September 2002 Esalen Catalog

Transcription

The Esalen Catalog
September 2002– February 2003
®
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
September 2002 – February 2003
®
The word itself summons up tantalizing visions of adventure, of unexplored frontiers, of human possibilities yet to be realized.
There is the wonder of the place itself, 120 acres of fertile land carved out between mountain and ocean, blessed by a
cascading canyon stream and hot mineral springs gushing out of a seaside cliff. There is the delicate and subtle Big Sur
air of a late afternoon in May, the midnight mist of July, the drenching February rain. There are October nights so
clear the Milky Way can light your walk along the darkened garden path. And always there is the sound of the sea.
And then there are the people—the people who live there and love the land, and the 300,000 more who have come from
all over the world to participate in Esalen’s forty-year-long Olympics of the body, mind, and spirit, committing
themselves not so much to “stronger, faster, higher” as to deeper, richer, more enduring.
They come for the intellectual freedom to consider systems of thought and feeling that lie beyond the current constraints
of mainstream academia. They come to discover ancient wisdom in the motion of the body, poetry in the pulsing of
the blood. They come to rediscover the miracle of self-aware consciousness. At best, they come away inspired by the
precision of a desire to learn and keep on learning through all of life, and beyond.
Esalen is a place with a global reach. It is a place, as Thomas Wolfe said about America, where miracles not only happen
but where they happen all the time.
S
contents
Volume xli, Number 3
Esalen Institute
Highway 1
Big Sur, California 93920-9616
Catalog Requests: 831-667-3000,
ext. 7100
Esalen Board of Trustees:
Lawrence Downing
Mary Ellen Klee
George Leonard
Nancy Lunney-Wheeler
Michael Murphy
Marilyn Schlitz
Jeremy Tarcher
Gordon Wheeler
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
Executive Director:
Andy Nusbaum
Director of Programming:
Nancy Lunney-Wheeler
Audio Recordings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76
Biographical Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80
Catalog Subscription Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Continuing Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71
Esalen Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Esalen Seminars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
“An Evolutionary Vision” Part 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Friends of Esalen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Gazebo School Park Early Childhood Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87
General Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Guide to Workshops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Invitational Conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
Reservation Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88
Reservation Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86
Scholarship Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87
Special Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74
Work Study Program and Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77-79
Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot
today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a
little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least
we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.
—The Buddha
2
Operations Manager:
David Price
Personnel Manager:
Pat Lewine
Esalen Catalog Staff:
Editor: Peter Friedberg
Administrative Liaisons: Genevieve
Ahrens, Kasia Zajac
Design & Production: Terry McGrath
The Esalen Catalog is published
triannually by the Esalen Institute,
Big Sur, California 93920-9616.
Printed on recycled paper.
©2002 Esalen Institute.
All rights reserved.
ISSN 1088-2782
Subscription Information:
Subscription cost for one year is $15
for the United States and $25 for all
other countries. Please send a check
or money order (U.S. currency) in the
enclosed subscription envelope, or
mail it to: Subscriptions, Esalen
Institute, Big Sur, CA 93920.
Although we’re delighted to provide
you with this issue of the catalog, if
you are not currently a subscriber we
would appreciate a $5 contribution to
defray postage and production costs.
Please use the enclosed subscription
envelope.
cover photography: Daniel Bianchetta
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general information
T
he esalen institute was founded
in 1962 as an alternative educational
center devoted to the exploration of
what Aldous Huxley called the “human potential,” the world of unrealized human capacities
that lies beyond the imagination. Esalen soon
became known for its blend of East/West
philosophies, its experiential/didactic workshops, the steady influx of philosophers, psychologists, artists, and religious thinkers, and its
breathtaking grounds blessed with natural hot
springs. Once home to a Native American tribe
known as the Esselen, Esalen is situated on the
spectacular Big Sur coastline with the Santa
Lucia Mountains rising sharply behind.
There are various ways to experience Esalen,
ranging from an overnight visit to a longterm stay as a seminarian. The weekend
and five-day workshops described in the
Seminars section of the catalog are the
standard route for coming to Esalen. The
“Experiencing Esalen” workshops, scheduled
periodically, offer an introduction to practices such as Gestalt, massage, sensory awareness, and meditation. From such a sampling,
participants can then choose those approaches they are most attracted to and pursue them
in subsequent seminars.
Another way of being at Esalen which allows a
greater involvement at a lower expense is the
Work Study Program, an intensive 28-day
work-oriented program for individuals who
want to make a directed commitment to selfexploration and growth, and a contribution to
the Esalen community. For a description of the
Work Study Program, please turn to page 77.
Esalen is a center for experimental education.
We offer neither psychotherapy nor assurances
of change.
Because of the large volume of guests at
Esalen, we require a minimum of 72 hours’
notice to arrange for accessible accommodations. If you will need sign language interpreting at an Esalen workshop, we require at least
two weeks’ notice to arrange for interpreter
services. In all cases, we will do our best to
assist you with your needs.
The Hot Springs at Esalen
We would like those people who are planning
their first visit to Esalen to know that swimsuits are optional, and nudity common, in the
hot springs, massage area, and swimming pool.
We encourage each individual to choose what
is most comfortable, either wearing a swimsuit or not, and emphasize that the environment we strive for at Esalen is one of personal
sanctuary and respect for the human body.
Recommended Reading and
Mail Order Merchandise
All recommended reading is now available
online through our website www.esalen.org.
All other bookstore items are available via
mail order. For ordering information please
call 831-667-3049.
Accreditation and Continuing
Education
Ongoing Residence Program
Many formal educational institutions recognize the time spent at Esalen as being worthy
of credit in their own curricula; check with
your university or college. We would be glad
to supply information to your school regarding any of our programs.
Offered beginning mid-September and ending mid-June, the Ongoing Residence
Program is designed for those who would like
to have time and space in the Esalen environment for an intensive workshop program
over a long term. A Residence Program stay is
26 days (four “weeks” and three weekends).
Esalen is a provider of continuing education
for psychologists, MFTs, LCSWs, nurses, and
bodyworkers. See page 71 for details.
Participants may select any of the five-day
workshops offered during their stay with
weekends open to enjoy room and board.
Occasionally workshops are cancelled, so
second choices are advised.
BEN WHEELER
For those who wish an extended stay, there
are periodic long-term programs which
involve didactic seminars or professional
trainings as well as experiential workshops.
Please see Special Programs, page 74.
Finally, there are other events that enrich
life at Esalen. There are occasional forums
in which writers and thinkers, both visiting
and resident, share their ideas with the community. On Wednesday nights there may be
lectures, films, dance performances, or other
events. Bodywork of various kinds is available
by appointment with individual practitioners.
There is also a community event schedule
offered. Please check the bulletin board
when you arrive.
continues to be difficult. With enough planning, arrangements can be made for access to
many of our facilities.
Esalen is a 45-mile drive south from
Monterey, 11 miles south of Nepenthe, on
Coast Route 1. From the south, we are 50
miles north of Hearst Castle and 10 miles
north of Lucia. A lighted sign on the ocean
side of the highway reads: Esalen Institute,
By Reservation Only.
Disabled Access
Here at Esalen, many of our paths, though
paved, are extremely steep due to our cliffside
location. In fact, Big Sur is the steepest meeting of land and sea in the continental United
States. Nonetheless, we are committed to
accommodating guests who have disabilities.
If you have a disability and think you might
need assistance, and you would like to visit
Esalen, please give the office as much advance
notice as possible about your needs. Although
we are in the process of increasing our disability access, access to some parts of our property
The specially discounted cost is $4225 per
26-day period for standard accommodations
and $3335 for bunk bed rooms. No other
discounts apply.
If you cancel or change any part of your
Residence Program reservation at least five
full days before its start, there will be a $165
cancellation fee. If you cancel with less than
five days’ notice, the cancellation fee is $365.
Esalen Is Tax-Deductible
Contributions to Esalen Institute are taxdeductible. The expenses of attending Esalen,
including travel, are deductible for federal
income tax purposes as an educational
expense if incurred to maintain or improve
professional or work skills. (See Income Tax
Regulation 1.162-5.)
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R
esalen notes
coastal cliff, the Mid-Point House features a redwood deck overlooking the Pacific, a comfortably furnished living room, and a full kitchen.
For details, please call the Esalen office at
831-667-3000.
Scheduling Private
Conferences at Esalen
The first Esalen staff in 1962 (from left to right):
Bob Beckenbridge, Dick Price, Bob Nash, Alice Sellers, Jim Sellers, and Michael Murphy
40th Anniversary
As Esalen turns 40, plans are being made for a
number of commemorative events in the year
ahead. Watch this space in the next two catalogs
or check the bulletin board when you visit
Esalen.
ent rates for work-study programs, sleeping bag
space, and bunk beds. And we will continue our
scholarship program (see page 87).
As a nonprofit organization, we are committed
to using our resources efficiently and keeping
our expenses at a minimum. Our objective is to
keep Esalen as financially accessible as possible.
We hope you will continue to support us.
Price Changes
Please note that beginning November 1 there
will be a rate increase, our first increase in four
years (see page 86). Because we are rebuilding
much of our facility, we need to raise our program and room and board fees. We will continue
to offer a wide range of prices, including differ-
Mid-Point House Available
to Esalen Guests
Esalen’s Mid-Point House is available as an
upgraded accommodation alternative for seminarians and room and board guests. Nestled
behind the lush Esalen Garden at the edge of the
It is possible to arrange for your group or organization to hold its conferences at Esalen. We can
accommodate large groups (up to 100) on a
space-available basis.
Smaller groups may schedule private conferences in our renovated Big House. This facility
is available for individuals who work together
and would like to design their own Esalen program, drawing on our leaders and other
resources. Ten bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a
kitchen, dining room, and meeting room make
it possible to house group members together,
thereby enhancing the retreat environment.
We schedule all conferences a year in advance.
To schedule or discuss possible formats, please
contact conference coordinator Kasia Zajac at
831-667-3038.
the friends of esalen
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D
onations to Esalen support the scholarship fund providing financial aid for those who wish to attend our
workshops but cannot otherwise afford them. Donations
also provide funding for our pioneering projects in
health, education, the environment, and the humanities, as well as
for special projects such as rebuilding the baths, and for general
operations. With their annual donations, Friends of Esalen receive
the Esalen Catalog as well as a special Friends of Esalen newsletter.
Donors at the Sustaining level and above receive a single-use day
pass with lunch for two at Esalen. At the Benefactor level donors
receive an autographed copy of Michael Murphy and George
Leonard’s book The Life We Are Given, and acknowledgment in the
newsletter (unless the donor wishes to remain anonymous). Donors
at the Group 2000 level and above receive an invitation to attend a
special weekend at Esalen. At the Founders Circle level donors
receive a limited-edition photograph of Esalen by Daniel Bianchetta.
The Group 2000 is composed of individuals committed to helping
Esalen fulfill its mission by building its long-term financial base
into the twenty-first century. The Group 2000 has an opportunity to
meet together with staff and board members at Esalen every year.
We deeply appreciate the generosity and interest of the Friends of
Esalen. You are invited to join us in extending the experience of
Esalen into the lives of more people. If you would like information
on how to make a planned gift to Esalen, how to donate appreciated
stock, or if you have any other questions about gifts to Esalen,
please contact us at 831-667-3032.
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q Basic Donor.......................$50-99
q Benefactor ................$1000-1999
q Supporting Donor ......$100-499
q Group 2000...............$2000-4999
q Sustaining Donor........$500-999
q Founders Circle....$5000 & above
Name_________________________________________________ Phone_______________________
Address______________________________________________ E-mail_______________________
City _________________________________________ State ____________ Zip ________________
Please make checks payable to Esalen Institute, in U.S. currency
drawn on a U.S. bank, or use one of the charge cards listed below:
q MasterCard
q Visa
q American Express
Amount________________ Card No._________________________________________________
Signature____________________________________________ Exp. Date __________________
Please complete this form or the inside flap of the envelope insert included in the
catalog and return with your gift. Check the box on the outside of the envelope
marked “Friends of Esalen.” Thank you for your support.
Esalen Institute is a nonprofit public charity corporation, exempt from income
tax under IRC section 501(c)(3). Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent
allowable by law.
In the fall of 1962 a nascent center called Big Sur Hot Springs issued a pamphlet
announcing four weekend workshops and a lecture. Who could have imagined that from this modest
beginning would grow a world-renowned institute annually offering nearly 500 workshops plus a variety of
residential work-study programs, invitational conferences, and research projects? In this essay, the last
in a series by Esalen president George Leonard and cofounder Michael Murphy, the authors
take a look at where we’ve come from and where we may be headed.
An Ev o lut i o na r y Vi si o n
A Personal Statement by George Leonard and Michael Murphy
part 3
T
he future rarely comes to us down a major
boulevard, heralded by the blare of a marching
band. It’s far more likely to slip in by way of a side
street we never noticed. Many of our most important scientific and technological breakthroughs—nuclear
energy, X rays, radio and television, sound and image recording, and the internet, to name a few—have taken us by surprise, altering our lives in ways we never imagined. And in
the flow of history, there are those startling punctuation
marks that leave things never quite the same.
Esalen was founded in 1962 (itself a surprising, unanticipated event) at the leading edge of historic transformations.
Who would have imagined, for example, the profound
changes in American mores, manners, and dress starting
shortly after Esalen’s birth, the expression of thoughts and
feelings never before so openly revealed? Consider, too, the
many liberation movements of the Sixties and Seventies,
with some Americans walking on the moon while others
walked city streets demanding new rights. Who would have
predicted the assassinations of John Kennedy, Malcolm X,
Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy? And then a
President driven from office by the threat of impeachment,
another impeached but not convicted, the Berlin Wall torn
down, the Soviet empire collapsing, the Federal Building in
Oklahoma City blown up by an American terrorist—all unexpected. And who would have thought in 1962 that Islamic
terrorists would someday use our own civilian airliners as
missiles to bring down the very buildings that symbolized
our global reach?
Who, then, would dare forecast the next forty years?
The Beauty of the Land, the Power of the Idea
Before we try to glimpse the four decades yet to come, let’s
look at those just past and seek to understand how Esalen
has not only survived but flourished. Coping with cataclysmic shifts in the outside world was challenging enough,
yet the institute has also managed to deal with disasters on
the very land it occupies. Esalen has withstood forest fires,
torrential rains, landslides, 100-mile-an-hour winds. The El
Niño storm of February 1998 totaled our hot baths, damaged
buildings, downed trees, and closed the road both north and
south for three months. As usual, restoring Esalen was a
community effort. Within two months of reopening, visitors
were enjoying Esalen’s temporary baths, and we were drawing up plans not only for our spectacular new baths but also
for an ambitious long-term redevelopment program.
Clearly, the journey through our first forty years has not
always been smooth. Esalen was something new under the
sun; precedents were few and fragmentary. Some seemingly
promising programs moved toward self-caricature while certain charismatic practitioners tried to remake the institute as a
vehicle for their own practices. In every case, however, Esalen
managed to maintain the integrity of its founding mission.
5
What can explain this extraordinary resilience? First, consider the sacred beauty of the land itself. Simply to visit the
property—to breathe the air, to take the pulse of the sea, the
mountain stream, the waterfall, to stroll along the garden
path, to enter steaming mineral water bubbling up from deep
within the earth—is itself transformative. And the people
who live and work on this lovely stretch of land between
mountain and sea contribute greatly, day after day, year after
year, to the institute’s power and charm, its very soul.
But Esalen is more than a physical place. It is a unique vision,
a confluence of ideas that have stood the test of time, a series
of initiatives that have touched individuals and organizations all across the world. The institute was founded on the
thesis that each of us possesses a deep reservoir of untapped
capabilities, and that ways can be found to tap much more of
this incomparable resource than is now the case. This thesis
has inspired those who attend our Big Sur programs and
informed our outreach to the world community.
The human potential, as we see it, is by no means limited to
any one aspect of our being. The current educational system
emphasizes verbal/mathematical skills, generally at the
expense of all else. But much more is involved in being
human. From the beginning, the institute’s programs have
included the education of the body, spirit, and emotions as
well as the mind. Esalen was investigating and teaching “emotional intelligence” decades before the term became popular.
To treat these various aspects of our being as separate entities,
however, is far from the answer. What we call “body” and
what we call “mind” are not separate from and opposed to
one another, and only mischief and grief can accompany
such a way of seeing them. Healthy development requires
that differentiation be matched with integration. Thus, the
integration of seeming opposites has played a major role in
Esalen’s vision and mission, not just in terms of being but
across the board—between mind and body, spirit and emotion, East and West, sports and yoga, the U.S. and the USSR.
From its inception, Esalen has worked to take down fences
and build bridges.
ued to sponsor such gatherings, most of them convened by
Don Hanlon Johnson. This series and the books that evolved
from it helped shape the development of Somatics, a discipline that views the body not as an object, but as a subject,
integrating the whole person.
Beginning in 1980, at the height of the Cold War, Esalen’s
Soviet-American Exchange Program set a new standard in
citizen diplomacy. In 1989, the institute was host to Boris
Yeltsin on his first trip to the United States. Esalen arranged
meetings between Yeltsin and government and business
leaders, including then-President George Bush and former
president Ronald Reagan, took him to cities and towns
across the country, arranged lectures and television appearances, and—in a move that was to be immensely significant—
took him to U.S. supermarkets. It was in such a place in
Houston that Yeltsin experienced a transformative, Road-toDamascus experience. Seeing the seemingly endless rows of
fresh produce and meat open to casual shoppers with none
of the long waiting lines common in the Soviet Union, he
realized beyond all doubt that he had been lied to by the
Communist bosses about poverty and discord in America.
He reportedly raged, wept, and sat with head in hands during the flight to his next destination. Yeltsin returned to
Moscow determined to end communism in Russia. As
scholar Leon Aron wrote in his magisterial biography of
Yeltsin, “Little, if anything, could match for Yeltsin the trip’s
sense of discovery or the impact it would have on him in
the long run.”
But the Yeltsin trip was only one among several Esalen initiatives that helped to catalyze changes in the Soviet Union that
would lead to better Russian-American relations. With the
leadership of Dulce Murphy, we brokered the entrance of the
Soviet Writers’ Union into PEN, the international organization that promotes freedom of written expression around the
world, and thereby helped to further glasnost; we initiated
a groundbreaking agreement with the Soviet Ministry of
Health to encourage programs in mind-body health; and we
brought future Russian leaders to America so that they, like
Yeltsin, could have a first-hand experience of democratic and
free enterprise institutions.
Esalen and the World Community
To cite two examples among some 200 Esalen initiatives:
In 1987, Esalen held an invited conference on “The
Biological, Psychological, and Cultural Body: Methods of
Transformation.” Over the next eleven years, Esalen contin6
In addition to these initiatives in Somatics and SovietAmerican relations, Esalen has taken its work into the world
at large in surprising ways. The institute’s Program for
Humanistic Medicine helped shape the first Congressional
legislation to support what came to be called “relationship
medicine” and holistic health. Esalen catalyzed the formation of the Program for Confluent Education at the
University of California at Santa Barbara, which for thirty
years has joined the cognitive, emotional, and somatic
dimensions of learning and has awarded more than 300
graduate degrees in education. And Esalen has stimulated
research programs in many fields, ranging from quantum
physics to ecology to governance to the beneficial results of
meditation and prayer. You can find a list of such initiatives
on the website for Esalen’s Center for Theory and Research
(www.esalenctr.org).
The Next Forty Years
What we see in our first forty years, then, is a guide to what
Esalen can do in the decades ahead. Though we can’t predict
the future, we can remain true to our founding vision. We
can build on our successful programs, continue to initiate
pioneering work, and seize creative opportunities as they
arise with a freedom that mainstream institutions do not
typically enjoy. In all of this, we can draw upon the orienting
mission, the faith in human greatness, and the resilience that
have sustained us since 1962.
A new era for Esalen has begun. Our long-term development
plans and capital campaign reflect this. Here are some examples of what we are doing to shape our future now:
lWith
support from generous friends, we are initiating new
research to explore extraordinary human capacities, expanded consciousness, and what Abraham Maslow called “the further reaches of human nature.”
lWorking
with California’s Coastal Commission and
Monterey County’s Planning Office, we are creating what
will be a world-class model of ecological sustainability,
wildlife preservation, and esthetics that blend with the
natural terrain at our Big Sur facilities.
arose from seminar programs at Esalen and is now being
studied by Stanford University’s School of Medicine and
other centers.
lIn
our Center for Theory and Research, we are exploring
areas such as evolutionary theory, economic paradigms that
embrace both wealth creation and social justice, empirical
evidence for the survival of consciousness after bodily death,
and new departures in philosophy, including the “evolutionary panentheism” we described in a previous essay.
Though most of these initiatives are rooted in Esalen’s past
activities, they have novel features and sometimes reveal
unexpected possibilities. For an analogy, think of the newly
refurbished Hubble telescope: Not only does it sharpen
images of what it has already revealed, but it shows us ever
more distant and wondrous celestial bodies. Similarly, as we
continue to improve our past work, we are extending it to
embrace possibilities we had only glimpsed or did not recognize at all. Each program at Esalen adds something new and
something more promising to our work.
Current programs, as well as initiatives yet to be foreseen, are
guided by these core principles: first, that personal and social
development are inextricably wedded; second, that lasting
human betterment is best fostered by the simultaneous
embrace of body, mind, heart, and soul; third, that the institute’s creativity depends on its being an open system, free
from dogma of any sort, whether religious, scientific, therapeutic, or political; and fourth, that we do not know the limits of the human potential.
