these aspects of Esalen are also aspects of our shared humanity.

In the coming months, we will be sharing with you outcomes of conversations with our community — staff, faculty, seminarians and friends — that underpin a new strategic framework to guide Esalen over the coming years. We look forward to inviting you into this conversation. Together we can explore not just our human potential but also address the challenges that prevent us from embracing our full humanity — those critical components that must be preserved from extinction.

Until then, please enjoy the curated selection of workshops for Spring 2020 designed to help us begin, or continue, on our path to being fully human.

With gratitude,

Terence Gilbey General Manager and CEO

Welcome to Esalen

Our History

Since 1962, Esalen Institute has sought to develop what Aldous Huxley originally envisioned as the “human potential�—all those unrealized capacities of mind and body that point to the further evolution of human nature. Esalen is known for its nuanced blend of Western and Asian cultures, its emphasis on experiential workshops, its gifted teachers, its social activism at home and abroad, and its hot springs. Honoring the native Esselen peoples who once inhabited the land, Esalen sits on the spectacular Big Sur Coastline with the Santa Lucia Mountains rising sharply behind.

Our Mission

Esalen is a leading non profit institute for exploring and realizing human potential through experience, education and research. We work toward the realization of a more humane and all-embracing world, seeking answers to questions unlikely to be explored by traditional universities and religions.

We sponsor pioneering initiatives and offer personal, spiritual and social transformation programs for workshop participants, residential study students and property residents.

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Our Offerings

Workshops/Conferences/ Residential Study Our workshops range in subject matter from the arts and body movement to meditation, psychology, and nature and sustainability. You may choose from a variety of program lengths; most workshops are weekend, five and seven days long. Your workshop registration is allinclusive, providing you with accommodation, meals and access to additional classes and facilities on property. Please view the Guide to Workshops for a full list of programs by subject.

Many educational institutions recognize Esalen programs as eligible for credit in their curricula; check with your university or college. Additional information can be provided if needed. Esalen provides continuing education (CE) credit for MFTs, LCSWs, nurses, bodyworkers, acupuncturists and more. See page 94 for details.

We also offer a residential study program for individuals interested in participating in an intensive month-long course of study.

A Time to Reflect This is a special opportunity to spend time at Esalen without enrolling in a specific workshop.

A Time to Reflect is offered regularly throughout the year. Nourish your body, mind, heart and

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soul by enjoying yoga and movement classes, massage, time in the Meditation Hut, evening programs and the hot springs. Visit the website for updates and pricing.

Healing Arts Esalen has long been known for its unique massage and bodywork modalities, developed by innovative practitioners at the hot springs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and offered to guests during their stay. Esalen MassageÂŽ incorporates long, flowing strokes over the whole body, and helps release the stresses of everyday life, leaving the receiver feeling integrated and deeply relaxed. Reservations must be made and paid for in advance. Please visit https://www. esalen.org/page/welcome-esalen-healing-arts to book your massage and for more information.

Hot Springs Esalen is the steward of a natural hot springs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The hot springs is a source of relaxation and healing for those who visit, and you may catch a glimpse into the life of a sea otter, seal or migratory whale while you enjoy the baths. Swimsuits are optional, and nudity common, in the hot springs and massage areas.

We offer public night bathing from 1:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. Reservations are required and can only be made online at https://nightbaths. esalen.org. Reservations are non-refundable and non-transferable. During the winter months same-day booking applies. Online reservations are available for booking at 9:00 a.m. based on weather. The hot springs may be closed during public holidays and some Esalen events. We do not accept large group reservations.

Additional Classes Esalen offers a daily schedule of free classes open to all guests. Offerings can include yoga, chanting, meditation, free-form dance, and more. We also host visiting scholars and teachers who interface with the Esalen community in many ways, including Wednesday evening discussions.

Farm & Garden Esalen’s five-acre Farm & Garden produces hundreds of varieties of vegetables, many of which are used to feed Esalen guests and residents. Guests may volunteer with the Farm & Garden crew during their stay, enjoy the flowers during spring and summer, and participate in farming and permaculture workshops throughout the year.

Contents

Message from Esalen............................ IFC Welcome to Esalen.................................... 1 Our Offerings............................................. 2 Inside the Farm & Garden...................... 4 Visiting Esalen........................................... 5 Accommodations...................................... 6 Guide to Workshops................................ 8 Esalen Workshops...................................10 Faculty Spotlight.................................... 22

Accommodations Esalen features an all-inclusive rate, which means your reservation includes your workshop tuition, overnight accommodation, meals and other offerings. There are several types of accommodations to meet a diversity of needs and budgets. Offerings begin with sleeping bag, bunk bed, and shared standard rooms as well as premium rooms that provide for greater privacy and Point Houses which are private suites. For full descriptions, see pages 6–7.

Children and Families Esalen offers some family-oriented workshops. Guests attending non-family

themed workshops who have small children should arrange for childcare. Please contact Big Sur Park School, located on Esalen’s campus, at www.bigsurparkschool.org.

Giving Back Help support personal and social transformation by becoming a Friends of Esalen member.

Benefits include ability to reserve a Friends of Esalen retreat, when space allows, and subscription to the Esalen Catalog. Join a worldwide network of friends supporting Esalen’s nonprofit mission. Learn more at www.esalen.org/give.

Faculty Spotlight.................................... 33 Esalen Inspirational Film Festival.......48 Faculty Spotlight.................................... 53 Midsummer Festival............................... 57 Esalen Kitchen Recipe...........................88 Residential Study Program................. 90 Continuing Education Programs........94 Faculty Index............................................95

Contact

Stay connected with Esalen: facebook.com/EsalenInstitute instagram.com/Esalen twitter.com/EsalenInstitute

Credits

Front cover photo by: Doug Ellis Essays, drawings and photos submitted by: Andy Abele Gina Aguirre Ed Caldwell Tracie Christian Doug Ellis Kyle Evans Tim Farrell Kel Fisher Vera Lin Melina Meza Jason Moon

Susanne Nilsson Addison Olian Wari Om Rick Rasmussen Anne Stenehjem Angie Smith Leilani Tuttle Jens Wazel Wilma Wyss Kerstin Zilm

The Esalen Catalog is published biannually

by Esalen Institute, a nonprofit organization.

Printed on recycled paper. ©2020 Esalen Institute. All rights reserved.

ISSN 1088-2782 3

only at

Inside the Farm & Garden On a typical Big Sur morning you can find Esalen staff and guests planting or harvesting, shoulder-to-shoulder, in marine terrace land that has been thoughtfully cultivated for more than 40 years. Esalen’s Farm & Garden is both a place to connect with nature and the abundance of the land as well as to participate in a living laboratory that embraces sustainable practices.

Because Esalen exists in a drought-prone region, water conservation guides many farming practices. One such practice finds its roots in an ancient method largely forgotten by mainstream agriculture. “Dry farming is a technique in which you grow a crop without the use of added irrigation,” explains Farm Supervisor Chris Omer. “It’s a bit of an act of faith, that the plants will have the intelligence to know exactly what to do in order to survive.”

Visitors to the Farm & Garden can also enjoy an encounter with one of Esalen’s newest additions — red wigglers. This system of worm composting can generate up to 50 gallons of vermicompost weekly. “We will run our vegetable waste from the kitchen through our normal compost process, then the worms complete the process,” adds Chris. “The result is a stable, nutrient-rich, accessible, biodiverse superfood for plants. They are full of plant growth promoters, along with increased levels of micronutrients like calcium, magnesium and sulfur.”

Whether you dig your hands into the Esalen soil or simply enjoy its vegetables and fruits in the Lodge, no Esalen experience is complete without our Farm & Garden.

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Visiting Esalen We look forward to welcoming you to Esalen.

To help you plan for your visit, we’ve put together some helpful information. For additional assistance, please call 1-888-837-2536 or 1-703-342-0500 (for international callers) or email info@esalen.org.

Getting Here Esalen is located 45 miles south of Monterey and 12 miles south of Big Sur on California State Route 1. Allow yourself ample time to travel to this remote, tranquil location due to changing road conditions. We encourage ridesharing to reduce the number of cars on the road or at Esalen. Ask an Esalen reservationist for rideshare or shuttle service options from regional airports. Visit www.esalen.org/page/ getting-here for more information.

What to Bring The coastal weather is unpredictable, so we recommend bringing warm and layered comfortable clothing as well as hiking shoes.

Esalen paths have low lighting so you may enjoy the night skies, so we recommend you bring a flashlight. Please bring any medications, toiletries, sunscreen, water bottle, a towel for the hot springs and earplugs if you share a room.

What to Expect PHONE AND INTERNET: There is no cell phone

service at Esalen. There are two shared Internet stations available and the Lodge offers WiFi access except during meal times. Due to our remote location, we cannot guarantee Internet connectivity.

HEALTH SERVICES: Esalen has no medical ser-

Please discuss your needs with an Esalen reservationist at the time of registration (at least 72 hours prior to arrival) and we may be able to assist.

CLOTHING OPTIONAL: In the hot springs,

massage area, and pool area clothing is optional and nudity common. We encourage each individual to choose what is most comfortable for him or her. The environment we strive for at Esalen is one of personal sanctuary and respect for the human body.

General Policies The following policies are in place for the benefit of Esalen workshop participants, workshop leaders, residents and other visitors.

SMOKING: Smoking is permitted in designated

outdoor areas only; it is not permitted in guest rooms or meeting rooms.

ILLEGAL DRUGS: In accordance with state and

federal laws, the possession or use of illegal drugs on Esalen property is strictly prohibited.

PETS: Other than service animals, pets are not

allowed. In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. If you plan to bring a service animal, please contact an Esalen reservationist to register your animal.

vices or pharmaceutical supplies on property.

Please come prepared to administer to your own needs. Esalen is 45 miles from a medical facility and pharmacy.

AGE RESTRICTIONS: Workshop participants

ACCESSIBILITY: Many Esalen paths, though

may not have guests on property.

paved, are steep and uneven. Access to some parts of the property may be difficult depending on your level of mobility.

must be 18 years or older unless otherwise noted (such as family workshops).

PERSONAL GUESTS: Workshop participants VALUABLES: The Front Office has no facilities

to store guest valuables.

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Feel Home at Esalen When you reserve a workshop at Esalen, your tuition includes both the cost of your workshop as well as a variety of amenities including room accommodation, beautifully prepared meals featuring produce grown in the Farm & Garden, and a 24-hour coffee, tea and bread bar.

Additional offerings include:

Premium rooms and Point Houses offer greater privacy, upgraded amenities, and ocean or garden views. Point Houses also feature a full kitchen and private redwood deck. Accommodations pricing begins at $420 for weekend workshops for shared sleeping bag space. Please visit www.esalen.org for current pricing.

• Vegan and vegetarian options for all meals • 24-hour use of the hot springs bath facilities • Access to the Art Barn (except when a workshop is scheduled) • Walks in the Farm & Garden • Meditation in the Meditation Hut • Daily movement classes • Special Wednesday evening lectures • Occasional impromptu discussions hosted by visiting scholars and teacher • Subscription to the Esalen catalog

Ask About Our Reduced Rates

Choose Your Room

anyone registering for four consecutive five-day workshops with three Personal Retreat weekends in between. This program is available JanuaryApril only. Please contact an Esalen reservationist for information.

We offer a wide array of accommodations to meet different needs. Shared sleeping bag areas and bunk beds offer the most affordable rates. If you choose a sleeping bag option, you will have access to your sleeping area from 11:00 pm to 8:45 am. Standard rooms are shared housing with two to three people per room.

Couples are housed privately.

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In some cases, you may be eligible for a reduced rate. Please inquire about this option at the time of registration. Reduced rate options include: WORK EXCHANGE: Limited assistance is available for workshop participants

in exchange for a work commitment in Cabins or the Esalen Kitchen.

SCHOLARSHIPS: Limited student aid is available for those in financial need.

Visit www.esalen.org/scholarships for more information.

SENIOR CITIZEN DISCOUNT: A discount is available for workshop

participants over 65: a $25 discount for weekend and $50 for five-day or longer workshops.

MONTH-LONG RESIDENCY PROGRAM: A 20% discount is available for

Reserve Your Space Now online: www.esalen.org phone: 888-8-ESALEN (888-837-2536) +1 703-342-0500 (intl. callers)

Arrival and Departure

Guests are welcome to arrive at Esalen anytime after 2:00 pm on the day your stay begins. Rooms become available after 4:00 pm and you may pick up your key at the Esalen Gate or at Guest Services located in the Lodge.

We host a guest orientation on Friday and Sunday evenings.

Workshop schedules normally begin at 8:30 pm on the day of arrival.

On the day of your departure, please check out of your room before attending the closing workshop session or before 10:00 am. Enjoy lunch with us and please depart by 2:00 pm.

Accommodations include a Friday and Saturday night stay for weekend workshops and Sunday through Thursday night stay for five-day workshops. Schedules for seven-day workshops vary; please ask at registration.

Payment and Cancellation To reserve your space in a workshop, we require a minimum deposit of 30% of the total reservation balance. The full payment of your total balance is due 10 days before your arrival date and is automatically charged to your credit card. All fees are payable in U.S. currency only. You will receive an email confirming the final payment.

If we encounter issues processing your credit card, we will email you a link to make your final payment. If the final payment is not made within seven days of your arrival date, your reservation will be canceled and your entire deposit will be forfeited.

All cancellations must be made directly with a Guest Services staff member. Please call 888-837-2536 to make a cancellation. A cancellation fee applies to all workshop reservations.

If you change or cancel your reservation more than 14 days before your arrival date, you will be charged a processing fee of half the deposit. Any remaining amount will be refunded. If you change or cancel your reservation more than seven but less than 14 days before your arrival date, you will forfeit your entire deposit (30% of your reservation). Changes or cancellations made less than seven days before your arrival date are subject to forfeit the entire cost of the reservation (deposit and final payment).

Esalen reserves the right to cancel any program at any time. If your workshop is canceled, we will notify you of the following options: you may receive a full refund; subject to availability, you may transfer into another workshop taking place at the same time period as the canceled workshop; you may come to Esalen and stay for the duration of the canceled workshop.

Fees for Children

Fees for children 10 and under enrolled in a family workshop are $150 for weekend workshops and $300 for five-day workshops. Fees for children ages 11-15 are $420 for a weekend and $675 for a five-day workshop. Children not attending workshops may be housed with two full-paying adults in premium or standard rooms for a meal charge of $25 a day per child ($10 for children under six). Singleparent accommodations are limited. Please inquire at registration.

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Guide to Workshops Arts & Creativity Creative Expression/Theatre Feb 23-28 •

THE MAX: Expanding the Limits of Your Self-Expression May 3-8 • Esalen Inspirational Film Festival

Music/Rhythm Feb 21-23 • Living in Harmony:

Singing Our Way Back Together Apr 5-10 • The Natural Singer May 1-3 • Inner Resonance Explorations May 15-17 • Music, Meditation and Technology May 29-31 • Spirit Dive: Music, Sound, Ceremony and Meditation

Visual Arts Jan 5-10 • Art as a Spiritual Path Feb 23-28 • Invite Your Daemons for Tea Mar 1-6 • Mosaic Art: Patterns in Nature Mar 20-22 • The Writing Life Apr 12-17 • Painting the Outer and Inner Landscape Apr 19-24 • Write, Unite, Transform: Discovering

Stories that Build Community and Make Us Whole June 7-12 • The Painting Process Rediscovered June 12-14 • SoulCollage® and the Art of Intuition Writing June 28-Jul 3 • Writers’ Camp

Body & Movement Dance Jan 5-10 • Begin Again: The Dancing Path

of Renewal Jan 31-Feb 2 • Dancing with the Dharma: 5Rhythms® and Insight Meditation Feb 2-7 • 5Rhythms®: Connections Feb 16-21 • Soul Motion®: Begin Again Apr 17-19 • 5Rhythms®: Grief, Loss and the Body in Motion Apr 19-24 • Heart to Heart: 5Rhythms® Heartbeat and Buddhist Heart Practice June 5-7 • Soul Motion®: Freedom to Soar

Healing Arts/Somatic Practices Feb 2-7 • Brilliant Body: Spinefulness Fundamentals Feb 23-28 • Primordial Qigong: Transformative

Alchemy from the Original Developer of Tai Chi

Mar 6-8 • Pelvic Liberation Weekend for Women Mar 15-20 • IAHE: Total Body Balancing 1

May 29-31 • How to Use Posture to Nurture

Strength, Openness and More May 29-31 • Cultivating Vitality in Body, Mind and Spirit May 31-June 5 • Eros, Post-Daoism and The Way of MogaDao June 7-12 • Yi Quan Qigong

Massage Jan 5-10 • Esalen Massage: Accessing Back

Body from the Front Jan 26-Mar 8 • 250-Hour Esalen Massage® Certification Program Feb 9-14 • Esalen Massage and Energy Work Feb 23-28 • Fundamentals of Esalen Massage Mar 8-13 • Deep Tissue Techniques for Massage Practitioners Mar 13-15 • Current Trends in Esalen Massage and Bodywork Mar 22-27 • Esalen Massage and Meditation May 22-24 • Esalen Massage for Couples, Partners & Friends May 31-June 5 • The Healing Art of Deep Bodywork®: Healing Trauma June 19-21 • Esalen Massage-The Basics

Yoga

Leadership Jan 10-12 • Becoming a Healing Leader:

7 Relationship-Building Skills

May 1-3 • Leading with Emotional Courage

Social/Political Change Feb 7-9 • Tap into the Power of Your Heart

to Promote Peace

Feb 28-Mar 1 • Cultural Transformation for the

Perennial Good: A Weekend with Wes Jackson

Mar 20-22 • The Power of Play and Human

Connection in the Digital Age

May 15-17 • Building Bridges of Belonging

Meditation & Spirituality Contemplative/Spiritual Studies Jan 26-31 • Effortless Mindfulness: How to Live an

Awakened Life

Feb 7-9 • Embodied Spirituality Mar 22-27 • The Way of Grace: The Transforming

Power of Ego Relaxation

Mar 27-29 • Know Thy Selves: Discovering Past Lives

Jan 17-19 • The Path to Love with Yoga

Mar 29-Apr 3 • It’s Not Your Money-How to Live

and Meditation Jan 17-19 • Embody Forgiveness: From Shame and Resentment to Transcendence Jan 26-31 • Our Own Bright Light: Yoga and Zen Feb 7-9 • Nourish: Slow Flow & Restorative Yoga Mar 1-6 • Grief Yoga™ Teacher Training: Level One Mar 13-15 • Liberate the Body and Stretch the Mind Apr 5-10 • The Practical Art of Living Flow Spring Regeneration Retreat Apr 10-12 • Soul Rising: Ritual of Renewal Apr 12-17 • Relax into Your Power: Yoga Nidra, Sankalpa and Self-Inquiry Apr 24-26 • Spell of the Sensuous May 10-15 • Yoga: Increasing the Energy Flow May 22-24 • Cultivating Meaning and Happiness through Mindfulness and Yoga June 14-Jul 12 • Yoga Immersion: A Journey into Self June 21-26 • Yoga Gathering: Ritual and Rhythm

Leadership & Society Business/Entrepreneurship

May 8-10 • Tickets to Paradise: A Yoga-Based

May 8-10 • Developing a Holistic Center

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Human Diversity

Jan 12-17 • Yoga and the Psychology of the Chakras

Mar 15-20 • Heart of Awareness

Therapeutic Approach to Self-Care and Healing May 17-22 • The Inner Journey: Holotropic Breathwork May 17-22 • IAHE: Craniosacral Therapy 1

June 26-28 • Autism — The Potential of

Conversations on the Edge Mar 6-8 • Beyond the Valley Mar 27-29 • How to Live Forever

Fully from Divine Abundance

Apr 3-5 • Awakening Shakti: Meditation, Kundalini

and the Opening of the Heart

Apr 5-10 • The Powers of the Quantum Mind Apr 12-17 • I Am the Word: The Energetics

of Consciousness

Apr 17-19 • I Am the Word: The Energetics of

Consciousness

May 31-June 5 • How We Change and Why We Don’t June 12-14 • Basic Sanity June 26-28 • Healing at the Edge: Conscious Living,

Conscious Dying

Meditation/Mindfulness Jan 17-19 • Embody Forgiveness Feb 9-14 • Love and Wonder: A Meditation Retreat

with The Radiance Sutras

Feb 14-16 • Good Morning, I Love You: Mindfulness

+ Self-Compassion Practices to Rewire Your Brain

Feb 16-21 • Cha Dao, The Way of Tea: A Meditation

and Tea Retreat with Wu De

Feb 28-Mar 1 • Consciousness Hacking:

Meditation + Technology

Mar 6-8 • Being Present for Your Life: Mar 29-Apr 3 • Yoga Nidra Retreat: Rest,

Restore and Rewrite Your Life

Apr 17-19 • Find Your Ease: Mindfulness

Retreat for Lawyers

Apr 26-May 1 • Advanced Training in Mind-Body

Medicine May 1-3 • Awake in the Wild: Meditation in Nature May 8-10 • Mindfulness in Deep Relationship

Myth/Ritual/Shamanism Jan 31-Feb 2 • Finding What Feeds Us: Living Well

After Loss for 20- to 40-Somethings Mar 15-20 • Wild Eros in a Fragmented World Mar 22-27 • Revisioning Your Hero's Journey®: A Mythological Toolbox Mar 27-29 • The Heart of the Shaman: The Oracle and the Art of Divination June 26-28 • Journey of the Heart: Indigenous Huichol Shamanism

Apr 19-24 • Big Sur Wilderness Experience: Springtime May 15-17 • Wild Pilgrimage: Big Sur Backpacking

Journey to Esalen

June 7-12 • Nature and Contemplation: Cultivating

Wild Mindfulness

June 12-14 • Forest Bathing: Deepening Connection

with Nature, Self and Others

Relationship & Self Family Apr 10-12 • The Magical Family May 8-10 • Mother’s Day Family Workshop June 12-14 • Celebrating Fatherhood

Personal Reflection

Life Purpose/Visioning

Jan 31-Feb 2 • Nurturing Our Capacity to Care:

Jan 10-12 • Designing the Life We Want:

For Caregivers in the Brain Injury Community Feb 21-23 • The Agreements of Love Apr 24-26 • Rising Strong™ Workshop June 5-7 • Living a Flourishing Life

Mind & Psychology Philosophical/Scientific Inquiry Mar 8-13 • The More Beautiful World Our Hearts

Know Is Possible

Psychology/Transpersonal Psychology

Self-Renewal in the New Year

Jan 12-17 • Designing the Life We Want:

Self-Renewal in the New Year

Jan 17-19 • Meet Your Better Half:

Unlock Your Right Brain

Mar 8-13 • Total Immersion for Total Transformation Mar 13-15 • Unfinished Business: Create Your Next

Steps in Life from the Inside Out

Mar 29-Apr 3 • The Science and Practice of a

Meaningful Life Relationship/Communication

Relationship/Communication Jan 5-10 • Mindful Communication:

Truth Without Blame

Jan 5-10 • Radically Alive: A Radical

Jan 10-12 • The Shared Heart New Year’s

Jan 12-17 • Trauma, Memory and the Restoration

Jan 24-26 • Getting the Love You Want:

Jan 12-17 • Arrive Already Loved™

Feb 9-14 • The Sovereignty of Self: The Awakened

Aliveness Workshop of One’s Self

Feb 2-7 • Self-Compassion in Inner and

Outer Relationships Feb 9-14 • The I in the Storm: Bringing Self Leadership to Everyday Life Feb 16-21 • Relational Gestalt Practice Mar 1-6 • Being in the Body: Enneagram and Inner Work Retreat Apr 3-5 • Relational Gestalt Practice May 10-15 • EMDR Basic Training: Part 3 June 12-14 • When We're Triggered: How to Stop Reacting and Begin Healing June 14-19 • Psychedelic Integration 2020 June 19-21 • Learn How Your Body Informs You

Couples Retreat

A Workshop for Couples

Masculine Meets the Divine Feminine

Feb 14-16 • The Extraordinary Couples Workshop Feb 28-Mar 1 • Clearing the Way for a New Life

After a Broken Heart

Mar 8-13 • Secrets of Great Relationships: For

Individuals and Couples

Mar 20-22 • Getting the Love You Want:

A Workshop for Couples

Apr 3-5 • Couples’ Communication Retreat Apr 10-12 • The Creative Difference: Redesigning

the Conversations that Matter Most

Apr 24-26 • Manifest the Love of Your Life with

The Soulmate Secret

May 15-17 • Wired for Love Couples Workshop

Nature & Sustainability

May 22-24 • Surrendered Leadership Circling

Ecology/Permaculture

Sexuality

Feb 28-Mar 1 • Awakening to Spring through

Mar 20-22 • Emotional Mindfulness, Connection

Garden-based Herbalism June 19-21 • Exploring Plant-Based Eating June 26-28 • Herbs for Stress, Stamina and Sleep

Wilderness/Hiking

June 7-12 • Reclaiming Your Authentic Self June 19-21 • Hold Me Tight Workshop for Couples

and Healing for Gay Men

June 5-7 • Women's Intimacy, Desire and Eroticism June 26-28 • Sexual Fairytales: Debunking Myths

to Choose Your Own Adventure

Apr 5-10 • Practicing Presence in Big Sur:

Hiking, Yoga and Mindfulness

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Esalen Workshops

Register

online: www.esalen.org by phone: 888-8-ESALEN (888-837-2536)

WEEK OF JANUARY 5-10 Mindful Communication: Truth Without Blame Jean Morrison

Let the New Year begin with getting to the heart of what matters most to you! Bring your thoughts, speech and listening into alignment with how you truly want to show up in your relationships, work and community. We’ll dive into the practices and applications of Nonviolent Communication (NVC), the internationally recognized process for resolving conflict and clarifying and living one’s values.

Also known as “a language of life,” it’s a powerful tool for effecting change and bringing compassionate connection and action to life situations. In our engaging and supportive group environment, we’ll integrate practices to examine the way you think, communicate and relate to yourself and others.

Gain skills to help liberate you from these habitual patterns: • Judging self and others • Inauthentically expressing your Yes or No 10

• Taking things personally • Acting from fear, obligation and guilt • Suffering in anger and/or depression • Wanting to be right or in control Communicating mindfully can support you to express authentically without blame, judgments or criticism; hear others' pain without trying to fix it or them; and become more effective in living your values and meeting your goals. ($20 materials fee for booklet and handouts will be added to the workshop cost.)

3 Recommended reading: Rosenberg, Nonviolent Communication. ✩ CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs; see page 94. ✩ CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Jean Morrison, MA, has been a certified NVC trainer since 1989.

She also is an author and materials designer with a background in psychology and counseling. In all of her work, she emphasizes wholebrain learning and thinking, and holistic health. www.groktheworld.com

Begin Again: The Dancing Path of Renewal Davida Taurek

Where do you envision your precious life taking you? It is time to release the past, reset your attention to the present and birth your intentions for the New Year with passion, heart and curiosity. Join me as we ignite our potential for living an authentic, spontaneous and freer life.

Grounding our path forward with sacred and meaningful intent, we will dance, meditate, create and practice gentle self-care and embodiment techniques. In doing so we break free of limiting beliefs and expand our innate capacity of insight and awareness to form a new life story with resiliency, connection and joy.

We will experience the 5Rhythms®, a powerful catalyst and transformative embodiment practice, and Motion Theater®, a playful form of improvisation that translates our inner life into creative expression. These mindfulness modalities shine light into the shadows, unraveling the bonds that keep us stuck in old patterns and predictable behaviors. Reflect, rejuvenate, renew and restore within a supportive community, and luxuriate in the nourishing environment of the Esalen lands and waters. There may be an opportunity for a sweat lodge during this workshop, weather and logistics permitting.

(Sweat lodges are $50-$25 sliding scale, with no one turned away for lack of funds.)

3 Recommended reading: Wise, A Big New Free Happy Unusual Life; Roth, Sweat Your Prayers.

Davida Taurek, MS, LPCC has a diverse background in counseling psychology, the creative arts and body-centered therapies. She is a psychotherapist and serves as associate faculty for the Master of Science Counseling Program at Prescott College, directing the Somatic Emphasis. www.davidataurek.com

Radically Alive: A Radical Aliveness Workshop Ann Bradney

There is a state in which you are fully alive, authentic and spontaneous. You are open to all of your feelings, and connected to your strength and your truth. You are not afraid to know anything about yourself or about others. You seek out and value the diverse perspectives we all bring, and you actualize your creativity and meet life in all its possibilities. In this state you are a force of nature, a presence that helps life’s greatest potential to emerge. This is Radical Aliveness. This workshop creates a container where the frozen feelings that keep us from living fully can come into the light and be transformed. The work unfolds through powerful group and individual process. You will work on your relationship to yourself and explore relating to others in radically alive ways. You will have the opportunity to find what stands in the way of your full potential for life. And the best part is, you can experience the goodness and essence that lives beyond your most destructive patterns, and expand your ability to meet the complex and multifaceted world in ways that benefit all. Return to your life refreshed, wildly expanded and fully expressive of all your gifts!

Note: Due to the nature of this workshop, an interview is required prior to registration. Please email christina@radicalaliveness.org to schedule a 15-minute call and receive the password to complete your registration. ✩ CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs; see page 94.

Ann Bradney, CPRA, is the founder and director of the Radical Aliveness Institute. The Radical Aliveness model is a distinct approach to working with groups and individuals that addresses healing on the personal, interpersonal and systemic levels. www.radicalaliveness.org

Art as a Spiritual Path: Paintings that Awaken the Soul Paul Heussenstamm

The practice of painting is healing and meditative. No experience is necessary as we transform our everyday consciousness into the inner artist that lives in each of us. The week is designed to introduce the possibility that you are an artist, and that the artist path is one of joy, insight and awareness. Our days begin with meditation, dream work and sharing about our paintings. Then we paint! Paul and an assistant provide personal instruction and one-on-one help with techniques. In just a few days, you can finish a colorful painting that reveals many of the deep inner patterns that connect you with your soul. “In my 30 years of teaching,” said Paul, “I have never seen one painting that was not beautiful.” After seeing mandalas made during Paul’s workshop, Eckhart Tolle commented, “These paintings carry a healing presence.” Deepak Chopra said, “These paintings are archetypal manifestations of higher consciousness.” After the workshop, you will have the foundation for painting sacred art and mandalas at home, as you continue on this path of self-discovery and the newfound relationship to art and your soul. ($50 materials fee will be added to the workshop cost.)

3 Recommended reading: Heussenstamm, Divine Forces: Art that Awakens the Soul and Color Yourself Calm.

Paul Heussenstamm commands a new perspective on life. He understands mandalas as psychic maps and symbols of wholeness. www.mandalas.com Photo by Esalen seminarian Tracie Christian

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Photo by Esalen seminarian Vera Lin

Esalen Massage®: Accessing Back Body from the Front Nora Matten & Rob Wilks

This workshop is ideal for practitioners who would like to apply the principles of Esalen Massage while keeping the client in the supine position throughout the session. Occasionally a client is unable to lie in a prone position (on the stomach), due to personal preference or illness, yet still want touch and work involving the whole body.

During this week, we will offer the principles of Esalen Massage: the long flowing strokes, passive movement, and quality of touch and contact, while focusing on ways to access the back body with the client lying supine. We will explore how to use passive joint movement and the movement of limbs to access the back body. We will also learn how to work with our hands underneath the body, allowing us to use our client’s body weight and gravity to achieve the proper depth. Working with these tools will allow us to do a complete massage in the supine position, a beautiful addition to our massage repertoire and a wonderful gift for people who are unable to lie comfortably in a prone position. This workshop is especially useful for those in the helping and healing professions in working with their clients and patients. ✩ CE credit for massage therapists; see page 94. ✩ CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Nora Matten is a member of the Esalen massage crew and an Esalen Massage teacher. As part of the Esalen movement staff, she teaches dance and yoga. Her work draws on Forrest yoga, Soul Motion, vipassana meditation, Gestalt Awareness Practice and the Diamond Approach, among others modalities. www.noramatten.com Rob Wilks is a full-time bodywork practitioner and yoga teacher at Esalen. He specializes in Deep Bodywork®. He has taught experiential leadership education in the U.S. and Eastern Europe.

WEEKEND OF JANUARY 10-12 The Shared Heart New Year's Couples Retreat Barry Vissell & Joyce Vissell

Imagine your relationship expressing the true depths of your love and commitment. If you are in love, this retreat is an opportunity to rise even higher in love. If you are in crisis, it is an opportunity for healing on the deepest level. We all carry some degree of negative programming from our past, and there are loving and effective ways to transform this programming into a positive and vibrant celebration of our connection.

During this workshop, you will experience exercises and practices for you to do with each other, therapeutic coaching of each couple by the Vissells, the support of other couples and time for sharing after each practice. You'll acquire a collection of tools for deeper appreciation and communication building, including healthy communication of feelings, our partner as a mirror, understanding and respecting each other’s differences, conflict resolution, healing past hurts, sexual wellness, inner child/inner parent, taking responsibility and developing a true inner connection. Take the opportunity to explore these tools with your partner during the workshop and learn to incorporate them into everyday life as you continue to improve your relationship at home. For more information, visit www.sharedheart.org.

This workshop welcomes couples of all gender and sexual orientations.

3 Recommended reading: Vissell and Vissell, To Really Love a Man and To Really Love a Woman.

Barry Vissell is a psychiatrist who, with his wife of 54 years, practices the medicine of unconditional love worldwide. He has co-authored many books, including The Shared Heart, Models of Love, Meant to Be, To Really Love a Man, and To Really Love a Woman, among others. www.sharedheart.org Joyce Vissell is a nurse/psychotherapist who, with her husband Barry, founded the Shared Heart Foundation in 1982 dedicated to changing the world one heart at a time. Together they write a syndicated column for 80 periodicals worldwide. www.sharedheart.org

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Designing the Life We Want: Self-Renewal in the New Year Mark Nicolson

You have never been where you are today. You have never been the age you are today, or had the experience you have today. At times, you must pause and reflect: Have you created the impact you want? Are you showing up the way you want to? Are you going in the right direction?

Rarely do we allow ourselves the time to stop and look at what is changing and what we need. Drawing on psychological principles, movement practices and ancient wisdom traditions, we will create a unique environment in which peers can come together for a rare opportunity of intense personal learning, interaction and exploration. Our goal is letting go and renewing the self. You will have the opportunity to develop tools, practices and intentions as a foundation for the next year and next stage of life. Together we will create a courageous and supportive community to make this experiential workshop challenging, safe, enlivening and nurturing.

This is not for the faint of heart and is especially valuable for those who are passionate about having a more powerful and authentic impact on the world around them.

Mark Nicolson is an executive coach based in Silicon Valley. He specializes in leadership and team development for visionary entrepreneurs and catalysts for social change. He is also co-founder of T12N, an innovative program for (re)aligning self and career. www.nicolsongroup.com

Photo by Esalen seminarian Jens Wazel

Becoming a Healing Leader: 7 Relationship-Building Skills for Professional and Personal Success Michael Gelb

How can we change our thinking about leadership to make organizations places of joy and healing? Can you imagine a world in which business makes human flourishing its first priority? In this dynamic program you’ll learn a new way of thinking about the role of business in society and how you can be a more effective leader in this evolving new paradigm. Organizations with strong, positive workplace cultures provide employees the opportunity to develop their skills and potential while also delivering high-performing results for shareholders and industries. The seven relationship-building skills in The Art of Connection help bridge the gap between the ideals of conscious business and its practical application.