As in the past, Esalen Institute will confront unexpected
challenges and difficulties in the decades ahead. But as our
properties and facilities grow in beauty and sustainability,
and as our innovative programs develop, there will be happy
surprises too, bringing new opportunities, new breakthroughs, and new frontiers for us to explore. u
lWith
The Russian-American Center (TRAC) in San
Francisco, we are extending our work with Russians to promote citizen diplomacy, peace, and the development of civil
societies in the Muslim nations of Central Asia that were
part of the former Soviet Union.
lThrough
a variety of groups in Europe, America, and other
parts of the world, we are developing Integral Transformative
Practice (ITP), an educational program for human growth
that embraces body, mind, heart, and soul. This program
7
Q
guide to workshops
T
his is a guide to the workshops
offered in this catalog. Although many
of them could be cross-referenced—
and some resist easy categorization—most
are listed only in their main subject area. If
you have never been to Esalen or taken an
Esalen workshop, you might consider the
“Experiencing Esalen” workshop scheduled
throughout the catalog and listed in the
Integral Practices section of this directory.
Please call the Esalen office if you have questions concerning a workshop.
R
THE ARTS
/ CREATIVITY
Sept 8-13 • Masks, Puppets, and Magic
Sept 13-15 • Improvising Our Lives
Sept 15-20 • Vision Painting
Sept 20-22 • A Spiritual Knitting Retreat
Sept 22-27 • Mosaic Art Intensive
Sept 27-29 • The Sun: A Celebration of Fine Writing
Sept 29-Oct 4 • Imaging the Faces of the Soul
Oct 6-11 • Awakening Creativity and Inspiration
Oct 18-20 • The Power and Passion to Create
Oct 20-25 • Proprioceptive Writing
Oct 20-25 • Discovering Your Soul Mandala
Oct 27-Nov 1 • Zen and the Creative Arts
Nov 8-10 • Conscious Camerawork
Nov 10-15 • Developing Vocal Magic
Nov 10-15 • Restoring Fun
Nov 17-22 • From Theater into Life: Improvisation
Nov 17-22 • Drawing and Painting
Nov 17-22 • Photographing the Seasons of Big Sur
Nov 22-24 • If Kafka Had Prozac
Nov 22-24 • A Crazy Way of Praying
Nov 22-24 • The Heart of the Story
Nov 24-Dec 1 • Drawing and Painting
Nov 24-29 • The Graduate MAX
Dec 1-6 • Painting In the Landscape
Dec 6-8 • When the Drummers Were Women
Dec 8-13 • The Power of Rhythm and Music
Dec 20-22 • What to Do With the Rest of Your Life
Dec 20-22 • The Handmade Book
Dec 22-27 • A Big, New, Free, Happy, Unusual Life
Dec 22-27 • Painting the Fantastic
Dec 27-29 • The Music of Life
Dec 27-29 • Raku with Tea Ceremony
Dec 29-Jan 3 • Straw Into Gold: The Craft of Memoir
Dec 29-Jan 3 • Experiencing the Esalen Arts Center
Jan 3-5 • White Lotus Poetry
Jan 5-10 • Raku with Tea Ceremony
Jan 12-17 • Intuitive Watercolors
Jan 12-17 • Inside Rhythm: The Song of the Drum
Jan 17-19 • Art and Attentiveness—Matisse & MTV
Jan 19-24 • Mosaic Art Intensive
Jan 19-24 • PhotoGestalt
Jan 24-26 • Finding Your Long-Lost Musician
Jan 26-31 • Finding Your Long-Lost Musician
Jan 26-31 • Getting Naked: Sexual Essay & Memoir
Feb 2-7 • The MAX: Stretching Your Self-Expression
Feb 2-7 • Story Power
Feb 2-7 • Painting and Drawing Extravaganza
Feb 7-9 • Drawing From the Natural World
Feb 9-14 • Awakening Creativity and Inspiration
8
Feb 14-16 • Passion and Dreams: Lorca
Feb 16-21 • Artplane
Feb 16-21 • Taking Flight: A Writing Workshop
Feb 23-28 • Weaving Dreams
Feb 23-28 • The Mystical Quality of Stained Glass
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BIOFEEDBACK / HYPNOSIS
INTUITIVE DEVELOPMENT
/
Sept 8-13 • EEG and Spirituality
Sept 13-15 • Remote Viewing and Spiritual Healing
Feb 23-28 • Mastering the Power of Brainwaves
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CONTEMPLATIVE / SPIRITUAL
& RELIGIOUS STUDIES
Sept 6-8 • Reclaiming Rosh HaShannah
Sept 15-20 • Harmonic Chant, Movement, Meditation
Sept 22-27 • Meditating Together: Insight Dialogue
Sept 22-27 • The Kabbalah of Light
Sept 29-Oct 4 • Evolutionary Psych, Spiritual Practice
Oct 4-11 • Soul Without Shame
Oct 4-6 • Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation
Nov 3-8 • The Transformational Enneagram
Nov 3-8 • Nada Yoga: The World is Sound
Nov 29-Dec 1 • Feng Shui: Wisdom of Wind & Water
Dec 1-6 • The I Ching Experience
Dec 6-8 • Beyond Race, Beyond Place
Dec 8-13 • The Lost Princess: Kabalistic Mysteries
Dec 22-27 • Kabbalah, Buddhism, Transformation
Jan 17-19 • Buddhist Philosophy: Introduction
Feb 21-23 • Mussar: Introspection and Transformation
Feb 23-28 • Making Peace With God
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DANCE
/ MOVEMENT
Sept 15-20 • Vinyasa Yoga and Trance Dance
Sept 29-Oct 4 • Waves
Oct 13-18 • The Great Escape
Nov 3-10 • Continuum: Frontiers of Movement
Dec 13-15 • Movement from the Martial Arts
Dec 20-22 • Tango—More than a Dance
Dec 29-Jan 3 • Body Tales
Jan 3-5 • Ecomotion: A Movement Laboratory
Jan 10-12 • The Way of the Dancer
Feb 23-28 • Ritualistic Dance
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DREAMS
Sept 29-Oct 4 • Working with the Dreaming Body
Oct 6-11 • Dreamgates
Dec 20-22 • The Dream Master
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HEALTH
/ HEALING
Sept 1-6 • Chakra Integration
Sept 1-6 • Clinical Aromatherapy
Sept 20-22 • Energy Medicine
Sept 29-Oct 4 • Taoist Chi Kung
Oct 11-13 • Stress Reduction: East/West Approach
Oct 25-27 • Acupressure Energy
Nov 8-10 • Love Yourself—For Everyone Else’s Sake
Nov 10-15 • Spiritual Massage: Lightbody Infusion
Nov 15-17 • Mind/Body and Chronic Pain
Nov 24-29 • The Ayurvedic Way
Dec 6-8 • Living with Breast Cancer
Dec 13-15 • Mindfulness and Heartfulness
Dec 29-Jan 3 • SIKE: Healing, Health, & Ki Energy
Jan 3-5 • Facing the Final Mystery
Jan 12-17 • Energy Medicine and Practical Magic
Jan 24-26 • Demystifying Qi
Jan 31-Feb 2 • Core Holoenergetics
Feb 7-9 • The Enlightened Healer
Feb 9-14 • Self-Healing: Create Health and Vitality
Feb 21-23 • Feel the Qi
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INTEGRAL PRACTICES
Sept 27-29 • Experiencing Esalen
Oct 11-13 • Vision, Practice of Human Transformation
Oct 13-18 • Reborn Sensuous
Oct 18-20 • Experiencing Esalen
Nov 22-24 • Experiencing Esalen
Dec 20-22 • Experiencing Esalen
Jan 3-5 • Humor and Other Martial Arts
Jan 5-10 • The Body Tells the Truth
Jan 10-12 • Experiencing Esalen
Jan 10-12 • Integral Transformative Practice
Feb 7-9 • Experiencing Esalen
Feb 7-9 • The Tao of Practice
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MYTH / RITUAL / SHAMANISM
ANTHROPOLOGY
/
Oct 6-11 • Dreamgates
Nov 8-10 • Shamanic Healing
Nov 15-17 • The Mythic Heart
Dec 1-6 • A New Myth, A New Energy
Jan 26-31 • Way of the Shaman, Spirits of Nature
Feb 23-28 • Ritualistic Dance
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PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY
INTELLECTUAL PLAY
/
Sept 1-6 • Integrity
Sept 13-15 • Improvising Our Lives
Sept 29-Oct 4 • Evolutionary Psych, Spiritual Practice
Oct 11-13 • Re-Inheriting the Earth
Dec 20-22 • The Dream Master
Jan 10-12 • Chaos—Our Lost Soul Regained
Jan 17-19 • Buddhist Philosophy: Introduction
Feb 14-16 • Philosophy for Everyday Life
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PROFESSIONAL GROWTH
TRAINING
/
Oct 25-27 • Zero Balancing Open Forum
Nov 17-Dec 15 • 28-Day Massage Certification
Jan 24-26 • EMDR and Meditation: For Therapists
Jan 24-26 • Radical Rx for Health Professionals
Feb 9-14 • Psychodynamic Imaginative Trauma Work
Feb 14-16 • The Body Keeps the Score
Feb 16-21 • Treating Trauma
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PSYCHOLOGICAL /
TRANSPERSONAL PROCESS
Sept 1-6 • Integrity
Sept 1-6 • Love and Violence
Sept 6-8 • The Transformative Power of Emotions
Sept 8-13 • Sept 11, 2001: A Year Later
Sept 8-13 • Life Changes—The Purpose of Your Life
Sept 13-15 • ’Tis a Gift to Be Simple
Sept 13-15 • How to Raise Your Self-Esteem
Sept 13-15 • Verbal First Aid
Sept 15-20 • Choosing Aliveness and Intimacy
Sept 20-22 • Unfinished Issues: Sources of Growth
Sept 29-Oct 4 • Crossroads
Feb 7-9 • A New Beginning: Courage and Heart
Feb 9-14 • Playing the Edge
Feb 9-14 • Psychodynamic Imaginative Trauma Work
Feb 14-16 • The Body Keeps the Score
Feb 16-21 • From Abandonment to Healing
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RELATIONSHIP /
COMMUNICATION
Sept 1-6 • Tantra: The Art of Conscious Loving
Sept 20-22 • How Siblings Affect Our Lives
Sept 22-27 • Meditating Together: Insight Dialogue
Oct 4-6 • The Dance of Agreement
Oct 18-20 • Lesbian Relationships
Oct 27-Nov 1 • TLC: Conscious Loving for Couples
Oct 27-Nov 1 • Dialogue: Wholeness and Aliveness
Nov 10-15 • The Intimate Couple
Dec 6-8 • Powerfully Presenting Yourself
Dec 27-29 • Karmic Relationships
Jan 5-10 • Secrets of Successful Relationships
Jan 12-17 • Love’s Way
Jan 31-Feb 2 • Seeing Your Life Through New Eyes
Feb 21-23 • Undefended Love
Feb 23-28 • Healing in Relationships
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SOMATICS
Sept 1-6 • Chakra Integration
Sept 8-13 • Esalen Massage Intensive
Sept 15-20 • Trigger Point Release
Sept 22-27 • LaStone Therapy
Sept 29-Oct 4 • Working with the Dreaming Body
Oct 4-6 • Feldenkrais and Energetic Movement
Oct 6-11 • New Dimensions in Bodywork
Oct 13-18 • Upledger CranioSacral I
Oct 18-20 • Weekend Massage Intensive
Oct 25-27 • Zero Balancing Open Forum
Oct 27-Nov 1 • Process Acupressure
Nov 3-10 • Continuum: Frontiers of Movement
Nov 3-8 • Esalen Massage Intensive
Nov 10-17 • Cortical Field Reeducation, Feldenkrais
Nov 17-Dec 15 • 28-Day Massage Certification
Dec 8-13 • Upledger SomatoEmotional Release II
Dec 20-22 • Weekend Massage Intensive
Dec 22-27 • Esalen Massage Intensive
Dec 29-Jan 3 • Body Tales
Jan 17-19 • Weekend Massage Intensive
Jan 19-24 • Elemental Esalen Massage
Feb 9-14 • Upledger CranioSacral II
Feb 14-16 • Couples Massage Weekend
Feb 14-16 • Massage for Expecting Parents
Feb 16-21 • The CC Flow Massage
Feb 21-23 • Sensory Awareness
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WILDERNESS /
ECOPSYCHOLOGY
/ ECOLOGY
Sept 6-8 • Spiritual Activation
Sept 15-20 • The Way of Wilderness
Sept 22-27 • River’s Wisdom, Mountain’s Way
Oct 11-13 • The Practice of the Wild
Oct 20-25 • Nature of Intimacy, Intimacy of Nature
Oct 25-27 • Geomancy: Enhancing Sense of Place
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WOMEN ’S
/ MEN’S ISSUES
Oct 18-20 • Lesbian Relationships
Dec 6-8 • When the Drummers Were Women
Jan 12-17 • Archeology of the Self
Feb 16-21 • Celebrating the Gay Male Spirit
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WORKPLACE / EDUCATION
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
/
Sept 6-8 • Spiritual Activation
Sept 22-27 • Creativity, Innovation, Corporate Field
Oct 4-6 • The Dance of Agreement
Oct 11-13 • Re-Inheriting the Earth
Oct 18-20 • On Becoming a Group Leader
Nov 3-8 • Russian-American Citizen Diplomacy
Dec 13-15 • Natural Capitalism
Jan 26-31 • Love, Strength, Awareness in Community
Jan 31-Feb 2 • Life Coaching for Results
Feb 7-9 • Healing Ourselves, Healing Our Workplaces
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YOGA
/ MARTIAL ARTS / SPORT
Sept 6-8 • A Labor-of-Love Yoga Retreat
Sept 8-13 • White Crane Silat
Sept 15-20 • Vinyasa Yoga and Trance Dance
Sept 22-27 • Golf in the Kingdom
Sept 29-Oct 4 • Taoist Chi Kung
Oct 20-25 • Yoga: Form and Formless Unite
Oct 25-27 • Joy is the Journey: Hatha Yoga and More
Nov 15-17 • User Friendly Yoga
Nov 29-Dec 1 • Mysore Style Ashtanga Yoga
Dec 1-6 • Chanting the Chakras
Dec 13-15 • Movement from the Martial Arts
Dec 27-29 • Yoga: A Weekend Intensive
Jan 5-10 • Yoga Practice: The Hero’s Journey
Jan 17-19 • Developing a Personal Yoga Practice
Jan 24-26 • Demystifying Qi
Jan 31-Feb 2 • Yoga Education: Programs for Youth
Feb 21-23 • Feel the Qi
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
Oct 4-6 • Life Can Be This Good
Oct 6-11 • Natural Wisdom, Everyday Enlightenment
Oct 11-13 • Resolving Aftereffects of Recent Trauma
Oct 13-18 • The Great Escape
Oct 13-18 • Making Amends: The Parent-Child Bond
Oct 13-18 • Self-Acceptance—The Heart of Healing
Oct 18-20 • On Becoming a Group Leader
Oct 20-25 • Gestalt Awareness Practice
Oct 20-25 • Nature of Intimacy, Intimacy of Nature
Oct 25-27 • Healing of Heart and Mind
Oct 27-Nov 1 • The Practice of Emotional Healing
Oct 27-Nov 1 • Process Acupressure
Nov 8-10 • Conquer Your Critical Inner Voice
Nov 15-17 • Forgiveness: Healing Relationships
Nov 17-22 • Soul Search: Embracing Our Spirit
Nov 22-24 • If Kafka Had Prozac
Nov 24-29 • The Graduate MAX
Nov 24-29 • Healing from Trauma
Nov 29-Dec 1 • The Courage to Be You
Dec 1-6 • The Hakomi Method
Dec 6-8 • Intro to Gestalt Awareness Practice
Dec 8-15 • Gestalt Awareness Practicum
Dec 8-13 • Shadow Healing
Dec 20-22 • What to Do With the Rest of Your Life
Dec 22-27 • The Courage to Change
Dec 27-29 • A Tender Invitation
Dec 29-Jan 3 • Being Single
Dec 29-Jan 3 • Natural Powers
Jan 3-5 • Getting Real
Jan 5-10 • Balance from the Inside Out
Jan 10-12 • Initiation, Transition, Transformation
Jan 12-17 • Love’s Way
Jan 12-17 • Not For the Feint of Heart
Jan 17-19 • Intimate Connections
Jan 19-24 • The Orders of Love
Jan 19-24 • PhotoGestalt
Jan 19-24 • Completions and Transitions
Jan 24-26 • Sensitive Chaos
Jan 26-31 • Opening to Ourselves and Others
Jan 31-Feb 2 • ’Tis a Gift to Be Simple
Feb 2-7 • Gestalt Awareness Practice
Feb 2-7 • The Ordinary Miracle of Healing
Feb 2-7 • The MAX: Stretching Self-Expression
9
esalen seminars
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
S
Week of September 1–6
Integrity
Charlie Bloom
Of the personal qualities that most people
respect in themselves and others, none is
more highly valued than integrity. This word,
which literally means “wholeness,’ brings to
mind a collection of human characteristics
including strength, reliability, honesty, trustworthiness, and respectability. We instinctively know that when we live a life of integrity
our actions are grounded in a way that brings
vitality and authenticity to even ordinary
experience. Yet despite our appreciation of
and desire for integrity, we may not fully
appreciate its true essence or how we can cultivate it within ourselves.
This workshop is designed to help you devel-
10
op a deeper understanding of what it means
to live in integrity with the truth of your
being and embody it in words, deeds, and relationships. You will explore the everyday experiences that give rise to opportunities to deepen this quality in your life. In addition, you
will examine personal and interactive patterns that may compromise or diminish your
experience of integrity, and develop new
responses that can enhance and deepen your
connection to the truth.
CE credit for nurses; see page 71.
Tantra: The Art of Conscious Loving
Charles & Caroline Muir,
with Diane Greenberg
Few of us have been blessed with healthy
childhood conditioning and education
regarding the mysteries of sexual love and
sexual energy. This can leave individuals less
See pages 86–87 for fees, accommodations, scholarship information, and discounts
successful and conscious in their sexuality
than they are in other aspects of their lives.
Tantra transforms sex into a loving meditation, putting more consciousness, energy, intimacy, joy, and love into sexual exchanges.
It is time to study sex as an art form. Sexual
loving is a vital skill to be mastered by every
conscious individual. Sexual energy is a vital
sacrament that, rightly used, brings great harmony and joy into one’s relationship so that
love continues to grow over the course of a
lifetime, deeply bonding the partners in joyous spiritual union.
This workshop offers couples ways to
increase intimacy and passion in their relationship. The course will introduce practices
to free female sexual orgasm and methods to
increase pleasure for both partners, along
with hands-on sexual healing and awakening
skills. Esoteric practices of kiss, movement,
and touch, along with many other exotic love-
making skills will be introduced in class, then
practiced in the privacy of your own room.
This seminar presents Tantric wisdom with
insight, gentleness, humor, and love.
The workshop is open to couples only. It is
not recommended for same-sex couples.
Chakra Integration: A Comprehensive
Guide to Health and Healing
Laurie Lioness Parizek
& The Esalen Teaching Staff
The chakras help us to map, understand, and
balance our physical, emotional, and spiritual
energies. Chakras are life-enhancing centers
with roots deep in our core. Backed up by
nerve plexuses and endocrine glands, they
open into our energy field and are a threedimensional sensing and integrating system.
When balanced, they refine the mainstream
current in the central nervous system and
help attune the body and every cell within.
Useful for addressing restrictive behavior patterns and strengthening the immune system,
chakra integration can be a potent tool for
deep healing.
This workshop incorporates movement,
awareness exercises, sound, creative expression, and supportive hands-on exchanges to
balance the chakras and the mainstream
spinal current—to gently and consciously
open this channel that connects heaven and
earth through our bodies. The workshop will
integrate personal and interactive healing
work with gentle energetic touch and associated hands-on skills. Meditation and yoga
will be used to encourage serenity and a deeper understanding of the chakras.
The workshop is for those interested in a
working knowledge of this ancient practice
and is especially valuable to those in health
care and education. The schedule makes full
use of Esalen’s beautiful grounds and facilities.
Please bring comfortable clothes and your
favorite music or instrument.
CE credit for bodyworkers; see page 71.
Love and Violence—
The Energetics of Sexual Trauma
Julie Motz
From the moment we are conceived sexual
energy flows through our bodies, filling us
with excitement, creativity, and love. When
we are sexually abused the flow stops. In our
shock we take into our bodies not only the
pain of the abuse but the violence of the
abuser as well. Afterwards we live in unconscious terror that we will be hurt again or that
we will hurt others as we have been hurt.
Parts of the body and the brain become frozen
with this terror and areas of awareness shut
down, making it impossible for us to know
what is safe and what is dangerous. With the
flow of our life force inhibited—the force of
creation, connection, and healing—we feel
ourselves cut off from the rest of humanity
and from the easy relationship to pleasure
that others seem to have. The intense discomfort with ourselves that this creates often
leads to severe depression, exhaustion, paranoia, addiction, and physical disease.
If you have been sexually violated or wounded, this workshop is an invitation to come out
of the isolation and shame in which you have
been living—to come out of shock and into
your life. You will be taught how to gently
reconnect with the energy frozen in your
body—how to undo patterns of addictive and
compulsive behavior linked to abuse, how to
come to the truth of your own history and
find in it the strength not merely to survive
but to thrive.
Clinical Aromatherapy
Peter Holmes
This seminar is an intensive training in
Clinical Aromatherapy for students, practitioners, and enthusiasts. Clinical
Aromatherapy relies on essential oils in two
ways. First, scent has a direct effect on the
brain’s limbic system. By causing chain reactions down through the neuroendocrine system, scent not only evokes memories but also
modulates feelings and mental states. Second
is the oils’ physiological properties. As they
are applied topically or absorbed through the
respiratory membranes and skin (e.g., inhaled
from a diffuser) they affect all body tissues,
including endocrine glands, blood, lymph,
and fluid circulation.
The program includes the Four Element and
Six Conditions systems of diagnostic evaluation and essential oil selection. These models
are the basis for treatment aimed at balancing
the individual on a deep energetic level,
effecting physiological, emotional, and mental changes. The emphasis will be on learning
client-assessment approaches that match the
essential oils with the specific condition presented, not just with the generic complaint.