Through a proven series of energizing activities, this workshop can help you: • Discover a stronger sense of connection and rapport in your relationships • Understand your leadership style and learn to work effectively with other styles • Learn new strategies for overcoming resistance to creative change • Improve your communication core competencies 3 Recommended reading: Gelb, The Art of Connection: 7 Relationship-Building Skills Every Leader Needs Now, How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: 7 Steps to Genius Every Day and Creativity on Demand: How to Ignite and Sustain the Fire of Genius.

Michael Gelb has been an Alexander Technique teacher since 1978. He is the author of Body Learning: An Introduction to the Alexander Technique and the originator of the Super Qi Summit and the Super Qi Form. A 5th dan in aikido and a tai chi teacher, he is also a professional juggler who has performed with the Rolling Stones. www.michaelgelb.com 13

Yoga and the Psychology of the Chakras Coral Brown

Development of the psyche is a continuous and lifelong process.

The psyche witnesses, assimilates and stores information within psycho-spiritual processing centers called the chakras. The primary development of the psyche and the chakras take place in our formative years. Then, the body-mind creates behaviors, narratives and characteristics based on the events that shape us during these years.

During this week we will journey into the deep chambers of the Self to illuminate the shadows, identify patterns and expose the ways our full potential is being limited. Through uncovering and rewriting old stories, we can transform and seek empowerment from past wounds, trauma and grief. These outdated narratives are no longer serving us. Updating the manner in which we process and perceive the world gives us the power to manifest the reality of our

WEEK OF JANUARY 12-17 Arrive Already Loved™: Developing a Positive Relationship With Yourself Mark Putnam, MD & Dori Middleman, MD

This workshop presents and uses methods developed by Mariah Gladis, longtime beloved Esalen faculty, for developing a positive, loving relationship with yourself. This relationship with self is critically important during deep personal challenges and is the heart of your personal well-being and aliveness, the bedrock upon which all your other relationships rest. To Arrive Already Loved means having an inner life that is a comfortable, loving, compassionate and enjoyable place to be, a home to which you can always turn for solace, support and unconditional acceptance. With a unique style of individual and group Gestalt work and an innovative use of music, you will have an opportunity to work intensively on your most important issues.

This safe and supportive environment will allow you to: • Reassess your relationship with yourself through imagery, dyads and letter-writing

choice. Using yogic philosophy as well as Western psychology, we will examine each of the chakras and their correlating stages and ages of development, as well as the typical behavioral characteristics that are adopted at each stage. Through the power of storytelling, yoga asana, meditation and breathing techniques, we will expose and process psycho-spiritual imbalances that have been limiting us.

Please bring a yoga mat.

Coral Brown is a licensed mental health counselor with 20 years of experience in yoga, philosophy and holistic counseling. Coral is trained in Iyengar and Jivamukti yoga methods, and is a senior teacher of Prana Flow. Her teachings cultivate space for transformational exploration.

Designing the Life We Want: Self-Renewal in the New Year Mark Nicolson

• Understand thinking as a conversation with yourself as we discuss the concept of relationship with self

You have never been where you are today. You have never been the

• Reconnect to your own body wisdom through movement

you must pause and reflect: Have you created the impact you want?

• Develop an active and rich inner dialogue through participating in and witnessing hot seat work

Are you showing up the way you want to? Are you going in the right

• Identify action steps toward healthier ways of being and living

at what is changing and what we need. Drawing on psychological

• Expand your capacity for receptivity to love and all good things

age you are today, or had the experience you have today. At times,

direction? Rarely do we allow ourselves the time to stop and look principles, movement practices and ancient wisdom traditions, we

3 Recommended reading: Gladis, Tales of a Wounded Healer.

will create a unique environment in which peers can come together

Mark Putnam, MD, is a board-certified psychiatrist and has been leading workshops and gestalt trainings at the Pennsylvania Gestalt Center for over 30 years. Mark teaches Gestalt Breath, Body and Movement, a workshop designed to deepen your awareness and integration of body and heart.

for a rare opportunity of intense personal learning, interaction and

Dori Middleman, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist, collaborated with Esalen faculty member Mariah Gladis for 30 years. Dori co-directs the Pennsylvania Gestalt Center’s workshops and training program, does Gestalt therapy, and enjoys serving people of all backgrounds at clinics in Philadelphia and York, PA. http://www.psychiatrywithcare.com/my-background.html

experiential workshop challenging, safe, enlivening and nurturing.

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exploration. Our goal is letting go and renewing the self. You will have the opportunity to develop tools, practices and intentions as a foundation for the next year and next stage of life. Together we will create a courageous and supportive community to make this This is not for the faint of heart and is especially valuable for those who are passionate about having a more powerful and authentic impact on the world around them.

Mark Nicolson bio on page 13.

Trauma, Memory and the Restoration of One's Self

safe, transformative, interpersonal connection. She has taught at Kripalu and other national and international venues. www.liciasky.com

Bessel van der Kolk & Licia Sky

At least one quarter of people in the U.S. have significant histories of trauma. Trauma is not just a story of what has happened in the past; instead, the trauma that was inflicted from the outside keeps being replayed inside the theater of the body. The body keeps the score, and trauma continues to be lived out in heartbreak, gut-wrenching sensations and unexpected reactions. The bottom line is that survivors no longer feel safe inside their own skin. Recovery involves learning how to restore a sense of visceral safety and reclaiming a loving relationship with one’s self. This course will explore how the brain is shaped by experience and how our relationship to ourselves is the product of our synchronicity with those around us.

We will explore a variety of effective ways to re-establish a sense of connection with oneself and those around us, through movement, theater, trauma processing and neurofeedback. This course is not a short-cut to personal healing, but provides a guide for therapists and “lay” people to effective interventions.

3 Recommended reading: van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score.

For continuing education syllabus, see http://www.esalen.org/ Course_Information_Trauma_Memory_Restoration_Self. ✩ CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs; see page 94. ✩ CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Bessel van der Kolk, MD, has taught yearly at Esalen for the past 20 years. He is medical director of the Trauma Center in Boston, professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine and author of the New York Times bestseller The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma. www.besselvanderkolk.com Licia Sky, LMT, has more than 25 years of experience as a therapist and singer-songwriter who leads therapeutic attunement-dynamic experiential exercises that integrate music, movement, vocalizing and touch to foster

WEEKEND OF JANUARY 17-19 Meet Your Better Half: Unlock Your Right Brain William Donius

Learn to activate the right side of your brain to unlock the insights necessary to break through self-limiting patterns. Based on a Nobel Prize-winning discovery in neuroscience, this methodology helps you think outside the box and live a more creative, productive, happier life.

William Donius, author of the New York Times bestseller Thought Revolution, spent a decade researching and developing this brainenhancing methodology. He has taught these skills to a wide range of people, from students and corporate executives to scientists and artists. This innovative approach inspires more creative solutions than conventional thinking or brainstorming sessions. Through easy-tolearn exercises, you can discover ways to harness your intuition and uncover profound insights about yourself that make change possible.

You'll develop practical tools you can apply each time you face an important decision or obstacle in life. You can go home with new ways to unlock your own inner genius and create the life you long for.

Please bring a notebook or journal and a pen.

3 Recommended reading: Donius, Thought Revolution: How to Unlock Your Inner Genius.

William Donius was a left brainer for most of his life. Twenty years ago, however, he discovered how to tap into his right brain and it revolutionized his life. A New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, ideation facilitator and speaker, Bill assists both individuals and organizations in getting "unstuck." www.williamdonius.com

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The Path to Love with Yoga and Meditation Charu Rachlis

Love is the most powerful force in the universe. In today's world, we are facing so much chaos and challenge, and we are being called to step forward with the heart as our guide. How can we make this leap from fear to love? We begin with the breath, and we begin by looking inward through meditation. In this workshop we will practice yoga asanas (physical postures), which deeply calm the nervous system and help release emotional, physical and mental tensions. We will also perform pranayama (breath awareness), which opens us up to deeper states of relaxation. These will be our tools as we find the path of love: loving our own selves, being gentle with ourselves and having patience. Yoga and meditation will firm the ground—inner and outer—to embody the path to love.

Charu Rachlis was born and raised in Brazil, and has been teaching yoga in San Francisco since 1997. She teaches in a Bhakti lineage. She has a 20-year history of Tibetan Buddhist meditation, and is strongly influenced by Iyengar and Ashtanga yoga. www.yoginicharu.com

Embody Forgiveness: From Shame and Resentment to Transcendence Melody Moore

Oftentimes our greatest wounds can become the source of our most powerful gifts. In this workshop, discover how to find selfcompassion and forgiveness for yourself and others by releasing the burdens of past harm. We will use movement, meditation, experiential work, journaling and more to move beyond shame and resentment to access open heartedness and self-acceptance. You are invited to shift your perception through deep connection in small group exercises and dyad listening, and learn how to release yourself from potentially harmful stories of victimhood and step into the power of presence and new possibilities. Whether you are working toward forgiveness of a parent or partner, of yourself, of systemic or religious oppression, all are welcome in this workshop.

Melody Moore, PhD, RYT, is the founder of Embody Love Movement, a clinical psychologist, international yoga teacher, author, social

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entrepreneur and faculty member for Off the Mat, Into the World. She is also an expert in eating disorder prevention and recovery.

WEEKEND OF JANUARY 24-26 Getting the Love You Want: A Workshop for Couples Harville Hendrix & Helen LaKelly Hunt

Take your relationship to the next level in a program inspired by and based on the best-selling book, Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for Couples. This book has helped hundreds of thousands of people experience the profound connection that heals childhood and relational wounds, activates undeveloped potential and spurs spiritual growth. Join husband and wife team Harville Hendrix and Helen LaKelly Hunt for this property-wide workshop that will guide you and your partner toward deeper levels of connection and wholeness using Imago Relationship Therapy, a transformational approach that allows you to experience new levels of safety and appreciation. With the potential to restore passion and hope to your relationship, Imago can bring you healing, wholeness and spiritual growth.

This workshop welcomes couples of all gender and sexual orientations. The workshop also includes extended session hours. ($110 additional tuition plus $50 materials fee per participant will be added to the workshop cost.)

3 Recommended reading: Hendrix and Hunt, Getting the Love You Want and Making Marriage Simple.

Harville Hendrix, PhD, co-created Imago Relationship Theory and Therapy with his wife, Helen LaKelly Hunt. Their partnership has produced 10 books. Harville is a couple’s therapist with over 40 years of experience as an educator, clinical trainer, and lecturer whose work has been on Oprah 18 times. www.HarvilleandHelen.com Helen LaKelly Hunt, PhD, co-created Imago Relationship Theory and Therapy with her husband, Harville Hendrix. Their partnership has produced 10 books. Helen also is the author of Faith and Feminism and And the Spirit Moved Them. She was accepted into the Women’s Hall of Fame and enshrined in the Smithsonian Institute for her leadership in the global women’s movement. www.HarvilleandHelen.com

Effortless Mindfulness: How to Live an Awakened Life Loch Kelly & Anna-Lisa Adelberg

Photo by Esalen seminarian Jens Wazel

WEEK OF JANUARY 26-31 Our Own Bright Light: Yoga and Zen Tias Little & Henry Shukman

"Everyone has their own bright light," said Zen master Yunmen. "What is your bright light?"

During this week of deep immersion in the body practice of yoga and the heart-mind practice of Zen, we explore ways to connect with the “bright light” of our own innate wisdom. Nothing prepares us for meditation like yoga. And nothing takes us further down the path to freedom and love like meditation. Tias and Henry guide from their respective traditions while exploring connections between the two.

The two practices fuel one another beautifully. By strengthening, limbering, calming and liberating the body from its tensions, and by easing the heart-mind of its constrictions, we awaken to the inner lamp of compassionate wisdom that never stops illuminating our lives. We have to slow down and go deep to find it, but it is always here. This week of shared practice is a powerful way to embody this wisdom, all within the spectacular natural beauty of Big Sur. Whether you are starting out on the path of practice or are a long-time practitioner, this week provides a special opportunity for students of all levels to simultaneously deepen their meditation practice while refining and expanding their yoga.

What would the world be like if more of us discovered how to live an awakened life? Loch Kelly and Anna-Lisa Adelberg have integrated wisdom practices, neuroscience and psychological research to support awakening as the next natural stage of human development.

This retreat is for those who have benefitted from mindfulness meditation, yoga, psychotherapy, service to others, or have had a nondual, transcendent awakening but feel like they “get it and lose it” and are asking, "What’s next?"

Awakening begins with a shift out of our small, separate sense of self to discover an “awake” awareness that we sense has been there all along. That awake awareness is inseparable from unconditional love and the dynamic aliveness interconnected with everything.

Learn easily accessible methods that weave together feminine and masculine approaches to awakening and combine an ancient wisdom map, contemporary psychological models of healing and unique energetic ways of connecting. Come learn how to shift out of your chattering mind and into embodied, openhearted awareness in the midst of everyday life. Small glimpse practices, spontaneous chi gung, walks in nature, yoga, shadow healing, peer inquiry and small group support bring us into energetic connection and embodied joyful flow.

3 Required reading: Kelly, The Way of Effortless Mindfulness: A Revolutionary Guide For Living an Awakened Life ✩ CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs; see page 94. ✩ CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Loch Kelly, MDiv, LCSW, is the author of the best-selling book, The Way of Effortless Mindfulness. He is a psychotherapist and leader in the field of embodied awakening. Loch is the founder of the nonprofit Open-Hearted Awareness Institute. He collaborates with neuroscientists at Yale, UPenn and NYU to study how awareness training enhances compassion and well-being. www.effortlessmindfulness.org Anna-Lisa Adelberg is a recognized healer, spiritual teacher and co-founder of the Luminous Awareness Institute that offers students an awakening and healing path synthesized from Tibetan Buddhism, developmental psychology, neurophysiology and subtle energy. www.luminousawareness.com

3 Recommended reading: Little, Yoga of the Subtle Body; Shukman, One Blade of Grass.

Tias Little synthesizes classical yoga, Sanskrit, Buddhist studies, anatomy, massage and trauma healing. He has studied B.K.S Iyengar and Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga systems, and is a long-time student of the meditative arts and Buddhism. He is the author of The Thread of Breath, Meditations on a Dewdrop, and Yoga of the Subtle Body. www.prajnayoga.com Henry Shukman, associate Zen master of Sanbo Zen, teaches at Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Santa Fe, NM, and Sonnenhof in Schwarzwald, Germany. He is also a prize-winning poet and novelist, and frequent contributor to Tricycle and the New York Times. www.mountaincloud.org 17

JANUARY 26-MARCH 8 250-Hour Esalen Massage® Certification Program Char Pias, Deborah Anne Medow, Peggy Horan, Robin Fann-Costanzo & Vicki Topp

This 250-hour certification course is designed for those who plan to practice massage professionally or for personal reasons. The course reflects Esalen’s legacy, integrating body, mind and spirit. Students build competence through experiments in sensory awareness, gestalt practice, movement and meditation.

The curriculum includes multiple massage approaches for the whole body including draping, detailed techniques, passive joint movements and compassionate communication skills. Through lecture, demonstration and supervised practice, students study massage as a holistic approach to optimal health and functioning.

The course includes the core 100-hour curriculum required by the California Massage Therapy Council (CAMTC), linking anatomy, physiology and ethics to massage. Students have ample time for supervised practice with each other, emphasizing comprehension, body mechanics, self care and innovation.

Upon completion, and after documenting 30 additional massages at your home site, you will receive a Certification of Completion for 250 hours that can be applied toward the 500-hour California Massage Therapist Certificate. Esalen Institute is approved by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education and accredited by CAMTC and the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB).

Esalen offers numerous levels of massage certification. To apply, please visit www.esalen.org/page/esalen-massage-certificationprograms-overview. ✩ CE credit for massage therapists; see page 94.

Char Pias, a member of the Esalen massage staff since 1980, teaches internationally, focusing on bodywork's energetic, emotional and spiritual aspect. She is a Reiki teacher, a Circle of Life facilitator/ coach and a licensed graduate of The Center for Spiritual Healing. www.piasoma.com Deborah Anne Medow, long-time Esalen workshop leader, yoga instructor and bodywork practitioner, teaches yoga, massage, creative movement, awareness practices and related healing disciplines throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan. She is also a certified nutrition educator.

Peggy Horan gives Esalen Massage in a field of comfort and support, using stretches and deep muscle work to bring healing and relaxation to her clients. She has been practicing and teaching Esalen Massage for four decades and is the author of Connecting Through Touch, A Couples Massage Book.

Robin Fann-Costanzo has been practicing and teaching Esalen Massage nationally and internationally since 1993. She has a background in dance, and is a yoga instructor and craniosacral therapy practitioner. In 2012, Robin was inducted into the World Massage Hall of Fame. She lives Asheville, North Carolina, and co-owns a wellness spa. www.esaleninstructor.com Vicki Topp is a senior practitioner and instructor of Esalen Massage and somatic bodywork. She teaches workshops and training groups internationally, and is a registered movement therapist and practitioner of Body-Mind Centering. www.vickitopp.com 18

WEEKEND OF JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 2 Dancing with the Dharma: 5Rhythms® and Insight Meditation Lucia Horan

In order to truly understand the dance, one must be still. And in order to truly understand stillness, one must dance. — Rumi If you can liberate the body, then the heart-mind can follow. In this retreat of meditation and movement, will we integrate the stillness of Buddhist mindfulness meditation with the moving meditations of the 5Rhythms®. The Buddha encouraged us to bring wise attention to every aspect of our lives. In sitting meditation, we have the opportunity to observe the mind and body at rest through silent introspection. In the practice of the 5Rhythms®, we engage in mindfulness while in motion. The 5Rhythms® is a map that teaches how energy moves. The two polarities of moving and sitting meditation together mirror the dance of life. We encourage meditation students to practice mindful dancing in order to bring balance and insight into their lives. We invite dancers to engage in sitting meditation in order to embody integration, balance and insight. Join us for the groundbreaking union of these two deep and wise practices.

Lucia Horan was born and raised in the Esalen community. She has been teaching since 1998. Lucia received life-long direct training with Gabrielle Roth in the 5Rhythms® method. She is formally empowered to teach Buddha dharma in all capacities. Her unique perspectives on insight have been published in the book Dancing with Dharma: Essays on Movement and Dance in Western Buddhism. www.luciahoran.com

Nurturing Our Capacity to Care: For Caregivers in the Brain Injury Community Jonathan Prescott, Adam Pearce & Kyla Pearce

This workshop is designed for caregivers of people affected by brain injury (e.g., traumatic brain injury, stroke, etc.) who want to nurture their capacity to care for themselves and others. Through a blend of experiential activities, guided meditation, mindfulness, yoga and group discussion, you will be empowered with new tools, knowledge and community connection to more skillfully navigate the challenges of being a caregiver. By investigating the themes of adjusting expectations, finding acceptance, learning to adapt to change and growing in a new relationship, you will learn to see that the power of change starts from within, how to work through stuck places, and how to cultivate more fulfilling and compassionate relationships with yourself and others.

Gain practical tools in: • The art of listening • Setting boundaries • Nurturing our capacity to care

of conversation and collective care-taking with a group of young-ish adults in their 20s through 40s who’ve all experienced a significant loss, and aren’t afraid to talk about it. Join the co-founders of The Dinner Party, a worldwide community, for storytelling over delicious meals, writing sessions, movement practices and more, as we explore some of the rituals that Dinner Partiers have found most helpful after their loss. This workshop creates a space for you to unpack your own loss experience, experiment with grief rituals that you can make your own and build friendships with people who just get it.

Carla Fernandez is the co-founder of The Dinner Party and is committed to rekindling human connection around the most isolating topics of our times. She’s a senior fellow at USC’s Innovation Lab, an NYU Social Entrepreneurship Scholar, and lives between Oakland and Joshua Tree. carlafernandez.co Lennon Flowers is hell-bent on creating spaces where humans can be human, out of a belief that nothing is done in isolation, and that self-help only works in community. She’s the co-founder/ED of The Dinner Party, an Ashoka Fellow and an Aspen Ideas Scholar. www.thedinnerparty.org

• Compassionate communication $ Required viewing in advance of the workshop: the award-winning HBO documentary, The Crash Reel, available to stream online via Amazon.com or HBO’s website. Before enrolling, participants must first contact Amber Davey at amber@loveyourbrain.com.

Jonathan Prescott is the founder of Wise Caregiving, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people become effective, sustainable and empathetic caregivers. Jonathan’s background includes hospice, cancer-care and hospital chaplain, and a spiritual practice as an ordained student of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.

Adam Pearce co-founded the LoveYourBrain Foundation, a nonprofit organization that offers programs to build community and foster resilience for people with TBI and their caregivers. Drawing on his experience as a caregiver and vipassana practitioner, Adam leads retreats based on the pillars of mindfulness, movement, community and nutrition. www.loveyourbrain.com Kyla Pearce teaches yoga, meditation and mindfulness to people with brain injury, caregivers and health professionals through her work with the LoveYourBrain Foundation. Kyla is passionate about empowering people to become more active participants in their healing process through self-inquiry practices. www.loveyourbrain.com

Finding What Feeds Us: Exploring Rituals for Living Well After Loss for 20- to 40-Somethings Carla Fernandez & Lennon Flowers

Whether a death was one month, one year or one decade ago, the loss of someone significant in our lives changes our perspective on how we live, creating an immediate sense of before and after. And while loss is one of the most universal human experiences, our death-denying culture means it’s not always easy to connect with friends over the complexities of our grief.

If you’re one of the first in your peer group to lose someone, grief can deepen the social isolation that so many of us feel precisely when we need community the most. We invite you to this weekend

Voices of Esalen

Enjoy Esalen after your visit with our free podcast, Voices of Esalen, hosted by former Extended Student Sam Stern. Listen to Esalen co-founder Michael Murphy, author Cheryl Strayed, mindfulness teacher Shauna Shapiro, Byron Katie and many more.

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WEEK OF FEBRUARY 2-7

5Rhythms®: Connections

Self-Compassion in Inner and Outer Relationships

Lucia Horan

Richard Schwartz

This five-day retreat is open to anyone — currently in a relationship or not — who wants to explore the idea that it is possible and optimal to bring one's full heart to any important relationship. In a safe and supportive environment, this experience will offer ways to work with the parts of ourselves that stand in the way of giving and receiving love fully.

With the beauty of the Pacific coast to support and nurture your process, you will have the opportunity to explore many aspects of self-compassion in the following ways: • Learn about the Internal Family Systems model of psychotherapy and gain skills that make self-exploration engaging and deeply satisfying • Address the question, "Who am I in a relationship?"

• Use tools to understand the nature of relational burdens and let go of old ways of relating • Engage in deep personal work that can lead to the development of new beliefs about yourself • Support and be supported by others on a similar journey • Increase courage to take new risks in connecting Prepare to open yourself to the possibility of building truly connected relationships. ✩ CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs; see page 94. ✩ CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Richard Schwartz, PhD, is a systemic family therapist and an academic.

Dr. Schwartz developed the Internal Family Systems model (IFS) and founded the Center for Self Leadership. A featured speaker for national professional organizations, Dr. Schwartz has published five books and more than 50 articles about IFS. www.selfleadership.org 20

Invisible threads are the strongest ties. — Friedrich Nietzsche What are the invisible threads that connect you in this life?

How can we use 5Rhythms®, a moving meditation practice and improvisational form of dance, to help us explore the connections we most want? By fostering the intimate union of breath and movement, we follow a path that leads us out of isolation and into connection.

At times these mysterious threads need to be tended to, cut or reinforced. The 5Rhythms® practice teaches us to create the conditions for healthy connections between self, partner and community to foster more ease and peace in all relationships. In this workshop we will integrate the stillness of Buddhist mindfulness meditation with the moving meditations of the 5Rhythms®. In sitting meditation, we have the opportunity to observe the mind and body at rest through silent introspection. In the practice of the 5Rhythms®, we engage in mindfulness while in motion. The two polarities of moving and sitting meditation together mirror the dance of life and open the door to peace, well-being and balance. No previous experience is required. All workshop hours contribute to Gabrielle Roth’s 5Rhythms® teacher training. ✩ CE credit for massage therapists; see page 94.

Lucia Horan bio on page 18.

Brilliant Body: Spinefulness Fundamentals to Conquer Injury and Pain Jenn Sherer & Jean Couch

Do chronic tension, stress, or aches and pains plague you? Are you fit, but injured? Do you feel tight all the time? In our cultural love affair with muscles, we have overlooked a key component of wellness: our skeleton. Whether you are a high-performance athlete or sit in a chair all day, making your bones work for you instead of against you can put you on a path of unimaginable wellness and efficiency. Healing begins with an understanding of alignment patterns that cause premature aging, tension, pain and/or injury.

This workshop will re-examine alignment patterns of everyday activities including sitting, standing, bending, sleeping and walking.

With new patterns for these daily fundamentals, you can shed pain and tension and go home with a healthy regimen that easily integrates into everyday life. Simple yet profound changes will give you a new relationship with your body — one you used to have as a child. Each participant receives individualized understanding of his or her specific vulnerabilities in the back and joints through hands-on adjustments and photographic and video feedback. What you learn about your patterns in these fundamental activities can be applied to your physical activities of choice and make you a stronger, more efficient, longer-lasting human machine. Spinefulness directly helps nurses understand alignment mechanics of their bodies so they can prevent and recover more quickly from injury as well as become more efficient in the physical component in working for and with clients/patients.

3 Recommended reading: Iyengar, Sparks of Divinity; Sawyer, Put Your Back at Ease. ✩ CE credit for massage therapists; see page 94. ✩ CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Jenn Sherer teaches Spinefulness in Palo Alto, CA, New York, New Jersey, Washington DC and Hawaii. Recently featured for Spinefulness on NPR, Good Morning America, CNN and Real Simple magazine, Jenn holds a BS in Product Design Engineering from Stanford University. www.Spinefulness.com Jean Couch originally known for her classic Runner's Yoga Book, has shown thousands of people of all ages how to improve their health.

She most recently taught 50 physicians and their spouses, one of whom wrote, "I now have hope for me and my patients." www.balancecenter.com

Photo by Esalen seminarian Gina Aguirre

WEEKEND OF FEBRUARY 7-9 Tap into the Power of Your Heart to Promote Peace — Inside and Out Scilla Elworthy, Sheva Carr & Robert Browning

Join three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee Scilla Elworthy with HeartMath experts Sheva Carr and Robert Browning to promote peace in your personal life and in the world. This workshop will weave HeartMath's scientific breakthroughs for generating peace physiologically with Scilla's practical “business plan” for world peace in a synergistic framework for personal and global transformation.

Scilla will deepen our understanding of the 25 strategies for peace-building outlined in her book The Business Plan for Peace, and Sheva and Robert will lead us to a scientifically validated intelligence within our hearts proven to promote personal and collective peace.

Gain skills to hold conversations with decision makers (or family members!), mediate, reconcile and restore justice. The combination of inner work and effective structure for outer peace-building will empower us to translate our inner power into activism. Bring peace-building project ideas for potential fiscal sponsorship and collaboration. Leave the workshop prepared to take an effective, courageous stand on the issues you care about.

3 Recommended reading: Elworthy, The Business Plan for Peace; Carr,

Being the Source of Love; Childre & Martin, The Heart Math Solution.

Scilla Elworthy, PhD, is a three-time Nobel Prize nominee and author of The Business Plan for Peace. She is the founder of Oxford Research Group and Peace Direct, which supports peace-builders in conflict areas. She advises many global peace-building initiatives including “The Elders,” Syria Campaign and Institute for Economics and Peace. https://www.scillaelworthy.com/. www.thebusinessplanforpeace.org.

Sheva Carr, Oriental medicine doctor, CEO of HeartAmbassadors and co-VP of UN Peace Messenger Organization Pathways To Peace speaks globally on the heart’s power in relationships, health, performance, creativity, contribution, legacy, social change and building a global culture of peace. www.heartambassadors.com Robert Browning is HeartMath’s master trainer and health care director as well as a director for Pathways To Peace. For more than 20 years, he’s trained 8,000 individuals in heart-based living. He leads programs at Stanford, UCLA, Brigham & Women’s (Harvard’s teaching hospital) and Kaiser Permanente.

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Faculty

Spotlight We spoke to Scilla about her passion for peace-building and key ways it can be implemented.

When did you know that peace-building would be your path?

Why is committing to inner work vital to peace-building?

When I was 13, I watched Soviet tanks on TV charging into Budapest. I was utterly horrified that I went up to my room and started packing my suitcase. I told my mother, “I’m going to Budapest!

Something so horrible is happening!” I had no clue where Budapest was.

She told me not to be silly and I burst into tears, but she got it. She understood.

She promised she would help me get trained. And she did. At 16, she sent me off to a holiday home for concentration camp survivors. I sat all summer peeling potatoes in the garden and listening to their stories. It touched my heart in a way that never left me.

If we haven’t examined our shadow sides and brought them up to the surface as best we can, which is an on-going process, we’re going to be unconsciously projecting our feelings onto other people.

Through my work in Peace Direct, we now work with 1,800 locally-led initiatives that stop conflict before it starts. Many of these people are an exception in that they’ve done this inner work. That makes them about 10 times as effective as anybody else because they can be 100 percent present when a crisis erupts. That’s what you need to be a peace-builder.

“If we haven't examined our shadow sides...we're going to be unconsciously projecting our feelings onto other people.”

Scilla Elworthy has led a valiant path of peace-building, which has garnered her three Nobel Prize nominations and finds her advising many peace initiatives around the world. As the founder of Oxford Research Group and Peace Direct, and through the wisdom shared in her book, The Business Plan for Peace, Scilla steers us toward implementing peace-building strategies that can produce powerful results.

Join Scilla alongside Esalen faculty Sheva Carr and Robert Browning in Tap into the Power of Your Heart to Promote Peace—Inside and Out, February 7-9.

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Can you share your original vision of Oxford Research Group?

I was at the Second Special Session of the United Nations on nuclear disarmament in New York in 1982. After two weeks and no progress being made, I realized that I was talking to the wrong people. It dawned on me that the people who make decisions on nuclear weapons are the military, intelligence people, the physicists who design the warheads, and so on. I went back to Oxford and started a research group around my kitchen table and found out who they were. I used my savings to pay people to work with me and gradually built it up. My vision was to build a dialogue with these individuals who weren’t normally known.

Can you share one key peace-building strategy?

Listening. Even on a local level in your community, your work or your child’s school. If you can commit to listening and repeat back to a person what you thought you heard and what you think the feelings are behind it, we move from the brain, which says, “I’m right and you’re wrong,” to the heart. Peace-building takes place because we have a different way of resonating with each other.

Why is this work crucial now?

Partly because we have leaders who are stuck in their old thinking. They’re in a political maelstrom and they haven’t got the skills to move beyond it. I believe that everything we all want for the world is now coming from below. Peace Direct is in contact with thousands of locally-led peace initiatives, coming up from the people themselves, particularly young people.

It’s extraordinary what people can pull off when they are given the skills to start their own peace-building.

Embodied Spirituality

Nourish: Slow Flow & Restorative Yoga

Jorge N. Ferrer

Janet Stone

What is really meant when we say that spirituality is “embodied”?

In this workshop, we will explore what it means to hold all human dimensions — body, instincts, heart, mind and consciousness — as equal partners on our path to transformation. We will engage in an integral-participatory approach to embodied spirituality that honors the voice and wisdom of the body. Through mindful physical contact you will explore more deeply associated ways of knowing, including somatic, vital, emotional and contemplative. Be guided in the practice of interactive embodied meditation, engage in creative exercises centered around artwork and participate in small group discussions. Individuals from all spiritual orientations can creatively incorporate the practical tools presented in this workshop to strengthen spiritual vitality and community, as well as to rescue human dimensions that may have been historically overlooked in traditional religious practice. Join us in this experiential exploration of embodied spirituality!

In the early months of the year, our body is called to slow down, even as the world outside keeps moving in frenetic laps. During this weekend, we will drop into the body, mind and spirit to find space between effort and surrender, allowing our systems to release into its great integrative power. Join Janet for a nourishing and introspective weekend, to explore ways to replenish the nervous system and move out of the cyclical fight-or-flight response. We’ll practice slow and fluid sequences to cultivate sustainable power from the inside out, alongside restorative postures to cultivate rest and ease. Practices will also include meditation to refill mind, body and spirit, pranayama to balance hormone levels, and chanting to awaken your heart's longing. Please bring a bolster, sandbag and eye pillow.

If you are traveling from afar and cannot carry all of these items in your luggage, email connie@janetstoneyoga.com and we will try to secure some you can borrow.

Jorge N. Ferrer is professor at California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) located in San Francisco. Formerly the chairman of the Department of East-West Psychology, he served as an advisor to Religions for Peace at the United Nations and has written several books on transpersonal psychology and religious studies.

Janet Stone traveled to India in 1996, where she dedicated herself to a conscious evolution through yoga. Janet blends a wealth of knowledge and yoga experience to create a unique, vigorous-yet-sumptuous approach to Vinyasa yoga. She teaches in San Francisco and leads retreats internationally. www.janetstoneyoga.com 23

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 9-14 Love and Wonder: A Meditation Retreat with The Radiance Sutras Lorin Roche & Camille Maurine

What is this delight-filled universe into which we find ourselves born? What is this mysterious awareness, shimmering everywhere within it? — The Radiance Sutras Come dwell in the luminous world of the Radiance Sutras, a poetic, sensuous version of an ancient meditation text for touching the sacred in the midst of daily life. The Sutras sing of passionate serenity, in which all your senses are alive to the vibrancy of the world, with a foundation of inner centeredness. In this tradition, meditation is a release into wonder and freedom. The emphasis is on being at home in your body and the universe. The Sutras offer 112 gateways into meditation including cherishing the flow of breath, gazing at the beauty of nature, listening to music, dancing, embracing emotion, making love and many more.

With artful guidance from Lorin and Camille, explore a range of sitting, reclining and moving meditations. Embraced by the earth, ocean and sky at Esalen, this nourishing, life-affirming retreat is a chance to renew deeply and discover ways to meditate that you love and can take home.

3 Required reading: Roche, The Radiance Sutras: The Yoga of

Wonder and Delight. Recommended reading: Maurine and Roche, Meditation Secrets for Women; Roche, Meditation Made Easy.

Lorin Roche, PhD, has practiced and taught meditation since 1968. He earned his degree for research in the language of meditation. He is the author of The Radiance Sutras, and with his wife, Camille Maurine, Meditation Secrets for Women. www.lorinroche.com Camille Maurine is the author of Meditation Secrets for Women and Meditation 24/7. Camille's work synthesizes meditation, movement and expression, with a keen passion for women’s spiritual empowerment and embodiment. www.camillemaurine.com

Photo by Esalen seminarian Gina Aguirre

The Sovereignty of Self: The Awakened Masculine Meets the Divine Feminine Jim Benson & Jessica Wolk Benson

Our culture is in a moment of profound change. Heightened tension in nearly all spheres of life is driving an imperative toward the marriage of deep, embodied feminine power and conscious, awakened masculine presence. We are being asked to find true balance within—for the sake of ourselves and for beings everywhere.