Students will experience the individual oils
through deep inhalation and empirically
observe their effects. In-depth clinical applications of individual oils will be discussed,
along with effective combinations for particular complaints, such as stress, low vitality,
PMS, insomnia, chronic fatigue, acute and
chronic infections, depression, and anxiety.
Note: Since much time will be spent in the
Esalen Garden, sun protection is advisable.
($25 materials fee paid directly to the leader)
Weekend of September 6–8
Spiritual Activation
Julia Butterfly Hill
“For me, Spiritual Activation is more than a
thought, ideal, or belief,” writes Julia Butterfly
Hill. “It is a way of life. My experience living
with the ancient redwood, Luna, taught me
that the hope for our future lies in ‘co-creating.’ Every natural, functioning system
involves symbiotic relationships which honor
sacred diversity through working together to
promote health, beauty, and sustainability.
Religion, politics, science, or activism without
a deep, heartfelt connection to the Sacred is a
dying ecosystem of disharmony.
“My prayer for this workshop is that in the
joining of our diverse perspectives, we will be
able to see and articulate what a healthy
world and future look like as well as envision
the steps necessary to promote this positive,
vibrant vision. Equally important, we will
leave with a renewed inspiration to live our
heart’s calling and our spirit’s passion.”
A Labor-of-Love Yoga Retreat
Thomas Fortel
“Many of us come to the yoga practice to heal
and fine-tune our physical bodies,” writes
Thomas. “Others come because of a gnawing
feeling that something is not complete, that
there must be more to life than what meets
the eye. Truly speaking, the physical practice
of hatha yoga opens many doors to our own
spiritual mansion. The apparent paradox is
that the physical practice which grounds us
in our bodies actually encourages the opening
of the chakras (energy centers). The opening
of the heart chakra is the doorway to the
higher spiritual self. In yoga we call this bhakti—love and devotion for the divine, the unification of personal love with universal love.
“This is the theme of our weekend retreat. As
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we explore the love of our practice, ourselves,
and each other, we can have the experience of
lightness, fun, playfulness, and bliss. Sat chit
ananda is the nature of the Supreme Reality.
Sat is Being, that which exists in all times, in
all places, and in all things; chit is
Consciousness, that which illumines all
things; and ananda is supreme Bliss.
“We will engage the practices of pranayama
and meditation in the early mornings, have
an active asana practice midmorning, and a
more restorative practice in the afternoon. On
Saturday evening we will chant the names of
God in Sanskrit with live music.”
their unique blend of spiritually moving and
intellectually stimulating retreat leadership.
Experience “The Days of Awe” in an exquisite
setting where science, psychology, and Jewish
meditation and mysticism will be respectfully
combined to yield a joyful, contemplative
connection to the new year.
This retreat is open to people of all religious
backgrounds who desire a meaningful experience of Jewish wisdom traditions.
The Transformative Power
of Emotions
Sietze VanDerHeide
Emotions are more than feelings. Emotions
are deeply interconnected with all aspects of
our mind, body, and spirit. They are the fuel
that powers us toward our goals and guides us
toward satisfying our needs. Activating emotional resources can enhance all aspects of our
life.
Emotions are also information. By deepening
our connection to our emotional world, we
can access the wisdom of our emotions, allowing us to learn what our experiences may
actually be trying to teach us. By utilizing this
emotional wisdom we can increase the depth
of understanding of ourselves and others,
allowing for constructive change and growth
in our lives.
This workshop will focus on increasing emotional consciousness through the use of
trance work, self-exploration, and interpersonal contact. Throughout the workshop
individuals will be supported in learning
about their emotional patterns and in connecting with the needs and information contained in those patterns, thereby setting the
stage for transformation.
White Crane Silat: The Art of
Grounding, Balance, and Harmony
Flora Bardet
White Crane Silat offers a gentle, comprehensive martial-arts approach to cultivating the
power that will enable you to defend yourself—not only against an opponent, but also
against your own blockages, limitations, and
self-violations (mental, emotional, and physical). This movement system, which originated
in the monasteries of China and today flourishes in Indonesia, reveals its empowering
and healing qualities in a natural, direct, and
silent way. Surrendering to Silat movements
will open you up to new dimensions of your
being and the world around you.
Using basic kicks, blocks, stances, rolls, and
jumps—at first done slowly, with awareness—
participants will generate and harmoniously
integrate their own yin and yang aspects.
Fostering flexibility, coordination, stamina,
centering, and balance, this flowing art form
helps you to develop self-confidence while
grounding emotions and excessive energy.
The interaction with others increases your
alertness and intuition.
Recommended reading: Goleman, Emotional
Intelligence; LeDoux, The Emotional Brain.
This practice is designed to bring up old
habits and help you establish new, healthier
patterns, as well as create space for increased
spontaneity and creativity. These tools enable
students to face life with strength, peace, joy,
and authenticity.
CE credit for psychologists; see page 71.
CE credit for MFTs and LCSWs; see page 71.
Please wear loose, comfortable clothing
(whites, if you feel inspired by the Crane!).
Reclaiming Rosh HaShannah
as a Spiritual Practice
EEG and Spirituality
Rabbi Goldie Milgram & Barry Bub
Celebrate Rosh HaShannah with high holiday
services and Jewish meditation walks in
nature. Rabbi Goldie Milgram and her hubbatzin Dr. Barry Bub return to Esalen bringing
12
Anna Wise
As the third millennium begins, we have a
multitude of technological resources to help
with our health and well-being. While technology improves beyond recognition,
humankind is simultaneously undergoing an
unprecedented evolutionary leap. For countless people today, a return to spirituality, an
increased awakening of awareness, and a craving for an experience of the ineffable are
prime motivating forces. This workshop combines these two streams, technology and spirituality, by using EEG (electroencephalography).
Anna Wise writes: “Twenty-five years of investigations into the brainwave patterns of ‘higher states of consciousness’ has shown me the
interrelationship of brainwave frequencies
that develops as this awakening occurs. This
subtle and individualized combination of
beta, alpha, theta, and delta can be identified,
encouraged, and trained. Problems that occur
with spiritual awakening—for example, inordinate ‘psychic’ sensitivity and accelerated
kundalini experiences—can be explained and
assisted by studying EEG. Meditation combined with EEG can help to regulate this
process and to develop self-mastery.”
This experiential workshop will also provide
you with feedback on your brainwave patterns along with practices you can continue at
home for optimum brainwave and consciousness development.
September 11, 2001: A Year Later
Richard Balaban
September 11, 2001: The world is shocked by
the terrorist attacks on our nation. The World
Trade Center collapses in smoke and flames;
the Pentagon is penetrated in a dramatically
deadly manner. People like you and me go to
work, never to return home. America loses its
sense of invincibility.
Living detached from the world’s problems is
no longer a viable option. Our fear and helplessness call for a more personal perspective
to the reverberations of this monumental
tragedy. Do you feel vulnerable, shattered,
despair about your anxiety or depression,
shame about your dark side? Are you destructively critical of yourself or others? How do
you respond to death and grief?
September 8-13, 2002: This workshop
addresses the events of a single day and the
impact on our lives. It will emphasize creating
more meaningful engagement in our lives
and in the world around us. How has your life
changed? Do you value those different from
you? Are you grateful for a child’s smile, a
friend’s hug, a profound creativity? Do you
live your sacred beliefs and values, express
your deepest feelings, create healthy relationships?
All those affected by September 11, from all
nations, races, and religious backgrounds, are
welcome. Through reflection, discussion, writing, drawing, and meditation, you will have
the opportunity to learn about who you were
on September 11, 2001, who you are now, and
how you may enact your values and meaning.
Together, the group will create an observance
on the anniversary of September 11.
Life Changes—And the Purpose of
Your Life
Carol Adrienne
In the accelerating rush to “get things done”
we hardly allow ourselves time to ask: Does
what I’m doing now really matter to me anymore? Research shows that those with a sense
of mission, a reason to get up in the morning,
live longer and are healthier and more
resilient. But how—amid time constraints of
family and work and the babble of consumerism—can we find the purpose of our
lives? How can we learn to define our passions and deepest values—and stay in alignment with them? How can we let synchronicities (those magical moments when new
doors open effortlessly) and our own interior
wisdom guide us to the most natural next
step in our lives?
This humor-filled workshop offers a time to
discover the purpose you were born to
express and guidelines for staying true to that
purpose. You will explore the early inklings of
your destiny, the positive purpose behind
childhood experiences and parental influences, and the development of beliefs which
still affect your potential for success.
The workshop includes guided visualizations,
journal writing, aromatherapy, and practices
for increasing balance in the body’s seven
energy centers, setting clear intentions, developing trust in intuition, tapping into personal
cycles, and defining important aspects of
typology, talent, and character. Participants
will write a purpose statement to serve as a
lifelong touchstone.
Esalen Massage Intensive
Brita Ostrom & Laurie Lioness Parizek
Esalen Massage is a healing, enriching practice that feels as satisfying to give as to receive.
Esalen bodywork in its various forms will be
demonstrated, practiced, and discussed dur-
ing a week of learning and relaxation, cradled
by the beauty of the Big Sur coast.
The workshop will incorporate specific and
integrative massage skills, gentle and deeper
touch, grounding, stretching, and energy
work. The instructors will present a bodywork style that addresses individual needs,
balances the whole person, and honors the
healing power of touch. Special attention will
be given to self-care, quality of contact, breath
awareness, and stress relief. The workshop
uses meditation, music, and movement,
encouraging creative expression to help bring
forth the energy released by the bodywork.
The workshop is for people who want to
develop the ability to give a relaxing, restorative massage, focused on the centered, peaceful internal connectedness that makes Esalen
Massage so effortless. For beginners and experienced alike, it will provide a safe atmosphere for learning and discovery. Please bring
comfortable clothes and your favorite music
or instrument.
Masks, Puppets, and Magic:
Building a Body Sculpture
Sha Sha Higby
Masks are an endless source of pleasure in
their creation, theatrical imagery, and ability
to transform into puppet characters that come
alive and perform. In this hands-on maskmaking and costumery workshop you’ll
explore the mysteries of creativity and performance. Using intuition, movement, and poetry, you’ll be led through a myriad of methods
for constructing a three-dimensional costume.
Create your own performance temple with an
iconic image that can come alive as a puppetlike structure, an archetypal spirit-image that
you move within during a performance ritual.
Learn to cast and mold, recast, add extensions
inspired by the natural environment, decorate, and enter another world. At the end of
the workshop, following a performance by
Sha Sha, all the pieces of the body sculptures
will be joined together into a large moving
mandala of images.
This class is full of surprises—poignant, powerful, humorous, and flamboyant. It is
designed for the beginner as well as the seasoned artist. Children, accompanied by an
adult, are welcome.
Note: Please wear loose, dark clothing and
bring a flashlight, journal, pliers, sturdy scis-
sors, and any ornamental yarns, colored paper,
cardboard, tape, or colored scraps of fabric,
sticks, bits, and interesting forms you find.
’Tis a Gift to Be Simple
David Schiffman
This weekend is for people who would like to
return to the simplicity of the values we treasure most. Its aim is to create a climate of
mutual support and encouragement for
exploring how to best cultivate the spirit of
real generosity and faith in dealing with ourselves and others. This process will embrace
the following elements:
• Sanctuary—the opportunity to step away
and pause, to create a mood of peace
• The company of kindred spirits—a chance
to be met with honesty, empathy, and
wisdom in an atmosphere of soulful
support
• The emotional freedom to be—the right to
let down and be sad, glad, or mad in order
to clear the air and move on, making room
in our hearts for new possibilities
• The right to feel free and alive in our
bodies—the use of movement and touch to
restore the vitality of feeling truly alive and
physically at ease
The methods will be drawn from a wide variety of practices, both traditional and nontraditional, all aimed at restoring our gratitude and
appreciation for being alive.
Remote Viewing and Spiritual Healing:
Experiencing Expanded Awareness
Russell Targ & Jane Katra
What do the healer, the mystic, the psychic,
and the spy have in common? They are all in
touch with our non-local mind and our community of spirit.
In this workshop, physicist Russell Targ,
cofounder of the Stanford Research Institute’s
investigation into psychic abilities, will present the evidence for extrasensory perception
from the past 2500 years. Participants will
explore the spiritual implications of psychic
abilities, discover how to recognize the actual
psychic signal, and separate it from mental
noise of memory, imagination, and analysis.
Most importantly, participants will have
entertaining opportunities to enhance their
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remote-viewing experiences and receive useful feedback to improve their psychic ability.
Spiritual healer Jane Katra will focus on the
loving connections in consciousness involved
in spiritual healing. This interaction involves
a form of attention on the part of the healer
that creates a spiritual connection to the
patient, carrying information or energy that
promotes physical and emotional healing.
Jane will lead participants in an experience of
coherent attention which makes available
spiritual healing energy. She will help each
person stabilize his or her attention in a
shared state of expanded awareness, and will
discuss teachings of spiritual masters
throughout history.
challenge.
This workshop will elucidate what selfesteem is—and is not. It will also teach what
strengthens self-esteem and what undermines
it—and in what ways we are responsible for
how we feel about ourselves. This program
integrates, compassion, humor, and an invitation to wake up.
Recommended reading: Branden, The Six
Pillars of Self-Esteem and The Art of Living
Consciously.
Verbal First Aid
Judith Simon Prager
for healing—emotional and physical.
Whenever you interact with another being
you are touching the whole being, and that
interaction must be holy. Based on the book
The Worst is Over: What to Say When Every
Moment Counts, this workshop will train you
in gaining rapport, giving therapeutic suggestions, and utilizing the receptive altered state
of mind to help begin another person’s inner
healing. You will learn the way to use words
so that when you need it most, your words
can make the difference between panic and
calm, between pain and comfort, even
between life and death.”
Recommended reading: Prager, The Worst is
Over: What to Say When Every Moment Counts
How to Raise Your Self-Esteem
Nathaniel Branden
This largely experiential program—conducted
by Nathaniel Branden, who pioneered the
field of self-esteem more than four decades
ago—offers a variety of processes and exercises
aimed at developing greater self-awareness,
self-acceptance, and a deeper experience of
one’s basic competence and worth. Like all of
Dr. Branden’s programs, it is a consciousnessraising journey and a consciousness-raising
A child awakens from a nightmare. A spouse
comes home with a dire medical prognosis.
An aging parent has a heart attack. The driver
in front of you skids into a wreck. When people are in crisis, they are in an altered state of
consciousness. In such a state there are words,
and ways to say them, that can actually reach
the autonomic nervous system, changing the
physiology and therefore the outcome of critical situations.
“In so many words,” writes Judith Simon
Prager, “every interaction is an opportunity
Improvising Our Lives
Patricia Ryan Madson
“Improvisation can be seen as a paradigm
which provides tools for conscious living,”
Patricia Ryan Madson writes. “In a traditional
improvisation class the emphasis is often on
playing the games as comedy. In this class
we’ll look at the life lessons that can be
learned on the improv stage. We will study
the five rules of improvising: (1) Pay attention
Early view of Esalen overlooking Tobacco Row, Motel Row, and the lodge
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breath in a progressive evolution like sacred
dance. Afternoons will be a pilgrimage to the
roots of yoga and dance in Hindu mythology,
philosophical texts, visual arts, and music to
deepen your personal journey. Evenings will
be devoted to full-on Yoga Trance Dance, a
high-energy movement meditation exploring
the unified state of consciousness that is yoga.
Beginning with prana yoga—the experience of
breath initiating yogasanas in a fluid, undulating form—Yoga Trance Dance flows into an
exploration of freeform, inwardly-driven
movement to liberate your creative life-force.
Open to all levels. The only prerequisites are
good stamina, an adventurous spirit, and
experience with yoga basics.
Esalen cofounder Michael Murphy in the 1960s
to reality, (2) Know your purpose, (3) Notice
the contributions of others, (4) Cultivate
acceptance, and (5) Act constructively.
“The workshop will weave the playing of
games with constructive advice on how to
solve life’s problems. We will learn the secrets
of spontaneity, the value of ‘saying YES to
offers,’ seeing offers as gifts, and sharing
responsibility and control. The improvisation
games and exercises come from the lineage of
Keith Johnstone (founder of Theatresports),
Eastern mindfulness practices, and the paradigm known as ‘Constructive Living,’ which is
based on two Japanese psychotherapies
(Morita and Naikan) and developed by Dr.
David K. Reynolds.”
Trigger Point Release:
An Empathic Approach
one toward the core of the tensions that manifest in the body.”
This workshop combines TPR techniques
with the long, meditative strokes of Esalen
Massage to create a loving, supportive context
for this work. Other modalities—craniosacral,
joint release, deep tissue, sound therapy, and
shamanic techniques—may also be utilized in
order to work with all ranges of emotional,
spiritual, and physical release.
This class is for beginners as well as for experienced bodyworkers who wish to deepen
their understanding of the connections
between body, mind, spirit and emotions. It is
also useful for other professionals, including
psychotherapists and practitioners of bioenergetics, Gestalt, and breath therapy.
Arthur Munyer
Trigger points are a community of networking
points which live in our bodies, creating pain
and emotional discomfort. In Trigger Point
Release Massage (TPR) the myofascial tissue is
moved and released by soft, deep touch. At the
same time, emotional release from the feelings
stored in those tissues may also occur.
“I approach somatic work as a process of
unfoldment,” writes Arthur, “much as a rose
unfolds when it’s ready. The body is a storehouse of information about how we feel,
where we carry our pain, and how we defend
ourselves from the stresses of daily life. In my
work I invite the body to reveal the unspoken
truth it carries in order to promote deeper
awareness and well-being. We begin with the
surface, but our journey is really an inward
The Way of Wilderness
Steven Harper & Jeff McKay
You didn’t come into this world. You came out
of it, like a wave from the ocean. You are not a
stranger here.
— Alan Watts
Ever since the supposed “primordial soup,”
nature has been our teacher. We were born of
this earth and throughout recorded time people have turned to wilderness to awaken and
become whole again.
With wild nature as primary teacher, participants will explore the ways of wilderness, discovering as “civilized” 20th-century humans
what it means to walk this ancient path. As
Darwin wrote, “From so simple a beginning,
endless forms most beautiful and most won-
Embodying the Flow:
Vinyasa Yoga and Trance Dance
Shiva Rea
Prana = Life-force = Breath =
Rhythm = Flow = Union = Yoga.
This intensive is dedicated to embodying the
flow of the creative life-force through the
interplay of vinyasa yoga and Yoga Trance
Dance. Vinyasa yoga arises out of the
Ashtanga tradition but focuses on creative
sequencing and varying the intensity, rhythm,
and intention to expand your range of
motion, core strength, and self-knowledge.
Yoga Trance Dance is an emerging practice
developed by Shiva Rea to explore the potent
fusion of yoga and freeform dance.
Mornings will be focused on a dynamic
exploration of vinyasa or “flow” yoga, in
which asanas are connected around the
Author Henry Miller was a regular at the hot springs in the 1950s
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designed to bring to awareness our unconscious choices of how we deaden ourselves
and to create the possibility for new aliveness
and passionate involvement.
Come alone or with a partner. A safe, supportive atmosphere will be provided, using communication skills, movement, Gestalt, and
Reichian work.
Vision Painting
Helen Jerene Malcolm
What is your vision for your life? What
makes your heart sing and brings fulfillment
and peace into your life?
The Big Sur Folk Festival, an annual event in the late ’60s
derful have been and are being evolved.”
Through direct experience of nature we can
continue this “most beautiful and most wonderful” evolution consciously—as nature
aware of itself.
The workshop includes movement-awareness
exercises, meditation, and extended day-hikes
(3-10 miles) into the Big Sur backcountry.
Most sessions are outdoors, with a return to
Esalen each evening. Special attention will be
given to incorporating into daily life what is
learned from the wilds. Previous wilderness
experience is not necessary, although participants should be prepared for some vigorous
physical activity.
Recommended reading: Harper, “The Way of
Wilderness” from Ecopsychology (edited by
Roszak, et al.).
Harmonic Chant, Movement, and
Meditation: The Joyful Journey
David Hykes & Dennis Lewis
From the Big Bang to “healing sounds,” the
harmonic nature of reality continues to
resound in body, mind, and spirit. Explore a
revolutionary and timeless “harmonic
source”—the contemplative vocal music called
Harmonic Chant, with world-renowned
founder David Hykes and pioneering breath
and qigong teacher Dennis Lewis.
Participants will undertake a journey of
awareness to the evolutionary “wavefront”
where the inner and outer energies of listening, harmonic sound, breath, and sensation
meet—in the unknown.
Each day’s music begins with a guided harmonic meditation and includes: Harmonic
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Chant, a universal music based on the natural
overtones of the voice; special movement and
qigong exercises; Authentic Breathing, which
explores multidimensional levels of breath
and sensation; movements and postures to
open up bio-acoustic body awareness; and discussions of these experiences. The aim is to
discover the quiet, silent, and joyful state of
inner listening to all that is.
For more information, visit www.harmonicworld.com or www.authentic-breathing.com.
Recommended listening and reading: David
Hykes/Harmonic Choir (CD), Hearing Solar
Winds; Lewis, The Tao of Natural Breathing.
Choosing Aliveness and Intimacy
Vision Painting is designed to enable you to
access deeper levels of consciousness and
bring to light your soul’s vision. In Vision
Painting, you explore how your intuitive
responses to color reveal information about
the state of your body, mind, and soul. In
Vision Painting’s meditations, you allow color
to express itself through you—in any shape
and form. Concepts of “right” and “wrong” are
dropped in order to enter a flow state in
which you learn to paint with intuitive receptivity, allowing the painting to unfold of its
own accord. Natural feelings of excitement
and fear that often accompany creative
endeavors become catalysts to transform
emotion into color and passion into imagery.