This workshop will focus on the possibility of self-sovereignty as a path of healing personal relationships. By embodying right relationship to the healthy masculine and feminine forces within us, we naturally gravitate to an increasingly self-sovereign way of being.

Jim and Jessica have created a simple, original model designed to put you in contact with your sovereign self. Using embodiment practices, role-play, group discussion, and inner voice dialogue, you’ll be invited to move beyond your habits and constraints and toward relating with more clarity, empowerment and love. Leave with the potential for greater understanding of your relationship dynamics viewed through a more nuanced lens, as well as an actionable plan to connect more consistently with your sovereign self. You will also take home an increased capacity to place your personal experience in the context of healing the whole.

This workshop welcomes singles and couples of all sexual orientations.

Jim Benson is a certified SkyDancing Tantra teacher who has supported students and teachers-in-training internationally since 2003.

A sex and intimacy coach for men, his programs include the Awakened Masculine Training and MultiOrgasmic Lover. www.awakenedmasculine.com Jessica Wolk Benson is a psychotherapist with extensive training and practice in experiential, attachment-based therapy. Her investigation into the reclamation of the Divine Feminine has brought about her unwavering commitment to restoring balance to the minds and hearts of humanity. www.experientialpsychotherapy.com

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The I in the Storm: Bringing Self Leadership to Everyday Life Richard Schwartz

This workshop introduces the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model of psychotherapy, and teaches healing professionals and all who are interested how to apply it to their own countertransference.

Richard Schwartz developed IFS as he learned to set aside his trained assumptions and truly listen to his clients. IFS is a highly effective way of guiding people to a state of inner clarity and compassion (called the Self) from which they know how to heal themselves.

From the Self, one can calm and transform troubling inner voices, compulsive distractions, and feelings of vulnerability, inadequacy and overwhelm. These parts of the psyche are surprisingly responsive and resilient when addressed with respect and patience. A therapist’s ability to remain steady, centered and open-hearted in the face of clients’ extreme emotions or predicaments is central to his or her effectiveness. By utilizing IFS, therapists and laypeople can hold this Self state of loving kindness that allows others to heal themselves.

Participants will gain the tools to understand the role of the Self, discuss the role of mindfulness in self-awareness and recognize the essential features of the IFS model. This workshop is for everyone. ✩ CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs; see page 94. ✩ CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Conley Bookstore

Be sure to visit our bookstore during your visit to browse books from Esalen faculty or pick up a journal to write your own story.

Richard Schwartz bio on page 20.

Esalen Massage® and Energy Work Silvia Guersenzvaig & Deborah Anne Medow

This workshop is a wonderful opportunity for you to enjoy the natural beauty of the Esalen land, while gaining a foundation in the art and practice of Esalen Massage. During the week, participants will be offered massage methods addressing the whole body, including Esalen’s signature long, flowing strokes that support a sense of wholeness, connection and integration. The experienced teachers will also share skills in attending to the major muscle groups of the body, with specific massage techniques, gentle stretching and explorations with range of motion and movement. Each day includes massage demonstrations and instruction in various self-care methods, with supervised practice in giving and receiving a massage.

Silvia and Deborah will work with each participant, accommodating the group’s different levels of experience. Beginners will gain the basic tools and techniques to more skillfully massage their partners, friends and family. Experienced practitioners will be offered techniques that can easily be integrated into their massage sessions, inspiring and infusing their work with a deep sense of presence and flow. This workshop is especially useful for those in the helping/healing professions in working with their clients and patients. Join us for a week of learning, healing, nurturing and play! ✩ CE credit for massage therapists; see page 94. ✩ CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

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. www.transform4joy.com Deborah Anne Medow bio on page 18.

WEEKEND OF FEBRUARY 14-16 Good Morning, I Love You: Mindfulness + SelfCompassion Practices to Rewire Your Brain Shauna Shapiro

Learn how self-compassion can change everything about how you feel, how you relate and how you live — for good. Revolutionary findings in neuroscience have demonstrated that we can change our happiness set point. But it’s not through changing our external world; it’s through changing our internal landscape.

In this workshop, Dr. Shauna Shapiro — a leading scientist studying the effects of mindfulness on well-being — shows us that acting with compassion toward ourselves is the key. She explains basic brain science and offers powerful mindfulness and self-compassion practices showing how this powerhouse combination alleviates anxiety, boosts creative thinking and enlarges our sense of belonging and purpose. With practice, we can literally rewire our brains for greater feelings of calm, joy and possibility. We will immerse ourselves in the natural beauty of Esalen, allowing the sounds of the ocean and gardens to nourish and support our practice. This workshop is appropriate for anyone curious about meditation and how to deepen our connection with the beauty and mystery of life.

Health care and education professionals are welcome.

3 Recommended reading: Shapiro, Good Morning, I Love You: Mindfulness + Self-Compassion Practices to Rewire Your Brain for Calm, Clarity + Joy. Shauna Shapiro, PhD, is a professor and author of numerous critically acclaimed books including The Art and Science of Mindfulness and her new book, Good Morning, I Love You. She is an internationally recognized expert in mindfulness and has been invited to lecture for the King of Thailand, the Danish government and the World Council of Psychotherapy. www.drshaunashapiro.com 25

The Extraordinary Couples Workshop Shauna Shapiro You have a new book on self-compassion. Why is being more kind to ourselves an essential part of our wellbeing? Yes, the new book, Good Morning, I Love You, offers the science behind the power of self-compassion. Often when people are struggling or stuck, they balk at the idea of being compassionate with themselves. We often think we need to beat ourselves up in order to change or improve, but research shows that self-judgment and shame don’t work. Shame literally shuts down the learning centers of the brain. Self-compassion, on the other hand, bathes our system in dopamine giving us the resources we need to change. Self-compassion, not shame, is what leads to lasting transformation.

What do you hope people take away from your new workshop? I am very excited to share the science of how the power-house duo of mindfulness and compassion can rewire our brain for greater calm, clarity and joy. When we integrate self-compassion with mindfulness, it shifts our entire experience. We become interested in our experience and are able to welcome all of it — the wandering mind, our sadness, our loneliness, our fear — with an attitude of kindness.

As one of our longstanding faculty, can you share what happens at Esalen that happens nowhere else? The healing power of Esalen is hard to put into words. I have taught all over the world, but Esalen is unique. The transformations I have witnessed over the decade of teaching here, have left me awed and humbled. I believe part of Esalen’s power is its sacred land and exquisite natural beauty — the stunning coastline, the magnificent gardens, the natural mineral hotsprings. Another healing element of Esalen is the powerful community and connection that develops for people in the workshops. Finally, there is a mystery and magic that surrounds Esalen. It is why I keep coming back. Miracles happen here.

How has Esalen impacted you personally? Esalen transformed my life. It offered healing during a very dark time and reminded me of the beauty, joy and love in this world.

Do you have a favorite place at Esalen to practice mindfulness?The meditation hut above the waterfall is one of the most exquisite places to practice mindfulness. It juxtaposes the tremendous power of the waterfall with the simple peace of sitting still. Often, while sitting there, I can feel the waterfall flowing through my body, washing me clean, freeing me of thoughts and my small sense of self, and allowing me to surrender into the flow of life.

How would you describe Esalen in one word? Magic.

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Marci Graham & Jason Weston

Do you remember the magic of the beginning of your relationship, when just seeing your partner got your adrenaline running? Perhaps you met only weeks ago, or maybe years ago, and the electricity is still there. Is it possible that the “juice” can feel even more intense?

Presented by the Human Awareness Institute, this workshop is designed exclusively for couples and focuses specifically on couples’ issues with the goal of deepening and embodying love — between partners and within the self. You will spend most of your time together, some time alone and time working in small groups and the full group. The Couples Workshop creates a safe environment in which to explore your relationship and take a fresh look at parts of it, regardless of what state your relationship is in currently. Participants may be couples who are at the beginning of their relationship or who have been together for many years; couples who are already happy and loving; or couples who are fighting or upset. Couples whose relationships were faltering or stalled (or just needed a boost, or were doing great already) have come away more deeply in love than they had ever been.

Open to adults of any sexual orientation or gender identification.

Marci Graham is a facilitator for the Human Awareness Institute (HAI) and has been teaching to its mission for nearly 20 years. She has a 30-year history of soul searching and personal transformation through movement, painting, writing, sculpting and bodywork. Her journey in Continuum Movement has illuminated the power of inquiry and embodiment as essential to personal growth. waterwisdom.us.

Jason Weston has been practicing the principles of the Human Awareness Institute (HAI) for nearly 40 years. As a facilitator, Jason assists individuals and couples in creating the lives they really want.

Trained at the Process Therapy Institute, Jason served for many years as the executive director of HAI Global.

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 16-21 Relational Gestalt Practice: The Transformative Power of Emotion Dorothy Charles

Our sense of who we are develops in connection with others, and although we cannot change the past, we can change what we came to believe about our capacity for love and belonging. Such beliefs can shift in a group that meets our needs for attunement and understanding, supports us in identifying and expressing our emotions, and which is committed to practicing kindness, acceptance and honesty. In this environment, we can learn to fully experience and express feelings in healthy ways, which is integral to being alive.

Over the course of this workshop, we'll seek to learn skills to improve our ability to make contact, develop and track awareness of our emotions and sensations, learn to express and practice communicating needs and wants effectively and discover habitual relational patterns that prevent us from cultivating the type of contact we want. We'll take time for basic gestalt awareness practices, a mixture of didactic and experiential exercises, as well as individual "open seat" sessions with Dorothy and with the support of the group.

3 Recommended reading: Korb, et al Gestalt Therapy: Practice and Theory; Mann, Gestalt Therapy: 100 Key Points and Techniques.

For continuing education syllabus, see https://www.esalen.org/relational-gestalt-practice.

Soul Motion®: Begin Again Vinn Arjuna Martí

Each time we gather to dance, we are poised at an open portal to divine presence. This presence takes notice each time we use our body, heart and mind to shape and shift the forms and textures of its creation. Each one of us occupies a unique vessel in which this presence is able to manifest and know itself. Our dance then becomes a vehicle to place our bodies and our souls in motion. Soul Motion® is a movement ministry, designed by Arjuna and devoted to the mystery and passage in our everyday dance from the known to the unknown. It presents method and strategy to relax into this nameless dance. The practices promote open-minded, warmhearted, lithe body approaches to whatever is at hand.

We will practice moving alone, together and in divine dialogue.

We will allow the inherent wisdom and memory of the body to speak through us as movement, stillness and witness to the body-choir of dancers. We will nudge the voice of our hearts "after years of secret conversing [to speak] out loud in the clear air," as the poet David Whyte says. Through guided imagery and relaxed induction techniques, we will dive deep into the body of the unconscious and resurface to speak of our findings. All are invited. All are welcomed.

The workshop meets for a total of 23.5 hours.

Vinn Arjuna Martí melds philosophy, deep body awareness and unique dance to create a conscious awareness of body and soul. A master of movement ritual, he supports his students in listening to their bodies as a pathway to understanding their inner critics and inhibitions. Arjuna created Soul Motion Conscious Dance Practice. www.soulmotion.com

✩ CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs; see page 94. ✩ CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Dorothy Charles has been a student and teacher at Esalen since 1982. A student of Esalen co-founder Richard Price, she combines Esalen body-centered Gestalt with relational Gestalt theory, and leads workshops in Asia, Europe and the U.S. www.dorothycharles.com 27

Cha Dao, The Way of Tea: A Meditation and Tea Retreat with Wu De Wu De

As the leaves of this tree are, I too am made of the water, the sky, sun and stars; I share this essence with all the Ten-thousand Things.

And in so doing, empty myself and my cup. As tea, I am now free to transcend the moment, Finding heaven in a leaf. — Wu De For more than a decade, Wu De (born Aaron Fisher) has taught the ancient practice of tea ceremony from a Zen and tea center in Taiwan known as Tea Sage Hut. Now he’s bringing The Way of Tea to Esalen. “When we drink tea in a sacred ceremonial space, we can feel that we are a part of the nature that gave us the tea, while it streams into us and becomes our body, mind and soul,” says Wu De. Together we’ll delve into the ancient tradition of Cha Dao uniting awareness and tea medicine, and discover how tea can teach us mindfulness in our daily lives. Each day will begin with a morning meditation and then a shared tea ceremony. In discussions and group practices, Wu De will explore tea as a great connector that brings calm joy and presence, while also providing guidance for participants about how to start and deepen their own personal bowl tea practice. Meditation sits will be scheduled throughout the day and to wrap up our evenings. During the week, the group will experience different ways of bowl tea brewing while sharing unique and ancient living teas.

3 Recommended reading: Fisher (Wu De), The Way of Tea; Tea Medicine; and Zen and Tea One Flavor.

Wu De is a writer and teacher of the ancient practice of serving tea. His monthly magazine, Global Tea Hut, connects thousands of tea lovers in more than 66 countries. He has authored four books, including The Way of Tea and Tea Medicine. www.globalteahut.org

WEEKEND OF FEBRUARY 21-23 Living in Harmony: Singing Our Way Back Together Lisa G. Littlebird

This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before. — Leonard Bernstein Singing and dancing are two of the most universal expressions of the human spirit. Yet in today's Western world, singing is often relegated to the realm of entertainment, distancing us from its potential as a vehicle for profound joy and healing in our communities and lives.

Come prepared to find your voice (and not just your singing voice!), explore your capacities with curiosity and collect songs and tools to nourish your well-being and enrich your life in this workshop guided by Lisa G. Littlebird. With a style rooted in compassionate awareness practices, Lisa is dedicated to reclaiming song for human connection. In this shared practice of singing, we not only discover a pathway to communion and release, we offer a powerful contribution to these polarized times: compassion and empathy toward ourselves and others.

Through gentle, exploratory encouragements and a diverse repertoire of more than 500 oral-tradition songs, Lisa cultivates a supportive, uplifting circle of group harmony and sound, inviting all singers to expand and delight in the full potential of their voices.

This workshop is designed for singers of all abilities and levels of experience, including no experience or negative experience in need of healing.

Lisa G. Littlebird facilitates group singing opportunities as a transformational personal practice, healing art and to foster community building in groups. She leads workshops internationally and has been on the faculty at Esalen since 2007. www.thebirdsings.com

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The Agreements of Love

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 23-28

Don Miguel Ruiz Jr. & Don Jose Ruiz

Invite Your Daemons for Tea: A SoulCollage® Retreat on the “Shadow”

During this unique spiritual retreat, brothers Don Miguel Ruiz Jr. and Don Jose Ruiz will share teachings from their family’s Toltec tradition, which inspired and shaped the internationally renowned books The Four Agreements and The Mastery of Love written by their father, Don Miguel Ruiz.

The point of this inner work is to enjoy life. One way to express that joy is through our relationships with family, friends and our beloved. The Mastery of Love begins by bringing harmony into our most impactful relationship: the one with ourselves. This mastery gives us the opportunity to share that harmony with everyone in our lives. The leaders will show how to heal from emotional wounds and recover the freedom and joy that are a part of our birthright. This lecture-based workshop will teach you to: • Become aware of the way you may confuse what you know for who you are • Gain awareness of how your agreements have created your reality • Let go of the fear of what you are without your beliefs • Let go of conditional love and embrace unconditional love • Make new agreements that are more in line with your true self 3 Recommended reading: Ruiz, The Mastery of Love and The Seven Secrets to Happy, Healthy Relationships.

Don Miguel Ruiz Jr. is a direct descendant of the Toltecs of the Eagle Knight lineage, and son of don Miguel Ruiz. By combining the wisdom of his family’s traditions with the knowledge gained from his own personal journey, he now helps others realize their own path to personal freedom. www.miguelruizjr.com Don Jose Ruiz is the international best-selling author of The Wisdom of the Shamans and The Fifth Agreement. As a Toltec master of transformation and modern-day shaman, he has dedicated his life to sharing the wisdom of the ancient Toltec through his books, lectures and journeys to sacred sites around the world. miguelruiz.com

Mariabruna Sirabella

In this workshop, your creativity, imagination and intuition will guide you in a stirring exploration of “Shadow” inspired by C.G. Jung’s writings. You will create small collages, discover their unique personal message and entice transformation through movement and poetry in a respectful and inspiring environment. When we "invite our daemons for tea," we can access the great reservoirs of golden energy hidden in areas of the soul we tend to judge, fear or ignore.

Yet, those secreted yet necessary inner parts are a most potent source of change and freedom. Engaging them in a new relationship ignites a quiet revolution that brings gifts of choice and joy to the soul. Collaging and “voicing” images by applying the SoulCollage® method and its principles is playful yet profound, rich with personal meaning and surprises. (An $18 materials fee will be added to the workshop cost.)

3 Recommended reading/listening: Frost, Introduction to SoulCollage® CD and SoulCollage® Evolving; Sirabella, Making Mandorlas.

Mariabruna Sirabella, as Lead SoulCollage® trainer and founder of the School Of The Origins, inspired by the intelligence of nature, indigenous wisdom, perennial philosophy and Jungian psychology, she facilitates programs and rituals internationally, inviting creativity at the service of freedom and change. www.mariabruna.com

THE MAX: Expanding the Limits of Your Self-Expression Paula Shaw

The purpose of THE MAX is to discover yourself beyond who you know yourself to be. It is a voyage through your own humanity and a journey to discover the extent of your self-expressive power. The experience can move you into a new arena of personal creativity and self-expression.

THE MAX employs a variety of acting, communication and observation techniques to help participants explore the sources of their emotional limitations. Working individually “on stage,” each person is encouraged and supported to move through lifelong fears of being on the spot — often playing to and with other group members — and to emerge into greater authenticity and enhanced presence. There are exercises that use raw emotion, role-playing and dress-up assignments. This is an opportunity to experience yourself in ways you may have dreamed about but never thought possible.

The course is for those committed and courageous in their process. If your heart beats faster when you think of taking THE MAX, it may be just the thing to do.

Required: Bring a one- to three-minute memorized piece — monologue, poem, song, etc. Note: Due to the intense and sequential nature of this workshop, attendance at all sessions is necessary.

Paula Shaw, a professional actress and acting teacher for more than 40 years, has conducted workshops for those interested in expanding their self-expression, well-being and creativity in the U.S., Canada, Germany and the U.K. www.themaxwithpaulashaw.com 29

Photo by Esalen seminarian Jens Wazel

Primordial Qigong: Transformative Alchemy from the Original Developer of Tai Chi Roger Jahnke

The “Golden Elixir of Longevity and Immortality” is produced within our integrated and coherent body-mind-spirit — also known as our Three Treasures. Every day, in the rarified Esalen atmosphere, we will partake of the Golden Elixir. Primordial Qigong (Wuji Qigong) is known as the Mother of Tai Chi, traditionally credited to Daoist monk Zhang San Feng as its creator. It evolved from concepts of Chinese internal alchemy, which originated in Chinese shamanism prior to recorded history and evolved parallel to Chinese medicine.

While the traditional foundation of Primordial Qigong is Golden Elixir alchemy, it is an accessible, practical system for cultivating personal transformation. Mind focus, with easy but deeply mystical gestures coordinated with simple breath patterns, produce a profound medicine or elixir within and open a portal to The Eternal. The intent of the practice is to open a profound and palpable gateway between the current, local self and the original primordial self, an eternal well of peace and healing. In this Qigong immersion you will sense and cultivate your deepest energetic nature. When you enter a portal of personal alchemy, the ordinary becomes extra-ordinary, life direction can shift, healing is potentiated and transformation is within reach.

3 Recommended reading: Cleary, The Secret of the Golden Flower; Jahnke, The Healer Within and The Healing Promise of Qi.

Fundamentals of Esalen Massage® Daniela Urbassek & Brita Ostrom

This workshop is a wonderful opportunity for you to enjoy the natural beauty of the Esalen land, while gaining foundation in the art and practice of Esalen Massage. During the week, participants will be offered massage methods addressing the whole body, including Esalen’s signature long, flowing strokes that support a sense of wholeness, connection and integration. Each day will include massage demonstrations and instruction in various self-care methods, with supervised practice in giving and receiving a massage.

Daniela and Brita will share their skills in addressing the major muscle groups, with specific techniques, gentle stretches and explorations with range of motion and movement. They will work with each participant, accommodating the group’s different levels of experience. Beginners will gain the basic tools and techniques to more skillfully massage their partners, friends and family.

Experienced practitioners will be offered techniques that can easily be integrated into their massage sessions, inspiring and infusing their work with a deep sense of presence and flow. This workshop is especially useful for those in the helping/healing professions in working with their clients and patients. Join us for a week of learning, healing, nurturing and play! ✩ CE credit for massage therapists; see page 94. ✩ CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

✩ CE credit pending from CAB for acupuncturists (Course Category 1).

Daniela Urbassek is a long-time member of the Esalen massage staff.

Her work is strongly influenced by her studies in craniosacral work, movement, yoga and dance.

Roger Jahnke, OMD, has dedicated his professional life to sharing the healing traditions of China. He is the director of the Institute of Integral Qigong and Tai Chi, in Santa Barbara, Calif., and author of The Healer Within and The Healing Promise of Qi. http://instituteofintegralqigongandtaichi.org

Brita Ostrom has led massage and somatic workshops at Esalen and internationally for more than 40 years. She is a founding member of the Esalen Massage School, practices Gestalt awareness work and participated in Esalen’s two-year somatic education program. She is also a licensed psychotherapist.

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WEEKEND OF FEBRUARY 28-MARCH 1 Consciousness Hacking: Meditation + Technology Mikey Siegel & Day Nguyen

Participate in the emerging intersection of ancient wisdom and modern technology. Join Mikey Siegel and Day Nguyen for a unique and innovative technology-augmented meditation retreat. With Big Sur and the healing waters of Esalen as a powerful backdrop, we combine traditional guided meditative instruction with cutting-edge technology to catalyze a profound shift into deep connection with ourselves and the group.

Ancient practices and teachings from the world’s wisdom traditions provide us with direct insight into the inherent oneness of life. This insight, combined with innovative practices for authentic relating using advanced technology, reveal a new world of unity.

Unlike our phones and devices, this custom technology is designed to reconnect us to our present-moment embodied experience, and facilitate open and vulnerable connection with the group. It works by measuring each person’s breath and heart, and turning those signals into sound, light and music. Dozens of unique practices have been designed using the tech, which is seamlessly combined with traditional practices and live meditation instructions to create a totally new approach to personal and collective transformation.

Experience a glimpse into an optimistic vision for technology as a sacred tool fueling the future of human connection and awakening.

Awakening to Spring through Garden-based Herbalism Marysia Miernowska

Just as the natural world around us begins to awaken from its winter slumber, we too must honor the seasonal transition into spring. This is a beautiful time to reconnect to the regenerative rhythms of nature, as we move toward greater personal vitality, joy, overall health and well-being. In this nourishing, immersive and experiential weekend workshop, we will weave ourselves into the blossoming, vital energies of the spring season, coming into deeper connection with Self, the Earth and Spirit. Utilizing the time-honored herbalist’s tools of plant-based medicine, we will create seasonal flower essences and healing herbal remedies wildcrafted from herbs collected from the surrounding gardens. Daily plant-spirit meditations will guide us into restorative states of consciousness, while talking circles, earth-based ritual, journal prompts, time spent on the land and soaking in the healing hot springs will deeply root us to this place, the shifting seasons and each other. Through restoring the ancient knowledge of plant medicine, we hope to heal the separation that has occurred between ourselves and nature and awaken a collective drive to protect this earth we all call home. ($20 materials fee will be added to the workshop cost.)

3 Recommended reading: Miernowska, The Witch's Herbal

Mikey Siegel is excited by science and technology supporting human flourishing and collective awakening. He teaches at Stanford University, is founder of Consciousness Hacking, BioFluent Technologies and the Transformative Technology Conference. He received an MS from the MIT Media Lab. www.mikeysiegel.com

Apothecary: Rituals & Recipes for a Year of Earth Magick and Sacred Medicine Making.

Day Nguyen was a monastic disciple and attendant of Thich Nhat Hanh for 10 years. He continues his journey as a trauma integration facilitator and meditation teacher. Day is passionate about community resiliency, conscious dance and impromptu tea circles.

Healing. She directs the California branch of The Gaia School of Healing

Marysia Miernowska is a medicine woman, teacher, author, gardener, green witch and herbalist rooted in the Wise Woman Tradition of and Earth Education, where she holds ceremony and teaches herbal medicine, plant shamanism, regenerative farming and Earth magick. www.thegaiaschoolofhealingcalifornia.com

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Cultural Transformation for the Perennial Good: A Weekend with Wes Jackson

Clearing the Way for a New Life After a Broken Heart

Wes Jackson & Aubrey Streit Krug

It is possible to truly heal after a breakup, divorce or devastating betrayal. In this life-changing workshop, you can learn to tune in, trust yourself, discover what you truly want and take charge of what's next. David Kessler helps you find your power again and identify negative or disruptive love patterns that are holding you back. Nancy Levin guides you in uncovering the limiting beliefs and excuses that sabotage you, developing a relationship blueprint to support you in finding fulfillment from within as well as in future relationships. Paul Denniston uses yoga, movement and breath to release blocks in the body and shows you how to heal those wounds in order to move into empowerment in your relationships.

Together, their techniques also address: • Dealing with the longing for your partner to come back • "The honoring of" versus "The breaking of" vows • Releasing obsessive thinking about past relationships • Letting go of emotional pain

During these times of increasing isolation and ecological crisis, we need to actively come together to address some of the most pressing questions of our time: • When will we recognize our inextricable place in the creative, living ecosphere?

• What can we do, as individuals and collectively, to usher in a more interconnected era on planet earth?

• How can we cultivate enduring, just and diverse communities rooted in regenerative food systems?

Tapping into the pioneering research of Wes Jackson and The Land Institute’s extensive work with Natural Systems Agriculture — which aims to change the way we farm, moving away from an extractive relationship to the earth toward perennial crops that hold soil and work with ecosystems — we will engage in lively discussions as we collectively plot a more resilient future.

Change is most possible when the ecological and social are part of the same project. Throughout the weekend we will explore transformative social, political, educational and ethical systems to discover how to become catalysts of this movement. This workshop will offer experiential activities, discussions and an invitation to act carefully and joyfully for the common good.

Wes Jackson is president emeritus of The Land Institute, which he co-founded in Salina, Kansas, in 1976 after establishing one of the country’s first environmental studies programs in California. He is the author of New Roots for Agriculture, Consulting the Genius of the Place, and Nature as Measure. www.landinstitute.org Aubrey Streit Krug directs The Land Institute’s Ecosphere Studies program. She is a co-author of The Omaha Language and the Omaha Way. landinstitute.org/our-work/ecosphere-studies/

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David Kessler, Paul Denniston & Nancy Levin

3 Recommended reading: Kessler and Hay, You Can Heal Your Heart;

Levin, The New Relationship Blueprint.

CE credit for Registered Yoga Teachers (RYT) available through Yoga Alliance; see leader.

David Kessler has spent decades as a grief expert and has received praise from Maria Shriver, Dr. Oz and Mother Teresa. Now as a bereaved parent, he shares his journey of healing in his new book Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief. www.davidkessler.org Paul Denniston created Grief Yoga™ blending movement, yoga, breath and sound to process and release pain and suffering. Paul has taught thousands of counselors and health care professionals Grief Yoga™ to help empower their clients around the world. www.griefyoga.com Nancy Levin is a master coach and best-selling author of several books including Setting Boundaries Will Set You Free (Hay House, January 2020) offering in-depth coaching programs and trainings designed to support clients with permission to put themselves first.

Photo by Esalen seminarian Jens Wazel

Faculty

Spotlight We spoke with Wes on the importance of Natural Systems Agriculture and cultural transformation for the perennial good.

What is Natural Systems Agriculture and why is it important?

Where do envision this movement heading in the decades ahead?

Since soil is as much of a non-renewable resource as oil and more important than oil, we will have to save our soils if we are to expect a healthy food supply, which means the industrial chemicals will have to be greatly reduced.

Natural Systems Agriculture is rooted in the premise that we can work with — rather than against — nature in order to produce the food we need.

Rather than subduing or ignoring the wisdom inherent in established natural systems, Natural Systems Agriculture matches the principles and insights of evolutionary and ecological science with the applied skills and knowledge of agronomy to partner with and intensify the beneficial relationships within living species, communities and ecosystems.

I can imagine that there will be more expansion of those who look to the ecosystem concept, which features three questions: What was here? What will nature require of us here?

What will nature help us do here? Those are questions which in the past have not been taken seriously. [Environmentalist/ author] Wendell Berry has been a primary guru in helping me with the above necessary language.

“...we will have to save our soils if we are to expect a healthy food supply…”

Wes Jackson wants you to shift your perspective about the way we farm and displace a long-held, dysfunctional system of agriculture. After establishing one of the country’s first environmental studies programs in California, Wes co-founded The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, in 1976, and embarked on a lifelong path toward implementing perennial crops that protect soil and work directly with ecosystems. As president emeritus of The Land Institute, having worked extensively with Natural Systems Agriculture, and the author of New Roots for Agriculture, Consulting the Genius of the Place, and Nature as Measure, Wes shares insights on how to cultivate a more interconnected Planet Earth.

Wes’s workshop, Cultural Transformation for the Perennial Good: A Weekend with Wes Jackson, unfolds February 28-March 1.

How has your work changed since the 1970s? Is there an increased sense of urgency?

It has become broader, both at The Land Institute and worldwide. Six continents are now involved, with nearly 100 scientists at work at some level.

How can we become better stewards of our land?

By endorsing the ecosystem concept as the necessary conceptual tool, and then acting on it.

How has this work changed you personally?

We started out with the ecosystem as the conceptual tool for a sustainable agriculture featuring perennial grain mixtures. Looking at the soil erosion, chemical contamination of our foodgrowing lands and waters, mostly products of the industrial mind, I have become even more convinced of the value of nature’s wisdom since our start-up 43 years ago.

What makes Esalen a unique place for this work?

It is a beautiful setting with an impressive history for holding forums.

Products of the engagement stand a good chance of being taken seriously here.

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Photo by Esalen seminarian Vera Lin

WEEK OF MARCH 1-6

Mosaic Art: Patterns in Nature

Grief Yoga™ Teacher Training: Level One

Wilma Wyss

Paul Denniston

Grief Yoga™ blends postures, movement, breath and vocalization in ways that help students process the grief that follows any loss.

This training certifies you as a Level 1 Grief Yoga instructor while also helping you work with your own grief. This experiential learning process is a blend of understanding grief, a way of healing your own wounds and a practical environment to empower you in teaching these unique, sacred classes. Grief expert David Kessler will be a guest teacher in two sessions during this week-long training. In addition to learning the Grief Yoga™ approach to transforming suffering and reconnecting to love, you'll be taught how to: • Choose appropriate postures, movements, music and meditations for different student populations • Hold space and guide students through Grief Yoga™ exercises • Design unique classes for relationship losses, divorce, breakups and death • Address the special needs of grieving clients Explore different models of grief and aspects of healing after loss so that you can help others to release grief and connect again to the gift of life P Prerequisite: any 200-hour yoga teacher certification.

Recommended study: Kessler and Kubler Ross, On Grief and Grieving; Grief Yoga Online Course and Transform Online Course by Paul Denniston.

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Nature provides space to quiet our souls, gain perspective and harness our creativity. Explore Esalen's stunning grounds to find places that resonate and inspire your mosaic art, be it big vistas, small individual succulents or anything in between. Mosaic is a slow and contemplative art form, perfectly suited for Esalen’s restorative setting.

Patterns found in nature translate beautifully into the medium of mosaic. Conceive, develop and realize your own mosaic project, with guidance offered by mosaic artist Wilma Wyss. You'll sketch initial concepts in pencil, and Wilma will work with you as you develop your concept into mosaic artwork. Compose in glass, tile and found objects. Demonstrations include cutting and shaping the materials, adhesives and use of color. Presentations illustrate relevant examples and the power of pattern. Known for her joyful teaching style and her creative use of materials, Wilma provides individual instruction to foster your creativity. This workshop is designed for adults who may have some experience with mosaic, as well as anyone who has never touched a wheeled nipper. All tools and a wide variety of materials are provided to complete one or more wall-hung mosaics.

Contact wilma@wyssdesign.com if you plan to bring your own tools and materials. ($75 material fee will be added to the workshop cost.)

Wilma Wyss is an award-winning mosaic artist whose work features

CE credit for Registered Yoga Teachers (RYT) available through Yoga Alliance; see leader.

unusual materials and nuanced colors and textures. Wilma designed

Paul Denniston bio on page 32.

in a workshop. www.wyssdesign.com

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Esalen’s mosaic mural in the Lodge’s restroom foyer, which was created

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Being in the Body: Enneagram and Inner Work Retreat Russ Hudson & Jason Stern

This retreat will focus on deepening our understanding and use of the Enneagram for personal transformation. The Enneagram is an accurate and profound map of personality. The nine Enneagram Types are based on the three primary centers of intelligence: thinking, emotion and instinct. Any authentic spiritual work begins with presence in the body, no matter your Enneagram Type.

Through personal, hands-on experiences, we will deepen our connection with the foundational role of the body and the essential qualities of the Enneagram Types of the body center. This will facilitate work on areas such as embodiment, instinctual energies, autonomy and how to compassionately live in and relate to the body in our daily lives. This retreat will feature experiential exercises such as physical movement in the form of the Gurdjieff Movements, spiritual teachings, meditations, music and small group work.

You will be invited to: • Learn how to inhabit the body with greater sensitivity and awareness • Understand the necessary role of the body in our inner life and spiritual practice • Come to recognize the Enneagram beyond typing, as a transformational map that illuminates the challenges and gifts each point represents in the journey to deepening presence Russ Hudson is executive director of the Enneagram Institute in New York. He is the co-author, with Don Richard Riso, of several books including The Wisdom of the Enneagram and Personality Types (revised edition). www.enneagraminstitute.com Jason Stern leads Gurdjieff groups and seminars on the Fourth Way method of inner work in the U.S. and Europe. He authored Learning to Be Human and publishes Chronogram, a monthly magazine. http://www.learningtobehuman.com/

WEEKEND OF MARCH 6-8 Pelvic Liberation Weekend for Women Leslie Howard

Did you know that every pelvis has a story? Come learn what your pelvis has to say. In many ways, the pelvis is the root of all things.

The strength, stability and suppleness of the pelvic floor help create the strongest foundation of each movement in the body.

This workshop for women weaves together anatomy, lecture and discussion, followed by subtle experiential movements to awaken your understanding of this often-ignored area. We will experiment and play with a series of specific exercises and asanas for the pelvic floor, and learn breathing practices and mudras (hand positions that can influence the energy body). By exploring the deep and subtle connections of our anatomy, we will begin to feel how the pelvic floor is the nexus to the mouth, tongue, jaw, legs, feet and breath. If sex is painful, if you have pelvic, hip or knee pain, and/or if you experience incontinence or a prolapsed organ, this workshop is for you. Laughter and tears are welcome. Bring your friends, sisters, mothers and daughters. Although helpful, no yoga experience is required. Please bring a notebook and lubricant (for optional internal self-massage outside of workshop hours). This workshop welcomes all femaleidentified people of any sexual orientation.

3 Recommended reading: Howard, Pelvic Liberation.

Leslie Howard is a yoga educator who pioneered the growing field of yoga for pelvic health. Sonima Health named her one of the top 50 yoga instructors in the U.S. Leslie leads Pelvic Floor Yoga™ certification trainings and other workshops internationally. Her most recent book is Pelvic Liberation. www.lesliehowardyoga.com

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Conversations on the Edge: Beyond the Valley – How Innovators Around the World Are Overcoming Inequality and Creating the Technologies of Tomorrow Sonia Katyal & Ramesh Srinivasan

If you are looking for another way to grow in a unique format different from the traditional workshop, please join us for an Esalen original series: Conversations on the Edge. In each of these curated weekend events, we bring together leading experts and visiting teachers to explore a pressing issue of our time in a vibrant, interactive forum of lecture, lightning talks, group discussion and idea sharing.

In Beyond the Valley, we will question the disconnect between tech designers and users, producers and consumers, tech elites and the general population, and explore how to work toward a more democratic internet through a new ethic of diversity, openness and inclusivity. We will also discuss particular issues relevant to the intersection of technology, gender identity and intersectionality, and how to manage the complexities of growing political and economic inequality.

Visiting faculty will be Ramesh Srinivasan, a professor in the Information Studies and Design/Media Arts departments at UCLA and Sonia Katyal, the co-director for the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology. This weekend is comprised of several short but impactful lecturettes that end in Q&A and conversation among the audience. Scheduled gathering time will be significantly less than traditional workshops to allow for participation in movement and meditation classes, healing arts and hot springs, and the natural beauty of Esalen. Presenters are subject to change.

Sonia Katyal is a professor whose award-winning scholarly work focuses on the intersection of technology, intellectual property and civil rights (including anti-discrimination, privacy and freedom of speech). Her current projects focus on the intersection between internet access and civil/human rights, with a special emphasis on the right to information; artificial intelligence and discrimination; trademarks and advertising; source code and the impact of trade secrecy; and a variety of projects on the intersection between gender and the commons. As a member of the university-wide Haas LGBT Cluster, Professor Katyal also works on matters regarding law, gender and sexuality.

Ramesh Srinivasan is a professor in the Information Studies and Design|Media Arts departments at UCLA. He’s the founder of the university-wide Digital Cultures Lab, which explores the meaning of technology, author of Beyond the Valley – How Innovators around the World Are Overcoming Inequality and Creating the Technologies of Tomorrow, Whose Global Village?

Rethinking How Technology Impacts Our World, and co-author of After the Internet. He has held fellowships at MIT Media Lab and has been a teaching fellow at the Graduate School of Design and Department of Visual and Environmental Design at Harvard University. He writes regularly about issues associated with AI and ethics, is a regular speaker for TEDx Talks and makes appearances in the national media.

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Being Present for Your Life: Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation James Baraz

How much are you present for your own life? Most of us spend more time worrying about the future, replaying the past or lost in fantasy than experiencing what life is offering to us right now. The present moment is where we can most directly be intimate with our life while learning through the difficult lessons how to open our hearts.

Mindfulness — or vipassana — meditation is the practice described by the Buddha for developing wisdom, compassion and peace by learning to be mindful of what is happening in the present moment.

Using the breath, body sensations, thoughts and emotions, we can learn to be more fully awake. When we see directly that the nature of reality is change, we become more capable of meeting each situation with spontaneity, fearlessness and love. In this workshop, you'll be introduced to this meditation practice and the principles on which it is based. There will be periods of silent sitting and walking meditation as well as discussion, providing a foundation for applying mindfulness practice to everyday life.

3 Recommended reading: Baraz and Alexander, Awakening Joy: 10

Steps That Will Put You on the Road to Real Happiness; Goldstein, The Experience of Insight; Kornfield, A Path with Heart.

James Baraz is a co-founding teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, Calif. He is co-author of Awakening Joy and leads the popular Awakening Joy course across the U.S. and abroad. He also coauthored Awakening Joy for Kids with Michele Lilyanna. James lives in Berkeley, Calif. www.awakeningjoy.info

WEEK OF MARCH 8-13 The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible Charles Eisenstein

Our hearts know it, because we have seen it, experienced glimpses of what life and the world could be. Yet as individuals and a society, we carry habits and programs of the old and dying "Story of Separation." We cannot easily know how to get from here to there; often, we doubt what we have seen. This retreat is a deprogramming from the old story and an immersion in a new (and ancient) story.

It crystallizes a next step toward the world we know is possible. It engages a great power within you, and it will inspire a hope that comprehends the full situation on this planet.

3 Recommended reading: Eisenstein, The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible. Note: For this workshop, participants

will pay Esalen for accommodations only. The course fee is selfdetermined. At the end of the workshop, participants will choose a tuition amount that reflects their feeling of value, gratitude and desire to support Charles Eisenstein and his ongoing work. For accommodations pricing chart, see http://www.esalen.org/page/ partner-program-pricing.

Charles Eisenstein is a speaker and writer focusing on themes of human culture and identity. He is the author of several books, most recently Sacred Economics and The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible. He lives in Rhode Island with his family. www.charleseisenstein.net

Total Immersion for Total Transformation Raphael Cushnir

Call forth your very best, using tools that include emotional release work, journaling, small group exercises, meditation, movement, yoga, chant, collage, subtle energy practices and mind-heart attunements in a safe and gentle environment. As a highlight of this workshop, you will co-design and experience a unique transformational experience all your own. Leave the workshop with a practical roadmap for real-life integration.

This workshop is right for you if: • You’re willing to perform a rigorous emotional and spiritual self-assessment • You want to determine which aspects of your life are calling for healing and change • You’re ready to begin that healing and change on the very first day of the workshop • You want to take a giant leap forward in consciousness • You can support a small, like-minded community committed to the same leap 3 Recommended reading: Cushnir, The One Thing Holding You Back.

Raphael Cushnir has written six books, including The One Thing Holding You Back and Setting Your Heart on Fire. He lectures worldwide and contributes to O, The Oprah Magazine, Psychology Today and the Huffington Post. His heart opened through profound grief. www.cushnir.com

Secrets of Great Relationships: For Individuals and Couples Linda Bloom & Charlie Bloom

For one human being to love another, that is the most difficult of all of our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof, for which all other work is but preparation. — Rainer Maria Rilke A great relationship means more than just staying together. Unless we enjoy trust, intimacy, caring and love with our partner, we are

sharing an arrangement, not a true partnership. Yet for a disturbing number of couples, the dreams of infatuation dissolve into a cold and joyless relationship or end in divorce. The biggest mistake that many people make is not in expecting too much from their relationships, but in desiring too little. A true partnership can be a means through which our deepest longings are awakened and ultimately realized.

In this experiential workshop, we will work in dyads, small groups and the group as a whole. The lecture component will be interactive, with plenty of time for Q&A from the group. We'll also practice mindfulness meditation. Together we will examine the unique qualities that exceptional relationships embody and identify the various means through which it is possible to develop and integrate those qualities, and to manage the inevitable differences that arise. We will identify and engage in practices that can transform the quality of connection in ways that promote co-creativity, unconditional acceptance and spiritual awakening. This workshop provides tools that can promote enduring love and deep intimacy.

Recommended reading: Bloom and Bloom, Happily Ever After and 39 Other Myths About Love, Secrets of Great Marriages: Real Truth from Real Couples about Lasting Love, 101 Things I Wish I Knew When I Got Married: Simple Lessons to Make Love Last and That Which Doesn’t Kill Us : How One Couple Became Stronger at the Broken Places.

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CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs; see page 94.

CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Linda Bloom is a licensed clinical social worker and educator. She and her husband Charlie are co-founders of Bloomwork and co-authors of Secrets of Great Marriages: Real Truth from Real Couples about Lasting Love and 101 Things I Wish I Knew When I Got Married. They have facilitated workshops internationally since 1986. www.bloomwork.com Charlie Bloom is an educator, therapist and seminar leader. He and his wife Linda are co-founders of Bloomwork and co-authors of Secrets of Great Marriages: Real Truth from Real Couples about Lasting Love and 101 Things I Wish I Knew When I Got Married. He has facilitated workshops internationally since 1986. www.bloomwork.com

Photo by Esalen seminarian Jens Wazel

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Photo by Esalen seminarian Vera Lin

Deep Tissue Techniques for Massage Practitioners: Advanced Shoulder, Rotator Cuff and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Perry Holloman & Johanna Holloman

Deep bodywork, practiced with great sensitivity, is one of the most effective healing modalities available to the bodywork practitioner.

Through slowly opening the body’s deeper soft tissue layers, we connect the mind to normally unconscious "stuck" areas of the physical body, which can release enormous amounts of previously held energy. This energy then becomes available to support the body’s innate capacity to self-organize and self-heal, enabling practitioners to support clients in overcoming previously stubborn, seemingly intractable physical conditions. Focusing on deep bodywork as a healing art, this program is designed for massage and bodywork practitioners seeking to incorporate effective deep tissue techniques into their work.

Whether in private practice or working in a spa, there is growing demand for practitioners who have mastered the art of moving deeply into the body with skill and sensitivity. Areas of focus include: relieving chronic and acute pain in the back, neck, around the major joints of the shoulder and hip, and in the forearm and wrist. We spend a good 38

deal of time learning to recognize how to feel "soft tissue lesions" with our hands wherever we find them, and learn why, at physiological and energetic levels, competent deep bodywork needs to be done slowly for greatest effect. The teachers are available to answer questions of specific interest to students as they arise during our practice sessions, and we add new hip and shoulder material for students who have previously attended this seminar. ($30 additional tuition and $7 materials fee for manuals will be added to the workshop cost.) For more information, visit www.deepbodywork.com.

CE credit for massage therapists; see page 94.

CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

CE credit pending from CAB for acupuncturists (Course Category 1).

Perry Holloman has been a teacher and practitioner of Esalen Massage, Deep Bodywork and body-oriented approaches to Relational Gestalt Process work for more than 30 years. He teaches in the U.S., Asia, and Europe, and makes his home in Big Sur. www.deepbodywork.com Johanna Holloman is a German-born clinical psychologist, Diamond Approach® teacher and certified Esalen® Massage and Deep Bodywork instructor. She teaches internationally. She is a yoga teacher (E-RYT 500) and created the Esalen in-house yoga training program.

WEEKEND OF MARCH 13-15 Unfinished Business: Create Your Next Steps in Life from the Inside Out Pam Kramer & Steve Edelman

Is your life an expression of who you really are at the core? Perhaps you have already succeeded brilliantly at what you wanted to do, or gone as far as you can go. Is now the time for you to get a clear view of what’s next? This workshop is about clarifying your deepest values, and seeing clearly where you are now and where you need to go to realize your full potential. You will begin to create a path to wholeness through personal vision, concrete planning and commitment to deeper satisfaction. Through experiential processes, group interaction, inspiring videos and meditative exercises, you can see what you need to do now and take the first steps to get there.

Hear moving, inspirational and instructive stories of people who have faced the need to change, overcome barriers and successfully moved in new directions. Dynamic processes and small group interactions will give you a clear vision of the best you, and mindful movement and deep relaxation practices will support your journey.

Pam Kramer is a career specialist, executive coach and human potential expert. She is president of ITP International, stewarding the work of Esalen co-founder Michael Murphy and George Leonard, author and visionary. Pam is a frequent Esalen workshop leader. www.unfinbiz.com Steve Edelman, JD, is a veteran of many career changes: law, television broadcasting, entrepreneur, creator of a multimillion-dollar television production company and designer of cutting-edge experiential workshops. He and Pam Kramer co-developed Unfinished Business. www.unfinbiz.com

Liberate the Body and Stretch the Mind: Mindfulness Meditation and Yoga Wes "Scoop" Nisker & Katchie Ananda

Oh wondrous creatures, by what strange miracle do you so often not smile? — Hafiz Many of us are amazed when we read the latest scientific discovery about the size of the cosmos or the workings of biological evolution, but few of us know how to bring that sense of wonder and delight into our lives. In this workshop, we will make creative use of classic Buddhist meditation practices and Anusara yoga to help us embody the amazement of being alive and human. This workshop combines the traditional practice of Buddhist mindfulness meditation with sessions based on Anusara yoga. Periods of meditation will alternate with yoga, allowing the techniques to support each other and create a sense of mind-body connection, vitality and well-being.

The weekend will provide ample time for discussion and interviews, as well as attention to individual challenges. There will also be talks, an exploration of Buddhist and yogic philosophy, as well as plenty of poetry and good humor. The workshop is appropriate for both experienced and beginning students of mindfulness meditation or yoga. Please bring a yoga mat.

Wes "Scoop" Nisker is a Buddhist meditation teacher, radio commentator and performer. His books include Essential Crazy Wisdom, Buddha’s Nature and Crazy Wisdom Saves the World Again!

Wes teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, Calif. He founded and co-edits the journal Inquiring Mind. www.wesnisker.com Katchie Ananda is an internationally recognized yoga and dharma teacher whose leadership in yoga and social change prompted Yoga Journal to name her one of five top yoga teachers making change in the world. www.katchieananda.com

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WEEK OF MARCH 15-20 IAHE: Upledger Institute International's Total Body Balancing 1 Kerry D'Ambrogio

Each year, Esalen offers an exciting array of opportunities for learning massage and healing arts. Our programs range from weekend and week-long workshops to multi-week 100- and 250hour massage practitioner certification programs. For a complete listing of workshops please visit www.esalen.org.

Current Trends in Esalen Massage® and Bodywork Daniela Urbassek & Jessica Fagan

This workshop is an invitation to explore and experience current trends in Esalen Massage and bodywork. During the weekend, attention will be focused on various ways to: • Sensitively and comfortably work at deep levels • Utilize both active and passive movement to enhance effectiveness • Develop a deeper understanding of the terms listening, balance and integration Veteran group leaders Daniela and Jessica will offer participants unusual, interesting and fresh aspects of Esalen Massage to expand technique repertoire and inspire creativity and innovation. Sessions will include plenty of personal attention and assistance to support the process of learning. Come prepared to touch and be touched by the beauty, power and spirit of Esalen and the Big Sur coast. All levels of experience are welcome.

CE credit for massage therapists; see page 94.

CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Daniela Urbassek bio on page 30.

Jessica Fagan, a member of the Esalen Massage staff, is a dancer and performer who is deeply immersed in the practice and teaching of Eastern and Western somatic therapies as well as vinyasa yoga. www.jessicasomatics.com 40

Total Body Balancing (TBB) is a body evaluation and treatment approach based on classical osteopathic theory. TBB uses long levers to improve circulation and nerve and energy flow, thus normalizing sympathetic and parasympathetic neurological activity with a goal of creating a new homeodynamic state. You will be taught a six-phase treatment template that can be done in as little as 20 minutes to balance the client's body. TBB can be easily integrated with other therapeutic techniques such as craniosacral therapy and lymphatic drainage. TBB can help improve the client's biomechanical structure by focusing on reducing muscle tension and fascial tension, increasing joint mobility, and balancing lines of tension and postural alignment. TBB also can improve the client's physiological function, focusing on balancing organ mobility/motility, blood, lymph, body fluids, nerve and energy flow while reducing swelling and pain.

TBB can be used in the treatment of back pain, sciatica, neck pain, headaches, rib pain, upper and lower extremity orthopedic dysfunctions, swelling and postural deformities. Because of the gentleness and effectiveness of TBB, it is appropriate for numerous patient populations including pediatrics and geriatrics.

Note: Registration for this workshop is through the International Alliance of Healthcare Educators (IAHE) only. To register, please call 1-800-311-9204. Only after you have registered with IAHE and paid tuition fees will you be able to reserve accommodations at Esalen. For accommodations pricing chart, see http://www.esalen.org/page/partner-program-pricing.

CE credit for acupuncturists Course Category 1; see leader.

CE credit for massage therapists; see page 94.

CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

CE credit for physical therapists in California; see leader.

Kerry D'Ambrogio is a lecturer, author, physical therapist, osteopath and board-certified acupuncture physician. He is the president and director of Therapeutic Systems, Inc. (TSI). TSI is an internationally known seminar company as well as a treatment center. www.tsitherapy.com

Heart of Awareness: An Embodied Spirituality Retreat

Wild Eros in a Fragmented World: Soulcraft as Radical Participation

Susan Aposhyan

Bill Plotkin & Geneen Marie Haugen

This retreat is a time to go into ourselves and come together with others, heal what is ailing us, release what we are done with, and open more deeply and fully to ourselves. We will use embodiment movement practices, embodied meditation, embodied speech, embodied listening and embodied relationship as the means to achieve personal and cultural peace and creativity. We'll take time for dyadic inquiry, group emotional support, sharing and discussion.

The fundamental question of this retreat has to do with the role of the human physical heart in this process, and exploring the reasons that the heart rests quietly at the center of all spiritual and healing work. How can we bring more awareness to this process? What is the relationship between our brains and our hearts? And what if spiritual work, healing and creativity all stem from the same basic energy?

Bringing body and mind together empowers us personally, facilitates healing and enhances our ability to support humanity and the earth.

All are welcome. This course is especially helpful to those in the health and healing professions to work with their own burnout and find simple strategies in working with clients and patients.

In this turbulent time, how can you offer radical vitality to our world?

What ignites your imagination? When do you erupt into awe?

What if your deepest longings and heartaches suggest something about your unique expression of the wild eros of the world? Eros is much more than sexual desire: it’s a deeply embodied, imaginative, mystical, soulful participation with an animate Earth. In Wild Eros, we’ll approach the waters, forest, gardens and creatures (human and other) as a lover, awakening the wild body and mythopoetic imagination where everything is alive and intelligent. Our soulcraft practices will include ceremony, deep imagery, dreamwork, trance drumming, dancing and solo wandering. We’ll live the question: If earth is alluring us for her own purposes — very much the way the nectar lust of bees serves the desires of flowers — what wild child, what honey, will we create from this joining?

Wild Eros is a way of falling into the depths of soul and nourishing radical intimacy with other-than-human beings. It’s a subversive act of embodied participation that amplifies experience of earth as sacred and may reveal seeds of vision for our troubled, tender world — potent seeds for artisans of cultural renaissance: change agents, tricksters, artists, poets, therapists, activists and true leaders.

3 Recommended reading: Aposhyan, Body-Mind Psychotherapy and Natural Intelligence.

CE credit for massage therapists; see page 94.

CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs; see page 94.

Susan Aposhyan has been teaching and practicing meditation for 45 years. She is the author of Natural Intelligence: Body-Mind Integration and Human Development and Body-Mind Psychotherapy. Susan trains professionals in her Body-Mind Psychotherapy, integrating science with healing and meditative experience. www.bodymindpsychotherapy.com

3 Recommended reading: Plotkin, Soulcraft and Wild Mind; Vaughen

Lee, ed., Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth.

Bill Plotkin, founder of Colorado’s Animas Valley Institute, is a depth psychologist, wilderness-based soul guide, and agent of cultural evolution. Author of Soulcraft, Nature and the Human Soul and Wild Mind, he has guided thousands of people through initiatory passages in the underworld of soul. www.animas.org Geneen Marie Haugen, PhD, is a wilderness wanderer, writer prone to nature mysticism and guide to the intertwined mysteries of earth and psyche. Her writing appears in Spiritual Ecology, The Cry of the Earth, Ecopsychology, Parabola, and Thomas Berry: Dreamer of the Earth. www.animas.org 41

WEEKEND OF MARCH 20-22 The Writing Life Ellen Bass & Roxan McDonald

There is a vitality, a life-force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action. And because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium, and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how valuable, nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. — Martha Graham This workshop will allow us to leave the rush of our busy lives and be still enough to hear the stories and poems that gestate within us. We'll write, share our writing and hear what our work touches in others. We'll help each other to become clearer, go deeper, take new risks. With the safety, support and inspiration of this gathering, you will have the opportunity to create writing that is more vivid, more true, more complex and powerful than you've been able to do before.

Whether you are interested in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, memoir or journal writing, this weekend will provide a rich opportunity to immerse yourself in the writing life. Both beginners and experienced writers are welcome.

3 Recommended reading: Bass, Indigo; Like a Beggar and When the

Rewards Can Be So Great: Essays on Writing and the Writing Life.

Ellen Bass’s work frequently appears in The New Yorker and The Sun. Among her books are Indigo and Like a Beggar (poetry) and the best-selling The Courage to Heal. A chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, she teaches in Pacific University’s MFA program. www.ellenbass.com Roxan McDonald dedicates herself to helping people find their voice both on the page and in their lives. She is the author of two self-help decks published by Knock Knock Inc. She teaches writing throughout the Monterey Bay area and leads international retreats. www.roxanmcdonald.com

The Power of Play and Human Connection in the Digital Age Adam Smiley Poswolsky & Brady Gill

We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing. — George Bernard Shaw Play has been scientifically proven to be healthy for the brain, our creativity and our happiness. So why do we spend so little time as adults playing? Join us for a tech-free (play)shop designed to awaken your creative potential and help you bring more play into your life and your work. Together, we’ll explore different types of play through a series of fun and interactive games and playshops like authentic connection activities, icebreakers, improv, creative writing, artistic exploration and mindful reflection. This movement of playful connection is essential in our modern times, where digital communication is quickly replacing human contact and our lives are more and more defined by what we do, rather than who we are. Let’s reclaim the power of play together.

Adam Smiley Poswolsky is a millennial workplace expert, keynote speaker, best-selling author of The Quarter-Life Breakthrough and 13time counselor for Camp Grounded: Summer Camp for Adults. Smiley has inspired thousands of professionals to find more meaning in their work lives. www.smileyposwolsky.com Brady Gill wants to make the world a playful place. Brady is a writer/ performer, director of Camp Anywhere (a summer camp for grownups) and founder of Custom Camps, which creates summer camp-style retreats for companies and teams. www.bradygillplay.com

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Photo by Esalen seminarian Vera Lin

Emotional Mindfulness, Connection and Healing for Gay Men Ron Frederick & Timothy Beyer

Why is it so hard for us as gay men to feel present in our lives and closer to those we love? For many, the main reason is fear of being emotionally present with ourselves and with others. It’s this fear, often outside of our awareness, that keeps us from learning how to tap into our emotional experience. We avoid our feelings and end up stuck, and detached from the wisdom and power inside us. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Grounded in contemporary neuroscience and drawn from a variety of healing and growth models, this highly experiential workshop teaches a proven approach to cultivating “emotional mindfulness” that will help you: • Recognize the ways you unknowingly cut yourself off from your emotional power • Tame anxiety and fear and feel more in control • Connect with your true emotions, make use of their inherent resources and heal • Authentically and comfortably express yourself and feel more connected and receptive to others Through a combination of lecture, discussion and experiential exercises, you will be able to return home with tools that can help you break free from old patterns, open your heart and transform your life. Clinicians will be taught an approach to emotional mindfulness that can be integrated into their work with clients.

3 Recommended reading: Frederick, Living Like You Mean It: Use

the Wisdom and Power of Your Emotions to Get the Life You Really Want. For continuing education syllabus, see https://www.esalen. org/emotional-mindfulness-connection-healing-for-gay-men.

CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs; see page 94.

Ron Frederick, PhD, is a psychologist and author of the award-winning book Living Like You Mean It: Use the Wisdom and Power of Your Emotions to Get the Life You Really Want. He lectures and facilitates workshops nationally. www.cfcliving.com Timothy Beyer, PhD, is a psychologist and co-founder of the Center

for Courageous Living in Beverly Hills, Calif. In practice for more than 16 years, his passion lies in helping others clarify and achieve their personal goals and realize their best life. www.cfcliving.com

Getting the Love You Want: A Workshop for Couples Rick Brown

This workshop is designed to help couples understand at a deeper level why they were attracted to each other, why they get stuck in endless power struggles and how to safely begin to work through those stuck places toward a safer and more satisfying relationship.

Couples share only with their partner and are able to maintain privacy.

Couples are shown: • New communication skills to break destructive cycles of relating • How to channel the energy from arguments to create passion and stability • How the unconscious forces that attract partners to each other are also the source of conflict • New tools for re-romanticizing their relationship • How to use their relationship for emotional healing and spiritual evolution Activities include lectures, written exercises, guided imagery and live demonstrations of communication skills and processes. Rick Brown has been offering this workshop for more than 25 years, and has appeared on Oprah. The methodology is based on Harville Hendrix's best-selling Getting the Love You Want. For more information, visit www.rickbrown.org. ($25 materials fee for manuals will be added to the workshop cost.)

This workshop welcomes couples of all gender and sexual orientations.

3 Recommended reading: Brown, Imago Relationship Therapy;

Hendrix, Getting the Love You Want.

Rick Brown is executive director for the Institute for Relationship Therapy. Rick was executive director for Harville Hendrix's Institute, and he lectures and gives workshops across the country. He has been married since 1976. www.rickbrown.org

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WEEK OF MARCH 22-27 Revisioning Your Hero's JourneyÂŽ: A Mythological Toolbox (27th ed., revised) Robert Walter & The Joseph Campbell Foundation

Joseph Campbell liked to celebrate his birthday (March 26th) at Esalen. Explaining why, he'd recount Carl Jung's wondering, "What myth am I living by?" and realizing he didn't know, writing, "I took it upon myself to get to know 'my' myth, and I regarded this as the task of tasks." "That's what a birthday is for," Campbell would conclude, "and what Esalen is about."

In 1988, five months after Campbell's death, his friends gathered at Esalen for "Campbell Week," a tradition that has morphed into this playshop. Who were you? What's inspired your biographical saga?

What treasures hide in your basement or attic? Who are you? What's displayed on your refrigerator? What dangles from your rearview mirror? Who do you aspire to be? What's on your bucket list? Dare to revision yourself. Join our springtime rebirth rituals. You needn't be familiar with Campbell to relive dreams, rekindle visions, embrace myth-making tools like drums and dance, music and song, masks, medicine bags and altars. Individual, small- and large-group activities will provide reflective and expressive opportunities to retool the myths shaping your life. Bring a meaningful but expendable totem, unsung story or evocative song, and a sense of humor.

Visit www.jcf.org for more information.

Robert Walter, Joseph Campbell's editor for a decade, is president of the Joseph Campbell Foundation and a poet/playwright with several decades of experience as group leader, teacher, publisher and theatrical producer/director/designer. www.jcf.org

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The Way of Grace: The Transforming Power of Ego Relaxation Miranda Macpherson

Perhaps you yearn for a saner, wiser, more spiritually elegant way to move through our world, gain traction on your path and become a more graceful human being. Closing that gap between luminous moments and how you actually live daily life does not have to be a struggle. At every stage of your journey, the support to surrender, deepen and thrive is more available than you might think. Grace is more than a lofty state. It is the key to ending the search and finding true fulfillment. Grace is the ground of your being, the love that sustains you, the power that transforms you, and a radiant way of being and serving. Ego Relaxation is the practice that brings grace alive. It offers a clearer, kinder and more potent way to unwind limiting patterns, open into deeper dimensions of consciousness, and become a more graceful human being. Using holistic inquiry, meditation, chanting and engaging teaching sessions, we will journey into the important themes of your life to access the wisdom of your deepest nature. Strengthen your capacity to be present and open-hearted with all life brings. Allow fear and control to unwind in an atmosphere of unconditional love. Become a more potent embodiment of grace in our troubled world.

Miranda Macpherson has been guiding others into direct experience of the sacred for 30 years internationally. Founder of the OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation in London, today she leads the Living Grace Sangha in Northern California. Author of The Way of Grace, Miranda offers a feminine and integrated approach to nondual realization. www.mirandamacpherson.com

Photo by Esalen seminarian Leilani Tuttle

Photo by Esalen seminarian Rick Rasmussen

Esalen Massage® and Meditation

WEEKEND OF MARCH 27-29

Brita Ostrom & Dean Marson

Conversations on the Edge: How to Live Forever — The Enduring Power of Connecting the Generations

Esalen Massage is a moving meditation, a life practice in presence and mindfulness and an integral healing art. When practiced with focused attention, massage comes from a deep, quiet place that resides inside each of us. The practice of moving with presence can help access the deep nervous system, where healing originates. As we give a massage, this healing state of mind can permeate the field that practitioner and receiver create together.

In guided sessions, we will practice sitting meditation to prepare and quiet our minds, walking meditation to bring awareness to our movement and the fundamentals of Esalen Massage as a life practice in giving with our full, embodied presence. There will be time for supervised practice each day, as students exchange massages, with the support of their experienced teachers.

Beginners as well as seasoned practitioners are welcome to explore Esalen Massage and moving meditation, while enjoying the natural beauty of the Esalen grounds. This workshop is especially useful for those in the helping and healing professions in working with their clients and patients.

CE credit for massage therapists; see page 94.

CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Brita Ostrom bio on page 30.

Dean Marson teaches Esalen Massage® and Ocean Yoga. He integrates meditation, movement and bodywork practices to assist people in enlivening their bodies and their lives. He has led workshops at Esalen and internationally for more than 20 years. www.beEnlivened.com

If you are looking for another way to grow in a unique format different from the traditional workshop, please join us for an Esalen original series: Conversations on the Edge. In each of these curated weekend events, we bring together leading experts and visiting teachers to explore a pressing issue of our time in a vibrant, interactive forum of lecture, lightning talks, group discussion and idea sharing.

In How to Live Forever, author Marc Freedman, president and CEO of Encore.org, will issue a personal call to find fulfillment in our longer lives by connecting with the next generation and forging a legacy of love that lives beyond us. This weekend is comprised of several short but impactful lecturettes that end in Q&A and conversation among the audience. Scheduled gathering time will be significantly less than traditional workshops to allow for participation in movement and meditation classes, healing arts and hot springs, and the natural beauty of Esalen. See website for updated topic and presenters.

Presenters are subject to change.

Marc Freedman, president, CEO and founder of Encore.org, is a renowned social entrepreneur, thought leader and writer. Under Marc’s leadership, Encore.org has pioneered innovative programs and sparked a growing movement in the U.S. and beyond to tap the talent and experience of people past midlife as a human resource for solving our most vexing social problems.

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The Heart of the Shaman: The Oracle and the Art of Divination Alberto Villoldo

Many of us grow up internalizing our culture’s “original story” of being cast out of paradise and separated from our divine Creator.

This bankrupt story tends to inform our lives whether we are raised in a religious home or not, causing us a great deal of suffering. In this workshop, you will learn ancient healing practices of the shamans and come to understand that if we wish to heal our wounds on every level, it’s crucial that we discard this myth and make our way back to the Garden of Eden. You will learn ways to reconnect with nature through shamanic energy medicine. You will be shown the art of divination — how to summon wisdom and insight from Spirit and the great powers of nature — and discover what the shamans of the Andes call the sacred dream: the revelation of our mission in life and our place in the cosmos.

Alberto Villoldo, PhD, is a medical anthropologist and best-selling author who has studied the shamanic healing practices of the Amazon and Andes for over 30 years. He is the founder of the Four Winds Society, and his most recent book is The Heart of the Shaman: Stories and Practices of the Luminous Warrior. www.thefourwinds.com http://albertovilloldophd.com/

Know Thy Selves: Discovering Past Lives Shama Viola

Like various other cultures around the world, Damanhurians (residents of an ecovillage and spiritual community situated in the Piedmont region of northern Italy) believe that the soul survives physical death. This "story of our soul" carries with it valuable information that can assist us in our present lives. What we learn about our "former selves" can infuse our current experiences with deeper meaning, purpose, contentment and joy.

Learn the uniquely Damanhur approach to remembering those past lives that are most significant to your present life. You will be trained in practical techniques to help resurface memories, talents and opportunities that you can utilize now. Art, theatre, meditation, play and other practices will help you reawaken and re-embodying the "character" you once were. In doing so, you can learn how to apply this to the present to improve your personality traits, reconnect with past competencies and overcome limitations.

This workshop will allow you to deeply investigate one past life and receive inklings of another.

Note: Participants must send two photos, along with full birth name, birth date and place of birth to shama@damanhur.org at least four weeks before the workshop begins. Damanhur will provide individualized reports based on its past lives theories. No additional students will be accepted within four weeks of the workshop. ($100 nonrefundable materials fee will be added to the workshop cost.)

Shama Viola (Manuala Terraluna) is a citizen of Damanhur, the Italian social/spiritual community dedicated to conscious living, esoteric tradition and a practical approach to sacredness. She has been living there for 17 years. She travels the world to share Damanhur's message through group courses and individual readings. www.damanhur.org 46

WEEK OF MARCH 29-APRIL 3 The Science and Practice of a Meaningful Life: Fostering Purpose through Connections and Dedication to the Greater Good Eve Ekman & Chris Murchison

Science confirms what we already suspect — that connection to ourselves and others is one of life’s primary purposes and sources of meaning and contentment. However, the pace and goal- driven orientation of life today can obscure these precious endeavors. At the end of life, no one wishes they had bought nicer things or scanned more social media posts! Our relationships with those we cherish and our contributions to the greater good are what matters. This workshop (re)unifies us with this core human need. Each day will begin with a reflective practice, leveraging silence, guided meditation and other means to illuminate core drivers of purpose. Afternoons will present structured science-based activities that explore the roots of happiness. Evenings will provide opportunity for peer-to-peer support and intention setting.

This workshop emerges from the vision of the Greater Good Science Center to use the science of well-being to foster a thriving, resilient and compassionate society. Sessions will leverage this science to create a unique laboratory for skillful introspection and generative connection with others. Join this retreat if you are looking for an opportunity to press the pause button and take time out to deeply reflect on your life and intentions for your future.

3 Recommended reading: March, Keltner and Smith, The

Compassionate Instinct—The Science of Human Goodness; Ekman, Emotions Revealed; Dalai Lama, Beyond Religion — Ethics for a Whole World.

Eve Ekman is the director of training at the University of California Berkeley Greater Good Science Center. Eve’s research interests were inspired by her experience as a medical social worker in the emergency department of San Francisco General Hospital coupled with her training in the applied emotion regulation and mindfulness intervention: Cultivating Emotional Balance, CEB. www.eveekman.com www.atlasofemotions.com Chris Murchison is a passionate advocate for positive workplace culture. In his broad career he has focused his energy on developing creative means to build community at work and practices that support an experience of connection, meaning, joy and learning.

Photo by Esalen seminarian Vera Lin

Yoga Nidra Retreat: Rest, Restore and Rewrite Your Life

It’s Not Your Money – How to Live Fully from Divine Abundance

John Vosler

Tosha Silver

Experience five days of deep restoration, reflection and intention.

Using the profound practice of Yoga Nidra guided meditation, we will begin to restore the body, clear the mind and shift the habitual patterns that keep us from being calm, clear and balanced. Yoga Nidra uses the biological process of sleep to systematically release stored physical, emotional and mental tensions. Through the process, we can begin to let go of old beliefs and habits that keep us locked in the past. We'll allow emotions to be experienced knowing that we have the capacity to feel them from a grounded and calm inner presence. Then, we'll take this felt sense of being back into our personal, family, work and love lives.

We will move our bodies, clear our minds and create intentions to live not from our unconscious past programming but from a new perspective — the perspective of knowing our true selves. We will use two different lineages of Yoga Nidra — iRest and Integrative Amrit Method — for our inner exploration. Join us as we deeply rest, restore and rewrite our life.