Prompted by guided meditations, music, and
movement you can translate the unique perspective of your experiences through your
Vision Paintings. Allowing your “inner light”
Mary Goldenson
We have all experienced moments of feeling
totally alive, yet much of our life is spent in a
half-asleep, half-committed state of being.
While there are many life-situations beyond
our control, we choose how we respond to
these events. The choice to be passionately
alive is an act of courage. To choose life is to:
• Open ourselves to all of life—suffering, joy,
success, failure, love, and grief
• Fully acknowledge the truth of who we are
• Commit to living our deepest values and
dreams
• Define what we must change in our
relationships
• Learn new ways to heal, forgive, and
communicate
The challenge is to honestly address the ways
in which we have compromised, given up, or
lied to ourselves and others. This workshop is
Fritz Perls, with his ever present cigarette,
playing chess in the lodge
to be expressed in a wide variety of color
brings awareness to the areas of your life that
seek healing. Release your expectations of
how you should paint and you’ll be surprised
at the power and wisdom of what comes
through you.
Unfinished Issues:
The Sources of Growth
Seymour Carter
Many potential sources for growth reside in
our unfinished issues, the developmental
processes that we have not recognized and
assimilated because of distressing life experiences or the inability to learn about them.
“Unfinished issues” refers to normal phases of
development which have been bypassed or
ignored. Unfortunately, most families emphasize some of our attributes and ignore or discourage others. These unclaimed potential talents, tendencies, and traits are a powerful
reservoir within us waiting to be tapped.
Using a primarily Gestalt-oriented process,
supported by the tools of family systems theory, practices of introspection, and body-oriented intervention strategies, participants can
begin to discover and utilize capacities in
themselves for new possibilities in their lives.
Each participant’s process of development
will be honored, encouraged, and treated as
unique.
exhausted, strengthen your immune system,
and feel more alive and exuberant.
forgave, and how the sibling relationship is
both positive and negative.
Caroline Myss predicted that Donna’s book
Energy Medicine “will stand as one of the backbone studies as we lay a sound foundation for
holistic medicine.” Jean Houston called
Donna’s approach “perhaps the most comprehensive and effective system in the genre that
I have ever seen.” This workshop is for anyone
interested in awakening the body’s potentials
and learning to heal with energy. Assisting
Donna will be husband David Feinstein, a
clinical psychologist and longtime Esalen
workshop leader.
Ideally (although not necessarily), each participant will come with at least one sister or
brother to share in this journey. The workshop will combine experiential sisters-andbrothers participation with an emphasis on
gentleness, fun, and strengthening this
longest relationship.
Recommended reading: Eden, Energy
Medicine.
Linked for Life:
How Siblings Affect Our Lives
Marvin Todd
The sibling relationship is a unique kinship.
It endures longer than the relationship with
parents, spouses, significant others, and children. Through childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and the elder years, brothers and sisters
remain constants in each other’s lives.
This workshop will guide participants on the
humorous and exploratory journey of reexperiencing early, middle, and later sibling years.
The format includes an exploration of participants’ birth order, the teaching that sisters
and brothers provided, how they fought and
Recommended reading: Todd, Linked For Life;
Toman, Family Constellation.
A Spiritual Knitting Retreat
Susan Lydon
The practice of knitting and similar handcrafts can be a path to access the stillness
within, a way to contact the soul. The gentle
rhythms of the clicking needles and soft slipping of yarn through the fingers can lead the
knitter into one-pointed concentration, contemplation, mindfulness, and the infinite
richness of the inner life.
Writes Susan Lydon: “We will combine silent
periods of needlework, walking meditation,
and a knitting clinic, with deep discussion
about our lives. We will provide a safe and
sacred space to facilitate the fellowship that
blossoms when we attune ourselves to one
another in silent practice and then open our
hearts to share from the depths of our being.”
Bring a needlework project in any stage of
completion—knitting, crocheting, beadwork,
embroidery, needlepoint, or any craft that can
be done in silence and deep concentration.
Energy Medicine:
Ministering to the Life Force
Donna Eden with David Feinstein
By learning how to work with your body’s
energies, you can improve your health and
enrich your life. In a class designed to be both
transformational and fun, Donna Eden will
show you how health problems can be
helped, if not overcome, by intelligently shifting the energies that are diminishing them.
The body is designed to heal itself and feel
good; energy work can bring you into better
alignment with this design.
This is a hands-on training. You will be
shown how to test for energy blocks and dysfunction and how to move energy in yourself
and others. You will be given tools to improve
the harmony of all the body’s systems and
help alleviate pain and stress. You will discover how to boost your energies when you are
George Leonard leading a bokken (Japanese wooden sword) class on the pool deck
17
Beginners as well as the more experienced (at
all levels of accomplishment) are welcome.
Golf in the Kingdom:
An Exploration of the Deeper Game
You can e-mail Susan Lydon at
[email protected] to discuss your project or participation in the workshop.
Steve Cohen & Andy Nusbaum
River’s Wisdom, Mountain’s Way:
A Wilderness Retreat
David Schiffman & The West Wolf Medicine
Society
For workshop description see Special Programs,
page 74.
Ye’ll come away from the links with a new hold
on life, that is certain if ye play the game with all
your heart.
— Michael Murphy (as Shivas Irons),
Golf in the Kingdom
The game of golf provides many opportunities to enhance the journey of self-discovery.
It can be experienced not only as an athletic
endeavor, but also as a metaphor for the way
one lives. Just as in life, issues of self-confidence, fear, trust, discipline, and awareness
emerge in the conflict between the ego’s
desire for success and the inner self ’s ability
to achieve.
During these five days, teaching methods
gleaned from a study of the deeper game will
be utilized, as well as principles from psychosynthesis and Gestalt, to explore the inner
self and how one interferes with its emergence. Two days will be spent on field trips to
the Monterey Peninsula where participants
will practice and play in some of the most
beautiful golf country in the world. On other
days there will be time to relax and enjoy the
natural pleasures of Esalen and Big Sur.
Recommended reading: Murphy, Golf in the
Kingdom and The Kingdom of Shivas Irons;
Gallwey, The Inner Game of Golf; Shoemaker,
Extraordinary Golf: The Art of the Possible.
(greens fees—about $145—paid directly to the leaders)
Bringing the Future Forward:
Creativity, Innovation, and the
Corporate Field
Ty Francis & Nick Udall
This workshop is for directors, managers,
facilitators, coaches, and consultants who
want to explore new approaches to organizational and personal transformation.
Organizations and individuals alike plow vast
resources—energy, money, time, skills—into
creating desired futures. For many, it’s a wasteful and demoralizing hit-or-miss affair.
Understanding more clearly “the art of inspiring innovation”—how to create the conditions
that promote intentional and profitable
growth—is a critical factor in supporting the
emergence of the new, i.e., bringing desired
futures forward.
Innovation flourishes—in organizations as
well as in your life—when you learn to
become the change you want to see. This
doesn’t call just for the development of new
skills and competencies, management models, or tools and techniques, but for more profound shifts of heart, mind, and spirit—creative shifts of consciousness itself.
Offering alternative perspectives on leadership, vision, strategy, and other organizational
constructs, and drawing upon emerging
notions of systems and field theory, this workshop will encourage you to play, experiment,
reflect, discuss, and learn how to:
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
• Tap into the creative consciousness of your
organization and life-world
• Discover your uniqueness and harness it to
create purposeful systemic change
• Exchange value and make meaning
differently with others
• Become the future you want to see
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Meditating Together:
The Practice of Insight Dialogue
Gregory Kramer
Being mindful is a challenge. Being mindful
while speaking and relating with others
sometimes seems impossible. With practice,
though, one can change. In this workshop,
participants will explore specific ways to
bring mindfulness, lovingkindness, and other
meditative qualities into Dialogue.
Insight Dialogue, codeveloped by Greg
Kramer, is a meditation practice combining
Buddhist Insight Meditation (Vipassana)
with Bohm-inspired Dialogue. Insight
Meditation, traditionally done alone and in
silence, is carried into relationship with others. The practice supports opening of the
heart, a transformed relationship with words,
and letting go into deeper understanding,
compassion, and spiritual freedom. During
this workshop participants will:
• Explore the Insight Dialogue guidelines:
surfacing assumptions, roles, and reactive
judgments, and developing trust in what
emerges moment to moment
• Practice Insight and lovingkindness (metta)
meditation
• Bring refined awareness to consciousness
and the learning process itself
• Learn to speak and listen without
abandoning meditation
The essence of Insight Dialogue is the transformation that comes from letting go of conditioned responses and meeting reactivity with
stillness. This workshop is an opportunity to
experience the creativity, joy, and wisdom of
coherent group process, as well as the challenges
of feelings arising in enhanced awareness.
The Kabbalah of Light
Catherine Shainberg
“If you were to imagine one hundred and fifty
different ways to reach illumination, one hundred and forty-nine of them would be techniques,” says Catherine Shainberg. “Such are,
for instance, the contemplation of the Tree of
Life, the permutations of letters (Gematria), or
the recitation of the Names of God (Kavanot).
The hundred and fiftieth way is not a technique at all but pure ‘kabbalah’ reception, the
revelation of the hidden.”
lineage holder, Ms. Colette Aboulker-Muscat
(whom Roger Kamenets, in his book Stalking
Elijah, calls “this extraordinary teacher”), at 93
still resides and teaches in Jerusalem.
Catherine Shainberg spent ten years studying
with Ms. Aboulker-Muscat. As she writes: “To
tap into the source of light that is hidden in
each one of us, to plunge directly into a vision
of revelation and truth, you must learn to use
and to clarify your Imagination, that language
so vilified as to be confused with fantasy. When
you witness its configurations and unfoldings,
when you immerse yourself totally in the experience, you learn about the self, your commonality, and the secret behind all of creation.
Mastering this language requires much concentration and discipline. Be prepared for five days
of arduous introspection, with eyes wide shut.”
LaStone® Therapy:
The Original Hot Stone Treatment
Mary Nelson & Ardell Hill
LaStone Therapy is a massage modality that
offers the ability to bring sustained temperature
to a massage through the use of hot and cold
stones (basalt and marble). This workshop, led
by LaStone Therapy originator Mary Nelson
and reflexologist Ardell Hill, provides a comprehensive introduction to this unique blend of
deep tissue massage, energy work, and ritual.
Warm muscle tissue is easier to address,
manipulate, and massage. Using the hot
stones to warm the tissue is grounding for the
client and easier on the therapist’s hands, forearms, and elbows. It allows the massage therapist to work deeper without causing pain and,
with the use of cool stones, removes inflammation caused by deep work.
The cool stone breaks the pain-spasm-pain
cycle and reduces the chemical response that
causes muscle tissue damage. Physiologically
this treatment can balance the sympathetic
and parasympathetic nervous systems
through the use of alternating and short-andlong-term temperatures.
LaStone Therapy is designed to enhance muscle relaxation, tissue repair, grounding, balancing, and releasing of blocked memories.
In this workshop, students will be provided
with a wealth of colorful tiles and stones,
stained glass, jewels, and trinkets with which
to create. (Soon the sound of your favorite
dish shattering will ring with the delight of
artistic possibility.)
Participants may work on a range of projects—
a hanging mirror, a lamp or small table, a
sculpture, a garden stepping-stone. By the end
of the workshop students will have completed several projects to take home with them.
Experiencing Esalen
Experiencing Esalen Staff
We must answer anew the old questions. “What
are the limits of human ability, the boundaries of
the human experience? What does it mean to be a
human being?”
— From the 1965 Esalen Catalog
This workshop is designed to introduce the
various transformational practices of Esalen
to first-time participants or to those renewing
their acquaintance with Esalen. The emphasis
will be on finding those approaches to selfawareness that work most effectively for each
participant. Sessions may include: meditation,
sensory awareness, Gestalt Practice, group
process, art, movement, and massage. There
will also be time to explore the magnificence
of the Big Sur coast.
The Sun Magazine:
A Celebration of Fine Writing
Sy Safransky & Guest Writers from The Sun
Mosaic Art Intensive: From the
Ordinary to the Extraordinary
Jayson Fann
How do you open yourself to receiving this
revelation? The secret was preserved for generations by a single family of Sephardic
Kabbalists descended from Isaac the Blind. Its
Mosaic is the ancient art of assembling and
adhering variously colored and textured
material, such as tile, stone, and stained glass.
Known for its rich texture and visual depth,
mosaic is found throughout the world.
Whether an intricately-tiled portrait or a table
in your home, mosaic is a medium that transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Adults and children alike can quickly produce striking results.
To invent you need a good imagination
and a pile of junk.
— Thomas Edison
It’s rare for an independent journal not only
to endure for more than 25 years, but to flourish. This program is a celebration of The Sun.
Founded in 1974, the magazine has grown
into a national publication with a large and
diverse readership attracted by its honest,
revealing content. Participants will experience The Sun in an intimate, face-to-face way,
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forming a community of readers and writers.
There will be readings by by regular Sun contributors, as well as discussions and workshops
designed to help you approach the personal
subjects The Sun is known for exploring. There
will also be time for the kind of heated conversation that the magazine consistently generates.
Sy Safransky will share stories, answer questions about the magazine’s history, and meet
informally with participants. Poet Alison
Luterman will lead a workshop on “Writing
from the Body.” Memoirist Genie Zeiger will
guide writers in identifying their own essential stories and finding the best language with
which to tell them. The poet Sparrow will
teach participants how to go about remaking
the English language. Gillian Kendall, a Sun
manuscript reader and writer, will present a
workshop on overcoming the difficulties of
getting started writing a story and editing a
final draft. All five will read work that has
appeared in The Sun.
This workshop is for anyone interested in the
kind of reading and writing that lives up to
the Sun’s motto (by Victor Frankl): “What is to
give light must endure burning.” Call 919-9425282 for a sample issue ($5).
Week of September 29–
October 4
Taoist Chi Kung: Enhancing Vitality
Master Share K. Lew
Master Lew, a monastery-trained Taoist priest
from southern China, will introduce traditional Taoist concepts of health, longevity, and harmony with nature. The core of the workshop
will be instruction in the Shen, a set of twelve
Chi Kung exercises (six standing, six sitting)
whose primary purpose is self-healing. These
rare exercises can also help develop better concentration, increase visual and auditory acuity,
and enhance sensitivity to oneself and others.
Master Lew will also discuss the use of everyday foods and Chinese herbs in healing, and
tell stories from his life in the monastery.
Master Lew, now eighty-four, was among the
first to openly teach Chi Kung (Taoist internal
energy cultivation) to non-Chinese. His
monastery style, Tao Ahn Pai, dates back 1300
years to Lui Dong Bin of the Tang Dynasty,
who is one of the Eight Immortals of Taoism.
Recommended Reading: Porter, Road to
Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits; Deng
Ming-Dao, The Wandering Taoist.
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Working with the Dreaming Body:
Process Work with Symptoms and
the Body
Til Luchau & Stephen Schuitevoerder
Dreams visit us not only at night; during our
daily lives, the same processes behind our
nighttime dreaming can show up as physical
symptoms, illness, postural issues, disturbing
feelings, or body language, and can range
from the simply annoying to complete disruptions of our usual identity and ways of living. Such body phenomena can also be doorways, offering us openings into new experiences, meaning, and profoundly different
approaches to our lives, relationships, and the
world. Like dreams of the night, the dreaming
body can be understood and unfolded, and
within these experiences are often found the
messages, hopes, and opportunities we need
in order to live our dreams.
This seminar is designed for anyone interested in the inner dimensions of their own body
experience (those dealing with chronic body
symptoms are especially welcome). It is also
useful for those working with others in a professional setting (health-care professionals,
bodyworkers, psychotherapists, etc.).
Participants will be guided in ways of listening deeply to the messages of the body, and
discover how the living of these experiences
can bring relief, healing, and meaning. The
workshop will also explore nonverbal ways of
working, appropriate with infants, the autistic, people in coma, or those near death.
Recommended reading: Books by Arnold &
Amy Mindell, Riding the Horse Backwards;
Coma: A Healing Journey; and others; “The
Dreaming Body: A Conversation with Til
Luchau and Julie Diamond,” Parts I and II
(available at www.advanced-trainings.com).
CE credit for Rolfers.
Imaging the Faces of the Soul:
Illuminating Your Story, Honoring
Your Mystery
Bonny McGowan
Symbols possess the transformative power to
awaken the creative spirit. This workshop
uses simple artistic methods to enable you to
create a powerful deck of SoulCollage™ Cards.
A SoulCollage deck is a collection of collaged
cards—intuitive images of your multifaceted
self that tell your story symbolically. Making
and using SoulCollage Cards weaves together
the creative, psychological, and spiritual
dimensions of the Soul.
By collaging powerful images that speak to
your heart, you can enhance creativity in all
aspects of your life. Working below the rational surface, these personal images foster a
greater acceptance and appreciation of the
mysterious and sometimes contradictory
nature of your being. The cards are divided
into four suits:
• The Committee: Aspects of your
personality—the psychological nature of
Soul
• The Community: People, both living and
deceased, who have deeply affected your
life—the communal nature of Soul.
• The Companions: Symbolic images of the
chakras—the energetic nature of Soul.
• The Council: The archetypal images that act
as larger metaphorical influences—the
spiritual nature of Soul
($50 materials fee paid directly to the leader;
optional $24.95 for SoulCollage Book)
Evolutionary Psychology and
Spiritual Practice
John Wymore & Paul Watson
Spiritual traditions commonly impose the
directive “Know thyself ” upon their followers. Many devote a lifetime to this pivotal project and never know whether they succeed or
fail. Why is “Know thyself ” so difficult?
Evolutionary biology presents the case that
the human mind is designed to contingently
avoid self-knowledge.
Write the leaders: “Our thesis is that evolutionary ideas can combine synergistically
with traditional contemplative, introspective
teachings to create more incisive, objective
self-exploration. In this workshop we’ll take
the ancient mandate for self-knowledge seriously and show how evolutionary theory can
potentiate a sincere spiritual quest—a quest
that embraces self-disillusionment as a necessity rather than fearfully, noncritically
defending against it. This can perform the
lifelong service of first revealing and then dispelling tenacious illusions about ourselves.
“Throughout the workshop we will develop
the theme of a spiritual search that uncompromisingly insists upon reconciliation of
personal experience and traditional teachings
with modern scientific ideas about human
intrapsychic design. A view of reality bests
the products of our imagination every time.”
Further information is available on the web at
http://biology.unm.edu/Biology/pwatson/public_html/pjw_cv.htm.
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
Waves
Ellen Watson & Lucia Horan
The leaders write: “In Waves, we explore the
dynamic practice of the 5Rhythms™. This
cathartic form of ecstatic dance is a workout
for body and soul, a moving meditation, a
spiritual practice where we ‘sweat our prayers.’
Waves gives us a rhythmic map, a way to
understand the cadence of our culture and
the tempo of our relationships.
“The 5Rhythms ecstatic dance practice has
been developed by Gabrielle Roth over a lifetime of study in dance, theater, and the healing arts. By dancing the 5Rhythms, we
embark on a pilgrimage of self-revelation
rooted in action and movement, freeing our
bodies and releasing what’s held in our hearts,
moving until we are moved to the still point
within.”
are changing in obvious or subtle ways,
involving a reorientation professionally or in
personal relationships—there is always a
polarity between venturing out (expanding)
and running back (contracting). Sometimes
we need to hold both possibilities until such
time as we can find a middle path.
watches to see if we measure up. In addition
to invading our relationships and undermining our self-esteem, self-judgment interferes
with our personal spiritual work. It warns us
that deep questions and expanding awareness
create trouble. It attacks us for not changing
and makes us anxious when we do change.
“In this course we will use the container of
group process and meditation to create a safe
place to explore our lives at times of significant transition. This will allow us to sit with
both the questions we are asking and the
emotions that surface, while making contact,
through meditation and dreamwork, with the
‘wisdom within.’ There will be the possibility
of individual work within the group setting as
well as teaching in meditation practice and
dream exploration, in order to contact inner
resources of creativity and healing.”
This workshop is an introduction to the
Diamond Approach®, a spiritual teaching that
directly addresses the superego to create space
for inner work. Byron Brown writes:
“Through embodied awareness (to support
presence) and open-ended inquiry (to bring
about understanding), we will recognize and
confront the assumptions and principles that
keep self-judgment in place. We will cultivate
aspects of our True Nature that are antidotes
to self-judgment: compassion, will, and
strength. Most important, we will practice
disengaging from the judgment process
through understanding and deliberate action.
Throughout we will develop a felt sense of the
contrast between being under the judgment
spell and directly experiencing the joy and
freedom that arise in its absence.”
Recommended reading: Roth, Sweat Your
Prayers and Maps to Ecstasy.
October 4–11
Crossroads: The Dance of Falling
Apart and Coming Together
Radhule Weininger & Michael Kearney
The leaders write: “There comes a time, a
crossroads, when we need a place where we
can fall apart, revisit our experiences, feel,
think, explore, reflect, meditate, and come
back together again in order to venture out
once more into the world. Whether our lives
Soul Without Shame:
A Compassionate Confrontation
of Self-Judgment
Byron Brown
The superego—our inner critic or judge—
shapes and limits our daily life. A psychic
entity that praises, cajoles, accuses, promises,
and threatens, it sits on our shoulder and
Sessions will include meditation, lecture, discussion, exercises, movement, and smallgroup process. For further information see
Special Programs, page 74.
Recommended reading: Brown, Soul Without
Shame.
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Being Present for Your Life:
Introduction to Mindfulness
Meditation
Participants will 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.
James Baraz
Weekend of October 4–6
How much are you present for your own life?
Most of us spend more time in our own inner
world—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—touched by beauty
and intimacy, while learning through the difficult lessons how to open our hearts.
Jan Goldstein
At a time when personal obstacles and global
fear lead many of us to question life, this workshop focuses on the gifts life has to offer—how
good it can really be. Often we pass along life’s
journey with a focus that produces negativity
and apathy. With redirection and reaffirmation we can gain insights into the good that’s
already here and the good we are capable of
giving to a universe in need of it.