Please bring blankets, a yoga mat, an eye pillow and anything you need to lie comfortably on the floor for Yoga Nidra.

It’s natural to crave prosperity. Some seek to manifest it using anything from vision boards to writing a pretend check for a million dollars. Yet whatever comes, or doesn’t, the mind always seems to want more. What if, instead of grasping and chasing, we offered everything fully back to love? What if this offering itself was actually the secret to abundance? In this workshop you’ll discover mental, emotional and spiritual tools to help you prosper. As you come to know you are part of something larger — something that you serve and that longs to serve you — you can begin to feel a new sense of freedom and abundance. Tosha brings 30 years of experience teaching people around the world new ways to align their lives with inner love. The heart of the retreat will be two days in silence (aside from class time), meditations, ceremonies, Q&A sessions and the opportunity to commune with the energies of Kali-Ma, the Hindu goddess of death and rebirth. A daily yoga class with a certified Vinyasa teacher will be offered. Please bring a yoga mat.

John Vosler is a senior teacher at the Amrit Yoga Institute who leads Yoga Nidra certification programs, and an iRest teacher certified by the Integrative Restoration Institute. He teaches internationally, leading trainings and retreats on the profound healing benefits of the ancient meditation practice of Yoga Nidra. www.johnvosler.com

Tosha Silver is the author of Outrageous Openness: Letting the Divine Take the Lead and Change Me Prayers: The Hidden Power of Spiritual Surrender. She founded the online school Living Outrageous Openness: Think Like a Goddess. She teaches internationally and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. www.toshasilver.com

3 Recommended reading: Silver, It's Not Your Money: How to Live

Fully from Divine Abundance (also if able Outrageous Openness and Change Me Prayers).

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only at

Inspirational Film Festival Cinema is a powerful art form that transports viewers to new realms, both real and imagined. Films entertain but they also have the potential to educate and inspire. From An Inconvenient Truth and The Cove to Waiting for Superman, films can expand our horizons and encourage us to take action in our lives and communities.

The Esalen Inspirational Film Festival (EIFF) is a unique gathering— imagine a TED conference meets film festival—that combines presentations and question and answer sessions with experiential learning and in-depth dialogue surrounding the cinematic selections. “There is an incredible sense of community during the festival,” says creator and co-director Corinne Bourdeau. “Attendees mix with the filmmakers on every level: You’re eating with them in the Lodge, walking across the garden with them, hanging out on a cushion with them, as well as viewing their films and participating in panels and other conversations. There is definitely a special magic that happens at Esalen. This is a festival that couldn’t happen anywhere else.”

Now in its seventh year at Esalen, the festival continues to attract both emerging artists and established filmmakers. Last year’s gathering featuring The Biggest Little Farm, which chronicles a couples’ eight-year journey to establish a 200-acre sustainable, regenerative farm in southern California.

The festival also welcomed acclaimed director and nature cinematographer Louie Schwartzberg who is known for his work in harnessing the beauty of nature to inspire wonder, awe, gratitude and action.

This year’s festival will be held May 3-8, 2020.

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WEEKEND OF APRIL 3-5 Couples' Communication Retreat Warren Farrell

Our inability to handle personal criticism from loved ones is a common Achilles' heel. The more deeply we love, the more fragile we feel. Soon, couples feel they are walking on eggshells, unable to express themselves honestly, and their love fades. Raising children and money magnify the problems even as they become the reason couples stay together. The result? Couples often remain legally married but psychologically divorced. Defensiveness is the biggest culprit. Active listening, a good solution, is rarely used. When Warren Farrell discovered that active listeners often responded the right way, but did not feel safe on the inside, he developed a method of transforming the internal defensiveness into feeling loved.

This workshop is for couples — two people with a history who desire a future (e.g., parents, married or divorced; newlyweds; parent-child; siblings). It is especially useful for health professionals in their work with clients and patients. Couples of all genders and sexual orientations welcome.

3 Recommended reading: Farrell, Women Can’t Hear What Men

Don’t Say and The Boy Crisis. For continuing education syllabus, see https://www.esalen.org/couples-communication-retreat.

CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs; see page 94.

CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Warren Farrell, PhD, is co-author of The Boy Crisis (with Dr. John Gray) and books published in 19 languages. He has been chosen by The Financial Times as one of the world’s top 100 thought leaders.

Warren has been a pioneer in both the women’s and men’s movements, and conducts couples’ communication workshops at Esalen. www.warrenfarrell.com

Relational Gestalt Practice: The Transformative Power of Emotion Dorothy Charles

Our sense of who we are develops in connection with others, and although we cannot change the past, we can change what we came to believe about our capacity for love and belonging. Such beliefs can shift in a group that meets our needs for attunement and understanding; supports us in identifying and expressing our emotions; and commits to practicing kindness, acceptance and honesty. In this environment, we can learn to fully experience and express feelings in healthy ways, which is integral to being alive.

In this workshop, we'll seek to: • Improve our ability to make contact • Develop and track awareness of our emotions and sensations • Learn to express and practice communicating needs and wants effectively • Discover habitual relational patterns that prevent us from cultivating the type of contact we want.

The workshop will include time for basic gestalt awareness practices, a mixture of didactic and experiential exercises, as well as individual "open seat" sessions with Dorothy and with the support of the group.

3 Recommended reading: Korb, et al, Gestalt Therapy: Practice and

Theory; Mann, Gestalt Therapy: 100 Key Points and Techniques.

1 For continuing education syllabus, see https://www.esalen.org/

relational-gestalt-practice.

CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs; see page 94.

CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Dorothy Charles bio on page 27.

Awakening Shakti: Meditation, Kundalini and the Opening of the Heart Sally Kempton

This workshop unfolds an approach to meditation that harnesses the alchemical inner energy called Kundalini Shakti. Kundalini — the evolutionary energy that connects us to our highest potential — is also the secret of dynamic meditation. Using closely guided meditation practices based on the tantric tradition of Kashmir Shaivism, as well as mantra and visualization, we'll connect to our own meditative energy, discover how to empower meditation through devotional practice, open the core channels in the body and explore how to invoke the sacred feminine within the body and mind.

Based on Sally’s deep, practical understanding of inner meditation energy and her 45 years of experience in applied tantric meditation practice, this workshop is designed to help you explore an energetic approach to meditation so that every session can be a transformative inner experience.

Sally Kempton teaches applied spiritual wisdom and helps students work with meditative experience as a framework for practical life change. Sally teaches workshops in meditation and practical yoga philosophy based on Kashmir Shaivism. She is the author of the best-selling book, Awakening Shakti: The Transformative Power of the Goddesses of Yoga and Meditation for the Love of It. www.sallykempton.com 49

Practicing Presence in Big Sur: Hiking, Yoga and Mindfulness Heather Sullivan

Does spending a week on the breathtaking coast of Big Sur practicing yoga and hiking in awe-inspiring landscapes make your heart sing and spirit soar? Join the director of Yosemite-based Balanced Rock Foundation for a week of inward and outward reflection and appreciation of a truly magical landscape. This workshop focuses on the importance of spending mindful time in nature. This simple act has profound effects. Highlights of this retreat include: optional sunrise meditation, daily four–eight-mile nature hike and optional restorative yoga sessions. There will be time and space to enjoy the renowned Esalen baths, literally soaking in our seascape and nourishing ourselves with Esalen meals and luxurious time in connection with the land. This welcoming week offers a great introduction to the healing and transformative powers of Esalen and mindfulness in wild spaces. By walking among redwood giants, hearing the rhythmic sounds of the ocean waves and learning natural history and lore of the area, you can connect more deeply with your surroundings and ultimately with your own true nature.

WEEK OF APRIL 5-10 The Practical Art of Living Flow Spring Regeneration Retreat Shiva Rea & Demetri Velisarius

Dive into a regenerative retreat to align yourself with the emergence of spring. Reconnect with the rhythms of nature through the fluid yoga of prana vinyasa, massage, meditation and movement meditation forms including the ancient art of kalarippayatu. The healing grounds of Esalen and our workshop meeting space will become our "living flow ashram" where you can choose your daily rhythm.

Activities include: • Daily regenerative prana vinyasa flow yoga for fluid strength, flexibility, unwinding of tensions and creative flow • Kalarippayatu sessions: an exploration of one of the oldest martial arts in the world • Tantric-based meditation and prana danda yoga • Daily prananadi self-massage techniques and basic Kalari massage with ayurvedic abhyanga (oil massage) • Evening sessions of melting into motion with sahaja yoga trance dance • Floating shavasana in the Esalen baths

Note: $60 course fee has been added to tuition to cover park permit and entrance fees.

Heather Sullivan, CMT, RYT-500 has been a mountain guide for 25 years leading clients and students on transformative wilderness journeys worldwide. She co-founded Balanced Rock in 2007, a nonprofit whose mission is to inspire health and wellbeing through deep connection to nature and spirit in Yosemite National Park. http://balancedrock.org

As we immerse in the power of Esalen’s healing waters, our living flow rhythm can give you ways of connecting with our regenerative fluid nature. There may be opportunity for a sweat lodge during this workshop, weather and logistics permitting. (Sweat lodges are $50-$25 sliding scale, with no one turned away for lack of funds.)

Shiva Rea, MA, is a movement alchemist, global prana vinyasa teacher, yogadventurer, wave rider and founder of Samudra Global School for Living Yoga, Yoga Alchemy Online and Yoga Energy Activism for a green energy future for all. www.shivarea.com Demetri Velisarius is the co-creator of Prana Danda Yoga and transmits an embodied ritual movement system called Meditation in FlowMotion. His teachings are heart-mind opening and drawn from a colorful life and an extraordinary lineage of Himalayan tantra and Dzogchen meditation masters.

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Photo by Esalen seminarian Anne Stenehjem

Photo by Esalen seminarian Tracie Christian

The Powers of the Quantum Mind Jean Houston & Peggy Rubin

Few have accessed the vast universe of imagination, creativity, problem solving and confidence that these complex times require. In her international teaching for the past 60 years, Jean Houston, PhD, shares what she has learned from working with emerging cultures the world over, merged with her studies of quantum physics. She introduces you to what she calls the “Quantum Blueprint” that she believes everyone carries, but seldom accesses.

Surprise yourself as you discover higher states of functioning and insights that may have been lost to you by years of conditioning and limiting messages. You may think, feel and perceive as if you were standing on a star field of possibilities. This could include access to working with time — forward and backward, parallel selves and worlds, depth levels of problem solving, optimal templates for self and society, and being of use in a world in the throes of whole system transition. In this workshop, you can find within yourself the courage, passion, diligence, joy, creativity, spiritual depth and unimagined capacities that have always awaited your awareness of them. Leave empowered to own your unique genius, believing in your gifts and how to bring them to life.

Jean Houston, PhD, is a philosopher mentored by Margaret Mead.

One of the principal founders of the human potential movement, she has written 26 books and is known for her worldwide human potential workshops. www.jeanhouston.com Peggy Rubin is founding director of Sacred Theatre in Ashland, Ore. She leads workshops in Living Life as Sacred Theatre and Sacred Studies of the Divine Feminine. Since 1987 she has also been the principal teaching associate of Jean Houston.

The Natural Singer: Finding Your True Voice Claude Stein

Experience the deep healing power of your voice and learn how to use it fearlessly. Whether you chant, sing or have always wished you could have a better sound or speaking voice, this workshop can change your life – regardless of any previous skill. This workshop provides you with individual attention through exercises to relax the throat, increase range, sing in key and project authentically. Then, using favorite songs, you can develop the extraordinary gifts you were born with. The results can be simply thrilling as each of us, no matter what our level of experience, triumphs over the physical, emotional and self-conscious patterns that limit us — even if you don’t think you can carry a tune.

You can find confidence through the gentle whisper of a lullaby, release emotion with the cry of the blues or rekindle passion with driving rhythmic chants. Whether you already sing in public and want to take the next step, or you just want to hit the notes when you sing in the car, you’ll find yourself singing out freely like you’ve always wanted to. Therapists, coaches and workshop leaders will also find the techniques useful with their clients. Note: Bring instruments, CDs and songbooks if you like. Please visit www.naturalsinger.com for stories, videos, testimonials and pictures.

Claude Stein has 36 years of experience blending psychology and voice training. His clients include RCA, Warner Bros., Sony, Atlantic, Island Records, Juilliard, the New York Actors Institute, Sprint, Siemens, JPMorgan, NASA and the U.S. House of Representatives. www.naturalsinger.com 51

WEEKEND OF APRIL 10-12 The Creative Difference: Redesigning the Conversations that Matter Most Fred Dust

Exhausted and disillusioned at our current level of discourse? The crisis is curable, through conversation. By approaching conversation as a fundamentally creative act, says human-centered design expert Fred Dust, we can talk through our differences.

As we’ve evolved as humans, we have continually evolved new ways to have difficult dialogues. In this workshop, we will draw inspiration from a long history of creative methods used to design dialogue such as debate which tests ideas and philosophies, ritualized forms of conversations such as Passover Seder, and the extended dialogue of psychoanalysis. Starting with deceptively simple elements — like creative listening or eliminating jargon from our vocabulary — the group will explore more sophisticated forms and tools of dialogue.

We will look at how to establish governing principle for conversations, learn how to set and reset rules in a conversation and identify when and how to build ritual into conversations.

Together we’ll re-think how we have hard conversations and gain the creative courage to approach dialogue in a new way.

Fred Dust is the former senior partner and global managing director of IDEO. He works at the intersection of business, society and creativity applying the optimism of human-centered design to intractable challenges. Serving on the Boards of the Sundance Institute, NPR and The New School, Fred is a sought-after writer, thought-leader and social innovator.

The Magical Family Soul Rising: Ritual of Renewal Shiva Rea & Demetri Velisarius

See and taste the flowing One through your whole being.

Feel the Holy Spirit moving you within the flowing fire of the One. — Mechthild of Magdeburg We find the spring season, with its power of emergence, in the very nature of our own bodies, and also profoundly mirrored in the mythic landscape of Esalen. In this intimate ritual of renewal, we will create an arc of prana vinyasa, meditation and massage to open to the emergence of new life as we experience Esalen's fertile land as a sacred place to listen, pray and align with our soul's rising.

We will explore: • Regenerative prana vinyasa for kindling the fire and flow of spring • Meditation and reflection for attuning within the mystic heart • Ayurvedic spring life-style rituals and self-abhyanga (massage with healing oils) • Saturday night movement meditation • Five practices in a progressive ritual emergence We will emerge from this Easter weekend with spirit and a greater connection to the mystery of transformation within our embodiment and life.

3 Recommended reading: Rea, Tending the Heart Fire - Living in

Rhythm with the Pulse of Life; Harvey, Essential Mystics.

Shiva Rea bio on page 50.

Demetri Velisarius bio on page 50.

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Ivy Mayer Lavie

Enjoy the magic of Esalen with your family! Get ready for a unique experience for you and your child, including mindfulness practices through visual, expressive and sensory awareness games. Other activity choices include making projects in the Art Barn, playing in Esalen’s natural spaces, lighthearted dharma games, hiking and "nature bathing," music making and creating works of art in and from the garden. This program aims to support children in feeling truly at home within themselves, and also to have their unique gifts appreciated by the group. All participants can explore their inner impulse for discovery and growth in an atmosphere of inspiration, joy and attunement. Parents will be invited to mindfully journey along with their children, through brief guided meditations, simple sharing practices and nature-based rituals. An optional parent breakout session will focus on self-attunement and body awareness.

This workshop is open to children ages four–13 (children need to be comfortable being on their own or have a caregiver who can be with them during all sessions). Children of other ages may be admitted with permission from the leader. Note: Fees for children 10 and under enrolled in Esalen family workshops are $150 for weekend workshops.

Fees for youth 11–15 enrolled in family workshops are $420 for weekend workshops. Parents/guardians pay regular accommodations fees. ($5 materials fee will be added to the workshop cost.)

3 Recommended reading: Louv, Last Child in the Woods.

Ivy Mayer Lavie is a psychotherapist in the Bay Area. She has taught mindfulness for the Spirit Rock teen program and at events such as Wisdom 2.0. Ivy draws from Hakomi, Somatic Experiencing, as well as her experiences in co-creating meaningful events as a mother in her community.

Faculty

Spotlight We spoke with Fred about having the courage to re-think and re-design the conversations we have.

What first drew you to teaching this process?

When the 2016 elections shifted things, I realized that we were seeing a polarized moment of dialogue in America.

It felt like it was the right moment to pull learnings from my life’s works and think of how it could assist people with family members, loved ones, definitely businesses, as well as the public.

Why is using creativity important?

We can put the same kind of thought and dedication we typically use to create our art or work, and place that right into conversation. This will help turn conversations into creative acts. I wanted to frame this work as an exploration of creation because I’ve found through my research that people who are artists, playwrights or designers, for instance, often have creative processes that can be applicable to conversation.

“ We’re more committed to our beliefs than to the people we’re having conversations with or the conversations themselves.”

Fred Dust believes that by approaching

dialogue in a new way, primarily as a creative act, people can move beyond feeling disenchanted during challenging times. His vibrant optimism fuels a remarkable process that allows others to re-think how they have had conversations and gain the courage to approach dialogue in a new way. A former senior partner and global managing director of global design company IDEO, Fred’s work at the crossroads of business, society and creativity has left a positive impact. He’s served on the boards of the Sundance Institute, NPR and The New School, and is a sought-after writer, thought leader and social innovator.

Fred’s workshop, The Creative Difference: Redesigning the Conversations that Matter Most, takes place April 10-12.

What is a good first step we can take toward re-designing our conversations?

We’re currently in a deep moment of cynicism in the world about the state of conversation. One of the first things I often have to answer when asked is: How can we even have hope about the state of conversation at this point? The first step and the first principle in my book is being willing to commit to people you’re in conversation with; committing to that conversation while at the same time, holding your beliefs a little more lightly.

This is literally asking yourself if you can commit; asking others if they can commit.

Not committing is the biggest issue we can have. We’re more committed to our beliefs than to the people we’re having conversations with or the conversations themselves. It’s real. And it’s work. But there’s a mindfulness there. So it’s having that mindfulness in conversation.

How can this process benefit the greater community?

The idea for this workshop is to be unbelievably experiential and use tools you wouldn’t normally imagine applying to a conversation, such as implementing dynamic movement and different types of creative listening. These and other tools can help cut through the rifts we’re experiencing in our culture.

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WEEK OF APRIL 12-17 Painting the Outer and Inner Landscape Adam Wolpert

Painting can be a profound experience — one that engages all of our senses, our minds and our spirits. It brings together observation with introspection, contemplation and healing. One of the most rewarding ways to explore painting is by painting outside. Faced with nature’s dynamic forces, we develop visual sensitivity, flexibility and resilience.

We come into deeper relationship with nature and with ourselves.

We begin to see the world as never before, and our paintings give evidence of that new vision.

This workshop invites both beginners and experienced painters to immerse themselves in the practice of oil painting. Daily sessions will be devoted to painting out of doors as well as doing exercises in the studio. Basic oil technique, instruction in setting up a palette, mixing colors and brushwork will be balanced with slide presentations.

You will learn by individual instruction and each other as you share paintings and experiences in a supportive environment. The spectacular beauty of Esalen, with its radiant gardens, flowing waters and rugged coastline, provides the perfect setting to explore this exciting practice. You may supply your own materials (material list provided upon registration), or course materials can be provided for you with a $130 materials fee paid directly to the leader.

Adam Wolpert is a painter, facilitator, teacher and art program director at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center (www.oaec.org) in Sonoma County, Calif. He has offered workshops and exhibited extensively throughout California. www.adamwolpert.com

The Art Barn

The Art Barn serves as a venue for a broad spectrum of workshops including: painting, drawing, ceramics, metal working, wood turning, stone carving and textile arts.

Relax Into your Power: Yoga Nidra, Sankalpa and Self-Inquiry for an Empowered Life Tracee Stanley

Are you ready to activate your fullest potential? In this workshop we will uncover your Perfect Sankalpa; this is a Sankalpa (intention) formed without doubt. This immersive experience into deep rest and self-knowledge offers an opportunity to discover and resolve obstacles to you living your best life. We will journey into the lotus of the heart, where our inner luminosity and doubtlessness resides. The practices of Yoga Nidra, self-inquiry, sacred movement and meditation are wisely sequenced to amplify intuition, clarity, creativity and joy. During this workshop, you will receive take-home tools to increase willpower, manifest intentions and relax into your power and purpose.

Together we will: • Develop a personal practice to reduce lethargy, procrastination and other negative habits • Discover deep relaxation techniques to enhance rejuvenation, memory and clarity • Access meditations to cultivate intuition and increase shakti (empowerment) • Uncover and diminish the shadow energy that keeps you from achieving goals Please bring a journal, a pen and an eye pillow.

3 Recommended reading: Stryker, The Four Desires; Stanley, Empowered Life Oracle and Empowered Life Soul Journal (available at the Esalen bookstore or

https://traceeyoga.com/empowered-life/#empowered-life-begin).

Tracee Stanley shares a sacred alchemy of practices that include Yoga Nidra, self-inquiry, meditation and asana that are sourced from the traditions of the Himalayan Masters. Her offerings are designed to empower, activate creativity and clarity, and to connect students to their innate radiance and power. www.traceeyoga.com 54

Photo by Esalen faculty Wilma Wyss

I Am the Word: The Energetics of Consciousness Paul Selig

In his breakthrough works of channeled literature, I Am the Word and The Book of Truth, author and medium Paul Selig recorded a program for personal and planetary evolution as humankind awakens to its own divine nature. Through a series of lectures, attunements and energy activations, you will be introduced to the frequency of the Word, which can be described as the energy of “God in action.” You'll be shown exercises for healing the self and others, along with practical techniques for developing and sustaining higher levels of consciousness. You will also receive individual instruction that will support you in moving through the physical and emotional blocks that may be keeping you from manifesting your own higher nature.

Discover how realizing your own true potential is inexorably linked to the well-being of others and our planet. Paul’s workshops can be deeply transformative. The energy he works with is palpable and loving, and those attending will be supported in moving to the next level of their own spiritual development. This five-day intensive will offer the opportunity for more individual work and a deeper immersion in the higher energies. Please see April 17–19 for a weekend version.

3 Recommended reading: Selig, I Am the Word, The Book of Love

and Creation, The Book of Knowing and Worth, The Book of Mastery, The Book of Truth and The Book of Freedom.

Paul Selig is a conscious channel, intuitive and empath. His books include I Am the Word, The Book of Love and Creation, The Book of Knowing and Worth and The Book of Mastery. www.paulselig.com

WEEKEND OF APRIL 17-19 Find Your Ease: Mindfulness Retreat for Lawyers Jeena Cho

What would happen if you were able to truly relax and rejuvenate?

Join us on a journey to finding more ease. Disconnect from all the noise and reconnect with yourself as we explore ways to integrate mindfulness into our law practices and truly connect with our values to live in alignment. Often there are challenges to living in alignment, including the conflict between our ethical obligations and our own personal values, unfairness in our justice system, incivility, as well as financial and time pressures. In community with other lawyers, we’ll discuss and cross-pollinate ideas. You are invited to practice mindfulness, meditation, engage in dialogue with other like-minded lawyers, soak in the Esalen baths, enjoy nature, go for walks, read, journal and sit by the fire in the evenings. We'll practice the art of radical self-care, sitting and walking meditation, deep listening and journaling. Slow down, reflect and get to know yourself better.

3 Recommended reading: Cho and Gifford, The Anxious Lawyer:

An 8-Week Guide to a Joyful and Satisfying Law Practice Through Mindfulness and Meditation.

Jeena Cho is a lawyer, author and mindfulness instructor. She is a partner at JC Law Group PC, leads workshops for lawyers and works with lawyers and law firms on stress management, work-life balance, career transition and overall wellness. She is the author of The Anxious Lawyer. www.jeencho.com 55

5Rhythms®: Grief, Loss and the Body in Motion Lucia Horan & Peter Selwyn

Have you experienced loss and the natural emotions of sadness, anger, fear and love? How do you process your losses and move through your life? Unfortunately, many of us have not found safe and effective ways of expressing these emotions, and we can feel stuck, both emotionally and at times physically, with the cumulative burden of our unfinished business. Using the tools of the 5Rhythms® movement practice combined with a process of grief-work that is grounded in emotional presence, non-judgment and supportive witnessing, together we will join in a safe space to help heal mind, body and spirit.

Lucia will facilitate the 5Rhythms® as a method to experientially access a wide spectrum of feelings. Peter, a physician with more than 30 years of experience in HIV/AIDS and palliative care, will facilitate story-sharing as part of releasing and working through losses. Other elements of the workshop include both didactic and experiential content, focusing on natural and distorted emotional responses to grief, caregiving versus caretaking and other topics. Please bring photos or other mementos of anyone whose memory you would like to bring into the workshop.

CE credit for massage therapists; see page 94.

CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs; see page 94.

CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Lucia Horan bio on page 18.

Peter Selwyn, MD, MPH, is chairman of the Department of Family and Social Medicine and director of the Palliative Care Program at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, NY. He facilitates workshops on grief and loss, and is the author of Surviving the Fall: The Personal Journey of an AIDS Doctor.

Photo by Esalen seminarian Melina Meza

I Am the Word: The Energetics of Consciousness Paul Selig

In his breakthrough works of channeled literature, I Am the Word and The Book of Truth, author and medium Paul Selig recorded a program for personal and planetary evolution as humankind awakens to its own divine nature. Through a series of lectures, attunements and energy activations, you will be introduced to the frequency of the Word, which can be described as the energy of “God in action.”

You'll be shown exercises for healing the self and others, along with practical techniques for developing and sustaining higher levels of consciousness. You will also receive individual instruction that will support you in moving through the physical and emotional blocks that may be keeping you from manifesting your own higher nature.

Discover how realizing your own true potential is inexorably linked to the well-being of others and our planet. Paul’s workshops can be deeply transformative. The energy he works with is palpable and loving, and those attending will be supported in moving to the next level of their own spiritual development.

3 Recommended reading: Selig, I Am the Word, The Book of Love

and Creation, The Book of Knowing and Worth, The Book of Mastery, The Book of Truth and The Book of Freedom.

Paul Selig bio on page 55.

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Photo by Esalen seminarian Ed Caldwell

only at

Midsummer Festival

Embrace the sun, sea and sounds of summer at Esalen’s annual Midsummer Festival.

Join us for a Time to Reflect retreat July 3rd through July 5th and enjoy all that Esalen has to offer including walks through the Esalen Garden, a soak in the hot springs, the quiet solitude of the Meditation Hut by the creek, creative exploration in the Art Barn and so much more.

You may also choose to come to Esalen just for the day as we open our gates for a celebratory outdoor concert on Saturday. Previous artists have included Rising Appalachia, Nahko and Medicine for the People and The Post Street Rhythm Peddlers.

Visit www.esalen.org for updates on featured artists and ticket sales.

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WEEK OF APRIL 19-24 Write, Unite, Transform: Discovering Stories that Build Community and Make Us Whole Laura Davis

In a world drowning in information and starving for wisdom, gathering in community and expressing the truth is more important than ever. In this transformative five-day writing workshop, we'll step away from the habitual trance of technology and the routines of daily life to connect with our inner voice, discover the healing power of language and birth powerful true stories onto the page. Creative exercises, evocative prompts, embodiment and grounding practices and guided meditations will lead you through thoughts, feelings and sensations and into the world of language and personal narrative.

Learn how to find the story beneath the story, why writers need to "slow down where it hurts," and the secret of crafting tales rooted in the immediacy of the moment.

As we alternate periods of writing with listening to one another from a place of deep acceptance, you can benefit from the strength of a supportive writing circle, witness the healing power of language and experience the transformation that occurs when we tell true stories and are deeply heard. This workshop is open to anyone willing to use words to connect deeply with themselves and their creativity in a safe, confidential community. Emerging and seasoned writers are welcome.

3 Recommended reading: Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones.

Laura Davis is author of seven best-selling books, including The Courage to Heal and I Thought We'd Never Speak Again. Founder of The Writer's Journey, she leads writing retreats and tours worldwide specializing in the use of writing as a transformational tool. www.lauradavis.net

Laura Davis What is your passion? My passion is building safe communities where people can connect deeply with each other by sharing true life stories that reflect our common humanity.

Your workshop focuses on storytelling as a way to build community. What is it about the power of story that connects us? Story resonates deeply in the human spirit.

Storytelling has always been a way to pass on traditions, to teach values, to inspire loyalty, to build empathy, to entertain and to bind communities together. When we reach inside ourselves and discover our true stories, we integrate and heal parts of ourselves that have been unknown or splintered off. When we share the deeper truth, what I like to call “the story under the story,” universal themes always shine through—the core emotions, drives and challenges we all face as humans.

What does it mean to be deeply heard? Most conversations are transactional—each person wants something from the other and is more focused on their own agenda than on truly listening. Writing circles provide a rare and different form of listening. When you are witnessed without critique, when a roomful of people breathe with you as your share your story, a wonderful empathetic synergy occurs. Trust and intimacy develop quickly, and each member of the group is inspired to dig deeper to discover the truths they carry inside that must be told. Writing enables us to digest life twice, the second time with deeper wisdom, understanding and empathy for ourselves.

What do you hope participants will take home after experiencing your workshop? Lots of stories and seeds for stories, the inspiration to keep writing, a deeper appreciation for the complexity and diversity of human beings and the support of new friends to support them in moving toward their creative goals.

What happens at Esalen that happens nowhere else?

The first time I came to Esalen, I was a young teenager traveling down the coast of California with my hippie dad, visiting my cousin, who happened to be Fritz Perls’ cook.

Over the next couple of decades, as I entered my twenties and thirties, I lived in Santa Cruz and would drive down to Big Sur in the middle of the night to enjoy the baths in the moonlight. Then I came as a guest and now as a teacher.

Throughout all those decades, Esalen has been a beacon of healing: a sacred container for pushing the edges of consciousness and inspiring human beings to dig into their depths to heal, grow, connect and change.

How would you describe Esalen in one word? Magical.

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Photo by Esalen seminarian Gina Aguirre

Photo by Esalen seminarian Vera Lin

Big Sur Wilderness Experience: Springtime Steven Harper

Esalen is the trailhead to one of the most spectacular mountainous coastlines in the world. With the Big Sur wilderness as the primary teacher, explore the beauty of this alive and wild coast, from ancient redwood-forested canyons to dramatic coastal beaches, from rugged rocky mountains to the soft grassy slopes of the Big Sur hills.

Drawing from nature and various experiential awareness practices, you will be encouraged to open both to the natural world and to the landscapes of your inner world. It is said that Big Sur is not just a place but a state of mind. This wilderness experience seeks to merge mind and place, then to embody what is learned.

Venture out into the emerging springtime magnificence of Big Sur on day hikes that are four–10 miles in length. Steven will draw from a wide range of contemporary and age-old wisdom traditions, borrowing from psychology, meditation, aikido and the natural sciences to weave together a holistic experience of self and the natural world. Each hike begins after breakfast and concludes in time to enjoy the hot springs and dinner at Esalen. Evening sessions include informal sharing, basic awareness practices and useful outdoor skills, with attention given to incorporating what is learned during the week into our daily lives. All levels of experience are welcome. Be prepared for the invigorating challenge of physical activity and the opportunity to simply sit still in quiet reflection.

More information and a waiver will be sent upon registration. For an equipment list and frequently asked questions about Steven's workshops, visit www.stevenkharper.com/faqs.html. ($60 permit and park-entrance fees will be added to workshop cost.)

Heart to Heart: 5Rhythms® Heartbeat and Buddhist Heart Practice Lucia Horan

Love is not a mood, but a dynamic way of being. — Gabrielle Roth The spontaneous heart is one that knows how to love and be loved. The Heartbeat map is a guide to how our emotional energy moves and morphs. In this practice we embody the art of being a fluid emotional athlete. This map teaches us how to navigate the emotional terrain of life without getting stuck, holding on or pushing away.

During this workshop, we will explore how the body has been shaped by our emotions, tracking when the heart is open and when it is closed. As feelings move us, we learn how to express emotion in a healthy and creative way. We will integrate the stillness of Buddhist mindfulness meditation with the moving meditations of the 5Rhythms®. The Buddha encouraged us to bring wise attention to every aspect of our lives. By incorporating the Brahmavihara (Heart Practices), one can develop the skills of living-kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. These virtues are regarded as powerful antidotes to negative mental states. In sitting meditation, we have the opportunity to observe the mind and body at rest through silent introspection. In the practice of the 5Rhythms®, we engage in mindfulness while in motion. The two polarities of moving and sitting meditation together mirror the dance of life and open the door to peace, well-being and balance.

Lucia Horan bio on page 18.

Steven Harper is a wilderness leader, author, consultant and Big Sur resident. He has led both traditional and experimental wilderness expeditions internationally for more than 40 years. He has an MA in psychology and his work focuses on mindfulness, Gestalt and somatic practices and wild nature as a vehicle for awakening. www.stevenkharper.com 59

Photo by Esalen seminarian Jens Wazel

WEEKEND OF APRIL 24-26 Manifest the Love of Your Life with The Soulmate Secret Arielle Ford

Are you ready to invite true love into your life? In this fun, empowering and experiential workshop, you can learn how to: • Utilize rituals and awareness exercises to attract love into your life • Experience healing techniques to let go of past heartbreak and remove blocks to love • Clarify your needs and desires to manifest long-term romantic fulfillment • Open your heart and connect with the partnership energy of the divine • Prepare your body, mind, spirit and home for the arrival of your life partner Best-selling author Arielle Ford has helped men and women of all ages (including her 80-year-old mother-in-law) find love. As you come to realize that deep, lasting love is not only out there, but also is looking for you, then true love can be yours. Please bring a journal and pens.

3 Recommended reading: Ford, The Soulmate Secret: Manifest the

Love of Your Life with the Law of Attraction.

Arielle Ford is a leading personality in the personal growth and contemporary spirituality movement. Since 1990, she has been living, teaching, and promoting consciousness through all forms of media.

She is the author of nine books, including the international bestseller The Soulmate Secret. www.soulmatesecret.com

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Rising Strong™Workshop Michelle Gannon & Beth Jaeger-Skigen

Rising Strong™ Workshop is based on the latest groundbreaking research of Brené Brown and led by San Francisco therapists and Certified Daring Way™ and Rising Strong™ Leaders Michelle Gannon, PhD, and Beth Jaeger-Skigen, LCSW. The Rising Strong™ Workshop is ideal for anyone interested in personal growth and development and wholehearted living. When we take personal and professional risks in our lives, we will inevitably fall and experience disappointment, hurt, failures and heartbreaks. Rising Strong™ Workshop helps anyone dealing with a life transition, personal or professional setback, or disappointment get back up with more courage, creativity and connection. The experience is about learning positive practical tools and strategies to live a more authentic, empowered, self-compassionate and brave life. This is a safe, supportive, nurturing, positive, fun and empowering experience.

It includes personal exploration, experiential exercises, videos, guided journal writing, small group discussions, music, stories and play. Everyone is welcome. ($15 materials fee will be added to the workshop cost.)

3 Recommended reading: Brown, Rising Strong, Daring Greatly and

Gifts of Imperfection.

Michelle Gannon, PhD, is a San Francisco-based clinical psychologist, relationship expert, and Hold Me Tight® Workshop and Rising Strong™ Workshop leader. She is a certified supervisor and therapist in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). Michelle teaches internationally. www.HoldMeTightWorkshop.com Beth Jaeger-Skigen, LCSW, is a San Francisco-based therapist, relationship expert and Rising Strong Workshop™ leader. She is a certified supervisor and therapist in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). She has led hundreds of groups on relationships, parenting, life transitions, grief and fertility-related issues. www.RisingStrongWorkshop.com

Spell of the Sensuous: A Somatic Yoga & Re-Wilding Retreat Micheline Berry

Creating solutions and having a positive impact in our “tech-driven” world requires a return to the senses… to our original natural rhythms. We need embodied leadership, embodied artists, embodied families in every aspect of culture to resourcefully navigate these complex times and negotiate conflict in resourceful, generative ways.

The somatic practices of yoga, movement and rhythm combined with Esalen’s healing waters, farm-to-table cuisine and deep respect of the ecosphere, offer us the opportunity to return to the home of the soma (the whole, embodied human being). We will unravel some of the muscular armor that we develop in response to urban stress and practice embodying joy in an authentic way. Join us for a weekend reset of unwinding and re-wilding as we return to our senses and spark wonder through Liquid Asana™ vinyasa yoga classes and somatic movement journeys all accompanied by the evocative music and rhythms of Joey Lugassy Ensemble. Please bring a water bottle and journal to each class, and please bring a yoga mat.

Micheline Berry infuses world art and culture into her synthesis of Vinyasa yoga, Buddhist meditation/psychology and creative process.

Known for catalyzing personal transformation and liberating creative expression, she leads Liquid Asana™ Yoga+Creativity programs, teacher trainings and retreats worldwide. www.michelineberry.com

WEEK OF APRIL 26-MAY 1 Advanced Training in Mind-Body Medicine James Gordon, Amy Shinal & Lynda Richtmeier Cyr

The Center for Mind-Body Medicine’s (CMBM) Advanced Mind-Body Medicine Training Program is the second step in the most complete experiential and didactic training in mind-body medicine available — anywhere. It is also the next step as CMBM continues the commitment to working with you on your professional growth and development.

This training teaches you how to use CMBM’s mind-body medicine techniques with individuals, families and groups in a variety of settings. You will also learn CMBM’s signature “Mind-Body Skills Groups,” complete with a detailed manual describing each session and discussing solutions to common issues that arise in groups.

Areas of focus include: • Organizing and giving a didactic presentation on one or more mind-body approaches • Leading a mind-body skills group • Working with different personalities in a group • Dealing with one’s own psychological issues in the context of a mind-body group • Regulating the pace when leading a group • Integrating mind-body medicine into one’s own practice or institution • Identifying possible ways to establish a mind-body program Note: Participation in this program is available only to persons who completed CMBM’s Professional Training Program in Mind-Body Medicine. Registration for this workshop is through The Center for Mind-Body Medicine: cmbm.org/mbm. Only after you have registered with CMBM and paid tuition fees will you be able to reserve accommodations at Esalen. For Esalen pricing chart, see http://www.esalen.org/page/workshop-pricing-partner-programs.

James Gordon, MD, is the founder and executive director of The Center for Mind-Body Medicine, a clinical professor at Georgetown University’s School of Medicine, past chairman of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy and author of The Transformation: Discovering Wholeness and Healing After Trauma. www.cmbm.org Amy Shinal, MSW, LCSW, is an integrative psychotherapist and clinical director at the Center for Mind-Body Medicine.

Lynda Richtmeier Cyr, PhD, is an integrative clinical psychologist and associate clinical director at the Center for Mind-Body Medicine.

Photo by Esalen seminarian Susanne Nilsson

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Peter Bregman

WEEKEND OF MAY 1-3 Leading with Emotional Courage Peter Bregman & Jessica Gelson

Whether you’re in a company, a relationship or acting in your daily life, you have the opportunity to lead — to inspire others to follow you. The secret lies in choosing to feel the discomfort and uncertainty that comes with being a leader. If you are willing to feel everything, you can do anything. This experiential workshop is based on Peter Bregman’s book and his work with CEOs and senior leaders, and it can develop your emotional courage and break longstanding, ineffective habits. Peter guides you to experiment with taking risks in the way you think, act and lead.

Through fun and effective exercises, you’ll grow your emotional courage and increase your ability to accomplish these feats of leadership: • Raise hard-to-talk-about issues • Act courageously in risky situations • Connect with people and inspire their commitment • Stay grounded in the face of success, failure or uncertainty • Communicate skillfully in the presence of strong emotions Emotional courage closes the gap between wanting to do something and actually doing it.

3 Recommended reading: Bregman, Leading with Emotional

Courage: How to Have Hard Conversations, Create Accountability, and Inspire Action on Your Most Important Work.

Peter Bregman writes, coaches and teaches, mostly about leadership.

He is CEO of Bregman Partners, a company that helps successful people become better leaders, create more effective teams and inspire their organizations to produce great results. He is a best-selling author of Leading with Emotional Courage, 18 Minutes and more. www.bregmanpartners.com Jessica Gelson, MFT, is a therapist in private practice who helps people transform by engaging body, mind and emotions. She promotes learning and growth by creating a safe and steady space that welcomes everything that clients may want to explore. jessicagelson.com 62

Your workshop focuses in part on communicating effectively in the presence of strong emotions. In a society where it is becoming more difficult to have hard conversations, can you share some best practices? We often think that the hardest part of communicating is expressing ourselves clearly and persuasively to another person so that they understand us and are convinced of something. But in reality, the most important part — the hardest part — is listening to the other person. And, ironically, it’s listening to the other that creates the space for them to really hear what we’re saying. But listening is HARD, especially in a disagreement. It takes courage. And confidence. We have to care about the other person and what they’re saying.

Here’s the key: when they have an experience of being heard by you, then they immediately become more open to listening to what you have to say. And that’s a real conversation.

How would you describe an emotionally courageous leader? Someone who is confident in themselves, connected to others, and committed to a larger purpose, all at the same time. Most of us are one of those things, or maybe two — but we struggle with the others and that makes us less effective. Emotional courage brings it all together.

How has Esalen impacted your own leadership or teaching style? Every time I come to teach at Esalen — or take a program, which I do at least once a year — I feel like the most human, real, tender parts of myself come out.

Teaching at Esalen helps me integrate those parts of me so that when I’m back at work coaching, teaching, writing, consulting, the fullness of who I am as a human being shines through.

What do you hope your workshop participants take away from your upcoming workshop? That they grow their emotional courage muscle. I hope they risk being themselves fully and feeling everything so they can experience being seen in that place and build their confidence to do the same when they go back home. The more they are willing to feel, the more powerfully they will show up in the world, as themselves, in all their power.

What happens at Esalen that doesn't happen anywhere else? People relax at Esalen. We laugh more. We trust more. We risk more. We’re more intimate. And having that experience is invaluable because it shows us what’s possible and then we can make that magic happen in our day to day life.

How would you describe Esalen in one word? Delicious.

Inner Resonance Explorations: Immersive Experiences into Sound and Movement Laura Inserra

Step out of noisy and dissonant environments and step into the harmonic resonance of your body, mind and spirit. This will be a weekend of immersive sound journeys, playful creativity, body awareness, energetic explorations, wisdom traditions and deep flow, while benefiting from Esalen’s rejuvenating beauty. Inner Resonance Explorations is the development of Laura Inserra’s work around the transformative power of sound and body awareness. It is a musical immersion into enchanted soundscapes and an invitation to listen with your whole body to your visions, moods, feelings, thoughts and states.

During this weekend together, we will: • Experience immersive sound journeys with a multitude of ancient and modern acoustic instruments • Move and drum to feel, express and integrate emotions and insights • Learn techniques to connect and release emotional, mental and physical stagnation • Dance, wander and play alone and together • Harmonize body and mind, while learning new pathways to access our innate wisdom No music knowledge is needed, just an openness to connect with your vibrational nature and the joy of sound.

Laura Inserra is a multi-instrumentalist, sound therapist and teacher from Sicily. After more than 30 years of studies and practice of music and different wisdom lineages, she developed Resonant Healing Therapy using sound as a tool for personal transformation, healing and self-awareness. www.laurainserra.com

Photo by Esalen seminarian Andy Abele

Awake in the Wild: Meditation in Nature Mark Coleman

Following ancient spiritual traditions that value the transformative power of nature, this experiential workshop will be spent meditating outdoors in the natural beauty and mystery of Esalen. Through sunset meditation, listening to the soothing sounds of the ocean or sitting graced in the stillness of trees, we will open to the profound serenity and wisdom of nature. We will learn about the practice of mindfulness — the capacity to be present to ourselves and our environment — and then learn how to apply this receptivity to developing a contemplative relationship with nature. We can discover how meditative time outdoors leads to beautiful states of joy, peace, wonder, love and connection with oneself, one another and the larger web of life. Experience nature-based meditations, along with individual and group exercises and talks. There will be time to relish the silence outdoors and ample opportunity to explore and discuss the art of meditation in nature. This workshop is appropriate for beginning and experienced meditators who are curious about meditation, mindfulness and how to deepen our connection with the beauty and mystery of the natural world.

3 Recommended reading: Coleman, From Suffering to Peace and

Awake in the Wild.

Mark Coleman is a Buddhist meditation teacher and has been teaching insight meditation for 20 years. He is author of Awake in the Wild and Make Peace with Your Mind, and leads nature-based meditation retreats and mindfulness teacher trainings in the U.S. and Europe. www.markcoleman.org

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WEEK OF MAY 3-8

WEEKEND OF MAY 8-10

Esalen Inspirational Film Festival

Mother's Day Family Workshop

Corinne Bourdeau & Christine Leuthold

Joanna Claassen Ferraro & Sean Brennan

Join us for this year’s lineup of thought-provoking content and engaging interactive experiences. Now in its seventh year, the Esalen Inspirational Film Festival (EIFF) offers up a slate of powerful films and other media content, with sneak peeks, special screenings and unexpected surprises designed to inspire, enrich and offer fresh perspectives across a range of topics. Blended together with panels, presentations, master classes and stimulating conversation, this five-day event welcomes everyone and is of particular interest to content creators and those with a passion for the environment, spirituality, social justice and personal growth. Presenters will include award-winning filmmakers, thought leaders, producers and studio executives. The smaller size of this festival is intentional, to allow attendees and presenters to become immersed into what quickly transforms into a very special tribe.

This festival is designed to cultivate an engaged and supportive community that nourishes the human spirit, while also encouraging social change and personal growth. Get ready for a one-of-a-kind experience in the awe-inspiring setting of Esalen and Big Sur. For updates and more, join us on Facebook at: Esalen Inspirational Film Festival. Note: Due to the flexible nature of filmmaking and production schedules, the schedule can be subject to change.

This Mother's Day weekend, celebrate and nourish yourself and your family. Esalen is a magical place for adults and children alike. We will create a community of families focused on fun, laughter, renewal and friendship. This will be a memorable weekend of exploration, connection, creative expression and play. We will build on the group's interests and offer opportunities for families to work and play together and apart. Esalen will be our playground in which to garden, make music, dance, relax, connect, reflect and create. Saturday night we will offer a program for the children during which adults will be free to enjoy Esalen alone or spend time with one another.

All are invited to explore and experience Esalen during this fun and supportive weekend workshop. All ages are welcome, including parents with small children. All children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Corinne Bourdeau is president and founder of 360 Degree Communications, a boutique entertainment marketing firm specializing in films that celebrate and enrich the human spirit through social change. Corinne’s portfolio includes Academy Award®-winning films: Free Solo, The Cove, The Way and Boyhood.

Christine Leuthold, founder of C Insight Group, is a brand strategy expert and author of Comfort Living: A Back-to-Basics Guide to a More Balanced Lifestyle. She is on the advisory board of SCAD and is involved in the Savannah Film Festival and aTVFest. www.cinsightgroup.com 64

Note: Fees for children 10 and under enrolled in Esalen family workshops are $150 for weekend workshops. Fees for youth 11-15 enrolled in family workshops are $420 for weekend workshops.

Parents/guardians pay regular accommodations fees.

Joanna Claassen Ferraro has been an outdoor and early childhood educator since 2000. She runs Early Ecology, an outdoor educational program for children and families in the San Francisco Bay Area, and is a former director of Esalen Institute’s Gazebo School Park. Joanna is inspired by the natural world, human kindness and the power of play.

Sean Brennan is an early childhood educator who specializes in sharing smiles, laughter and the bliss of life. He has worked with injured children at Shriner's Hospital as a play therapist and is a former teacher at Gazebo School Park. His passions include surfing, freediving, yoga, meditation and poetry.

Mindfulness in Deep Relationship: Cultivating Sources of Relational Nourishment Jerome Front

This retreat invites you to open to the nourishing interplay at all levels of human experience. You will experience mindfulness as always embodied and inherently relational. Embodied practice will be cultivated using meditations involving the senses, breathing, eating and the body, creating an intimacy with your moment-to-moment inner and outer experience. This loving way of being in relationship to yourself will then widen to being in mindful relationship with one another.

“Individually, we all know our longings coexist at emotional, spiritual, bodily and interpersonal levels. Fortunately, these basic needs form our common human ground,” says Jerome Front.

“Opening to these primal areas with mindful awareness can create profoundly nourishing and transformative relational experiences including: attunement, resonance, empathy, being understood, increased personal presence and the soothing and integrating experience of being known in another’s accepting, warm presence.”

Outside sensory work, silent meals, music, ritual and relational meditation instruction will provide active learning. Lessons will be drawn from current research. Mindful dialogue and inquiry will alternate with periods of intentional silence. Open to everyone, this retreat is an especially rich resource for helping professionals, teachers and nurses.

CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs; see page 94.

CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Jerome Front, LMFT, teaches at Pepperdine University and across the U.S., and has written about mindfulness, contemplative living and mindful approaches to relationships. He leads retreats, clinical workshops and corporate trainings, and has a private psychotherapy practice. www.jeromefront.com

Tickets to Paradise: A Yoga-Based Therapeutic Approach to Self-Care and Healing Harvey Deutch, P.T.

An all-time favorite line from one of Harvey Deutch's patients, "I’m not doing your P.T. exercises!" motivated Harvey to ditch the term "exercises" and call them "Tickets to Paradise" instead. Since it is one’s own responsibility to be the primary guardian of health and well-being, why not turn the components into positive self-care?

A physical therapist and yogi since 1982, Harvey has led weekly therapeutic yoga classes, yoga teacher trainings and retreats since 2009. He blends art with science to construct and implement thoughtful, self-guided home/workplace drills and concepts to keep the mind and body sharp and in tune. He can concisely and sequentially give you the pearls of wisdom necessary to sustain your interest and follow up with your independent programs.

During this workshop, we will: • Explore your internal and external landscapes • Learn functional anatomy and bio-mechanics from within • Develop a foundational practice/mindset to improve overall posture awareness, strength and stability • Reduce common musculoskeletal dysfunction and discomforts CE credit for massage therapists; see page 94.

CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Harvey Deutch, P.T., teaches yoga with a unique blend of precise technical expertise and signature humor. He has been a physical therapist and yogi since 1982. He is well-known for making twodimensional anatomy come to life, off the page and onto the mat. www.redhawkpt.com 65

Starting, Running and Developing a Holistic Center Carol Donahoe, Christine Lines, Peter Moore & Ralph White

Each year, retreat centers from around the world gather at a conference known as the Center's Gathering. Esalen is hosting the 2020 gathering, and is facilitating a public workshop afterwards. If you are dreaming of starting a retreat center, in the early stages of developing your center or are simply curious about how centers do what they do, consider joining this workshop for what is sure to be a weekend of rich learning. While this isn't a step-by-step process on how to start a retreat center, there will be several representatives from various centers available to explain the beginnings of their organizations and how they weave holistic values with conscious business practices.

The Holistic Centers Network (HCN) began convening a network of centers more than 35 years ago. These include education centers, urban learning centers, rural retreats and wellness and sustainability centers around the world, forming a unique peer-to-peer learning community for both established and emerging centers. Tap into this rich resource and serve the emerging holistic impulse.

Carol Donahoe has worked in retreat centers for over 20 years and has held the position of program director at Omega Institute for the past 13 years. Her passion is creating programs that have the ability to transform people’s lives.

Christine Lines is executive director of the Holistic Centers Network and network weaver of the Findhorn Foundation. She is passionate about weaving the global network of holistic centers. Christine has 18 years' experience organizing retreats and programs around the world.

Peter Moore came to Breitenbush Hot Springs in 1978 where he lived and worked as co-founder until 1985. He returned in 1988 as booking and marketing director, leaving in 1993. In 2004 Peter became the business director, a position he still holds.

Ralph White is co-founder of the New York Open Center. He is the author of the memoir, The Jeweled Highway: On the Quest for a Life of Meaning and has organized events on consciousness and social change over four decades.

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WEEK OF MAY 10-15 EMDR Basic Training: Part 3 Advanced Clinical Workshop and Refresher Course Laurel Parnell Ph.D.

Refresh your technique and review EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) protocols and procedures, consult on your difficult cases, watch demonstrations and practice EMDR in small, supervised groups. Instruction will focus on using EMDR with complex cases, resource development and installation, target development and interweaves.

This is the third, required part of the three-part EMDR Basic Training series. This course is for those who have completed a Parnell Institute Training Parts 1 and 2 and have completed 10 hours of consultation with a Parnell Institute consultant or have completed an equivalent EMDRIA-approved basic training. To enter the class, you must provide a copy of your certificate of completion letter and list the dates you attended training.

Note: To register you will need to submit your licensure documentation online to: http://drlaurelparnell.com/training/ licensure-part-3/. Once you are approved, you will receive a password to register with Esalen. ($520 additional tuition and $25 materials fee have been added to the workshop cost. CE credits are included in workshop cost.)

3 Required reading: Parnell, A Therapist's Guide to EMDR.

Recommended reading: Parnell, Attachment-focused EMDR: Healing Relational Trauma, Tapping In and EMDR in the Treatment of Adults Abused as Children.

1 For continuing education syllabus, see

https://www.esalen.org/advanced-EMDR. CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs; see leader.

CE credit for nurses; see leader.

CE credit for psychologists; see leader.

Laurel Parnell, PhD, is the director of the Parnell Institute and developer of attachment-focused EMDR. She is a clinical psychologist and author. Since 1995 she has trained thousands of clinicians in EMDR both nationally and internationally. www.drlaurelparnell.com

WEEKEND OF MAY 15-17 Wired for Love Couples Workshop: Creating an Owner's Manual for a Secure-Functioning Relationship Stan Tatkin & Tracey Boldemann Tatkin

People are complex. We don’t come with manuals that automate the process of getting along. Even if we did, we aren’t robots; what works for one person won’t necessarily work for another. Nor does it work to fly blind, as many couples do, and expect relationships to simply fall into place. This workshop for couples will demonstrate general principles to help you understand what makes a relationship successful, and how to work toward that with your partner.

During this weekend of teaching, interacting and experimenting, Stan Tatkin and Tracey Boldemann-Tatkin will lead you and your partner through exercises designed to help you identify each other’s attachment styles, read body language and arousal states, and manage conflicts to build secure-functioning relationships. The tools you will be shown will be invaluable, and ready to use immediately in your relationship. This workshop welcomes couples of all genders and sexual orientations. ($110 additional tuition will be added to the workshop cost.)

3 Recommended reading: Tatkin, Wired for Love: How

Understanding Your Partner's Brain and Attachment Style Can Help You Defuse Conflict and Build a Secure Relationship. For continuing education syllabus, see https://www.esalen.org/wired-for-love-0518.

CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs; see page 94.

CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Yoga: Increasing the Energy Flow Thomas Michael Fortel

When most people hear the word yoga, they immediately think of stretching the body. While lengthening the muscular system is an aspect of yoga practice, it is a small part of what yoga is about.

The ancient yogis developed the practice as a purifying agent to cleanse the nadis (energy channels) and chakras (energy centers) in preparation for the body to receive and hold the light of divine consciousness. To be a ready vessel for this powerful light, it was taught, one must be purified. According to Thomas Fortel, we do the physical postures (asanas), practice expanding the dimensions of breath (pranayama), and engage in the calming and quieting of the mind through meditation (dhyana). These practices increase the flow of vital force (prana) through the physical, mental and emotional bodies. As this is done over an extended period of consistent and applied effort, the deeper yogic states can be accessed and realized.

Being conscious of this energy flow deepens our experience as we practice. This will be our focus in the yoga retreat. Each day will begin with meditation and breathing practice, followed by an active morning practice and a more restorative practice in the afternoon.

We will also make a study of the natural elements as we experience the beautiful Esalen grounds.

At least three months of recent yoga practice is recommended.

Please bring a yoga mat.

Stan Tatkin, PsyD, MFT, is a clinician, author, PACT developer and co-founder of the PACT Institute. Dr. Tatkin teaches at UCLA, maintains a private practice in Southern California and leads programs internationally. He is the author of We Do, Wired for Love, Wired for Dating, and others. thepactinstitute.com Tracey Boldemann Tatkin, PhD, has served as the director of various philanthropic family foundations over three decades. In addition to her leadership roles, she has been involved at the ground level of humanitarian efforts worldwide. Tracey is co-founder of the PACT Institute.

Thomas Michael Fortel is a long-time yoga practitioner/teacher, influenced by the Iyengar, Ashtanga and Anusara styles of Hatha yoga, and drawing from his devotional experience in Bhakti yoga. He travels widely, sharing his love for yoga. www.thomasfortel.com Photo by Esalen seminarian Jens Wazel

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Wild Pilgrimage: Big Sur Backpacking Journey to Esalen Noël Vietor & Fletcher Tucker

Inspired by Esalen’s co-founder Dick Price, who found healing and transformation wandering the Big Sur wild, you are invited to embark on a journey through the majestic and seldom-traveled backcountry of Big Sur. Our pilgrimage will unfold over five nights and days on the trail, and conclude with a weekend at Esalen to connect with its powerful land, community and psycho-spiritual offerings. Please note the full experience takes place over seven days, from Sunday, May 10th to Sunday, May 17th.

Among the fleeting gifts of spring — free-flowing creeks, boundless wildflower fields and vibrant wildlife — immerse in nature with an intimate wandering village, practice awareness and community, and learn fundamental skills to feel at home on the earth. Embodying the practice of pilgrimage, we will carry only what we need, walk with presence and curiosity, awaken our senses and gather meaning from our inner and outer landscapes. We will rise with the sun, hike historic trails, ascend wind-swept peaks, rest and meditate in tranquil valleys. As the sun sets behind the mountains, we will share stories and meals by the fire and sleep beneath a blanket of stars.

Note: This is a partner program with Wildtender. Visit wildtender. com/esalen2020 for more details and to apply. After you have registered and paid tuition fees through Wildtender for the wilderness portion of the program (May 10-15), you can book your accommodations for the final weekend at Esalen (May 15-17).

For Esalen accommodations pricing chart, see http://www.esalen.org/page/partner-program-pricing.

Noël Vietor is co-founder of Wildtender and dedicated to helping people build meaningful relationship with self, earth and community.

Having found healing and belonging while hiking the Big Sur wild, Noël is honored to create this opportunity for others through Wildtender’s immersive wilderness programs. www.wildtender.com Fletcher Tucker is a devoted student and teacher of California natural history, awareness traditions, ancestral skills and wisdom and trail-craft.

As co-founder of Wildtender he is committed to re-connecting human beings in body, mind and spirit with wild nature and our more-thanhuman relations. www.wildtender.com

Music, Meditation and Technology Darin McFadyen

Music has the power to generate sublime present-moment awareness, deep flow states, a powerful sense of interconnectedness and profound emotional healing. Join music producer, meditation teacher and creative futurist Darin McFadyen as he leads an exploration of transformational sonic possibilities that aims to change the way we experience ourselves, each other and our world.

Experience intimate live music performances using ancient acoustic instruments and immersive music technologies. Take a deep dive into carefully composed meditation journeys that intertwine powerful Buddhist compassion meditations with multi-sensory music experiences.

This workshop offers a rare opportunity to discover emergent music and sound technologies that can deepen your understanding of music and sound as a tool for human wellness. Activate your body, mind and spirit in a weekend of unique, music-based group workshops, free movement and sound baths that will open you up to a new universe of musical perception and give you heart-opening tools for personal transformation.

Darin McFadyen (aka DJ "FreQ Nasty") is an internationally recognized electronic music composer and technology pioneer who has spent two decades training in yogic and Buddhist meditation, practice and philosophy. His multi-sensory experiences harness the power of music for personal and collective transformation.

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Building Bridges of Belonging: The Inner Work of Community Healing and Societal Transformation Rhonda V. Magee

During this retreat, we will come together to explore and celebrate the personal and interpersonal work necessary for bringing forth new ways of working together in our workplaces and communities. With the support of this iconic coastal setting, we will share stories and embodied awareness practices that have been shown to promote sustainability as an effective agent of change and transformation.

We will learn unique ways of working to heal the wounds we carry as a result of moving through the world in our particular embodied identities (at the intersections of race, gender, sexual orientation, class, immigration status and more). And we will experience just how cognitive blindspots, challenges and gifts of our lived-experiences provide pathways to connection through embodied, trauma-sensitive mindfulness practices. Join us in tapping into the power in each of us necessary to imagine and bring about a new and more just world.

3 Recommended reading: Magee, The Inner Work of Racial Justice:

Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness.

Rhonda V. Magee, JD, MA, is a professor of law at the University of San Francisco, and a nationally acclaimed speaker on mindfulness and social justice. She is an expert on mindful teaching and learning, race and law, and professional identity development.

WEEK OF MAY 17-22 IAHE: Upledger Institute International's Craniosacral Therapy 1 Melinda Naye

CranioSacral Therapy is a gentle, noninvasive, hands-on technique to help detect and correct imbalances in the craniosacral system that may cause sensory, motor or intellectual dysfunction. It is used to treat a myriad of health problems, including headaches, neck and back pain, TMJ dysfunction, chronic fatigue, motor coordination difficulties, eye problems, endogenous depression, hyperactivity and central nervous system disorders. In this workshop, you will be taught the detailed anatomy and physiology of the craniosacral system, its functions in health and its relationship to the disease processes.

Half of the class time will be hands-on, developing the sensitive palpatory skills needed to detect subtle stimuli in the human body.

Class material will concentrate on palpation and its potential as an evaluative and therapeutic process; fascial and soft-tissue release methods; and the pressurestat model, which explains the mechanism of the craniosacral system. Learn a 10-step protocol for evaluation and treatment of the entire body, and identify and localize significant restrictions and imbalances in the craniosacral system.

Note: Registration for this workshop is through the International Alliance of Healthcare Educators (IAHE) only. To register, call 1-800-311-9204. Only after you have registered with IAHE and paid tuition fees will you be able to reserve accommodations at Esalen. For accommodations pricing chart, see http://www.esalen.org/page/partner-program-pricing.

3 Recommended reading: Upledger and Vredevoogd, CranioSacral

Therapy (chapters 1-6); Upledger, Your Inner Physician and You. CE credit for acupuncturists Course Category 1; see leader.

CE credit for massage therapists; see page 94.

CE credit for physical therapists in California; see leader.

CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Melinda Naye is an instructor with the Upledger Institute who teaches CranioSacral Therapy (CST) worldwide. She is passionate about the CST paradigm that asserts the body can heal itself. She lives and practices in Auburn, Calif. http://www.iahp.com/MelindaCST/ Photo by Esalen seminarian Jens Wazel

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The Inner Journey: Holotropic Breathwork

WEEKEND OF MAY 22-24

Stanislav Grof, Brigitte Grof & Diane Haug

Surrendered Leadership Circling: Self-Realization Through Relationship

This is a unique opportunity to experience Holotropic Breathwork at Esalen, the place where it originated. Holotropic Breathwork is an experiential method of self-exploration and healing that uses deep, expanded states of consciousness induced by a combination of simple means: accelerated breathing, evocative music and releasing bodywork. The theory and practice of Holotropic Breathwork integrates experiences from more than a half-century of psychedelic therapy, transpersonal psychology, non-drug experiential psychotherapy and modern consciousness research. One unique feature of Holotropic Breathwork is that it utilizes the self-healing intelligence of the psyche and body that becomes available in holotropic states of consciousness. The process of self-exploration is spontaneous and autonomous, rather than following the instructions of a particular school of psychotherapy. It opens access to a wide range of biographical, perinatal and transpersonal experiences.

In the group sessions, participants work in pairs and alternate in the roles of “breathers” and “sitters.” Trained facilitators supervise the process and work with participants individually when needed.

Following the breathing sessions, we will use paintings of mandalas and small-group sharing to facilitate integration of the experiences.

The program leaves enough time for participants to enjoy Esalen’s natural beauty, the baths, and various forms of massage and bodywork offered by experienced practitioners of the Esalen staff.

Note: Please be familiar with Holotropic Breathwork contraindicators, which can be found here: www.grof-holotropic-breathwork.net/ page/hb-faqs#faq13. This is an intensive workshop; participants agree to attend all sessions. This workshop is deeply experiential and may involve intense and energetic emotional release.

Stanislav Grof, MD, is a psychiatrist with more than 60 years of experience researching non-ordinary states of consciousness. He was chief of psychiatric research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, assistant professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University and scholar-in-residence at Esalen. Currently he is professor of psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. www.stanislavgrof.com Brigitte Grof is a psychologist, licensed psychotherapist and artist with 30 years of experience in Holotropic Breathwork. She leads HB workshops and teaches training modules worldwide.

She also maintains a private practice in Wiesbaden, Germany. www.holotropes-atmen.de Diane Haug, MA, LPCC, is a licensed therapist with a background in terminal illness, and is senior trainer for Grof Transpersonal Training, for which she developed several training modules. She is adjunct faculty with the California Institute of Integral Studies and Southwestern College.

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Jordan Allen & Sean Wilkinson

What if every relationship in your life became inspiration for a new paradigm in self-realization? Circling invites us to surrender our personal ideology and ego identity to the larger intelligence of the whole — while simultaneously embracing the fullness of our individual experience, power and capability. During this workshop, we’ll form a co-created space in which we call everyone to step into their highest "response-abilities" and leadership. At best this becomes a symphony with everyone having their own individual role and being perfectly in sync with each other and the whole.

Imagine switching from trying to control our experiences to radically trusting the underlying processes in life. This ability to more directly relate with life — and each other — goes beyond producing more. It transforms who we are. Practicing Circling is likely to reveal a new way of being that radically trusts what happens. This means embracing yourself and others, even in moments of deep uncertainty and in states that are normally subtly shamed. Everything we practice in Circling is intended to enhance the everyday challenges and joys of being human: parenting, friendship, love, earning money, learning, celebrating, dealing with injustice, death, betrayal and heartbreak, navigating politics and beyond.

Jordan Allen leads Circling Europe in America. Jordan created CirclingAnywhere.com, which makes Circling accessible daily around the world, and he's the author of A Beautiful Apocalypse, a zombie adventure inspired by integral theory. www.circlingeurope.com Sean Wilkinson is a Circling Europe co-founder with an enduring passion for self-awareness, human potential, wisdom traditions and an ongoing inquiry into life. His focus includes extensive academic research, spiritual and psychological practice, coaching and therapeutic training.

Cultivating Meaning and Happiness through Mindfulness and Yoga

Esalen Massage ® for Couples, Partners & Friends

Ira Israel

Dean Marson & Jessica Fagan

Long-term studies prove that our happiness correlates strongly with the quality of our intimate relationships. But in order to engender loving, supportive, positive, secure connections, we need to be able to drop our facades and show up authentically. Our authenticity inspires our partners, friends and family members to nourish and nurture us with the love, respect and appreciation that we crave and deserve. In this workshop, Ira will teach the five tools from his best-selling book that result in authenticity: Attachment, Atonement, Attunement, Presence and Congruence. We will explore specific practices that will enhance all of our interactions with both other people and ourselves; we will outline our long-term goals and delineate how to realize them; and we will practice all-level Vinyasa flow and restorative yoga, as well as myriad mindfulness meditations to help us cultivate non-reactivity and peace of mind. For continuing education syllabus, see https://www.esalen.org/cultivating-meaning-happiness-0918.

Enjoy the serene beauty of Big Sur as you and your partner learn to give one another an effective Esalen Massage. A tender touch can do wonders for any relationship by easing stress, releasing tension and deepening nonverbal communication skills. Emphasis will be on listening with both your heart and hands, asking for what you need and taking the time to truly nurture yourself and your partner. Sessions will include basic quieting and grounding exercises, movement, brief demonstrations, hands-on guidance and plenty of time for practice.

This weekend of mutual giving and receiving is for those of you who wish to learn the essential elements of Esalen Massage and share a lovely experience with your partner, friend or family member.

No prior massage experience is necessary. Come for a pleasurable time of relaxation, renewal, inspiration and reconnection with yourself and your partner; soak in the healing waters of the natural hot springs and enjoy the magical beauty of the Esalen grounds. All levels of massage experience are welcome.

CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs; see page 94.

CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Ira Israel is a licensed psychotherapist and author of How to Survive Your Childhood Now That You're an Adult: The Path to Authenticity, as well as A Beginner’s Guide to Happiness, A Beginner’s Guide to Mindfulness Meditation, Mindfulness for Anxiety, and Yoga for Depression and Anxiety. www.IraIsrael.com

Photo by Esalen seminarian Jason Moon

CE credit for massage therapists; see page 94.

CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Dean Marson bio on page 45.

Jessica Fagan bio on page 40.

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East Forest What inspires you? Exploring ways in which sound and music can take me back into my center.

How does your music help open doorways for your listeners? I'm always chasing a feeling with my music, and that feeling is one of the infinite. I like to build bridges between the digital and natural worlds to create a type of listening experience that is both familiar and also new. I do this by utilizing ancient sound meditation techniques along with modern brain science and mash it all up in my own creativity.

We all want to feel grounded and at home in our consciousness and music can be an incredible tool to dive in with ease.

WEEKEND OF MAY 29-31 Spirit Dive: Music, Sound, Ceremony and Meditation East Forest & Marisa Radha Weppner

How can we use music as a tool for the act of intentional listening to increase our inner awareness, induce relaxation and tap into our intuitive mind? East Forest creates "musical technology" that combines original nature field recordings with ethereal electroacoustic piano-based live soundscapes to help facilitate an inner spiritual journey. With this workshop, you can reconnect to your inner soul wisdom through an artful weaving of sound and music through live performance, group ceremony, sound meditation, co-creative music experiences, yoga and the primacy of your own heart-opening, felt experience. In a time of information sickness and technological overload, it is more important than ever for each of us to strengthen our internal resolve and to build practices to consciously navigate modern life. Using music as a tool, we create repeatable and reliable practices to find centeredness through intentional listening and simple ritual. Together let us find the wilderness in our own hearts, see our reflection in nature, and walk our walk on the planet with increased grace and love.

How does Esalen impact your music? Doing our work together at Esalen is ideal because the landscape sets the stage for an open and receptive body and mind. The expansiveness of the ocean and the calming hot springs both prime our physical and emotional self for a deeper experience in the workshop. Not to mention the slower pace of digital connectivity while at Esalen — it's a perfect environment for breaking habits, routines and giving space for our intuition to be heard.