Using Jan’s book Life Can Be This Good, you
will be oriented toward a life where you
Listen, Open, Step Into, and Receive. The
workshop will explore everyday experiences
that can both teach and transform, from the
attitude with which we start each day to the
interpretation we give everything.
You will be led through exercises in which
you reconnect to what makes you feel most
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
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 actually happening in the present moment. Using the breath,
body sensations, thoughts, and emotions as
objects of attention, we can learn to be more
fully awake. When we see directly that the
nature of reality is change, we begin to let go
of clinging to the pleasant or avoiding the
unpleasant. We become more capable of meeting each situation with spontaneity, fearlessness, and love.
Life Can Be This Good
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alive. The program will focus on authenticity,
recognizing and embodying who we truly are,
celebrating what resonates in terms of beliefs,
attitudes, and actions. Through music, movement, and journal entries, you will lay claim
to your authentic self, the foundation for recognizing that life offers blessings and wonder.
The workshop will conclude with composing
a life lesson, using story, drama, dance, or song
to celebrate the good that has been found.
From this, you will distill the essential teachings that can be fashioned into a blueprint to
take home as a constant reminder that life can
be this good.
Moving into Health: Feldenkrais®
and Energetic Movement
Patrick Douce
Most people know what it is like to wake up
stiff or in pain. Hundreds of millions of people in this world suffer from chronic, acute
conditions. Many of the basic ways we have
been taught to hold ourselves and to move
unconsciously lead to these conditions. Some
of these misconceptions are so ingrained that
we think of them as part of ourselves, with no
choice in the matter.
Moshe Feldenkrais developed movement
lessons based on finding the ease of movement we had as children. This workshop uses
those movements to enable participants to
consciously experience their unconscious
everyday actions. It will present Feldenkrais
Movements which improve flexibility, awareness of breath, and posture. Rather than
emphasize doing more with more effort, the
lessons teach how to find soft, effortless
movements. They will be combined with
lessons inspired by Indonesian Silat martialarts-for-health movements, which stimulate
the energy body, effecting internal health and
increasing energy.
The idea of a fluid, intelligent body will be
introduced to improve the use of the spinal
column. Difficulties in the body will be
approached as problems in learning rather
than as conditions needing therapy. Thus,
problems that were “incurable” become “reeducable.”
The Dance of Agreement
Stewart Levine
We need to learn how to work toward agreement, rather than let conflict tear us apart.
The Dance of Agreement is a big step in that
direction. It is a simple, elegant approach, presenting a core life-skill: the 10 Essential
Elements of Agreements for Results. These elements enable you to craft collaborative agreements that live up to your hopes and expectations. You will also learn the 7 Steps to
Resolution so you can truly resolve the conflicts that stand in the way of effective partnerships. The process deepens relationships,
strengthens commitment to goals, and nurtures the spirit of cooperation and teamwork.
The workshop is designed to leave you with
both a powerful vision and practical tools that
turn potential business and personal conflicts
into collaborative partnerships. It offers a
comprehensive look at the potential for agreement in the world, and new insights into
many experiences in which you succeeded or
failed. You will learn how to articulate the
agreements and collaborations you aspire to,
how to avoid the calamities you fear, and how
to get the results you want.
The seminar is based on The Book of Agreement,
Stewart’s follow up to his award-winning
Getting to Resolution.
Week of October 6–11
Natural Wisdom and Everyday
Enlightenment
David Schiffman
This workshop is intended for those seeking a
more graceful balance between the worldly
and the spiritual—people who already have a
healthy appetite for life and a practical interest in living with heart and spirit. The focus
will be the wisdom we gain by honoring our
deepest personal interests and rhythms.
“Our aim,” David Schiffman writes, “is to foster emotional maturity and adeptness in facing the challenges of living freely and creatively with courage, skill, and imagination.
Together we will examine what it takes to
develop a robust spiritual practice rooted in
personal clarity, faith, and power. Our goal as
a community will be to explore novel, effective ways of being:
• Whole, real, and well-met by others
• Responsible, unashamed, and clear about
our feelings
• Poised and balanced in triumphs and
troubles
• Free to circulate appropriately from
everyday practicality to mystical rapture
• Fully present to the potential pleasures of
our own bodies
• Able to be a good influence on ourselves
and others
“Using a combination of inner and group
work, ceremony, music, movement, and
touch, we will explore how to forge a more
finely balanced personal life and emotional
style.”
Dreamgates: Journeying to Inner
and Other Worlds
Robert Moss
“This is the ultimate frequent flyers’ program,”
writes Robert Moss. “We journey to worlds
beyond physical reality that have been the
goal of shamans and mystics across the ages.
We are challenged to encounter our personal
death and move beyond fear to enter the mysteries of rebirth and develop an experiential
geography of the afterlife. We visit schools
and temples in nonordinary reality, and open
creative communication with spiritual guides
and master teachers. We explore our relationship with personalities in other places and
times—past and future—and the possibility of
real-time communication with them. We
learn from the great dream travelers of mystery and shamanic traditions as we open
flight paths to the stars.
“We deepen and honor our visions through
sacred drama, dream theatre, storymaking,
and spontaneous writing and drawing. We
reclaim the ancient arts of dream travel,
dream healing, shapeshifting, timefolding,
and shared dreaming. We learn how to open
the gates between the worlds—and when to
close them! Above all, we practice anamnesis:
reclaiming the knowledge that belonged to
us, on the levels of soul and spirit, before we
entered this life experience.”
Please note: This advanced program is not for
the fainthearted. In order to enroll, you must
first send a personal letter to Robert (e-mail
[email protected], or write to Box 215,
Troy, NY 12181) describing your relationship
with the dreamworld. Registration deadline is
September 21.
Recommended reading: Moss, Conscious
Dreaming, Dreamgates, and Dreaming True.
Awakening Creativity and Inspiration
Jayson Fann & The Esalen Arts Center Staff
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
— Rumi
The most beautiful thing we can experience is
the mysterious. It is the true source of all art and
science.
— Albert Einstein
Jayson writes: “This workshop is for those
wanting to immerse themselves in a week of
abundant creativity. Silk painting, clay sculpting, mask making, mosaic, and print making
are some of the mediums we will explore to
entice what lies beneath in the ocean of your
imagination.”
What makes this workshop special is the
opportunity to work with several guest artists
who will share their knowledge in a variety of
artistic approaches and mediums that are
accessible and enjoyable. The workshop is
structured to provide the guidance, the materials, and a supportive environment for you to
awaken and explore your creativity and artistic passion. For added inspiration, there will
be live musical accompaniment woven
throughout the week.
New Dimensions in Bodywork
Deborah Anne Medow & Carl Chase (CC)
This intermediate/advanced workshop is for
massage and bodywork practitioners who
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wish to enhance their skills, experience current directions in bodywork, and have a good
time while learning.
Together CC and Deborah have over fifty
years of experience in the massage, movement, and bodywork fields. In this course
they will draw upon their expertise in massage, deep-tissue methods, cross-fiber friction,
polarity therapy, anatomy, yoga, “ballistic”
stretching, and more. They will customize a
workshop to give you new information and
inspiration to improve the caliber and diversity of work you presently incorporate into
your massage and bodywork sessions.
Bring workout clothes, musical instruments,
CDs, and tapes for a week of learning and
laughter.
The Vision and Practice of
Human Transformation
George Leonard
The creative capacity of the human brain/
body is, for all practical purposes, infinite.
Each of us is a prodigious learning animal,
and our ultimate destiny may well be to
evolve capacities that would now be termed
extraordinary. Research conducted by George
Leonard and Michael Murphy strongly suggests that the best path to the realization of
our latent powers lies in a long-term practice
which integrates mind, body, heart, and soul.
In this hands-on workshop, Leonard introduces you to Integral Transformative Practice
(ITP), a path of practice that can help you
realize your inborn genius while bringing
pleasure, fulfillment, and good health, not
just during this workshop but also in the
weeks, months, and years to come. You will
be introduced to a forty-minute series that
includes physical movement, breathing practice, relaxation, transformative imaging, and
meditation. You will practice balancing and
centering, the use of ki, focused surrender,
and the creation of effective affirmation.
There will be discussions of the principles of
human transformation, as revealed in a twoyear experiment he and Murphy conducted
with 50 people.
This workshop involves physical movement
but is not strenuous. All that’s needed is a generous heart and a willingness to participate.
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Recommended reading: Leonard & Murphy,
The Life We Are Given; Leonard, Mastery and The
Way of Aikido: Life Lessons of an American Sensei.
Re-Inheriting the Earth:
Awakening to Sustainable
Solutions and Greater Truths
Brian O’Leary
This dynamic presentation includes an alarming state-of-the-world report. We are “hitting
the wall” on oil, natural gas, water, forests, and
food supply, with little time left to reverse the
trends. It also discusses the increasing pollution, deaths, and rising disaster-relief budgets
attributed to global climate change. Dr.
O’Leary explores solutions such as free energy, conventional renewables, the hydrogen
economy, and hemp as a substitute for wood
and paper. Included are powerful quotes from
former U.S. presidents warning against the
misplaced private power of giant corporations. The workshop concludes with positive
steps citizens might take, expanding the
debate to new sciences and technologies
based on consciousness and our greater being.
The program will examine most deeply these
steps required to awaken to sustainable solutions and greater truths:
• Become aware of the situation and be
willing to look at solutions
• Develop nonpolluting energy
• Preserve, restore, and sustain the biosphere
• Form a global green democracy
• Clean up and enhance our personal ecologies
• Create a new science of consciousness
• Draft a manifesto for sustainability
The purpose of this workshop is to inspire
participants to play a role in the transformation of humanity towards a sustainable and
spiritual future.
Stress Reduction:
An East/West Approach
David Levenson & Mark Abramson
Stress comes to us in many forms. Our bodies
and minds are stressed by chronic pain and
persistent illness. Relationships are stressful.
We find stress at home and at work, in our
financial lives, even in our recreation.
Stress often leads us to suffering. Muscles
tense up, pain tolerance decreases, inflammations increase, intestines go into spasm,
fatigue may become profound. Our minds are
often filled with anxiety, fear, depression,
anger, and helplessness.
All of this suffering is normal and understandable—but not required. Suffering is
optional. In this workshop, you will be shown
how to minimize suffering with the help of
mindfulness meditation, yoga, self-hypnosis,
deep relaxation, healing imagery, and cognitive approaches. Through these practices, you
can develop a self-caring objectivity, an ability
to respond to your suffering with compassion
instead of self-criticism, guilt, and shame.
The workshop is designed to be practical. Its
aim is to integrate your experiences and give
you tools to use in everyday life. Everyone is
welcome, nonmeditators and meditators
alike, as well as people with or without medical problems.
Balancing on a High Wire:
Resolving the Aftereffects
of Recent Traumatic Events
Maggie Phillips
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
and the ensuing world turmoil have heightened public attention to how traumatic
events affect us. This workshop examines the
psychobiology of acute post-traumatic stress—
from the direct impact of trauma, from
observing its aftermath in others, and from
exposure to unrelenting media coverage.
Resulting dynamics often trigger powerful,
lasting negative consequences on physical,
emotional, cognitive, and spiritual levels.
Participants will learn to recognize manifestations of extreme stress that can develop following random acts of terrorism, violence,
and disaster, as well as sudden loss due to
death, accident, injury, and abusive attachment experiences. Conditions such as depression, eating disorders, addictions, and physical symptoms unresponsive to treatment may
be due to long-term effects of unresolved
traumatic reactions.
Because trauma is processed in areas of the
brain that do not involve cognitive understanding, methods for healing must reach
beyond insight and verbal expression.
Participants will learn and practice methods—
somatic experiencing, hypnotic suggestion,
energy psychology, and mindfulness—which
promote self-regulation of acute somatic,
emotional, and sensory responses that may
follow traumatic events. Practice sessions will
demonstrate how to apply these and other
approaches within a four-step model that can
promote a secure sense of safety, activation of
counterbalancing resources, renegotiation of
original traumatic events, and reintegration of
the fragmented self.
The Practice of the Wild:
Nature and Contemplation
Steven Harper
A hiking meditation. A contemplative journey into our natural wildness...
Steve writes: “Friday evening, we will listen to
some of the world’s most evocative nature
writing—prose and poetry that return our
human nature to the world from which it
emerged: wild nature. We will prepare ourselves for being in the wild through meditation, breathing, and awareness exercises. The
heart of our practice will be day-hikes in the
coastal redwood canyons near Esalen.
Wandering the wilderness trails of Big Sur, we
will balance the day between walking and sitting, inspirational readings and quiet contemplation, active awareness exercises and simply
being. We will close each day in reflection,
sharing stories and perhaps some of our own
nature writing. At the end of the weekend
each of us will have begun the process of
incorporating wild nature into our daily lives.”
Further information will be sent upon registration.
Recommended Reading: Harper, “The Way
of Wilderness” from Ecopsychology (edited by
Roszak, et al.) and Snyder, The Practice of the
Wild.
The Upledger Institute’s CranioSacral I
Candice Strack
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.
Participants will learn 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. Participants will learn a ten-step protocol for evaluation and treatment of the
entire body. By the end of this intensive program, participants will be able to identify and
localize significant restrictions and imbalances in the CranioSacral System.
Recommended reading: Upledger &
Vredevoogd, CranioSacral Therapy (chapters 16); Upledger, Your Inner Physician and You.
Please note: Registration for this workshop is
through The Upledger Institute only. Please
call 1-800-233-5880.
The Great Escape: From SelfConsciousness to Self-Expression
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
Karen Roeper & Peter Rosselli
Do you ever find yourself stuck in images of
how you are supposed to be? Express yourself
in ways that don’t support you moving freely
and joyfully in your life? This workshop
offers an approach to deepening self-perception, self-awareness, and self-acceptance called
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Essential Motion, developed by Karen
Roeper. It is a combination of improvisational
movement, psychological and emotional
inquiry, and group reflective process work.
Movement is the forgotten language of the
soul. Through movement work, participants
can reintegrate the physical intelligence and
playful body ease of childhood, and move
through daily life with more grace, freedom,
and power.
Through movement, sound, interactive coaching, group mirroring, discussion, and video
feedback, Karen and Peter create a provocative
yet safe environment. Participants are guided
through a discovery of their own personal
vocabulary of expression, then explore how
these movements, expressions, and response
patterns directly reflect how they function in
their everyday world. These somatic insights
create the possibility of greater choice. Each
person is filmed in solo, dyad, and group situations, with the opportunity to view the tapes.
The workshop is an intensive experience for
people interested in learning how to crack
open self-beliefs that constrain spontaneous
and powerful expression. The ultimate goal is
for participants to develop a centered presence informed by their hearts rather than by
their mental judgments and self-images. No
previous experience is necessary.
Making Amends:
Healing the Parent-Child Bond
Phyllis Shankman
Relationships between parents and adult children are often the most complex, profound,
and delicate relationships that we have in our
lives. Through the years, as our lives unfold
and often unravel, through the celebrations,
fights, laughter, disappointments, joy, and
pain, these relationships endure internally.
They continue to confront and impact us at
every turn. Whether parents and children are
intimate or distant in their daily lives does
not change the significance of who we are to
one another.
This is a workshop for parents and children
over 18. The sessions will utilize awareness
exercises, group discussions, and compassionate listening to create a supportive neutral
space for open dialogue, appreciations, concerns, and “unfinished business.’ The intention is to open the door for more depth,
mutual understanding, love, and acceptance.
Invite your parent or your adult child to join
you (preferably one child per parent) and
spend some healing time together.
Abraham Maslow, humanistic psychology pioneer
bring to us, reinforcing the very negativity we
are attempting to dissolve.
Self-Acceptance—
The Heart of Healing
Joe Cavanaugh
The heart has reasons which reason
knows nothing of.
— Blaise Pascal
We commonly hear the axiom “Love is letting
go of fear.” However, there is another possibility: “Love means loving ourselves even when
we are afraid.” This applies to all so-called negative emotions, whether fear, anger, doubt,
jealousy, and so on. We simply cannot be who
we are not. Accepting who we are allows healing to begin. When we judge ourselves, we
lose sight of the deeper message our feelings
Joe Cavanaugh writes: “Through personal and
interpersonal processes, we will see how our
judgments, beliefs, and attitudes can undermine our self-esteem and personal effectiveness. We will create a space to heal our
wounds from the past while enhancing our
capacity for greater love and compassion. In a
context of mutual support and safety, we will
learn to love and accept ourselves for who we
are in the present moment. We will then discover how these so-called ‘negative emotions’
were in fact angels in disguise, guiding us
toward our Authentic Self.”
This workshop is designed for anyone wishing to enrich the quality of their lives, as well
as for therapists seeking to enhance their
therapeutic skills.
Prerequisite: Be willing to abstain from alcohol
and nonprescription drugs for the duration of
the workshop.
Reborn Sensuous: A Brief Primer
in Awakening the Senses and
Functioning Optimally
Brita Ostrom
Beatle George Harrison with sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar circa 1969
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Brita writes: “A moment spent perched cliffside or a stroll through the Esalen garden kindles sensory experience long forgotten in our
‘civilized’ existence. At such moments we
remember what it is like to be fully present
for the wind on our face and the smell of the
earth. Research indicates that as our senses
become overloaded and we lose touch with
those around us, we experience increased
depression, high blood pressure, and
decreased productivity. Our proprioceptive
nervous system falls asleep and we ‘grow old.’
Worse, we lose the ability to inform intelligent functioning with our sensory experience.
“Tracking our sensations and emotional tones,
we can make more creative decisions, communicate more accurately, and live more fully.
This course includes: a ritual nature walk to
get our feet back on the ground; exploration
of which senses we habitually rely on and
which need tuning; massage instruction to
tone our hands and ease our bodies; and
Gestalt work to bring us to our senses.
Meditation will offer practice in presence.
Our awakened mind will become response-able
to our joys and sorrows, our conflicts, our relationships, and our healthy functioning.”
This course is for those seeking respite at
Esalen, those in search of creative new directions and fuller functioning, as well as those
in the helping professions building new
skills. Bring comfortable walking shoes.
Nancy Lunney-Wheeler, Esalen’s longtime director of programming, in the 1970s
of hundreds of renowned artists exploring the
inner dynamics of creativity over nearly 30
years. This unprecedented body of recorded
material of artists at work provides an enormous resource to observe and gain direct
insight into the inner processes of innovative
artists in the throes of creation.
For workshop description see September 27-29.
“We will initiate this workshop using filmed
material to demonstrate, beyond theory, the
qualities that truly innovative individuals utilize as they cross into the creative unknown.
We will identify the Archetypal Map of the
Journey, define the core ingredients of realitycreation, and engage the Boundary Dweller
who can take us beyond the threshold into
the domain of all creative possibility. We will
work to harness the courage and confidence
to go beyond our current resistances and fears
in order to embrace our true creative passion
and liberate our personal creative voice.”
The Power and Passion to Create
On Becoming a Group Leader
Norman Seeff
Ron Alexander
“Early in my career as a photographer of public personalities, I began to focus upon creating what I call the Essential Image,” Norman
Seeff writes. “As a result, my sessions transformed into intense experiences in which
artists performed live as we worked together
to achieve a spontaneity before the camera. In
effect, the session became the art form as I
shifted my role to ‘creative communicator’—
director and explorer of the inner dynamics
of creative individuals.
The archetypal leader is a blend of “transformer” and “meaning translator.” The transformer creates a sacred space for exploring
rhythms, moods, flows, and interactions. The
meaning translator brings clarity, order, and
awareness to the conscious and unconscious
processes within the group culture. Effective
leadership begins with fostering openness to
explore safety, trust, and support.
Experiencing Esalen
“In 1975, inspired by the powerful emotional
experiences and creative breakthroughs
resulting from this process, I started filming
my photo-sessions. To date we have accumulated over three and a half million feet of film
The focus of this workshop is on becoming a
leader who can create that openness and artfully manage a group in any setting. The topics include: recovering from challenges and
fragmentation; navigating transference;
resolving conflict and confrontation; and handling the difficult group member. Participants
will learn methods to self-activate, overcome
fear, and embrace creativity.
Sessions include mini-lectures, open seat
work, and group process using Gestalt
Practice, existential psychology, contemporary psychoanalytic perspectives, family systems, mind/body approaches, and group
dynamics. As the workshop progresses participants will have the opportunity to lead or colead the group under supervision.
This workshop is particularly useful for mental-health practitioners, organizational consultants, family-owned business entrepreneurs,
and others who manage groups.
This workshop may have up to 35 participants.
Recommended reading: Heider, The Tao of
Leadership; Polster, Gestalt Therapy Integrated;
Simkin, Gestalt Therapy Mini-lectures; Bion,
Experiences in Groups.
Weekend Massage Intensive
Ellen Watson & David Streeter
This workshop will introduce the core techniques of Esalen Massage. Through brief lectures and demonstrations, and with lots of
personal supervision of hands-on work, the
workshop will present essential tools and
knowledge that can be effortlessly applied.
Fundamental elements of bodywork, such as
breath awareness, grounding, movement, and
quality of touch will also be introduced. The
goal will be to create a firm foundation of
massage to build upon.
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Lesbian Relationships:
The Agony and the Ecstasy
Diana Gray & Judith Kaye
The leaders write: “Lesbians have the capacity
to form intense heart connections to each
other. However, this emotional capacity also
creates for us the challenge of being loving
toward others while being loving toward ourselves. Our desire to be close can also bring up
fears of intimacy and abandonment. Often we
feel blocked in being able to create a vision of
relationship that allows us a balance between
independence and dependence.”
This workshop will use a variety of structured
experiences to help lesbians increase their
capacity to be in more satisfying, balanced,
intimate relationships with themselves and
others. Music, small- and large-group discussion, presentations, and drawing will enable
you to get closer to your relationship vision.