How has Esalen impacted you? Esalen has fostered some of the greatest counter culture minds of our past whom have all been major influences on my life and work. And now, as our civilization faces such a tremendous transition, Esalen is stepping into a new, yet familiar, role to midwife the new ideas and interpersonal connections we need to fortify ourselves as we walk through these times. Esalen is more important than ever to give space for the experimentation of the heart and mind, and to serve as a crucible for creative risks.

What do you hope participants take from your workshop? A deep sense of connection to their own inner wisdom and a new found tool in music as a reliable means to get in touch with their sense of self.

How would you describe Esalen in one word? Expansive.

East Forest combines modern sound healing techniques with ancient indigenous wisdom to create a form of "musical technology" that NPR calls “just blissful.” He performs widely from TED to Grace Cathedral, and his collaborations include Ram Dass, MC YOGI and Trevor Hall. www.eastforest.org Marisa Radha Weppner, MA, ERYT500, has dedicated her life to sharing the art and science of yoga through her studio Sage Yoga & Wellness, yoga teacher trainings and her book Vinyasa Yoga Made Simple. She also travels the world leading retreats and DJ-ing. www.marisaweppner.com 72

Photo by Esalen seminarian Vera Lin

How to Use Posture to Nurture Strength, Openness and More Esther Gokhale

Having arrived on the planet without a user’s manual for our bodies, we depend on our culture to help us develop healthy movement, posture and emotional habits. In modern times, however, this cultural support has been eroded. Join “posture guru” Esther Gokhale, L.Ac., for a weekend exploration of how your posture affects your whole life — and what you can do to restore and heal it. Use posture as a springboard to examine the connection between physical well-being and emotional empowerment. With Esther’s guidance, you’ll observe the obvious aspects of strength and self-confidence, like balance and poise, and dig into the less-obvious aspects, like relaxation, openness and adaptability.

You’ll study: • How to improve your particular posture • How common posture cues like “chin up, chest out” and “sit up straight” undermine rather than support your body’s structural integrity • How to restore a natural, healthy, confident body and mind This workshop is suitable for all people willing to invest intellectual and physical effort toward improving their way of being in the world!

3 Recommended reading: Gokhale; 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back CE

credit for nurses.

CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Esther Gokhale (GO-clay), L.Ac., author of 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back, was educated at Harvard, Princeton and SFCAOM (in Chinese medicine), and by people in non-industrial cultures worldwide. She and other qualified Gokhale Method instructors offer instruction online and around the world. www.gokhalemethod.com

Cultivating Vitality in Body, Mind and Spirit: Boosting Mental Health with Natural Methods Elissa Epel & Cassandra Vieten

Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars. — Khalil Gibran What is vitality? Exuberance, vibrance, sparkle, spirit and verve — terms rarely found in psychology textbooks. Vulnerability to depression and anxiety is widespread, and our culture’s traditional emphasis is on reducing symptoms with drugs that alter certain neurotransmitters. Yet this is only part of the picture. We are living in a new era where vulnerabilities become strengths, and where what used to be stigma becomes common humanity. Good mental health is being redefined in terms of stress resilience, post-traumatic growth and vitality. This workshop focuses on exploring new, evidencebased tools for living a vibrant life, even in the presence of symptoms of stress, depression, anxiety or pain. We will explore ways of fostering vitality and purpose through caring for the brain, body and gut — such as hot and cold exposures, optimal physical challenges, breathing techniques, meditation, embodied movement and certain nutrients.

Elissa Epel, PhD, is a professor at UC San Francisco, author of New York Times bestseller, The Telomere Effect, and president of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research. She is an expert on stress and contemplative practices, including mindful eating for optimal metabolic balance. www.amecenter.ucsf.edu Cassandra Vieten, PhD, is a senior fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, a scholar in residence at the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at UC San Diego and founder of Campaign Science. She is an international thought leader, and co-wrote Living Deeply: The Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life.

Campaignscience.com

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Photo by Esalen seminarian Addison Olian

WEEK OF MAY 31-JUNE 5 The Healing Art of Deep Bodywork®: Healing Trauma Perry Holloman & Johanna Holloman

Deep Bodywork is a unique modality for healing the effects of trauma within the human organism. Because trauma lives not just in the physical tissues, but in the mind through memory, in the emotional realm through feeling, and in the soul as impression, practitioners must learn to deal with it on multiple levels in order to help heal its often intractable symptoms.

This is a clinically oriented class designed for bodywork practitioners who already use Deep Bodywork or some form of connective tissue work in their private practices. Participants will be taught to combine Deep Bodywork with tools from Integrative Gestalt Process and other methods of self-exploration in order to address the challenges presented by those suffering from trauma. In addition to seasoned bodywork practitioners, this course welcomes up to three people who would like to participate as models. A model in this context is someone who suffers from the effects of trauma and experiences symptoms affecting the quality of his or her life. Symptoms may involve chronic pain and/or a loss of sensation or function on the physical level; an inability to relax and/ 74

or sleep deeply; or a general sense that something isn’t “right” since the traumatic incident. Models must contact Perry directly with information about their chronic conditions and to inquire about space in the course: bodyofwiz@hotmail.com.

We will work with models in front of the class and focus on the following issues typical of people suffering from trauma: • Creating trust and a field within which our clients feel safe • Holding space for difficult inner states which can arise like anxiety, fear, denial and emotional wounding • The nature of a therapeutic aggravation • Assessing our clients’ progress This is our most advanced class, and we recommend students view all five Healing Art of Deep Bodywork DVDs if they have not attended Deep Bodywork I-V. 3 Recommended reading: Levine, In an Unspoken Voice.

CE credit for acupuncture; see page 94 CE credit for massage therapists; see page 94.

CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Perry Holloman bio on page 38.

Johanna Holloman bio on page 38.

How We Change and Why We Don't: The Art and Science of Transformation

Eros, Post-Daoism and The Way of MogaDao

Cassandra Vieten & Michael Sapiro

Zhen Dao

Have you ever worked hard to make a change, only to find yourself slipping back into old habits and patterns? Are you in the midst of riding massive waves of change and need a few surfing lessons? This workshop is for people who are in the process of change, or who work as change agents with individuals, groups or the collective.

Through dialogue, experiential practice and creative process, we will learn about the emerging science of transformation and explore indigenous, religious, spiritual and secular models of transformation.

Examine how peak experiences, a-ha! and extraordinary moments and awe can stimulate change; investigate the transformative potential of pain, struggle, hitting bottom and post-traumatic growth; delve into stories, symbols and metaphors of transformation; and map your own lifelong journey of change. We will also examine how people can get stuck or lost, and how to shake free from periods of inertia or patterns that prevent us from moving forward.

Discover the intimate and profound work of MogaDao, the philosophy of Post-Daosim and the training techniques of SACRA: Immanence Theater. In a safe and supportive environment, we will explore MogaDao’s Depth Sexuality training, a mythopoetic journey into all aspects of the Jing (or sexual essence) as the key factor in the emergence of the soul. We’ll learn Erotogenic Breathwork and Erotogenic Yoga, practices that reinstate confidence in eros on a somatic level. MogaDao’s Depth Sexuality represents original work not to be confused with tantra or inherited notions of Daoist sexuality. Trauma, both societal and personal, is a major focus of the work of MogaDao. We’ll practice Three Pillars Qigong for Trauma as well as experience the Heartmind Warrior Training Program’s Neurogenic Exercises and Dramaturgies, which are combinations of SACRA Theater training and soft (for all bodies) Jingshen Gongfu exercises that restructure our responses to conflict, deepening our capacity for processes of vulnerability and sensitivity. Zhen Dao will give three evening lectures on Post-Daoism: Poverties of Impotency: The Root Cause of Consumerism and Technological Addiction; The Three Post-Daoist Essences: Yin, Yang, and Yun; and Processes of Gender: The Way of the Open Narrative.

3 Recommended reading: Schlitz, Vieten and Amorok, Living Deeply:

The Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life.

For additional continuing education information: https://www.esalen. org/how-we-change-1119.

CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs; see leader.

CE credit for psychologists; see leader.

CE credit for nurses; see leader.

Cassandra Vieten bio on page 73.

Michael Sapiro, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist, Dharma and meditation teacher, former Buddhist monk and a fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences. He teaches nationally on the art and science of transformation, expanded human capabilities, self-care and meditation for personal awakening and collective transformation. michaelsapiro.com

Zhen Dao is the founder of MogaDao and the philosophy of Post-Daoism and director of SACRA: Immanence Theater. A transgender woman, she is a playwright, poet, novelist and master innovator in the arts of qigong, yoga and spiritualized martial arts. www.mogadaoinstitute.com

WEEKEND OF JUNE 5-7 Living a Flourishing Life Aneel Chima & Yingzhao Liu

How do we flourish as human beings? In a tech-everywhere world, when faced with more options and more distractions than ever before, how do we best use our time, energy and attention for living a flourishing life? Inspired by the innovative teachings and methods within the Division of Health and Human Performance and the Stanford Flourishing Project at Stanford University, join the division's director and one of its lecturers to explore the latest research, frameworks and experiential tools that enhance emotional, psychological, social and contemplative well-being.

Aneel Chima is director of the Division of Health and Human Performance and of the Stanford Flourishing Project at Stanford University. The question animating his work is: What is the future of human flourishing in a hyper-complex, ever-accelerating culture where technology is everywhere?

Yingzhao Liu is a lecturer at Stanford and has recently been design director for international markets at LinkedIn. She integrates deep spiritual practice with our complex modern life, drawing from Buddhism as well as the Native American path. Ying has also led experiential education for over a decade, and loves to facilitate group processes in nature.

Photo by Esalen seminarian Jens Wazel

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Soul Motion®: Freedom to Soar Vinn Arjuna Martí

Are you ready to rediscover your body, relaxed and restored to its natural birthright of flexibility, ease and wonder? If so, join us to create dances of spacious teaching and learning of creativity, relationships and sacred prayer. In our time together we will open the portals of unity and meet the curious player and the prayer within.

With a light touch and deep inquiry, we’ll dance the dance of relaxed liberation, and cultivate the power to soar high above the tensions and constrictions that hold us in freeze frame. Together we will look beyond limitations in the body and anxieties of the mind to embrace the openness of the heart and jump feet first into our dance. The dance we are meant to do. The dance we must do. Soul Motion® is a conscious dance practice that utilizes facilitated and unscripted movement, recorded music from all genres, and stillness practice to access creativity, cultivate healthy relationships, and dialogue with that divine spark that animates all living things. Experience the excitement, energy and enlivened presence which dances all of us as we come together to dance and move body and soul. Soul Motion® is for every body.

Vinn Arjuna Martí bio on page 27.

WEEK OF JUNE 7-12 Women's Intimacy, Desire and Eroticism: The Triumvirate of Sexual Pleasure

Nature and Contemplation: Cultivating Wild Mindfulness

Alexandra Katehakis

Steven Harper

Do you know the difference between intimacy, desire and eroticism?

Do you feel confident that you know who you are sexually? Do you struggle to keep sexual desire alive? This in-depth workshop, open to women of all sexual orientations, will assist in revealing the answers to these questions, which reside in past sexual experiences and sexual fantasies. When we deconstruct family of origin and cultural messages about what “good girls” do and don’t do sexually, we can honestly admit our most ardent sexual desires to ourselves. Taking ownership of our adult sexuality frees us to make better relationship choices, communicate what we want and need to a lover, and be more capable of creating and keeping an exciting sexual relationship.

We will examine your peak sexual escapades and sexual fantasies in order to pluck out your hedonic goals. Mindful body awareness, group interaction and juicy conversations will allow your unique erotic map to emerge, thus increasing your erotic intelligence.

Alexandra Katehakis takes a psycho/spiritual/sexual approach to sexuality. Please bring a journal.

The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself. — Henry Miller Authentic contemplation brings genuine heart and meaning into daily life. From time immemorial, wild nature has called humans to deep introspection. With Big Sur’s awe-inspiring wilderness as our primary teacher, we will directly experience both nature and the realms of contemplation.

Earth under our feet on hikes; water of the Pacific pounding against the shore; air of Big Sur's refreshing breezes; fire that heats Esalen's hot springs — all the elements combine to intimately touch our bodies, minds and spirits and come to our senses. The group will be introduced to contemplative practices from contemporary and time-honored wisdom traditions that cultivate aliveness. The week will include sessions at Esalen and ventures into the wilds of Big Sur on hikes four–10 miles in length. Days will balance walking and sitting, movement awareness exercises, Gestalt practice exercises that enrich mindfulness, and simply being. All levels of experience are welcome.

Be prepared for the invigorating challenge of physical activity and the opportunity to simply sit still in quiet reflection. More information and a waiver will be sent upon registration.

For an equipment list and frequently asked questions about Steven's workshops, visit www.stevenkharper.com/faqs.html. ($60 permit and park entrance fees will be added to the workshop cost)

3 Recommended reading: Katehakis and Bliss, Mirror of Intimacy:

Daily Meditations on Emotional and Erotic Intelligence.

CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, LEPs and AASECT; see leader.

CE credit for psychologists; see leader.

Alexandra Katehakis, PhD, LMFT, is founder/clinical director of the Center for Healthy Sex in Los Angeles, co-author of Mirror of Intimacy: Daily Reflections on Emotional and Erotic Intelligence and author of Erotic Intelligence: Igniting Hot Healthy Sex While in Recovery from Sex Addiction.

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Steven Harper bio on page 59.

The Painting Process Rediscovered: The Magic of Spontaneous Expression

Yi Quan Qigong: Strong as the Mountain, Supple as Water

Michele Cassou, Cherie Ray & Jane Malek

Kenneth Cohen

For many of us, it is difficult to simply let go, create and express ourselves. Programmed to fear judgement, we set narrow boundaries on our creativity. The "dragons" of product, meaning and control limit our choices of subjects, colors and forms. However, once we find Point Zero, the ground from which creation springs, we can push these fears aside and recapture the magic of spontaneous creation.

This work offers practical ways to dissolve creative blocks and find inspiration so that art becomes not a means to an end but a place we inhabit, a place to explore our true selves and the mystery of our lives. Michele Cassou has created an original approach to painting as a tool for self-discovery and spiritual exploration. This workshop is five days of painting, support, stimulation, free play and selfrealization for artists and seekers of all stripes, educators, counselors, meditators — anyone with a thirst to revitalize the creative juices. No experience is necessary, just the desire to unleash your spontaneous self-expression. Please bring an apron. ($50 materials fee will be added to the workshop cost.)

Ever wonder why, in spite of the miracles of modern medicine, more than three million Americans practice ancient healing exercises from China? Qigong is one of the world’s most popular and best-researched methods to improve health and vitality. Regular practice makes the mind tranquil, reduces stress and deepens your connection with nature. Learn the secrets of one of the greatest qigong masters in Chinese history: Wang Xiangzhai, equally renowned as a healer, athlete and spiritual mentor. Wang’s Yi Quan style of qigong consists of healing exercises (quan) and meditations that open the mind (yi) to the energies of the universe.

This comprehensive system teaches you, in exquisite detail, the principles upon which all qigong is based:

3 Recommended reading, viewing and listening: All materials are

available at www.michelecassou.com. Books: Cassou, Point Zero: Creativity Without Limits; Life, Paint and Passion; Teachers that Dare; Answering the Call of Creativity; A Graphic Approach to Creativity and Questions: To Awaken Your Creative Power to the Fullest. DVDs and download on Vimeo: Cassou, "Birth of a Process," "Point Zero" and "The Flowering of Children's Creativity. Awakening of the Mystic."

CDs: Cassou, "Creativity Without Limits," "Creativity Rediscovered" and "Spiritual Aspects of Creativity."

Michele Cassou, painter and teacher, developed the Point Zero Painting Method, using painting for self-discovery, self-expression and exploring the spiritual dimensions of the creative process. She is the founder of the Cassou Institute for Creative Freedom and teaches around the world. www.michelecassou.com Cherie Ray has been assisting Michele Cassou for many years and conducts her own Point Zero painting workshops. She offers Intuitive Painting workshops globally, virtually and in-person in Houston, Texas.

Cherie also sits on the board of CICF. www.trueyoucreativity.com Jane Malek met Michele Cassou in 1996 and started painting with her.

She is passionate about her own painting process and her teaching.

She currently assists and teaches in Point Zero painting workshops.

She is on the board of CICF.

• Standing and walking meditation to improve posture, balance, grace and vitality • Experimenting with energy to awaken the body’s energy channels • Resilient energy training to increase strength and prevent injuries • The Health Dance: your own, improvised qigong routine • Taoist meditation and wisdom, including inspiring stories of the old masters Yi Quan is a highly enjoyable practice that, with patience and dedication, leads to a more fully alive body and mind. No previous experience is required. Beginners and all levels are welcome.

3 Recommended reading: Cohen, The Way of Qigong.

CE credit for massage therapists; see page 94.

CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

CE credit pending from CAB for acupuncturists (Course Category 2).

Kenneth Cohen, MA, a qigong master-level teacher, is the author of The Way of Qigong and best-selling Sounds True audio/video programs. Dynamic and inspiring, with more than 50 years of experience, he is winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award in Energy Medicine. www.kennethcohen.com Photo by Esalen seminarian Jens Wazel

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Reclaiming Your Authentic Self

WEEKEND OF JUNE 12-14

Anne Watts

When We're Triggered: How to Stop Reacting and Begin Healing

Have you ever found yourself thinking you want one thing but doing something else? The thing you’re doing comes from the

David Richo

inner child. What, exactly, is the inner child? It has many names:

A trigger is any word, person, event or experience that touches off an immediate emotional reaction, especially sadness/depression, anger/ aggression, fear/panic or humiliation/shame. We are all triggered at times by what people say or do, especially in relationships.

Triggers have a history. Some are reminders of an irritation from the recent past. Some are examples of post-traumatic stress going all the way back to childhood wounds. We can learn about ourselves from our triggers — find out what we need to work on, what is still unresolved in us. Our goal is not to root out all our triggers, but to find a trailhead from them into the psychological and spiritual work that awaits us. This is how we turn our triggers into tools. For this we go to psychology with help from neuroscience. We can also turn to spiritual practices, such as mindfulness and loving kindness. This workshop helps us identify triggers, their source and how to handle them so that reactions turn into healing responses. We combine talks and discussions.

the authentic self, natural child, creative energy or inner place of knowing. We are often out of touch with this part of ourselves, yet it is the part that runs our lives.

This workshop is for people who want to experience more joy and personal potency in their lives. In a safe and loving environment, you'll have the opportunity to tell your own story and hear the stories of others, receive and give appropriate, healing touch, and reclaim and affirm the safety of your own body. You will also uncover core beliefs that hold you back, move through fear, and learn techniques for safely releasing anger and sadness. Through the use of visualization techniques, drawing and dynamic sculpting, you will discover your inner child and your inner nurturing parent, and create the opportunity to see your internal family images from new and different perspectives.

The partnership you establish between the inner child and parent can enable you to live your life with a new level of potency, peace and joy.

Anne Watts was deeply influenced by her father, the pioneering philosopher Alan Watts. She leads workshops on four continents, teaching adults to have more loving, fulfilling relationships. Anne has been leading workshops since 1985. www.annewatts.com 78

3 Recommended reading: Richo, Triggers: How We Can Stop

Reacting and Start Healing.

CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs; see page 94.

David Richo, PhD, MFT, is psychotherapist, author and workshop leader. He shares his time between Santa Barbara and San Francisco.

Dave has taught at Esalen annually since 1994. He combines psychological and spiritual perspectives in his work, especially from Jung and Buddhism. www.davericho.com

Esalen Through Your Eyes

Do you have a favorite photograph of Esalen?

Share your creative work with us and it could be published in the next catalog. Short essays and images of sculpture and other artwork created at Esalen will also be considered. Photos should be at least 300 dpi.

Visit Esalen.org/page/call-photos for more information.

Take a Piece of Esalen Home Esalen’s famous rye bread is now available to go home with you!

Sprinkled with rye berries, sunflower seeds, caraway seeds, toasted sesame seed oil and just a little bit of magic from the Esalen Kitchen, our rye bread loaves are now available for purchase in the Conley Bookstore. Buy one for a friend and keep a second one for yourself.

It’s a great way to take a piece of Esalen back home with you and to share with others.

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Celebrating Fatherhood Joanna Claassen Ferraro & Vinny Ferraro

With so much to get to, it’s easy to get caught up in all the doing.

Let’s spend some time just being. Over the weekend there will be stories, games for the whole family, crafts for the kids, and time for everyone to be nourished by Esalen's healing land and waters.

Saturday afternoon we will offer a children's program, during which adults will be free to book a massage, enjoy some solitude or spend time with one another. We will also explore the inner life with some mindful reflection on the path of fatherhood. Whether you have been coming to Esalen for decades or are curious to come for the first time, you’re invited to sit in a circle with us and make some memories. This workshop is for anyone who is in the role of caregiver or father figure regardless of gender identity.

This program is ideal for families with children ages two-11 years old. If you would like to participate and you have children either younger or older than this range, please contact joannaroseclaassen@gmail.com to discuss. Note: Fees for children 10 and under enrolled in Esalen family workshops are $150 for weekend workshops. Fees for youth 11-15 enrolled in Esalen family workshops are $420 for weekend workshops. Parents/guardians pay regular accommodations fees.

Joanna Claassen Ferraro bio on page 64.

Vinny Ferraro is a leader in the field of mindfulness specifically working with educators and incarcerated populations. He’s been empowered and teaches in the Buddhist insight tradition, leading a weekly sangha in San Francisco since 2004. His open hearted teachings have touched many. And he doesn’t like talking about himself in the third person.

SoulCollage® and the Art of Intuition Jennie Oppenheimer

Forest Bathing: Deepening Connection with Nature, Self and Others

Our vision will become clear only when we look into our hearts. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. — C.G. Jung What deeper stories are emerging in us, wanting to find expression? In this workshop, we’ll journey into the heart of our gifts, passions and purpose through creative inquiry and SoulCollage® to find what truly brings us alive. SoulCollage® is an imaginative and intuitive process and a powerful medium for this exploration.

We'll gather images that speak to us and use them to create our own deck of cards. Filled with deep personal meaning, our cards are a visual narrative of our unique life story. They access our inner wisdom and give voice to the many facets of ourselves — personality, relationships, dreams, symbols and spirit.

In a supportive and collaborative environment, we’ll do readings in small groups to step deeper into our cards to see how they relate to our inner and outer worlds. Inquiry, reflection and an abundance of art process will illuminate inner truths and tap the wisdom of the group. These insights, when collectively shared, are the alchemy that brings balance and renewal. No previous art experience is necessary.

Please bring a journal and pen. www.soulcollage.com. ($50 materials fee will be added to the workshop cost.)

“Forest bathing” is the translation of shirin yoku, the Japanese practice of mindfully experiencing nature through the senses. In the early 1980s, the Japanese government sponsored several studies that showed that forest immersion has a wide array of health benefits, including lowering the stress hormone cortisol, strengthening the immune system and improving mood and cognition.

During this special weekend, nature therapy guide and filmmaker Sylvie Rokab will guide you in slowly moving through the Esalen landscape, cultivating a sense of presence and exploring nature’s capacity to ignite new realizations and creativity, inspire wonder and help us heal. Sylvie will open the weekend with a screening of her multiple awards-winning film "Love Thy Nature," a cinematic journey through the beauty and intimacy of our relationship with the natural world. Then, the group will forest bathe — immerse ourselves in Esalen’s wilderness. Tea ceremony, music and council sessions are other invitations to deepen the experience. Participants often share that their stress dissolves, confusion lifts, hearts open, emotions surface, ideas spring — and they take home a renewed sense of connection, meaning and purpose in their lives.

Jennie Oppenheimer is an artist, educator and leader of mixed media and SoulCollage® workshops. Founder of SOULIO, a venture that offers artful programs that help clarify personal and professional goals, Jennie uses arts-based practices with individuals and organizations to empower innovative problem solving, self-navigation and creative expression.

Sylvie Rokab, MA, is an award-winning filmmaker and director of "Love Thy Nature", narrated by Liam Neeson. She is a nature therapy guide trained with the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy. Sylvie seeks to inspire a diverse audience to transform their relationship with nature and ignite a desire to protect our vital and spellbinding more-than-human world.

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Sylvie Rokab

Basic Sanity Jody Greene

Staying sane in a world moving ever more quickly requires daily practices of attention, centering, awareness and self-care. Yet if those practices get too complicated, we quickly find that they fall away.

Cultivating a simple, straightforward daily ritual is the key to keeping up this daily commitment to maintaining your own well-being, groundedness and contentment. Take the opportunity to spend a weekend revisiting familiar or new practices such as meditation, breathwork, stretching, reflective writing and reading or reciting short passages from the wisdom traditions. We'll practice together, discuss ways to remain committed to a daily ritual when you want to give it up and work as a group to craft a plan for each person to take home.

3 Recommended reading: Trungpa, The Sanity We Are Born With.

Jody Greene has been practicing Zen Buddhism and yoga since 2001, and has taught yoga and meditation both privately and at Yoga Tree in San Francisco, Esalen Institute and Tassajara Zen Mountain Center.

WEEK OF JUNE 14-19 Psychedelic Integration 2020: Telling a New Story Allan Badiner, Wade Davis & Rick Doblin

Beginning with Aldous Huxley — a major inspiration for the founding of Esalen in 1962 — many influential teachers have elucidated the value of psychedelics, including Alan Watts, Terence McKenna and others. We welcome you to the return of in-depth psychedelic study at Esalen. During this property-wide event, we’ll examine how psychedelic medicine and emerging research are making a difference personally, culturally and in the transformation of human consciousness amidst a global eco-crisis.

Join Buddhist writer Allan Badiner, MAPS founder Rick Doblin, anthropologist/explorer Wade Davis and others (to be added to the Esalen website) as we explore the challenges and opportunities unique to this moment in history. Through lecture, small group discussion and meditation we will examine the remarkable potential of these substances as tools for healing creativity and self-discovery.

Some sessions will be filmed.

Note: Participation in this program will be by invitation or pre-approval only. Please see our website for updated registration information.

Allan Badiner is the editor of Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics, Dharma Gaia: A Harvest in Buddhism and Ecology, and Mindfulness in the Marketplace. He is also a contributing editor of Tricycle magazine and serves on the board of Project CBD. Wade Davis is a Colombian-Canadian anthropologist, ethnobotanist, author and photographer whose work has focused on worldwide indigenous cultures, especially in North and South America and particularly involving the traditional uses and beliefs associated with psychoactive plants.

HO M E You slink into our ring sling, turquoise blue contrast to your orange hat, your forehead kissable, eyes still baby blue and just learning what it means to look. Your feet dangle near my waist, your socked toes still as we cross the bridge we cross every afternoon and evening. The water is flowing towards the ocean from the mountains, through the canyon of redwoods and the winding creek. Sometimes on the walk home, I’ll reach for hummingbird sage or mint geranium, occasionally a poppy or marigold and when we cross, I will let the leaf or flower flow out, sometimes caught in a swirling pool beside the round meditation hut, before drifting out of sight and down the waterfall.

When you are here, wrapped up on my chest, your head peeks around my shoulder. Your eyes know now how to search, I can see your blindness has lifted, the shapes and lines are gaining dimension, becoming your gaze. When someone catches your eyes and when that someone smiles, you shift to the epitome of happiness, mouth widening to expose teeth-less gums and sometimes I swear I see the slant of your mouth like the sideways smile reflected back to me in the mirror.When I am with you, I remember what it is to be pure.

Pure expression and pure awareness, unfazed by societal norms and driven by pure human drive.

In the safety of my arms, you have the opportunity to flow through yourself and meet other with joy.

In your joy, I remember myself, spirit incarnate.

Others make a point to reference me after dropping into a space with you, they urge me to remember I am not forgotten. Forgotten? In this space, I find myself found, in this identity, this pleasure, this gift, of being Mother.

Kel Fisher

Rick Doblin, PhD, is the founder and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). He received his doctorate in Public Policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. His professional goal is to become a legally licensed psychedelic therapist.

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WEEKEND OF JUNE 19-21 Exploring Plant-Based Eating Kari Bernardi & Matt Samuelson

Join Living Light Culinary Institute’s talented chef instructors, who will lead you on a journey into the wonderful world of plant-based cuisine. In this hands-on, two-day workshop, you will explore various preparations and techniques that focus on creating delicious and rejuvenating foods. The weekend will provide an overview of garden-to-table concepts, kitchen sprouting, making fermented foods and beverages, knife skills, recipe conversions and plating/ table presentation. You will have the opportunity to participate in interactive sessions at the Esalen Farm & Garden to learn how to harvest the fresh bounty. You'll also sample cleansing juices and tonics in partnership with Esalen Kitchen team members.

This workshop is suitable for plant-eating enthusiasts as well as those simply curious about increasing their intake of plant foods.

Living Light Culinary Institute has been a global leader in training chefs in plant-based cuisine for over 20 years and is the birthplace of gourmet, raw vegan cuisine. www.RawFoodChef.com ($35 materials fee will be added to the workshop cost.)

3 Recommended reading: Davis and Melina, Becoming Vegan; Soria,

Davis and Melina, Raw Food Revolution Diet; Sarno, Wicked Healthy; Pollan, Food Rules: An Eater's Manual; Bileisis, Kitchen Literacy.

Kari Bernardi (Super Natural Chef) is the owner of Super Natural Foods Company and co-director of Living Light International. For over 30 years, Kari has shared her culinary expertise to help people thrive on a plant-based diet. www.SuperNaturalChef.com Matt Samuelson is the founder of High Vitality Foods and lead instructor for Living Light Culinary Institute. Matt has 20 years’ experience creating plant-based menus and products, working for numerous Hollywood celebrities and traveling internationally as a chef, consultant and instructor.

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Kari Bernardi You are the founding director of the California State University Monterey Bay Farm-to-School Partnership Program. Can you share the vision behind it? A group of us came together with the vision to nourish minds and bodies through farm-fresh education and to inspire healthy eating choices in our schools and communities. We collaborated with K-12 schools, local hospitals and the county health department to educate stakeholders and write healthy school food policies that included salad bars and gardens.

What is the greatest challenge facing our relationship with food and environment and what can we do to address it? We are in a crisis of disconnect from our foods. One way to remedy this is by eating more organic, locally produced, seasonally fresh foods directly purchased from farmers or at Farmers' Markets.

What can we do in our everyday lives to have a healthy relationship with what we eat? We can listen to what our individual body is asking for to bring it health and wellness.

Each one of us has cultural, social, spiritual and physical differences and we need to honor our own path. It is also nice to practice gratitude for the food that we do have and to enjoy each meal fully.

What do you hope participants take from your workshop?

We'd like our students to feel encouraged and prepared to make delicious plant-based meals that they love.

How would you describe Esalen in one word? Nurturing.

Photo by Esalen seminarian Jens Wazel

Hold Me Tight Workshop for Couples Sam Jinich & Michelle Gannon

The Hold Me Tight® Workshop for Couples is based on practices drawn from Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), attachment theory and Sue Johnson’s best-selling book, Hold Me Tight. The work will be designed around seven conversations that have been shown to be essential to successful relationships. Relationships can be a cause of stress and pain or a source of comfort and joy. Couples will learn how to understand and improve their relationships via presentations, private exercises, conversations with relationship partners and by watching video demonstrations. By utilizing exercises drawn from EFT and Attachment Theory, Sam and Michelle help couples learn how to deal with their feelings together, reach toward each other, be responsive in more loving and positive ways, and move from isolation and frustration to security, emotional safety and lasting relationship satisfaction. The Hold Me Tight® Workshop welcomes ALL Couples.

3 Recommended reading: Johnson, Hold Me Tight; Seven

Conversations for a Lifetime of Love. For continuing education syllabus, see https://www.esalen.org/hold-me-tight.

CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs; see leader.

Learn How Your Body Informs You Susan Fisher & Martin Fisher

Your natural, energetic signature is embedded in your body from birth and shapes your strengths, gifts, abilities and how you relate to others. The 9 Energies system, co-founded by Susan and Martin Fisher, introduces the nine different physiologies, which the Fishers call the Natural Energies. Using your physical presence — body shape, eye quality, muscular tone, movement, other attributes — and a simple physical evaluative process, we can distinguish which one of the nine physiologies is active in your body.

In this workshop, you will discover how to: • Better use the set of innate talents, gifts and abilities associated with your physiology to move more directly forward on your life’s purpose • More fully experience and participate in community, relationship and life • Understand and use your body to move into peak performance and enhanced personal presence We'll identify which physiology is active in each participant, and share a series of experiential exercises that can increase awareness and understanding of the various attributes, abilities and perspectives associated with each of the physiologies. Benefits of this work include tools to access your strengths, improved communication ability and new knowledge of how our bodies help us enhance mindfulness in our lives. Note: It is essential that participants refrain from alcohol and other substances during the workshop hours.

Susan Fisher, MA, MBA, is the co-founder, teacher, guide and speaker of 9 Energies. Since 2012, Susan has worked with thousands of people to identify and deepen the access to each person’s unique activation center. Susan is the author of 9 Energies - Practices for Presence. www.9energies.com

CE credit for nurses; see leader.

CE credit for psychologists; see leader.

Sam Jinich, PhD, is a San Francisco-based clinical psychologist, relationship expert and Hold Me Tight® Workshop leader. He is a certified trainer, supervisor and therapist in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). Sam teaches internationally. www.

HoldMeTightWorkshop.com Michelle Gannon bio on page 60.

Esalen Massage® – The Basics Nora Matten & Silvia Guersenzvaig

This weekend offers the opportunity to replenish spirit and reconnect to the healing power of nature, while learning how to give an effective and pleasurable Esalen Massage. Through brief lectures and demonstrations, and with plenty of personal supervision of hands-on work, the workshop will present essential tools and information that can easily be applied. The principle elements of bodywork, including breath awareness, grounding, movement and quality of touch will also be introduced and practiced, creating a firm foundation for learning massage. Participants will also have time to enjoy the healing waters of the natural hot springs and the magical beauty of the Esalen grounds.

CE credit for massage therapists; see page 94.

CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Nora Matten bio on page 12.

Silvia Guersenzvaig bio on page 25.

Martin Fisher, BSc, co-founder of 9 Energies, teaches and guides, while utilizing his extensive technical expertise for research and continued understanding of the 9 Physiologies. He is a trained pilot with 40 years in the high-tech industry. www.9energies.com 83

WEEK OF JUNE 21-26

Calling The River called No choice I sit still Before constant change Bubbles and puddles Ice tubs full of birth Ecstatic here and now

Water and air Eucalyptus and redwoods Power and my body

Stay! Rush! Stop!

Rest in a pool Made of moss and rocks

Fall Caress Don't think

Move mountains Stronger than granite Softer than silk

Into your freezing force I melt Into your symphony I breathe From your water I drink Life

Yoga Gathering: Ritual and Rhythm Janet Stone, Lara Zilibowitz, Honza Lafond, Claudine Lafond, DJ Drez & Benny Holloway

In a long-held tradition, we meet together at Esalen, beneath the summer solstice sun. The word “solstice” comes from the Latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to make stand). It evokes a pause: a sense of standing still for a moment in the midst of the fire and going quiet — even as our molecules vibrate and dance faster in the midsummer heat. Move and go still. Celebrate the fire (agni) and honor the cycles of nature, which means that, for all its heat, the fire is brief. Observe the longest of days and remember that the season is short. Stand at the threshold of these apparent opposites and witness how the natural world holds them both — in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

The entire Esalen property will become one cohort exploring a playground for the senses. You’ll explore a wild diversity of expression and natural rhythms, including vibrant and Bhakti-filled yoga practices with Janet Stone, acro vinyasa with Yoga Beyond, rhythmic soundscapes by DJ Drez, Benny Holloway, Sita Devi and Clayton Campbell, hands-on community art projects with Lara Zilibowitz, and more. Alongside all that movement and play, we will have a space set up for chilling, connecting, restoring and going still. We’ll create a different kind of playground — one for the internal senses.