You will learn how to more easily connect
with your own strength, creativity, sensitivity,
flexibility, and ability to compromise. You will
leave feeling more confident about creating
the balanced heart-connection you desire.
The workshop is open to lesbians by themselves or with their partners. It is also helpful
for professionals who work with lesbian couples. Please wear comfortable clothing.
Gestalt Awareness Practice
Christine Price & Guest Leader
awareness. The leader functions to reflect,
clarify, and respect whatever emerges in this
process. The aim is unfoldment, wholeness,
and growth, rather than adjustment, cure, or
accomplishment. The workshop will utilize
group exercises, meditations, and discussion.
The format combines introductory group
work with the open seat form in which each
participant will have the opportunity to work
with the leader in a group context.
Recommended reading: Perls, Gestalt Therapy
Verbatim; Chodron, The Wisdom of No Escape.
Proprioceptive Writing is also an invaluable
contribution to the meditative arts. People
who practice it report many benefits: the
development of an observing ego that brings
empathy and curiosity to the drama of the
self; increased awareness, confidence, and selftrust; improved memory; a sense of growing
intelligence; and burgeoning creativity.
Recommended reading: Metcalf & Simon,
Writing the Mind Alive: The Proprioceptive
Method for Finding Your Authentic Voice.
The Nature of Intimacy,
The Intimacy of Nature
Proprioceptive Writing®: A Path to
Better Writing, Emotional Health,
and Spiritual Renewal
Mary Goldenson & Steven Harper
Linda Trichter Metcalf & Toby Simon
In an age when a hundred techniques for selfdiscovery have proliferated, very few have
stayed the course. Due to the potency of its
power and the elegance of its form, Proprioceptive Writing has endured. A simple technique that anyone can learn, it uses writing to
explore the psyche by focusing on the experience of inner hearing—the key to emotion and
self-knowledge. It is practiced to music in 25minute sessions under stress-free conditions,
alone and in groups.
If you’re a writer or want to be one, Proprioceptive Writing can help you find your voice,
explore experience in depth, discover life stories, bring more of yourself into your work.
Your writing becomes textured, cathartic, and
fresh. Through daily practice you collect a
rich storehouse of raw material which you
can draw on in your writing projects.
There is a place inside all of us where vitality
and passion flow. Some call it the Source, the
place where inner aliveness meets the outer
force of nature. In this place is a voice that
says, “It’s time for this partnership to begin,”
enabling that deep connectedness to move us
closer to where we have always wanted to be:
intimate with ourselves, others, and the
greater circle of life.
This workshop is about letting nature be your
primary spiritual guide. It provides the opportunity for deep personal healing by allowing
the presence of nature to be felt. Day-hikes
will introduce you to basic and increasingly
refined awareness practices to enhance sensitivity to all that being in nature offers.
Contacting the natural world with grace and
presence, you can reawaken those elements of
wilderness within. The outdoor sessions will
include a mix of half-day and full-day hikes,
always returning to Esalen by dinner.
The Way, when declared
Seems so thin and flavorless.
Nothing to look at, nothing to hear—
And when used—is inexhaustible.
— Lao Tzu
Gestalt Awareness Practice is a form—nonanalytic, noncoercive, nonjudgmental—derived
from the work of Fritz Perls, influenced by
Buddhist practice, and evolved by Richard
and Christine Price. The work integrates ways
of personal clearing and development that are
both ancient and modern. To the extent that
awareness is made primary relative to action,
Gestalt Awareness Practice has a strong relationship to some forms of meditation. This
form is similar to some Reichian work as well,
in that emotional and energetic release and
rebalancing are allowed and encouraged.
The emphasis is intrapersonal rather than
interpersonal. Participants are not patients but
persons actively consenting to explore in
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Carl Rogers, founder of client-centered therapy, taught at Esalen in the early days
energy. In this five-day retreat we will focus
on uniting physical form with nonphysical
energy. Our mornings will begin with breathing practice and meditation, followed by
breakfast and an active hatha yoga session.
The afternoons will be a more restorative and
passive yoga practice. There will be time for
sharing in the group circle, questions and
answers, and chanting.”
All are welcome. Please have a minimum of 3
months’ recent yoga experience.
Art as a Spiritual Path:
Discovering Your Soul Mandala
Paul Heussenstamm
Anthropologist Gregory Bateson lived at
Esalen in the late 1970s
The indoor sessions will focus on providing a
safe, supportive environment to explore the
real meaning of your life. You will identify
ways to reconnect with your source of creativity and spirituality using emotional release
work, writing, poetry, movement, Gestalt,
meditation, and silence.
Allow this week of listening in the Big Sur
Wilderness to touch your wild and eager
heart and guide your unique way in this
world. Be prepared for the invigorating challenge of physical activity. More information
will be sent upon registration.
Yoga: Form and Formless Unite
Thomas Michael Fortel
Thomas writes: “After a period of ongoing,
consistent spiritual practice, the body, mind,
and being gradually become purified. This
allows our own energy system, the central
nervous system, to become more refined and
subtle. The body is the vehicle for the spiritual practice of hatha yoga, yet doorways to the
inner worlds and realms open up. Most of us
humans are focused on the material reality,
the physical body, and satiating the yearnings
of the five senses. Yet the yogic practices of
conscious breathing, meditation, and posture
lead our awareness beyond the physical and
allow our being to attune to frequencies not
normally accessed.
“The sages and spiritual masters have reminded us that we are the divine Self, but our focus
on bodies, minds, and emotions has cluttered
and obstructed the awareness of this refined
will be time for stillness and time for high
play. Sunday morning (weather permitting),
as the sun rises, participants will gather to
“Greet the Day in a Sacred Way.”
Open your heart, mind, and spirit with a journey through your closest natural environment—your own body! Lilias will share her
spiritual journey and practical ways to weave
yoga practice into your daily life.
All levels of expertise are welcome. Please
wear comfortable clothes and bare feet, and
bring your own mat. Registration will be limited to 33 participants.
Zero Balancing Open Forum
Fritz Smith
It is the artist’s mission to penetrate...in the womb
of nature, in the primal ground of creation where
the secret key to all things lies hidden.
— Paul Klee
The mandala, an ancient symbol and concentric map of the psyche, has been used by various cultures around the world, including
Tibetan Buddhists, Aborigines, and Native
Americans. This workshop will introduce you
to the mandala, and through it, to the mystery
of the soul and the passionate world of the
inner artist. It offers a supportive initiation
for all participants, regardless of experience,
to open to their natural creativity through art,
meditation, ritual, and music. Each participant will complete a colorful personal mandala as a symbol to live with, to study, and to
begin a process of learning, growing, healing,
and artistic development.
Discover your soul symbols as powerful tools
for personal and professional transformation.
Come to a deeper understanding of your own
creative forces. Mandala painting can open
your eyes in a heart- and soul-connected
way—to see and feel things you may never
have experienced before.
Art supplies will be provided. No previous
experience is necessary.
This weekend is an opportunity for people
practicing Zero Balancing to reconnect with
Fritz Smith, with Zero Balancing, and with
each other. Fritz writes: “It is critically important to periodically meet with like-minded
people and to openly, freely, and safely discuss
problems, insights, and successes of your
work—in this case, the leading-edge therapy
of balancing energy and structure.”
The workshop’s agenda will vary with the
needs of those who attend, but will focus on
personal nurturing and recharging, and will
include giving and receiving sessions, refining touch, honing the ZB protocol, observing
demos by Fritz, and looking at the newer
emerging possibilities of ZB. Come and
rekindle your sense of belonging, of not being
isolated in the world.
Prerequisite training: Core Zero Balancing I.
This open forum qualifies for 12.5 hours of
class credit toward Zero Balancing
Certification.
CE credit for acupuncturists.
Healing of Heart and Mind:
Choosing to Change
Fred Luskin
Joy is the Journey:
Hatha Yoga and More
Lilias Folan
Join Lilias Folan, host of the PBS series
“Lilias!”, for a weekend of yoga and relaxation.
Lilias will guide participants in learning fresh
ways to move, meditate, and breathe—with
special focus on the art of relaxation. There
Every human being has suffered rejection,
mistreatment, betrayal. Yet some people
maneuver through these painful experiences
while others remain stuck. This workshop
will examine why and how this happens.
Through sharing and processing experience,
participants will work toward understanding
how sadness, frustration, and anger arise—and
how to change those feelings.
By demystifying the process of healing, we
can accelerate this mysterious process, learn
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to let go of old hurts, and become less likely to
create new ones. Using cognitive approaches—lecture along with guided practice in
reframing, disputation, and existential understanding—this workshop presents forgiveness
as a choice. The cognitive approaches will be
complemented by practice in mindfulness,
imagery, and heart-centered methods
designed to help access the heart’s restorative
potential. Journal writing, dyadic exercises,
and group discussion will also be used.
Uniting mind and heart and letting go of old
hurts is an expression of the soul’s desire for
connection and harmony. With insight and
practice, it is possible to successfully work
with the emotions that prevent us from moving forward in our lives.
Acupressure Energy
Pauline Kirby
Traditional acupuncture is a healing art and
science that teaches one how to see the entire
human being in relationship to the body,
mind, and spirit. It is a form of healing that
emphasizes balance and harmony, focusing
on health rather than disease.
This workshop will explore the five elements
used in traditional Chinese medicine, following the metaphor that the body is a garden
rather than a machine. The course will look
closely at the body’s energy system and examine how these meridian pathways can
enhance one’s health. Concepts of traditional
acupuncture and acupressure will be demonstrated and discussed, including pulse diagnosis, the flow of meridian pathways, point location, an in-depth study of the five elements,
and special application for stress reduction
and health maintenance.
Geomancy: Enhancing Sense of
Place, Self, and Community
Richard Feather Anderson
Geomancy is an ancient, holistic system of
natural philosophy and science intended to
keep all human activities in harmony with
the Earth. Its primary purpose is to sustain
life in abundance, keep the Earth Spirit alive
and vital, and maintain peace and harmony
among humans by creating and enhancing a
sense of connection to place. It was utilized to
situate and construct Gothic cathedrals, pyra30
mids, major cities, palaces, and temples in
every culture in the world. As environmental
crises become more severe and the breakdown of human communities continues,
more and more people are reviving the principles of geomancy.
We create a sense of place by establishing a
center, boundaries, and gateways—for an individual, a group, or a community. This is at the
root of all geomantic traditions, derived
through observation of the patterns of
Nature, the flow of energy, and human behavior. By “reading the landscape” of Esalen, participants will learn and apply observation
skills, energy-sensing techniques, and placemaking concepts. The course will enable participants to gain greater awareness of how the
patterns of the landscape or cityscape affect
their daily lives, and how to arrange spaces to
better support their lives.
This will be especially useful to architects,
planners, homeowners, community leaders,
event coordinators, environmentalists, and
anyone who wants to strengthen their connection with the place they call home.
Week of October 27–
November 1
TLC: A Conscious Loving Workshop
for Couples
Stewart Esposito
This workshop provides a safe space to
explore and expand an educational and developmental opportunity which many of us
never had growing up—using powerful sexual
energies to harmonize and deeply connect
with our partner. “TLC” offers a delightfully
Western interpretation of ancient Tantric and
Taoist practices of intimacy, communication,
and sacred sensual and sexual connections.
The “TLC” course addresses:
•
•
•
•
Love—Embracing your partner and choice
Intimacy—Emotional and sexual
Communication—Feeling heard and seen
Opening the heart—Honoring your partner
so sexual and heart energy merge
• Sacred sexuality—Integrating your spiritual
self with your sexuality
• Sexual energy as healing medicine—Using
sexual energy to heal old wounds
• Living ecstatically and orgasmically—By
loving consciously
• Intimate practices and ceremonies—
Bringing beloveds closer together so
partners desire each other more
“TLC” brings ancient practices to couples in a
simple, contemporary way that is both practical and profound. Stewart and a female associate provide an environment that is sacred,
safe, and respectful. There is no nudity or sexual behavior in class. Outside of class optional
loving practices are encouraged.
Dialogue: Creating Wholeness and
Aliveness in All Our Relationships
Glenna Gerard & Linda Ellinor
With each passing day the fabric of the world
is shifting around and within us. How do we
continue to find meaning and sustenance that
nurtures our relationships? How can we learn
ways that bring more aliveness to our everyday interactions? On a broader scale, how do
we live together in ways that render violence
unnecessary, discerning what is responsible
action as a unique member of a family, community, organization, nation, or world?
Dialogue is a form of communication that
focuses on creating ways for us to listen and
speak from that place within us we might call
“Home.” People often describe Dialogue as
creating conversation that is “free from judgment,” “open-hearted,” “a place of belonging.”
Imagine what it would be like for you to learn
how to co-create this kind of experience in all
of your relationships, at home and at work.
Think of the possibilities for our world to be
freer from fear, judgment, and competition.
As an individual, therapist, educator, organizational leader, parent, or loving partner, this
workshop can help you develop your capacity
to create meaningful conversations that
strengthen and renew relationships, build
trust, tap into collaborative creativity, and
increase personal satisfaction. The goal: You
will leave with expanded self-awareness and
skills you can continue to practice daily.
The Practice of Emotional Healing
Terry Hunt
Once you have come to realize the spiritual
nature of life and its opportunities to heal and
transform, the focus of living becomes finding ways to further help yourself and those
you love. This workshop offers experiential
practice of the tools for emotional healing.
Utilizing movement, catharsis, meditation,
and new theories, it examines the day-to-day
problems of “living the awakened life’ within
families and communities that are not
growth-centered. Designed for those in the
healing arts as well as those on their own path
of healing, the workshop challenges each participant to discover effective and loving
responses to stressful situations in families
and intimate relationships, with friends and
authority figures. Points of focus will include:
• Grounding—Physical exercises that foster a
better sense of reality
• Vitality—Tools to increase the feeling of
aliveness and the capacity for deep emotion
• Connectedness—Understanding how the
lack of connection can provide useful data
• From codependence to aliveness—Moving
from merely being validated by others to
discovering intimacy through autonomy
and healthy boundaries
• Spirituality—Learning to have faith, despite
the horrors of childhood and life traumas
• Pleasure—Moving beyond the selfish,
hedonistic, or addictive, to giving pleasure
its rightful place in a fulfilling life
Recommended reading: Hunt & PaineGernée, Emotional Healing and Secrets to Tell,
Secrets to Keep.
Aminah Raheem
Process Acupressure (PA) is a body/mind/
soul integrative modality designed to further
health, well-being, and soul-centered development. Hands-on work—a blend of traditional
acupressure and Zero Balancing—is applied to
the fully-clothed body to help strengthen,
release, and balance the body’s energy systems, meridian pathways, and energy centers
(chakras). Psychospiritual process skills are
used to facilitate more awareness of the body,
its needs, and its direct relationship to emotions, thought processes, and spiritual development. This combination of bodywork and
conscious processing helps people to reclaim
their power and purpose.
The PA body-balancing protocol is learned
through hands-on practice. The psychospiritual process skills are learned through dyad
and triad exercises. Bodywork and processing
are then combined.
Process Acupressure can be used with clients,
with family, or on oneself to promote personal or relationship growth. It is helpful for
health-care professionals, particularly bodyworkers who want to learn more about processing psychological material, and for psychological helpers who want to learn more
about the body. It is also valuable for anyone
who wants to learn more about health care
and integrative development.
Recommended reading: Raheem, Soul Return;
Mindell, Working with the Dreaming Body.
Zen and the Creative Arts
David Streeter
David writes: “In the magical setting of the
Esalen Arts Center, we will practice Zen-style
ink painting and poetry. We will also learn
and practice Chi Gung movements for centering, strength, and health. By learning the philosophy that forms the basis of all the Zen
arts, each student will be able to produce
unique and original works of art. Some of
these works will be collected and arranged in
a leather hand-bound book to take home. Our
creative abilities will be inspired by our powerful movement and meditation practice.”
The only requirements for this course are a
deep love of nature and a spirit of aliveness.
Recommended reading: Streeter, Journal of a
Zen Mountain Dweller and The Tao Te Ching: A
Zen Poet’s View.
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
Process Acupressure:
A Gateway to the Soul
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Weekend of November 1–3
40th Anniversary Event—
Celebrating Esalen’s Future
This weekend will be a special benefit gathering of
Esalen friends and supporters, in honor of Esalen’s
40 years of transformative vision and impact, and
in celebration of the gala opening of Esalen’s new
baths. The inauguration of this landmark facility
marks the completion of the first phase of Esalen’s
Campaign for the Future. For information please
call Julie Block, 415-884-4310.
November 3–10
Continuum: Frontiers of Movement
Emilie Conrad
Since 1967 Emilie Conrad has taught that as
humans we are fundamentally an expression
of an emergent planetary process. Our bodies
are a continuum of a boundless intelligence
that permeates every cell, every nerve fiber,
every neuron with the memory of its own
source.
“Our bodies, composed mostly of fluids, form
a resonating chamber where all fluid systems—oceanic, amniotic, cerebro-spinal,
blood, and flowing rivers—are one. Unity prevails. Entering into nuanced movement
worlds, both internal and external, allows us
to grow in new directions. Unity provides us
with an abundance of opportunities that cannot be accessed in states of fragmentation or
alienation.
“Movement becomes information, providing
new sources for nourishment. Our ability to
receive and utilize new insights brings forth a
mutable adaptability that invigorates the flow
of ongoing life processes. We enter our destiny as open creative systems liberating the
world around us and all those we touch.”
Please note: Prior Continuum experience is
required. Before applying to Esalen, please contact the Continuum Studio at 310-453-4402 for
approval regarding level of experience.
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DANIEL BIANCHETTA
“Continuum workshops create contexts for
new interactions to take place,” writes Conrad.
“Aspects of our functioning can flower as we
enter into our biological domains and experience our planetary origins teeming with
potential. Continuum teaches the primacy of
the fluid system. Much like embryogenesis,
there is an inherent capacity of our organism
to unfold its own future.
Week of November 3–8
Citizen Diplomacy, Relationship
Building, and Current RussianAmerican Issues
The Russian-American Center’s
Annual Conference
Joseph Montville, Dulce Murphy, Michael
Murphy & Victor Erofeyev
The Russian-American Center addresses
problems and opportunities shared by the
peoples of Russia and the United States. It
does this by promoting interaction between
governmental and nongovernmental organizations, and between individuals of the two
countries. This project was started in 1980 as
the Esalen Institute Soviet-American
Exchange Program, which promoted the con-
cept of citizen diplomacy. Citizen, or Track II,
diplomacy was named at one of our early conferences by Joseph Montville, one of this
workshop’s leaders, who is a principal theorist
of conflict resolution in foreign affairs.
This conference/workshop will focus on citizen diplomacy and the nature of the RussianAmerican relationship. Some of its participants will be early pioneers in the field who,
with Russians and Americans from TRAC’s
board of directors, will explore the relationships people from the United States and the
former USSR have built together over the
years. They will also address current problems
in Russia, Muslim Asia, and the Middle East.
One need not be directly involved in citizen
diplomacy to attend this workshop. The
atmosphere will be relaxed and provide everyone in attendance an opportunity to interact
with the leaders.
If you are interested, contact Dulce Murphy at
415-563-4731, [email protected], or write to The
Russian-American Center, 2670 Leavenworth
Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
The Transformational Enneagram:
Mindfulness, Insight, and Experience
Russ Hudson
A growing number of people are aware of the
Enneagram as an accurate and profound map
of personality. The nine Enneagram types are
based on the three primary centers of intelligence: thinking, emotion, and instinct.
However, in almost all human beings, distortions or blockages in these centers have led to
a loss of connection with our essential nature
and to the arising of ego structures to compensate for this loss. Thus, while our
Enneagram type usually obscures our true
nature with a characteristic web of defenses, it
can also serve as an opening to the deeper
reality of spirit.
This workshop will combine psychological
insight into the inner workings of the types
with meditation practices and exercises to
lead participants toward a more direct experience of qualities of essence such as presence,
clarity, compassion, and joy. Instruction will
be combined with group meditations, smallgroup work, physical movements, and music
so that participants can more fully integrate
the richness of the Enneagram material into
their daily work and relationships.
Recommended reading: Riso & Hudson, The
Wisdom of the Enneagram; Personality Types
(Revised Edition, 1996); Understanding the
Enneagram (Revised Edition, 2000).
Nada Yoga: The World is Sound—
The Path of Ecstatic Devotion
Bhagavan Das
In this workshop Bhagavan Das introduces
Nada Yoga, an exploration into devotional
music and the landscape of consciousness.
The Nada is the sound current of our life
force. Nada Yoga is Union with that Sound.
Participants will learn ancient Sanskrit
mantras that have been used for thousands of
years for healing through sound, intoning,
and chanting. “We will explore and discover
the special natural voice that is within each of
us,” writes Bhagavan Das. “Repeatedly singing
and chanting the divine mantras creates a
heightened ecstasy that leaves the mind
behind and brings pure stillness of the heart.”
Participants will be guided on a journey
through the energy centers running along the
spine known as chakras. Each chakra corresponds to a certain sound, color, form, emotion, and overall vibration. Concentrated
chanting, breathing, and visualization will
reawaken the Nada in these Divine centers.
Adds Bhagavan Das, “We will chant to the
experience of the white Goddess, Saraswati,
the mother of Sound and the teacher of the
musical form.”
Nada Yoga is a powerful and direct practice
which relieves impediments in the energy
system and stills the mind. No previous experience is necessary.
Conquer Your Critical Inner Voice
Lisa Firestone & Joyce Catlett
Char Pias & C. Jay Bradbury
This workshop offers you the opportunity to
realize your innate talent in the art of Esalen
Massage. Instruction will be presented
through hands-on demonstrations, one-onone guidance, and plenty of practice time. The
workshop will focus on developing the inner
state of healing consciousness from which to
make contact. There will be discussion and
modeling of appropriate physical and emotional boundaries.