Come dance, sit and wonder with us as we honor the naturalness of transition, the outward and inward, and the waxing and waning of this precious life. Please bring a yoga mat. Note: Photographers and videographers will be documenting this event.

The gathering can be used for 30 hours toward Janet’s 300-, 500and 1008-hour training programs. ($140 additional tuition has been added to the workshop cost.)

Janet Stone bio on page 23.

Lara Zilibowitz is an internationally touring yoga teacher and artist with a passion for creative expression through the body. She offers a fluid and dynamic teaching style delivered with heartfelt poetic prose, as well as cosmic creativity and mandala art.

Honza Lafond discovered yoga through his love for meditation and philosophy. He teaches and inspires with raw yet playful and compassionate honesty and humor to help bring your practice off the mat and into daily life. Honza co-created YogaBeyond.

Claudine Lafond found yoga, and it was love at first breath. The feeling of coming home was familiar, yet mysterious. She has been clear about the impact this path has had on her life, and endeavors to shine this same light of awareness for all who are interested to listen. Claudine co-created YogaBeyond.

DJ Drez is a sound pioneer. With an ear for cutting-edge sonic ambiance, a finger on the pulse of music that makes bodies move, and the vision and skill to obliterate genre and boundary with his own trademark sound and production, Drez has skyrocketed to international acclaim from the dance hall to the yoga shala.

Benny Holloway is a soulful sound-o-phile travelling the world sharing healing vibrations. Through live looping of his voice and guitar, he creates deep atmospheric ambient soundbaths that encourage the listener to take a compelling introspective journey.

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WEEKEND OF JUNE 26-28

Herbs for Stress, Stamina and Sleep

Conversations on the Edge: Autism – The Potential of Human Diversity

Darren Huckle

If you are looking for another way to grow in a unique format different from the traditional workshop, please join us for an Esalen original series: Conversations on the Edge. In each of these curated weekend events, we bring together leading experts and visiting teachers to explore a pressing issue of our time in a vibrant, interactive forum of lecture, lightning talks, group discussion and idea sharing. This weekend is comprised of several short but impactful lecturettes that end in Q&A and conversation among the audience.

Scheduled gathering time will be significantly less than traditional workshops to allow for participation in movement and meditation classes, healing arts and hot springs, and the natural beauty of Esalen. See website for updated presenters.

The plant world holds many tools for supporting peace, resiliency and vitality for those of us who live intense or busy lives. This interactive and sensory-oriented workshop will explore amazing herbal allies that powerfully promote the health of our body, mind and energy. Our special focus will be on herbs that moderate stress response, vitalize energy, promote healthy sleep and support an overall sense of flow and well-being. We will spend part of the workshop in the Esalen Garden, where we’ll see, taste and feel medicinal plants. We’ll experience a multitude of fresh and dried herbs. In the kitchen we’ll make a custom herbal tea and tincture blend for each participant to bring home. ($15 materials fee will be added to the workshop cost.)

CE credit for acupuncturists; see page 94.

CE credit for nurses; see page 94.

Darren Huckle, LAc, DAOM, has a private practice as an herbalist and acupuncturist in Santa Cruz, Calif. He teaches holistic health modalities including herbal medicine, nutrition, acupuncture and qi gong at Five Branches University and UC Santa Cruz. www.rootsofwellness.net 85

Photo by Esalen seminarian Vera Lin

Journey of the Heart: Indigenous Huichol Shamanism

Healing at the Edge: Conscious Living, Conscious Dying

Brant Secunda

Dale Borglum

Discover ancient indigenous teachings and learn traditional practices for personal and planetary healing. Join world-renowned shaman, healer and ceremonial leader Brant Secunda for an immersive retreat in the breathtaking landscape of Big Sur. Experience sacred rituals to empower your life and find your true nature. Manifest positive energy through the Dance of the Deer Ceremony and tap into the life force of Mother Earth.

Find renewal in this healing tradition:

For 40 years Dale Borglum has been blessed to be in close contact with many people who were approaching death. Almost all of these people were reaching out for healing — healing in relationship to death, to illness, to a wounded heart, to separation from their own self. Are there some powerful truths about life and about healing that we can receive from those who, as they went through the process of dying, deeply realized their own wholeness? We will explore

• Journey to the four directions through guided spiritual practices

possibilities for realizing wholeness at the edge of life where illness,

• Empower your dream state with daily morning ritual

grief, loss, addiction and spiritual yearning arise.

• Rejuvenate your body, heart and spirit with ancient chants

Together we will travel the path to wholeness — the path that

• Connect with places of power through the art of pilgrimage

includes motivation, invocation, compassion, empowerment and

• Celebrate your life and dance your prayers into the altar of Mother Earth

ultimately, healing. Guided meditative exercises that cultivate these

Shamanism is an ancient healing tradition and way of life. Ceremony, sacred dance, vision quest and pilgrimages to places of power in nature are all essential aspects of Shamanism. Through these techniques, the shamanic circle embraces us, unifying our lives with strength, healing and love.

Brant Secunda is a world-renowned shaman in the indigenous Huichol tradition of Mexico. Recognized as a global thought leader, Brant has lectured at the Mayo Clinic, the American Holistic Medical Association, the World Health Organization and co-founded the Peace University. www.SHAMANISM.com 86

stages of the path will be offered. Communication exercises that bring awareness and compassion to our unconscious resistance to healing also will be shared. Christian, Buddhist, devotional and felt body energetics approaches will be honored. This workshop is designed for anyone deeply committed to healing.

Dale Borglum with Ram Dass and Stephen Levine founded the conscious dying movement in the West and created the Hanuman Foundation Dying Center in Santa Fe, NM. Dale is the executive director of the Living/Dying Project. He has taught meditation since 1974 and has a doctorate degree from Stanford. www.livingdying.org

Sexual Fairytales: Debunking Myths to Choose Your Own Adventure Pam Costa

We are born into a world where sex and sexuality are expected to look a certain way. We learn sexual do’s and don’ts through the stories and beliefs told by our friends and family, school, church and media. In this workshop, we will explore the limitations of these beliefs and use mindfulness and movement to (re)discover our true underlying nature. Through group conversation and embodied activities, we will debunk some of the myths we have been taught, and increase our understanding of our own individual emotional and physical intimacy desires.

In this workshop, we will: • Learn how to tap into the wisdom of the body • Discuss myths around female and male sexuality • Explore the power of fantasy through writing prompts and small group discussions • Engage in a group ritual to let go of beliefs that no longer serve us and invite a new adventure in

Pam Houston is the author of six books including Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country, Cowboys Are My Weakness and Contents May Have Shifted. She teaches at the Institute of American Indian Arts, UC Davis and is co-founder of Writing By Writers. www.pamhouston.net Steve Almond is the author of 10 books of fiction and non-fiction.

His work has been published in The Best American Short Stories, Pushcart Prize, The New York Times Magazine, and elsewhere. www.stevealmondjoy.org Lidia Yuknavitch is the author of national best-selling novels The Book of Joan and The Small Backs of Children, the widely acclaimed memoir The Chronology of Water, as well as the novel Dora: A Headcase and books Allegories of Violence and The Misfit's Manifesto. www.lidiayuknavitch.net Karen Nelson is the co-founder and executive director of Writing By Writers, a 501c(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to create a rigorous and compassionate environment to learn the art of reading and writing from accomplished authors. info@writingxwriters.org www.writingxwriters.org

Couples and individuals of all sexual orientations, attractions and expressions are welcome.

Pam Costa, MA, left her high-tech career at Apple and Facebook to found Down To There to help the world talk more openly about sex, recently sharing her own personal journey and research on this topic at TEDx Palo Alto. www.downtothere.com

WEEK OF JUNE 28-JULY 3 Writers’ Camp Samantha Dunn, Pam Houston, Steve Almond, Lidia Yuknavitch & Karen Nelson

WEEKEND OF JULY 3-5 Esalen Midsummer Festival Join us for a holiday weekend full of friends, families, fun, music and good food! This time will be relaxed and unstructured, allowing for lots of opportunity to meet others, participate in daily movement classes, take long walks, visit the Esalen Farm & Garden, or simply relax in the hot springs. On Saturday afternoon, Esalen will throw a celebratory concert and outdoor dance jam with a live musical lineup. Visit www.esalen.org for more information.

Writers take over the entire Esalen campus during this annual workshop. A tradition begun by best-selling author Cheryl Strayed, Writers' Camp leaders Samantha Dunn and Pam Houston bring together nationally known authors and participants at all levels of writing expertise, who together create a supportive, creative, informative and inspiring week that's designed to ignite — and reignite — your passion for the stories you have to tell. In sessions led by each of the distinguished faculty, you’ll hear lectures, do writing exercises, and discuss the art and craft of writing, from prose to poetry and performance pieces. You'll have the opportunity to share your work in a nurturing environment that engages and challenges writers of all levels, from the novice to the advanced.

Because the focus of the workshop is on generating new writing rather than critiquing manuscripts, you simply begin where you are.

In an effort to amplify all voices that need to be heard, Writing By Writers is offering fellowships to Writer’s Camp for emerging writers of color and/or members of the LGBTQIA+ community. To apply, visit https://www.writingxwriters.org/esalen. ($50 additional tuition will be added to the workshop cost.)

Samantha Dunn was a PEN Award finalist for her novel, Failing Paris. She has also authored two memoirs. Her essays are widely anthologized, and her writing has been featured in many publications, including O the Oprah Magazine and Ms. She is the executive editor of Coast Magazine. www.samanthadunnwriter.com Photo by Esalen seminarian Tracie Christian

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From Our Kitchen to Yours: Our ricotta gnocchi with spring onions, morels and pea tendrils is sure to complement the bright and fragrant new blossoms emerging in your Spring garden. The gnocchi is a lighter variation on the classic Italian dumpling and pairs well with the fresh flavors of onion and garlic. Morels are often the first harvest of the Spring forage and add a touch of earthiness to the dish, while peas — with their wild tendrils — point to the abundance of summer.

ingredients For the gnocchi...

1/4 lb ricotta impastata* 1/4 lb goat cheese 1 1/2 tablespoons pecorino toscano, grated fine 4 ounces AP flour 1 egg 1 egg yolk Salt to taste For the garlic confit...

2 heads fresh spring garlic 2 cups olive oil (preferably a mild or neutral flavor) To complete the dish...

1 bunch garden spring onions cut on the thin bias A handful of morels (the more the better) 1 cup pea tendrils, washed and dried 1 cup shelled peas Poppy seeds, as needed Pecorino toscano, as needed Ground black pepper, as needed 3 tablespoons butter 3 tablespoons garlic confit

* Ricotta impastata is a drier version of ricotta, If you cannot find this in your area, you can drain some of the liquid from traditional ricotta by wrapping it in a cheese cloth and hanging it overnight. Additionally you may increase the amount of flour to ensure you get the right consistency on your dough.

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instructions For the gnocchi...

Start a pot of salted water boiling. Meanwhile, mix all the ingredients together and gently knead in the bowl just enough to have all ingredients thoroughly mixed well. No need to knead as hard as the potato-based dough of the traditional gnocchi.

On a well-floured table (or marble top if you have one), quickly roll out the dough to a 1/2-inch thickness.

Cut the dough into strips about 1 inch wide and then cut again on the bias into diamond shapes. Cook immediately in the salted water until they are floating and cooked through.

Remove from water and allow to cool on a sheet pan.

Save a cup of the pasta water for making the sauce.

For the garlic confit...

In a small saucepan submerge the garlic in the olive oil. The garlic must be covered completely. Add more olive oil if needed. Place the saucepan over a medium heat and allow to heat through. Here the amount of heat is essential: the difference between a garlic confit and roasted garlic is the confit is less caramelized and and not as dark in color. To achieve this, you want the heat of the oil to stay under 180 degrees, or in simpler terms, never to boil up. The presence of a gentle heated oil should be just like a fresh poured soda, small bubbles simply float to the top.

Pulse the garlic confit in a food processor until it becomes a smooth paste. If it appears too grainy, stream a little bit of the garlic oil into the food processor until it becomes smooth.

To finish...

In a sautĂŠ pan melt 1 tablespoon of butter, add the morels and gnocchi and allow to caramelize. When the morels and gnocchi have a crisp and golden-brown appearance, remove from the pan and set aside on a paper towel.

Place the reminder of the butter in the sautĂŠ pan and allow to melt.

Once the butter has completely melted add the green onions and allow them to wilt. After they have wilted, whisk (with the back of a fork) in a few splashes of the water and the tablespoons of the garlic confit. Keep whisking to form an emulsion.

Return the cooked morels and gnocchi to the pan and toss, coating them in the sauce. Add the peas and the tendrils, toss for 30 seconds and remove from the heat.

Plate the dish and garnish with the poppy seeds, pepper and pecorino.

Serve and enjoy!

When the garlic has cooked through, you can tell by how soft it is and how easy it is to pierce with a fork.

Remove from the heat and strain the garlic from the oil.

(You can keep the garlic oil for other dishes; it’s lovely.)

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Residential Study Program

Push Your Possibilities What if you had more than one week to explore your potential and push the boundaries of what is possible within your own growth?

Our four-week, immersive residential program is designed for individuals who want to explore new perspectives and experiences leading to tools to unlock our greatest potential. With the support of a cohort of students, and under the direction of a dedicated Esalen faculty member, residential study participants will be challenged to push their personal growth edge in order to open up to greater discovery.

Key pillars of the program include: • A deep dive into a specific field of transformative practice • An introduction in Esalen practices to increase awareness • A creative combination of service and study from which to apply learnings This program is by application only and requires robust physical activity.

Scholarship is available for individuals who demonstrate need and ability to transform their learnings for greater social impact. Once your application has been accepted, a non-refundable deposit of $400 will hold your space in the program.

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THE STUDY COMPONENT: Engage in a rigorous course of study with more than 36 hours taught by a faculty member as well as additional instruction on essential teachings and practices of Esalen and the human potential movement. Subject areas could include Gestalt, massage, yoga and permaculture, among others.

THE SERVICE COMPONENT: As a complement to your studies, you will be asked to dedicate 26 hours of service per week in one of Esalen’s departments. The campus is rugged and students should anticipate robust physical activity.

ACCOMMODATIONS: Esalen provides mostly singlegender dorm-style student housing, with multi-gender housing possible. Esalen is located in a very rural, rugged environment on the central California coast. Both staff and students live in close contact with one another with approximately 100 guests visiting every week. Privacy is at a minimum and the closest major town is Monterey, which is approximately one hour away by car.

RESIDENTIAL STUDY PROGRAM FEES: Housing and meals are included with your residential fee. Once applicants have been accepted, a non-refundable deposit of $400 will hold your space in the program. Visit www.esalen.org for more details on pricing.

APPLICATION: Visit www.esalen.org/page/residentialstudy to apply. Please contact students@esalen.org for more information. For additional offerings, visit www.esalen.org/ page/upcoming-residential-study-programs.

JANUARY 26-FEBRUARY 23 The Ground of Belonging: An Embodied Inquiry into Courage, Connection and Community Steven Harper

The hunger to belong is at the heart of our nature. — John O’Donohue Many of us have the experience of not belonging — to ourselves, family, community, workplace, this earth. This disconnect expresses itself in a divided self, dysfunctional relationships and communities, and destruction of the very planet that birthed and sustains us.

However, a sense of belonging is the natural state of our being. To know and feel our belonging asks us to have courage, vulnerability and a willingness to feel how life conspires to let us know our interbeing. When we bodily know our belonging, we engage in the world feeling supported and with greater ease and grounding as we face life’s challenges and joys.

This will be a whole-organism, experiential inquiry into what belonging might be for each of us. Although not a linear path, we’ll explore: • The intrapersonal — our belonging to self • The interpersonal — our belonging to others: individual relationships and in community • The transpersonal — our belonging to the “other than”, perhaps greater than, human world to which we are connected in webs of communities The group will be introduced to contemporary and time-honored wisdom traditions that cultivate belongingness, including contemporary psychology and neuroscience; Gestalt Practice in the Esalen tradition; meditation and mindfulness practices; aikido and awareness movement practices; and direct experience of the natural world. Special attention will be given to “what walks with us” into our daily lives as we weave together an eclectic and holistic experience.

When we embody the birthright of our interbeing and the ground of belonging, life lives through us.

Steven Harper bio on page 59.

FEBRUARY 23-MARCH 22 Songsmithing: Opening the Creative Channel Johnsmith

If your life was a song, what would that song be? If you told the story of your heart, what story would you tell? Discover your authentic singing and songwriting voice through creative exercises, prompts and assignments. We will focus on opening the creative heart and bringing forth the music and stories that dwell there. All are welcome; no prior songwriting experience is needed. With a mindful and playful attitude, we will invite the stunning natural beauty of the Big Sur coast, its healing waters and the spirit of Esalen to work its magic on us as we immerse ourselves into creative flow. Within the safe container of the group, everyone will be invited to delve into the deep work that only creative play allows.

Johnsmith has led residential study programs and workshops at Esalen since 2006. His transformational offerings help students reach deeply inward to bring forth their truth and story in well-crafted 91

songs. He always brings along his infectious, curious, fun-loving otter spirit to his work...or play, one might say. We will use journaling, movement, meditation, co-writing, solo and group singing, impromptu jams and performance — for ourselves and the Esalen community. Playing a musical instrument is not necessary, but you are welcome to bring one if you play. We will cultivate a fun, dynamic and safe place to experience our creative selves.

Johnsmith has been writing heartfelt songs for more than 30 years.

He's won national awards and contests, was a staff songwriter in Nashville and has recorded eight CDs. He's taught songwriting workshops nationwide and has been featured on NPR's New Dimensions. www.johnsmithmusic.com

MAY 17-JUNE 14 Cruising Emptiness: 5Rhythms® and Insight Meditation Lucia Horan

When emptiness is still, that is eternity. When it moves, that is love. — Adyashanti This month-long workshop will take us into a journey of selfexploration through seated and moving meditation. These dynamic practices bring us to the edge where we meet what is, in both movement and stillness. Using Gabrielle Roth’s 5Rhythms dance practice and Buddhist Insight Meditation, we will embark upon a personal investigation into how our physical bodies inform us, hold

MARCH 22-APRIL 19 Relational Gestalt Practice Dorothy Charles

us and release us over the edge into the marvelous and creative nature of our own being. We will use these methods as a practical way to develop and track the patterns and cycles of our physical and emotional reality. These skills help us to better understand

All people have the innate ability to move towards healthy, satisfying relationships with others and their environment. Old patterns of behavior and fixed ideas formed in early relationship may block health, communication and contact. When we come to the present moment, we have greater self-awareness and more choice in how we respond. Our relationships improve and deepen as a result of our ability to feel at ease with our own feelings and to be present with the feelings of others. The Gestalt approach aims to increase awareness of our emotional patterns by providing new healthy relational experiences; to support energy, aliveness and contact.

In this workshop led by Dorothy Charles, we will create a safe and supportive environment in which our emotions can be met with curiosity, interest and acceptance. The format will combine group process, small group work, dyadic awareness exercises, discussion and opportunities for individual work with the leader.

and navigate our inner and outer territories. This is an opportunity

Dorothy Charles bio on page 27.

Lucia Horan bio on page 18.

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to embody practical tools of awareness that will assist you in your everyday life.

“The Rhythms are a map to everywhere we want to go, on all planes, inner and outer, forward and back, physical, emotional and intellectual. They are markers on the way back to a real self, a vulnerable, wild, passionate, instinctive self,” said Gabrielle Roth.

“Flowing holds the feminine mysteries. Staccato explores the masculine mysteries. In Chaos, we are challenged to integrate these principles into the stream of personal energy. Lyrical is the rhythm of trance and self-realization. In Stillness we seek the emptiness within us and take refuge in it.” Show up as you are and practice with what you have. This is about presence, not performance. All shapes and ages are welcome.

Photo by Esalen seminarian Ed Caldwell

Photo by Esalen seminarian Tim Farrell

JUNE 14-JULY 12 Yoga Immersion: A Journey into Self Jovinna Chan

Are you ready to change? If not now, when? This is a self-awakening program designed for sincere seekers who are ready to live an awakened life. Immerse yourself in the fundamentals of yoga philosophy, asanas, pranayama and meditation to build a spacious and fertile spiritual foundation where the seeds of awareness can grow and flourish.

During the month, we will: • Explore classic yoga postures with basic alignment principles, benefits and contraindications • Experience yoga as a path of self-discovery and transformation • Integrate holistic lifestyle tools • Learn and practice conscious communication skills • Explore scripture through experiential lectures on the Bhagavad Gita and Pantanjali’s 8 Limbs of Yoga (emphasizing the yamas and niyamas)

At the end of the program, you will learn to bring awareness to movement and breath in a way that is right for your body, your limitations, your strengths and your age — in other words, you’ll discover the yoga that is right for you and create a unique home practice. Join us to bring the experience, depth and benefits of yoga into your lifestyle and make bold changes to live fully. Please bring a yoga mat.

Note: For those who wish to obtain a 50-hour certification, a daily Hatha yoga practice and additional homework will be required.

You are requested to write a paper on either Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra translated by Mukunda Stiles or the Bhagavad Gita translated by Eknath Easwaran. Please choose either one and bring the copy with you.

Jovinna Chan, E-RYT 500, YACEP, in recent years co-founded Shakti Initiation Yoga Leadership School and A Wild Life Sanctuary™. She served as the assistant dean, 200-and 500-hour teacher trainer for the Kripalu School of Yoga and is a certified Soul Motion™ and LetYourYogaDance Teacher. Jovinna is a co-founder of Pranotthan School of Yoga and leads transformational programs around the world. www.jovinna.com 93

Esalen’s status as a provider of continuing education is approved by the following boards:

Jan 5-10

Radically Alive: A Radical Aliveness Workshop

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Jan 5-10

Mindful Communication: Truth Without Blame

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Jan 5-10

Esalen® Massage: Accessing Back Body from the Front

Jan 12-17

Trauma, Memory and the Restoration of One's Self

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Jan 26-31

Effortless Mindfulness: How to Live an Awakened Life

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Jan 26-Mar 8

250-Hour Esalen Massage® Certification Program

Feb 2-7

Self-Compassion in Inner and Outer Relationships

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Feb 2-7

5Rhythms®: Connections

Feb 2-7

Brilliant Body: Spinefulness Fundamentals to conquer Injury and Pain

Feb 9-14

The I in the Storm: Bringing Self Leadership to Everyday Life

Feb 9-14

Esalen® Massage and Energy Work

Feb 16-21

Relational Gestalt Practice: The Transformative Power of Emotion

Feb 23-28

Primordial Qigong: Transformative Alchemy from the Original Developer of Tai Chi

Feb 23-28

Fundamentals of Esalen® Massage

Mar 8-13

Deep Tissue Techniques for Massage Practitioners: Advanced Shoulder, Rotator Cuff and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Mar 8-13

Secrets of Great Relationships: For Individuals and Couples

Mar 13-15

Current Trends in Esalen® Massage and Bodywork

Mar 15-20

Heart of Awareness: An Embodied Spirituality Retreat

Mar 15-20

IAHE: Upledger Institute International's Total Body Balancing 1

Mar 20-22

Getting the Love You Want: A Workshop for Couples

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Mar 20-22

Emotional Mindfulness, Connection and Healing for Gay Men

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Mar 22-27

Esalen® Massage and Meditation

Apr 3-5

Couples' Communication Retreat

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Relational Gestalt Practice: The Transformative Power of Emotion

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Apr 17-19

5Rhythms®: Grief, Loss and the Body in Motion

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Apr 24-26

Rising Strong™ Workshop

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May 8-10

Tickets to Paradise: A Yoga-Based Therapeutic Approach to Self-Care and Healing

May 8-10

Mindfulness in Deep Relationship: Cultivating Sources of Relational Nourishment

May 10-15

EMDR Basic Training: Part 3 Advanced Clinical Workshop and Refresher Course

May 15-17

Wired for Love Couples Workshop: Creating an Owner's Manual for a Secure-Functioning Relationship

May 17-22

IAHE: Upledger Institute International's Craniosacral Therapy 1

• Certificate processing can take up to 45 days. Certificates will be emailed to you

May 22-24

Cultivating Meaning and Happiness through Mindfulness and Yoga

May 22-24

Esalen® Massage for Couples, Partners & Friends

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Please note: If your workshop is listed as offering CE but indicates that you must “see leader” the workshop leader will be responsible for processing and issuing the CE certificates. There is no need to contact the Esalen office at the end of your course.

May 29-31

How to Use Posture to Nurture Strength with Esther Gokhale

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May 29-31

Cultivating Vitality in Body, Mind and Spirit with Elissa

May 31-Jun 5

The Healing Art of Deep Bodywork®: Healing Trauma

May 31-Jun 5

How We Change and Why We Don't: The Art and Science of Transformation

For more information about accessing special accommodations (ADA requests), please contact 888-837-2536. To file a grievance please write to ce@esalen.org.

Jun 5-7

Women's Intimacy, Desire and Eroticism: The Triumvirate of Sexual Pleasure

Jun 7-12

Yi Quan Qigong: Strong as the Mountain, Supple As Water

Jun 12-14

When We're Triggered: How to Stop Reacting and Begin Healing

Jun 19-21

Hold Me Tight Workshop for Couples

Jun 19-21

Esalen® Massage-The Basics

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Jun 26-28

Herbs for Stress, Stamina and Sleep

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MFT, LCSW, LEP and LPCC: California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. Esalen Institute maintains responsibility for this program/course and its content. (Provider No. 128759) MASSAGE PRACTITIONERS AND BODYWORKERS: The National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (provider number 043062-00) and the Bureau for Private Post-Secondary Education (school code 2700571) REGISTERED NURSES: Board of Registered Nursing (provider number 01152) REGISTERED DIETITIANS: State Commission on Dietetic Registration ACUPUNCTURISTS: State of California Acupuncture Board (provider number 946) Approved weekend workshops qualify for 10 CE units, approved five-day courses qualify for 26 CE units, approved seven-day courses qualify for 36 CE units, and approved Residential Study courses qualify for 38 CE units.

You can find the course information and educational objectives in PDF format for all MFT-approved courses on our website through the link on the course page. Please check workshop listings online for frequent updates to CE status.

In order to receive a certificate for continuing education participants must meet the following requirements: • Notify your teacher at the beginning of your workshop • Attend and sign the attendance sheet provided by the leader.

Partial credit will not be given • Once you complete the workshop, please fill out the evaluation form distributed by the leader (you will be asked to provide your license number) and turn it in to the Esalen office with a $25 processing fee.

Multiple certificates will be an additional $25 per certificate

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Faculty Index A

Anna-Lisa Adelberg 17 Jordan Allen 70 Steve Almond 87 Katchie Ananda 39 Susan Aposhyan 41

B

Allan Badiner 81 James Baraz 36 Ellen Bass 42 Jim Benson 24 Kari Bernardi 82 Micheline Berry 61 Timothy Beyer 43 Linda Bloom 37 Charlie Bloom 37 Tracey Boldemann Tatkin 67 Dale Borglum 86 Corinne Bourdeau 64 Ann Bradney 11 Peter Bregman 62 Sean Brennan 64 Rick Brown 43 Coral Brown 14 Robert Browning 21, 22

C

Sheva Carr 21, 22 Michele Cassou 77 Jovinna Chan 93 Dorothy Charles 27, 49, 92 Aneel Chima 75 Jeena Cho 55 Joanna Claassen Ferraro 64, 80, Kenneth Cohen 77 Mark Coleman 63 Pam Costa 87 Jean Couch 21 Raphael Cushnir 37

D

Kerry D'Ambrogio 40 Zhen Dao 75 Laura Davis 58 Wade Davis 81 Wu De 28

Paul Denniston 32, 34 Harvey Deutch P.T. 65 Rick Doblin 81 Carol Donahoe 66 William Donius 15 DJ Drez 84 Samantha Dunn 87 Fred Dust 52, 53

E

Steve Edelman 39 Charles Eisenstein 36 Eve Ekman 46 Scilla Elworthy 21, 22 Elissa Epel 73

F

Harville Hendrix 16, 43 Paul Heussenstamm 11 Perry Holloman 38, 74 Johanna Holloman 38, 74 Benny Holloway 84 Lucia Horan 18, 20, 56, 59, 92 Peggy Horan 18, Jean Houston 51 Pam Houston 87 Leslie Howard 35 Darren Huckle 85 Russ Hudson 35

I

Laura Inserra 63 Ira Israel 71

Jessica Fagan 40, 71 Robin Fann-Costanzo 18 Warren Farrell 49 Carla Fernandez 19 Vinny Ferraro 80 Jorge N. Ferrer 23 Susan Fisher 83 Martin Fisher 83 Lennon Flowers 19 Arielle Ford 60 East Forest 72 Thomas Michael Fortel 67 Ron Frederick 43 Marc Freedman 45 Jerome Front 65

J

G

Honza Lafond 84 Claudine Lafond 84 Helen LaKelly Hunt 16 Christine Leuthold 64 Nancy Levin 32 Christine Lines 66 Tias Little 17 Lisa G. Littlebird 28 Yingzhao Liu 75

Michelle Gannon 60, 83 Michael Gelb 13 Jessica Gelson 62 Brady Gill 42 Esther Gokhale 73 James Gordon 61 Marci Graham 26 Jody Greene 81 Stanislav Grof 70 Brigitte Grof 70 Silvia Guersenzvaig 25, 83

H

Steven Harper 59, 76, 91 Diane Haug 70 Geneen Marie Haugen 41

Wes Jackson 8, 32, 33 Beth Jaeger-Skigen 60 Roger Jahnke 30 Sam Jinich 83 Johnsmith 91, 92

K

Camille Maurine 24 Ivy Mayer Lavie 52 Roxan McDonald 42 Darin McFadyen 68 Deborah Anne Medow 18, 25 Dori Middleman M.D. 14 Marysia Miernowska 31 Melody Moore 16 Peter Moore 66 Jean Morrison 10 Chris Murchison 46

Paul Selig 55, 56

N

Licia Sky 15

Melinda Naye 69 Karen Nelson 87 Day Nguyen 31 Mark Nicolson 13, 14 Wes "Scoop" Nisker 39

O

JJennie Oppenheimer 80 Brita Ostrom 30, 45

P

Alexandra Katehakis 76 Sonia Katyal 36 Loch Kelly 17 Sally Kempton 49 David Kessler 32, 34 Pam Kramer 39

Laurel Parnell Ph.D. 66 Adam Pearce 19 Kyla Pearce 19 Char Pias 18 Bill Plotkin 41 Jonathan Prescott 19 Mark Putnam M.D. 14

L

R

M

Miranda Macpherson 44 Rhonda V. Magee 69 Jane Malek 77 Dean Marson 45 Vinn Arjuna MartĂ­ 27, 76 Nora Matten 12, 83

Charu Rachlis 16 Marisa Radha Weppner 72 Cherie Ray 77 Shiva Rea 50, 52 David Richo 78 Lynda Richtmeier Cyr 61 Lorin Roche 24 Sylvie Rokab 80 Peggy Rubin 51 Don Jose Ruiz 29 Don Miguel Ruiz Jr. 29

S

Matt Samuelson 82 Michael Sapiro 75 Richard Schwartz 20, 25 Brant Secunda 86

Peter Selwyn 56 Shauna Shapiro 19, 25, 26 Paula Shaw 29 Jenn Sherer 21 Amy Shinal 61 Henry Shukman 17 Mikey Siegel 31 Tosha Silver 47 Mariabruna Sirabella 29 Adam Smiley Poswolsky 42 Ramesh Srinivasan 36 Tracee Stanley 54 Claude Stein 51 Jason Stern 35 Janet Stone 23, 84 Aubrey Streit Krug 32 Heather Sullivan 50

T

Stan Tatkin 67 Davida Taurek 11 Vicki Topp 18 Fletcher Tucker 68

U

Daniela Urbassek 30, 40

V

Bessel van der Kolk 15 Demetri Velisarius 50, 52 Cassandra Vieten 73, 75 NoĂŤl Vietor 68 Alberto Villoldo 46 Shama Viola 46 Barry Vissell 12 Joyce Vissell 12 John Vosler 47

W

Robert Walter 44 Anne Watts 78 Jason Weston 26 Ralph White 66 Sean Wilkinson 70 Rob Wilks 12 Jessica Wolk Benson 24 Adam Wolpert 54 Wilma Wyss 34

Y

Lidia Yuknavitch 87 Photo by Richard Tauber

Z

Lara Zilibowitz 84

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Join Friends of Esalen Enjoy more ways to support Esalen’s nonprofit mission by becoming a Friends of Esalen member. Starting at just $120 annually, your membership includes:

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Ability to reserve a Friends of Esalen retreat, as space allows

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Invitations to Friends of Esalen receptions and guided tours of the Esalen campus

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Advanced ticket sales for Esalen’s Midsummer Festival

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Subscription to the Esalen Catalog for one year

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Subscription to Friends of Esalen newsletter for one year

Join today! Visit www.esalen.org/catalogs20

Tap Into Your Potential Esalen scholarships now available.

Are you interested in creating positive change in yourself and others?

An Esalen scholarship can help support your journey. Financial awards range from 25 percent to up to 90 percent of the cost of tuition and accommodations. Applications must be received 90 days before the start of your chosen workshop.

Learn more at www.esalen.org/scholarships 96

Yoga Gathering:

Ritual and Rhy m June 21-26, 2020 Gather beneath the summer solstice sun at Esalen for a favorite annual ritual led by longstanding Esalen faculty Janet Stone. The entire Esalen property will become one cohort exploring a playground for the senses, offering: O O O O

Vibrant and Bhakti-ďŹ lled yoga practices with Janet Rhythmic soundscapes of DJ Drez and Benny Holloway Community art projects led by Lara Zilibowitz Acrovinyasa yoga lead by Honza Lafond and Claudine Lafond

Reserve your space now: www.esalen.org/summersolstice2020

Esalen Institute 55000 Highway 1 Big Sur, California 93920-9546

you move, please let us n Ifknow your new address.

It helps save trees and money.

Please email info@esalen.org.

facebook.com/esaleninstitute instagram.com/esalen twitter.com/esaleninstitute pinterest.com/esalen

Getting the Love You Want: A Campus-wide Couples Workshop Start the New Year with Harville Hendrix & Helen LaKelly Hunt

Join husband and wife team Harville Hendrix and Helen LaKelly Hunt for their ďŹ rst campus-wide workshop. Discover how you and your partner can move toward deeper levels of wholeness, reignite hope and passion in your relationship and strengthen your spiritual connection. This workshop welcomes couples of all gender and sexual orientations.

Join s

JANUARY 24-26, 2020 Register online at www.esalen.org/getlove2020