This workshop is suitable for beginners as
well as for those with experience in somatic
practices.
Are you living the life you were destined to
live or are you living someone else’s life? Are
your actions based on what you really feel and
believe or on negative programming from
your past? This course, based on the work of
Dr. Robert W. Firestone, can help you counter
negative thinking and live free from imagined limitations.
Dr. Lisa Firestone and Joyce Catlett, coauthors
of Conquer Your Critical Inner Voice, challenge
your customary ways of thinking about yourself, your relationships, and your career. The
goal: to expand your boundaries and achieve
more fulfillment in life. Through videotapes,
interactive discussions, and various exercises,
the presenters illustrate topics vital to an
emotionally healthy existence:
• How do guilt and shame affect us in our
everyday lives? How do negative thoughts
about ourselves keep shame and guilt alive?
• How do destructive thoughts and attitudes
undermine our efforts to achieve our full
potential in our work lives?
• How does the inner voice interfere with
intimacy and closeness in our
relationships? Why does sex seem to
become unexciting or routine for many
couples after marriage?
• How can people challenge the destructive
thoughts or voices that influence addictive
behavior and break free of these patterns?
• How can we deal effectively with negative
thinking that leads to a destructive spiral of
depression and hopelessness?
This workshop is also useful for mental
health professionals working with individuals, couples, or families.
Conscious Camerawork: Photography
and the Practice of Mindfulness
Jerry Wolfe
Zen and Vipassana meditation provide a
means of letting go of the thoughts, feelings,
and desires that shape how we perceive and
experience the world. Without the grasping,
labeling mind, our attention—and our photographic awareness—expands to include the
inexhaustible possibilities of the present
moment.
As our meditation practice grows stronger, it
infuses every aspect of conscious life.
Practicing mindfulness transforms our camerawork, as we shed preconceptions about
good/bad, attraction/repulsion, beautiful/ugly,
subject/object, bringing us to the selfless revelation of things-as-they-are. The resulting
photographs, as reflections of inner states of
being, can in turn become objects for meditation.
Conscious camerawork can itself become a
path of meditation and transformation.
Camerawork, in this sense, ceases to be about
capturing images and reaching goals, instead
becoming the focus of our spiritual path. This
workshop will include the following:
• Instruction in mindfulness meditation,
including exercises to help empty the mind
and expand consciousness
• A short history of mindfulness/spirituality
in photography
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• Recognizing and letting go of obstacles to
mindfulness and conscious camerawork
• Feedback on students’ work
Love Yourself—
For Everyone Else’s Sake
Mark Abramson
This workshop offers an experience of two
trainings taught at Stanford University
Medical Center. As director of Stanford’s
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction
Program, Dr. Mark Abramson has modeled
his work after Jon Kabat-Zinn’s program (featured on Bill Moyers’ PBS series “Healing and
the Mind” ).
He has also established a new program at
Stanford called “Love Yourself—For Everyone
Else’s Sake.” This course focuses on the wisdom of self-love and kindness, directly challenging the confusion surrounding the issue
of self-love. Self-love is the most altruistic of
all practices. When you are free to be kind
and loving to yourself, the world and all the
people in your life are touched.
Incorporating the latest research on
mind/body medicine, the workshop introduces practices that create a profound physiological well-being, plus the heartfulness to
transform emotional states and unleash the
great potential for deep healing of the body.
The goal is to learn how to use the awareness
and mindfulness practices to experience your
own love in a peaceful, healthy body.
“This work,” Dr. Abramson writes, “has been
shown to create an increasing experience of
gentleness, kindness, and respect for oneself
and others.” While the practices are especially
helpful for people experiencing emotional or
physical concerns, the universality of the experience makes this program valuable for all.
Shamanic Healing
Carlos Sauer
The shaman moves between realities, a magical
athlete of states of consciousness engaged in mythic
feats. The shaman is a middle man between ordinary and non-ordinary reality... The shaman is
also a “power-broker” in the sense of manipulating
spiritual power to help people, to put them into a
healthy equilibrium.
— Michael Harner
Shamanic Healing is intuitive energy work
that integrates different healing practices.
Carlos Sauer's background in Brazilian
34
Spiritism gave him extensive knowledge and
practice in working with the spiritual world.
From Native American ways, he learned the
use of herbs, instruments (drums, rattles,
feathers), and methods of releasing energy
blockages. He is also influenced by the
Spiritual Massage process, used along with
healing practices from the Spiritist tradition
that have been passed down through generations in Carlos’ family of healers. This gathering of experience results in a method that can
be a useful tool for individuals experiencing
emotional, mental, or spiritual hardship. It
helps to bring a sense of peace and centering
and facilitates reconnection with the power
and wisdom of the life force within.
In this workshop, the group will have an
opportunity to experience this method and
learn its practices. The workshop is designed
for those who already have some knowledge
or great interest in working with healing.
November 10–17
Your Life Cannot Be Any Easier
Than Your Movements: Cortical Field
Reeducation® and the Feldenkrais
Method®
Harriet Goslins & Sybil Krauter
How we sit, stand, move, or respond to contact with others reflects patterns wired into
our nervous systems by infancy. By early
childhood, conflicting intentions distort
these patterns. Feeling powerless, we attempt
to survive and to win love by figuring out “big
people’s rules.” The resulting strategies may
protect us as children but, deeply ingrained in
our muscular postures and movements, they
imprison us as adults and limit our choices.
They remain outside of awareness, causing
discomfort and limitation.
By reeducating the brain-muscle-emotion
connection, restrictions in movement can be
released, freeing lifelong behaviors that have
organized around that movement, restoring
freedom of choice. The protective postures
are altered, deeply affecting the body’s habitual defense system and allowing a higher level
of energy.
This workshop is a relearning of the ease, fluidity, and openness taken for granted as a
child and lost somewhere along the way. It is
for the sedentary; for the active who want to
increase physical skills and reduce risk of
injury; for those dealing with aftereffects of
injury or emotional trauma, and the profes-
sionals who work with them; for the chronically tired and stressed who want to take better care of their necks, shoulders, and backs;
and for those who want to improve their posture, flexibility, and breathing while deepening their sense of connection and belonging.
Taking Flight: Developing Vocal Magic
Rhiannon
Are you a singer seeking to let go of the
“known” and discover a more spontaneous
musical expression? Rhiannon’s workshops
are designed to help students discover the
skill behind the magic of improvisation.
Taking Flight is for intermediate singers who
have developed basic skills in rhythm and
pitch and are comfortable singing in a group
setting. Working alone, in pairs, and in
ensemble, singers delve deeper into the possibilities of spontaneously composed music,
strengthening their skills in rhythm, vocal
technique, body integration, harmony, and ear
training. Improvisation exercises put these
tools into context, encouraging deep listening,
musical awareness, and expanded creativity.
Sessions are often conducted in an a cappella
circle, reinforcing group dynamics, full presence, and allowing the group to create vocal
grooves and interlocking parts as a foundation for soloing. This demonstrates to the
singers that they can be the bottom line of the
rhythm and form of the music. Students will
also experiment with words, personal scat language, movement, and a variety of other innovative exercises that allow for greater levels of
freedom, joy, and unselfconscious expression.
Restoring Fun
Bernie DeKoven
“When events in our personal lives, or in the
world, leave us shocked or afraid or traumatized,” writes Bernie DeKoven, “fun is usually
the last thing we think about. In this five-day
journey, fun is the first thing we’ll be thinking
about. The sense of fun. The spirit of fun. Fun
and self. Fun and community.
“Join us in an in-depth exploration of the fun
side of healing and the healing side of fun.
Practice ‘Deep Fun,’ a conscious fun that helps
you become more aware of the fun you’re having when you’re having fun with other peo-
However, once you have simultaneously experienced the internal feeling of self and attunement with your partner—and have seen what
gets in the way—you will know how you got
there and how to achieve it again and again.
Designed as a preventive model, this workshop can help you uncover the key undermining themes in your relationship and provide tools to deal with them before they
become terminal problems. It will also provide tools for experiencing heightened aliveness, sustaining a sense of self in the body,
and making sex better.
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
Please note: This workshop is for couples only.
Recommended reading: Rosenberg & Morse,
The Intimate Couple; Rosenberg, Rand & Asay,
Body, Self, and Soul; Rosenberg, Total Orgasm.
ple. By playing games too funny to take seriously, you learn how to take seriously the
healing powers of fun.
“Since you’ll be laughing, you’ll be healing
yourself. Since you’ll be laughing with other
people, you’ll be helping to heal those around
you, and they, by their laughter, will be helping to heal you. Since you’ll be talking about
the depths of fun with other people, you’ll be
teaching each other how to give this gift of
healing fun back to your families, your communities, and your world.”
Adds Bernie: “In the pursuit of fun, some of
us might get more physical or intimate or
silly than others might want to be. This is
why we hold ‘Quitting Practice’ first. Playing
is always optional. That’s the whole point!”
This class is recommended for people in the
helping professions, as professionals or as loving amateurs.
she learned Spiritual Massage from Brazilian
healer Luiz Gasparetto.
This workshop presents practical methods for
using the hands as instruments of physical
and spiritual healing. Incorporating hands-on
and energetic work, it emphasizes intentionality as the fundamental tool of any healing
art for moving energy. The course includes
exercises for grounding and attuning to energy as well as Afro-Brazilian shamanic practices for self-protection. Emotional release
work and group process will be integrated as
they emerge.
This work is accessible to anyone—nurses,
bodyworkers, businessmen, therapists, and all
those interested in working with energy and
people’s bodies.
The Intimate Couple: An Integrative
Body Psychotherapy (IBP) Workshop
Spiritual Massage: Lightbody Infusion
Jack Rosenberg & Beverly Kitaen Morse
Maria Lucia Sauer Holloman
Trust, love, erotic sexuality, and a core experience of self are the building blocks for a vital
relationship. Yet, unless our bodies are awakened, these essential qualities remain elusive
ideas rather than familiar body feelings.
Furthermore, until we recognize the themes
that distort our views, cause our prejudgments, and perpetuate old defensive patterns,
it is difficult to trust or be trusted. For a relationship that works well, we must have practical body-mind tools and know ourselves in
order to resolve life’s inevitable dilemmas.
Spiritual Massage is a hands-on healing practice that works directly on the energy body,
balancing the chakras, cleansing old thought
forms, and gently facilitating release of emotional, physical, and spiritual blockages, allowing for infusion by the Lightbody.
Born into a family of healers with a generations-old tradition, Maria Lucia studied with
healers in her native Brazil, where Spiritism—
receiving healing knowledge from the spirit
world—is familiar to much of the population.
In 1979 she came to Esalen and was sponsored by Esalen cofounder Dick Price while
Most couples want an equal and reciprocal
relationship, but few know how to accomplish this attunement of partnership.
The Mythic Heart
Phil Cousineau & Will Evans
“Never hide your heart,” advised the Sufi poet
Rumi. “God wants the heart,” says the Talmud.
Van Morrison sings about how the passionate
life begins only “When the Heart is Open.”
Throughout history the heart has been credited with being more than an organ that pumps
blood. It has been endowed with spiritual
meaning and mystical powers, described as
the center for feeling, emotion, and the will,
and as the source of love. Psychologists heal it,
doctors care for it, poets rhapsodize about it.
It is literally and symbolically at the center of
our existence.
This workshop features the collaboration of
mythologist/filmmaker Phil Cousineau and
physician/author Will Evans as they explore
the labyrinthine meanings of this vital organ
and rich metaphor. The workshop will be
pose the following questions:
• What is your personal mythology of the
heart—images, ideas, and stories? How does
it fit in with cultural notions?
• What does it mean to “walk the path with
heart?”
• What does it take to heal a broken heart?
• What is the relationship between heart and
soul?
• How can we bring the heart back into the
workplace?
Using stories and images ranging from Native
American lore to Egyptian and Greek mythology, troubadour poetry to Hollywood movies
35
and blues songs, as well as relaxation practices, awareness rituals, and medical anecdotes, the leaders will explore the spiritual,
psychological, and physical meanings of the
heart. Participants are encouraged to bring
favorite songs, stories, artwork, and poems.
In this workshop, participants will be guided
through exercises that focus on judgments
and characterizations, with emphasis on how
these distorted perceptions affect us and
interfere with our relationships. This experience will be preparation for a powerful forgiveness exercise designed to facilitate letting
go, allowing more joy and light into our lives.
Forgiveness: Healing Relationships
Julie Bowden
We’ve all had times of difficulty or misunderstanding with people we know. As a
result, we may have developed negative
thoughts and feelings about them that replay
in our minds like a continuous tape. When
this tape gets loud enough, it can distract us
from our true goals and dreams by drowning
out the still, loving, creative voice of our
inner heart.
Stephen Sideroff & Michael Sinel
There are many physical and emotional holding patterns and habitual behaviors that come
into being as psychological defenses or reactions to emotional pain. These patterns, along
with stress, result in musculoskeletal tension
and autonomic nervous system imbalance.
This, in turn, causes or exacerbates physical
symptoms and interferes with healing and
the body’s optimal functioning.
Pain can also be maintained unconsciously as
a distraction from emotional issues (referred
to as Tension Myositis Syndrome by Dr. John
Sarno in his book Mind Over Back Pain). By
addressing the underlying issues and coping
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
The purpose of this seminar is to learn to
identify and go beyond the judgments you
have about other people. When you do this,
you can break away from your own self-limiting attitudes. The result is a sense of freedom
and renewed energy: you’ve given yourself
breathing room to make your own goals and
dreams a reality. Forgiveness creates a grateful heart.
The Mind/Body Connection and
Chronic Pain: Techniques for
Relieving the Experience of Pain
36
better with stress, the body is able to let go
more readily. This improves blood flow,
effects biochemical balance, and reduces
physical pain.
This workshop is designed to help you recognize and release emotional and physical tension patterns and learn more appropriate
responses to your internal and external environment. The format combines lecture and
discussion with experiential work to facilitate
self-awareness, emotional release, and body
self-regulation. Topics include:
• The connection between emotions, stress,
and physical symptoms including pain
• Identifying and resolving emotional
holding patterns
• Coping with stress and correcting the
chronic imbalance of your nervous system
• Redesigning your body’s “fight or flight”
response
• Dealing with anger and depression
• Destructive patterns such as perfectionism,
obsessiveness, and addictions
• Creating your personal healing program
CE credit for psychologists pending; see page 71.
User Friendly Yoga: East-West
Wisdom for High-Stress Professionals
Larry Payne
Yoga can be offered to fit the needs of the
individual based on age, physical ability, profession, environment, mental state, and
lifestyle. User Friendly Yoga was designed for
high-stress professionals in the 35-65 age
group, known as “Middle Essence.” The
emphasis is on breath and movement, function over form, movement of the spine, and
sustaining optimal health. This form of yoga
is inspired by the teachings of Yoga Master
T.K.V. Desikachar of India and was first
offered to over 2000 world leaders at the
World Economic Forum 2000 in Davos,
Switzerland. This course will include:
• Safe, effective yoga programs with special
consideration for problem backs and necks
• Highly effective stress reduction and
meditation methods
• Partner yoga
• Biomechanical reeducation
• Healthy lifestyle tools
• Experiential hiking and walking practices
Please note: This workshop is not recommended for acute back problems. For more information call 1-800-359-0171 or check the website at www.samata.com.
November 17–December 15
28-Day Massage Practitioner
Certification Program
Ellen Watson & Vicki Topp
For workshop description see Special Programs,
page 74.
Crossing the Chasm from Theater
into Life: A Forum in Improvisation
Alan Arkin
A veteran star of stage, screen, and television,
Alan Arkin is also a founding member of the
famed Second City improvisational troupe,
where a performing-arts method now used by
acting programs nationwide was initially
developed. This workshop is an invitation to
anyone who wants to experiment, share, play,
and grow while practicing the spontaneous
art of improvisational theater. “It’s not about
being clever, or even funny,” Arkin says. “It’s
about making deeper contact with your creative force, surprising yourself, being creative
in the broadest sense of the word.”
Actors and lovers of theater, as well as people
new to the acting experience, are welcome.
Much of the work includes opening and
responding to the creativity of other group
members. A relaxed, supportive atmosphere
will provide the freedom to explore a wide
range of exercises and emotions.
Arkin’s illustrious thirty-year career includes
the distinction of being one of only five actors
to receive an Academy Award nomination for
Best Actor for his first screen appearance. He
was twice nominated for an Oscar, for The
Heart Is a Lonely Hunter and The Russians are
Coming! The Russians are Coming!
Recommended reading: Goldberg, Writing
Down the Bones.
Soul Search: Embracing Our Spirit
Richard Balaban & Julie Bowden
The leaders write: “Childhood has a way of
disconnecting our true self, the self that is
deeply connected to our soul. Growing up—
even in a ‘normal’ family, much less one with
trauma, abuse, or neglect—conspires to create
a system of defenses to protect us from future
pain. These defenses become a barrier from
our true feelings and awareness. We are cut
off from our own sense of spirit—that spirit
which allows us our deepest pleasure, our
clearest awareness, and our most profound
access to ourselves and a higher power.
“This workshop is designed for individuals
who desire to move beyond pain, trauma,
numbness, or meaninglessness. In our soul
search, we learn to embrace the spirit within
us which enables growth, well-being, and
emotional health. We learn to listen to ourselves and receive guidance from this reconnected spirit. This allows us to navigate with
intention and awareness through life’s joys as
well as challenges.
“Using experiential exercises, imagery, writing, dialogue, and introspection in a safe (and
drug-free) environment, we will co-create a
journey to acknowledge and nurture our
inner voice, explore our strengths, enhance
our relationships, and enliven our spirit.
Therapists will learn techniques for use in
their own practices.”
Drawing and Painting:
A Five-Day Intensive
Leigh Hyams
It is the act of making marks that develops one’s
understanding of visual language and the creative
process. This, in turn, leads to the heart of art—
and a richer, fuller life.
The ability to draw and paint lives in everyone. Artist Leigh Hyams helps inexperienced
beginners curious about the creative process
to swiftly release their own creativity, and
leads experienced artists into deepening and
expanding the scope of their work and their
understanding of art.
Students will work with a variety of media
inside and outside the studio. They will be
challenged to express in visual terms their
responses to dreams, philosophical ideas,
poetry, music, and Esalen’s natural beauty.
Demonstrations, critiques, and conversations
on art, integral to the course, will serve to
sharpen perception and encourage openness
to change. Participants will leave with fresh
eyes, a full sketchbook, and a dozen new
paintings.
Experience in the arts is not necessary.
Photographing the Seasons of Big Sur
Cynthia & Daniel Bianchetta
Big Sur abounds with natural beauty in every
season. It is a land where the waves of the
Pacific caress the rugged California coastline,
where the sun and the fog perform their
perennial dance through magical redwood
forests and over grassy slopes.
Participants will contemplate with a camera
the beauty of Big Sur. On Friday night the
group will meet to prepare for Saturday’s photographic excursion by invoking the use of
photography as a tool for meditation, healing,
self-growth, and spiritual connection.
Saturday will be a time for connecting with
Big Sur in its autumn attire: the redwoods, the
sunsets, the misty panoramas. On Sunday
morning, thanks to the miracle of overnight
film processing, the group will gather to share
its creativity together.
No experience is necessary and all levels are
welcome. Please bring a 35mm camera you
are familiar with, your favorite print film, a
journal, and any existing photos you want to
share with the group.
($12-per-roll fee for overnight film processing)
37
graphed for her own dance company, and collaborated with the likes of Bobby McFerrin,
Tim Burton, and Frank Zappa.
Individual and group critiques will be an integral part of the workshop, as emphasis will be
on sharpening perception and understanding
the flexibility and depth of visual language.
The Heart of the Story:
A Writing Workshop
Participants will leave with interesting paintings and drawings and new space inside
themselves. Previous experience in the arts is
not necessary.
Experiencing Esalen
For workshop description see September
27-29.
Lynne Kaufman
Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth.
If Kafka Had Prozac: New Stories for
Healing the Artist Within
Michael Rehm
Traditional psychology and psychotherapy
have not provided an adequate foundation for
understanding creative development
throughout life, nor the nature of the “creative
self ” in general. In fact, the prevalent models
of psychotherapy emphasizing pathology and
the removal of symptoms are so much a part
of our social consciousness, vocabulary, and
standards of evaluation that they are taken for
granted as the norm.
This workshop provides a basis for understanding the role of symptoms, dimensions of
healing, and artistic/creative expression as
these relate to the creative rather than psychological self. Through lecture, discussion, selfreflection, and exercises, participants will
explore their own creative life-stories and
those of several artists, contrasting psychological and pathology-oriented models with a
life-story approach founded on creativity,
innovation, and vision.
We all have important stories and insights to
share. Too often, however, we don’t know how
to shape them, how to get them on paper.
In this workshop you choose a compelling
incident from your life and learn how to
transform it into a moving and universal narrative. You learn how to recognize and nourish the heart of the story, how to choose the
telling detail, how to build structure and
meaning. In each session you write not exercises and fragments, but a section of your
ongoing story, read it aloud, and receive honest and supportive responses. You practice the
sacred rule of storytelling: arousing in the listener the one great question, What Happens
Next? By Sunday noon, you experience the
pleasure of having written your own complete short story and having participated in
the creation of a number of others.
“This workshop brings mind into body, body
into mind, and joy into both,” Tandy Beal
writes. “The playing field for our explorations
is made up of movement and imagination.
You need not be skilled—or even confident—
about moving or creating in order to rediscover your sense of wonder and fun. The tools we
use will be drawn from my life in dance, circus, theater, and teaching—and from your life
in the world.
“Our watchword this weekend: ‘Only connect.’ We’ll do so with ourselves and others
through movement, stories, and music. We
each hold a piece of the truth. Come put the
puzzle together in a new and wonderful way!”
Tandy Beal has spent thirty years in dance,
theater, circus, and film. She has written for
and directed the Moscow Circus, choreo38
The Graduate MAX
Paula Shaw
If it’s been a while since you’ve taken the
MAX and you’d like to challenge yourself
again in that “special” way, welcome to the
Graduate MAX. This is an opportunity for
you to play one hundred percent, supported
by a community of individuals who have
been there before. Such a degree of commitment serves to up the ante with the kind of
support and safety that can catapult your selfexpression into new realms. You will be
encouraged to demonstrate higher levels of
self-generation and leadership—of your own
work and the work of others.
Come play hardball with the pros. Enrollment
is limited to those have taken the MAX, at
Esalen or elsewhere. As always, attendance at
all sessions is required and late hours are likely.
Prerequisite: A 2-4 minute memorized performance piece composed by you for this workshop. Come prepared to take on the assignment you secretly prayed you’d never be given
(and bring the paraphernalia).
Drawing and Painting:
A Seven-Day Intensive
Tandy Beal
This workshop is for writers of all levels of
experience who wish to understand and communicate the stories of their lives through the
lens of art.
A Crazy Way of Praying: Imagination,
Presence, and Joy
— Pablo Picasso
Leigh Hyams
Healing from Trauma
Many adults, whether experienced or inexperienced in the arts, feel a need for expansion, a
necessity to open themselves to new ideas
and attitudes as artists and human beings.
They feel blocked, unable to work from their
real centers. This workshop is focused on
helping participants “lose control,” to discover
new areas of themselves to explore in paint,
charcoal, inks, and less orthodox materials.
Carolyn Braddock
Suggestions for unusual subject matter, new
drawing and painting techniques, and adventurous teaching will challenge limited concepts of art-making. This will keep students
off balance, away from the facility and limitation of learned skills, making it possible for
fresh things to happen on the paper’s surface,
and opening possibilities for future work.
Healing does not have to be a struggle—healing can be gentle, sensitive, friendly. In an
atmosphere of safety and support, this intensive explores the belief systems of the trauma
survivor’s body, mind, and spirit (whether the
trauma be sexual, emotional, physical, bodyimage, or due to accident, illness, or surgery),
and offers innovative and creative possibilities for healing.
The focus is on body-oriented healing. The
workshop presents ways to move through
body memories, flashbacks, and dissociation,
to identify and release old patterns, to recognize addictions, and to make healthy new
choices. Breath, sound, and selected centering
and martial-arts techniques will be utilized to
assist participants in expressing their voice,
the source of their power.
The workshop will introduce tools for wholeness: humor, energy awareness, Gestalt, role
playing, meditation, and Tai Ji. Specific sessions will focus on sexuality, relationships,
and touch and intimacy. There will also be
video demonstrations. Individual work within the group will be possible.
To register, please complete an application
questionnaire to provide some history and
help determine what support could be available during the week. For an application, contact Carolyn Braddock at: P.O. Box 260123,
Lakewood, CO 80226-0123; phone 303-9857310, or fax 303-989-9813.
Recommended reading: Braddock, Body Voices.
The Ayurvedic Way
Leanne Backer
Weekend of November 29–
December 1
Feng Shui: The Wisdom of Wind and
Water in Everyday Living
Chungliang Al Huang
Learn to live in harmony with nature’s forces
by examining and appreciating the philosophical understanding and practical applications of the ancient Chinese wisdom of Feng
Shui. Chungliang Al Huang, who grew up in
China with Feng Shui as part of his daily
awareness and commonsense know-how, presents the essence of this wisdom-teaching.
This workshop is directed toward an ecology
of mind-body-spirit unity for optimal well-
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
Spend your Thanksgiving Week learning how
to create balance and harmony in your life.
This workshop offers you a chance to taste
the benefits of modern natural-food techniques combined with the ancient wisdom of
Ayurveda. Leanne Backer, executive chef and
educator for Deepak Chopra's Center for
Well Being, will teach Primordial Sound
Meditation, a mantra-based meditation practice, along with the practices and principles
of Ayurvedic nutrition and cuisine. You will
have the opportunity to cook up Thanksgiving
feast items and explore traditional Ayurvedic
lifestyle-techniques to enhance your general
health and well-being toward optimal levels.
being. Through the practice of Tai Ji rituals
and Five-Elements energy-inducing exercises,
Chungliang will guide you in reawakening to
your intuitive sense of knowing. There will be
discussion as well as sharing of stories about
the powerful transformations that occur in
our lives as we learn to acknowledge and
experience them more deeply.
The Courage to Be You:
Letting Go and Moving On
Mary Goldenson
Birds make great sky-circles of their freedom.
How do they learn it?
They fall, and falling, they’re given wings.
— Rumi
Much in life is beyond our control. Our
choices lie in how we respond to these
moments. We can develop the ability to move
into these moments with aliveness and passion. This choice is an act of courage.
This workshop will help you explore what
you are holding in, holding onto, and holding
back that keeps you from experiencing who
you truly are. “The courage to be you” means
the ability to appropriately express the
repressed anger, fear, resentments, sadness,
joy, and laughter that keep you stuck in old
patterns. Using emotional release work, writing, movement, Gestalt, meditation, and
silence, the workshop will provide a safe environment to explore your deepest emotions.
The focus will be on:
39
This workshop is for anyone committed to
self-study for the purpose of cultivating
greater levels of appreciation of self, of others,
and of life.
A New Myth, A New Energy
Stanley Krippner & David Feinstein
Your personal myths—beliefs and motivations
that operate largely outside your conscious
awareness—form the internal guidance system that shapes your journey through a world
of bewildering personal and social change.
The more effective your guiding mythology,
the better equipped you are to meet the challenges your life presents.
Alan Watts, maverick theologian, writer, and self-described “philosophical entertainer” in the early 1960s
• Having adult relationships with partners,
parents, and children
• Taking full responsibility for your life
• Discovering your own personal rhythm of
closeness
• Distinguishing accountability from blame
The workshop constitutes an in-depth lifereview. All that is required is a willingness to
engage wholeheartedly.
Mysore Style Ashtanga Yoga
Chuck Miller & Maty Ezraty
Ashtanga Yoga is both a system and a method.
It is a system in that it is a unified body of
knowledge. The small pieces have integrity
with the large. The parts reveal the whole as
the whole also reveals the essence. It is a
method in that there is a very specific intent.
It is clear where it is sending us.
Week of December 1–6
Being and Being With:
The Hakomi Method
Donna Martin
Using mindfulness practices and experiments
from the Hakomi Experiential Method to discover how we organize our experience, this
workshop will explore old and new ways of
being, and of being with others. Hakomi has
been called “applied Buddhism.” The meaning
of this Hopi word is “how do you stand in
relation to these many realms?”
Individually, in pairs, and in small groups,
participants will engage in exercises in mindfulness to study the organization of experience. There will be some large-group discussion and lots of gentle experiential intra- and
interpersonal experiments, along with some
guided mindfulness practices.
This class emphasizes the most exciting
recent developments in the leaders’ understanding of the personal myth. In addition to
being a psychological structure, a personal
myth is also an energy field that impacts consciousness and behavior. Drawing from the
emerging area called “energy psychology,” this
workshop will use 1) a mythically-informed
approach to engage you in deep self-exploration that results in a fresh mythic vision,
and 2) an energy-based approach to embed
this new guiding myth into your energy body
as well as your consciousness.
Using methods from a spectrum of systems,
including Jungian psychology, Gestalt, psychosynthesis, and ancient spiritual disciplines, you will be led through a sequence of
experiences designed to transform dysfunctional myths while reaching into inner
depths for visions that nourish and inspire.
Joseph Campbell often referred people to
the leaders’ workshops, and a prominent
reviewer said of their book: “Neither Carl
“Ashtanga” means “eight limbs,” and refers to
the eight limbs of Patanjali’s yoga sutras.
Ashtanga Yoga is intent upon delivering us to
the experience of the final limb, the highest
goal of yoga: Samadhi. The routine is the
same each time so there is space to move intuitively, deeper inside. We learn to create “standard practice,” self-reliance, and to go “slowly,
slowly, one-by-one” in the direction of our
intent. This can be a very safe way to progress.
The teaching is contained in the practice.
This class is for those students of Ashtanga
who already know by heart at least the Sun
Salutes and Standing Pose routine of this
method. Focus will be on hands-on adjustments and individual attention.
40
Mythologist Joseph Campbell and philosopher/writer Sam Keen in the 1970s
Jung nor Joseph Campbell showed us how
to use myth for personal and societal
growth. Feinstein and Krippner begin to
answer that question.”
Weekend of December 6–8
Introduction to Gestalt Awareness
Practice
Participants are invited to bring a journal and
to record their dreams prior to the workshop.
Christine Stewart Price
The Way, when declared
Seems so thin and flavorless.
Nothing to look at, nothing to hear—
And when used—is inexhaustible.
The I Ching Experience: The Tao of
Personal Transformation
— Lao Tzu
Chungliang Al Huang
In this ongoing series, for novices as well as
for seasoned meditators of the I Ching,
Chungliang Al Huang continues to explore
this perennial Chinese wisdom classic. He
will guide participants through the three levels (heaven-human-earth) of energy awareness and the powerful Jing (essence), Ch’i
(breath), and Shen (spirit) Chi Gong practice.
Participants will learn techniques of Tai Ji rituals, visual images of the Eight-trigrams mandala, and yin/yang Chi polarity exercises,
combined with the seven chakras of
Kundalini energy circulation.
Time will be devoted to discussion and exploration of the deeper physical and psychic
power in the universal “collective unconscious,” with its multidimensional meanings
inherent in the Chinese written symbols of
the major I Ching hexagrams. Special focus
will be on learning to apply these insights to
assist in day-to-day choice-making.
For additional information see Special
Programs, page 74.
Chanting the Chakras:
The Roots of Awakening
Layne Redmond
The ancient Yogic discipline of chanting the
mantras of the chakras is a powerful practice
for using sound to heal and rebalance the
mind and body. This meditation focuses on
the chakras, the seven dimensions of consciousness within the body, and consists of
chanting the fifty seed syllables of Sanskrit,
the ancient language of India. Each syllable
sits on a petal of one of the chakras and
vibrates a specific part of the body (the
mouth, the heart, right ankle, etc.). Each petal
syllable is chanted, starting at the base of the
spine and rising to the sixth chakra in the
center of the head. The workshop will present
two other traditional practices: chanting the
thousand petals of the crown chakra, and the
practice of chanting the overall seed sound
for each chakra.
Longtime Esalen archivist Paul Herbert, Esalen’s oldest
community member, in 1968
The euphoric chanting of these mantras, gentle yoga postures, and pranayama breathing
practices will be accompanied by powerful,
energizing drumming. Participants will be
instructed in the use of gongs, Tibetan bowls,
and bells to accompany the chanting. Please
bring these instruments if you have them.
Painting In the Landscape
Gestalt Awareness Practice is a form—nonanalytic, noncoercive, nonjudgmental—derived
from the work of Fritz Perls, influenced by
Buddhist practice, and evolved by Richard
and Christine Price. The work integrates ways
of personal clearing and development that are
both ancient and modern. To the extent that
awareness is made primary relative to action,
Gestalt Awareness Practice has a strong relationship to some forms of meditation. This
form is similar to some Reichian work as well,
in that emotional and energetic release and
rebalancing are allowed and encouraged.
Adam Wolpert
Throughout history artists have turned to
nature for inspiration. The spectacular beauty
of Esalen, with its radiant gardens, flowing
waters, and rugged coastline, provides the perfect setting to practice this age-old human
endeavor. Through hands-on practice, exercises in contemplative seeing, demonstrations,
lectures, and group critiques, participants will
learn how to paint in the landscape.
The bulk of each day will be devoted to painting (outdoors, weather permitting) rapid
watercolor sketches and more developed
small oil paintings. Instruction in setting up a
palette, using mediums, mixing colors, and
brushwork will be balanced with slide presentations on visual theory, composition, and
special issues in landscape painting.
Painting out-of-doors is a profound experience. Faced with nature’s dynamic forces, we
are challenged to develop visual sensitivity,
flexibility, and resilience. Out in the living
landscape, we come into a deeper relationship
with the wind and sun, the moving shadows,
the glimmering ocean—and ourselves.
Bring a good hat and walking shoes, layers for
warmth, and skin protection. Also bring a
portable easel if you have one, as well as examples of your past work if you have any slides
or a portfolio to share with the group.
Adam Wolpert’s work can be viewed at
www.adamwolpert.com.
The emphasis is intrapersonal rather than
interpersonal. Participants are not patients but
persons actively consenting to explore in
awareness. The leader functions to reflect,
clarify, and respect whatever emerges in this
process. The aim is unfoldment, wholeness,
and growth, rather than adjustment, cure, or
accomplishment. The workshop will utilize
group exercises, meditations, and discussion.
Open seat work may be demonstrated.
Recommended reading: Perls, Gestalt Therapy
Verbatim; Chodron, The Wisdom of No Escape.
Beyond Race, Beyond Place:
Sabbath Peace and Transcendence
Rabbi Irwin Kula & Douglas Rushkoff
For many of us who call ourselves “Jews” and
many of us who don’t, Judaism has seemed
like a closed club. Our feelings about this religion, and its people, are mired in pain, guilt,
duty, and ethnic myths. Judaism evokes
diverse yet often uneasy responses in Jew and
non-Jew alike, from memories of exclusivity
and pride to those of persecution and shame.
Can we instead imagine using Judaism as a
“way,” a path toward spiritual insight and a
greater sense of connectedness to existence
and one another? Are we prepared to experience Judaism as a set of paths open to anyone,
whether or not they consider themselves
“Jewish” at all?
41
Using the occasion of Shabbat as its organizing metaphor, this workshop will explore the
possibilities that Jewish practice offers for an
open, inclusive, joyous, spiritually aware, sensual, and loving experience of life. Participants
will engage very consciously in ritual, intellectual discovery, physical practice, and meditation in this experiential and conversational
exposure to Jewish texts, traditions, and spiritual tools.
The workshop is appropriate for Jews and nonJews, at all levels of experience and learning.
Through the Looking Glass:
Living with Breast Cancer
Shelley Brown & Bill Benda
I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my
days, to allow my living to open to me, to make me
less afraid, more accessible; to loosen my heart until
it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise...
— Dawna Markova
One of the most difficult illnesses of our culture is cancer of the breast. It affects women
(and one percent of men) of all ages and
socioeconomic and cultural traditions. Breast
cancer presents physical, psychological, and
emotional challenges different from any
other disease process. Images of disfigurement, loss of self-worth, apprehension for
those we care for, and fear of death weave a
common thread through all who receive this
diagnosis. Often the medical establishment
fails to make any commitment to foster the
essentials necessary for genuine healing. The
frustration and hostility within the current
system may escalate to a degree that interferes
with the possibility for remission and cure .
In this workshop, two physicians experienced
in dealing with these issues will facilitate discussion, meditation, and experiential practices created to open the door for your own
empowering healing. This is an opportunity
to join with others who have also encountered the experience of breast cancer—in an
atmosphere of restoration, safety, and support.
Powerfully Presenting Yourself
Paula Shaw
Why are some people so cogent and inspiring
when they speak? What holds you back from
delivering your message? Surveys show that
people are more afraid of public speaking
than of death. This workshop will explore
your inhibitions to self-expression and com42
Janet Lederman, founder of Gazebo
munication and help you to move beyond
them, creating more freedom in both your
personal and professional life. It is designed
for people who want to develop a more powerful presentation as well as better communication skills in all areas of their lives.
In an environment of safety and support, you
will have the opportunity to experiment with
presenting yourself in front of various-sized
groups, using your voice, body, and emotional
power. There will be in-depth individual and
group exercises designed to free you from
past blocks to speaking publicly.
Up-front courage, passion, and clarity need
not be restricted to rare moments in life. This
process can help bring to life the eloquent
speaker of your fantasies. You can learn to
express yourself more fully and experience
the satisfaction of being more authentic, effective, and self-assured.
Chanting, rhythmic breathing, and drumming are elements of an archaic technology
that directly synchronizes the mind/body
complex, creating conditions for psychological and physical healing. This retreat is
designed to introduce women to these healing rhythmic practices of the frame drum.
Participants will learn the basic sounds of the
frame drum as well as how to organize them
into powerful rhythms. Sound is power, and
rhythm a means of organizing that power
into specific energy formulas to heal the
mind and body.
Please note: This workshop is for women only.
No prior musical experience is necessary and
appropriate frame drums will be provided.
Recommended reading: Redmond, When the
Drummers Were Women.
December 8–15
When the Drummers Were Women:
Invoking the Sacred Feminine
Layne Redmond
The first sound we hear is the pulse of our
mother’s blood. Drumming is the musical
expression of this primal truth. Throughout
the ancient Mediterranean world the Great
Goddess is portrayed with her frame drum, a
powerful trance-inducing instrument. It is
the oldest known drum, traditionally played
by priestesses in the religious rites of Inanna,
Hathor, Isis, Cybele, Aphrodite, and other
goddesses. In this workshop, you’ll find out
why women were the primary percussionists
in Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Egypt, Greece, and
Rome—and why they are not today.
Gestalt Awareness Practicum
Christine Stewart Price, Gail Stewart
& Dorothy Charles
This workshop is designed for people who
would like to further explore the Gestalt
Awareness Practice form in theory as well as
through personal experience. It is especially
appropriate for those in the helping professions, such as counselors, bodyworkers, and
teachers, who are interested in integrating
this approach into their current practice. The
format will include open seat sessions with
the leaders, structured exercises where participants work with each other, didactic presentation, and discussion.
The prerequisite for admission into the workshop is previous participation in a workshop
specifically in Gestalt Awareness Practice led
by one of the leaders of this workshop.
Otherwise you may send a letter of application to Christine Price, 31 Onyx Street,
Larkspur, CA 94939, and will be considered if
there is space available.
Recommended reading: Perls, The Gestalt
Approach and Eyewitness to Therapy; Heider, The
Tao of Leadership; Ram Dass & Gorman, How
Can I Help?.
The Upledger Institute’s
SomatoEmotional Release II
Susan Pinto
This course integrates SomatoEmotional
Release (SER) techniques with various creative and dialoguing methods. The emphasis
is on wholeness and self-healing. The goal: a
comfortable holistic mind/body approach to
the resolution of problems related to client
progress and growth.
Clearing negative (i.e., destructive) memories
and emotions related to buried experiences
can be helpful but often there remains “something missing.” This might be the completion
of a naturally programmed and perhaps
instructive biological process that had been
triggered. This interruption creates what
might be thought of as a “frustration” of the
biological process, serving as an etiologic
agent for related dysfunctions which may be
physiological, psychological, emotional, spiritual, or any combination of these.
The Transformative Power
of Rhythm and Music
Hani Naser
Throughout his life, master drummer Hani
Naser has felt “a holistic sense of the musical
experience and a need to communicate this
experience on a global level.” In this workshop, Naser demonstrates how the positive
power of music can be integrated into daily
living—throughout one’s life.
“We are vibrations,” says Naser, “and sometimes vibrations get out of sync. In life, as in
music, we need to be able to change from one
rhythm to another instantly without falling
apart. By finding the rhythm within, we can
restore that balance.” Starting from this simple premise, this workshop explores the fundamental relationship between the powerful
forces of music and rhythm—with the goal of
leading participants toward higher consciousness.
Music and rhythm are elemental to a positive
sense of self. By cultivating a heightened
awareness of the forces of music and rhythm,
you can discover greater well-being, attain
increased body-awareness, experience the
process of rhythm transitions that are constant in our life, and strengthen the bonds of
community. Through the use of modes and
rhythms you can be stirred at the cellular
level, unleashing innate intelligence, compassion, and clear perception. By applying
diverse musical and rhythmical tools, you can
achieve greater insight into their healing
effects within the body.
The Lost Princess and Other
Kabalistic Mysteries
Rabbi Ohad Ezrahi
Weaving Kabalistic ancient mythology with
motifs from Eastern European folk tales and
fairy tales, late-18th-century Rabbi Nachman
of Breslov, one of the most extraordinary
Hasidic masters, told Thirteen Tales, considered unparalleled masterpieces in the world’s
heritage of mystical storytelling.
“The Lost Princess,” the first story in this collection, is an account of the inner journey
toward the redemption of one’s soul. “The
Seven Beggars,” the last of the thirteen tales,
tells of the absolute and complete human
potential of being, blending sacred paradoxes
and lyrical humor. Several years ago Israeli
Rabbi Ohad Ezrahi developed a deck of cards
based on a unique way of decoding the meaning of these sacred tales from the perspective
of depth psychology.
Participants in this workshop will study some
of the stories and explore their hidden depth
using Kabalistic knowledge and archetypal
psychology, embarking on a journey that utilizes art, meditation, and other tools to discover the personal meaning for each individual
in the workshop.
By blending concepts of psychosynthesis,
Gestalt, and Jungian psychology with SER
and CST, the practitioner employs specific
techniques to help clients increase awareness
of the “inner self.” Class exercises are designed
to strengthen the relationship between the
conscious and the unconscious mind in order
to increase self-awareness.
Participants must have completed The
Upledger Institute SER I, either at Esalen or
elsewhere.
call 1-800-233-5880.
Claudio Naranjo and Julian Silverman in 1968
43
Shadow Healing
Jeremiah Abrams
Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being
something that needs our love.
music, bare attention, and breath. Group dialogue will support integrating Shadow. Then
we’ll prepare mask and costume to meet each
other in a culminating Shadow ritual. We’ll
close with a Medicine Wheel ceremony.”
— Rainer Maria Rilke
Simply defined, the Shadow is the person we
would rather not be. It is comprised of all the
qualities that we have denied as parts of ourselves in the aim of making a healthy ego adaptation. Though primarily containing our inferiorities—those aspects we believe are unacceptable to family, friends, and, most importantly,
to ourselves—the Shadow can often include
our true gifts, our passion and vitality. Jung
considered Shadow integration the apprenticework of adult personality development.
Jeremiah Abrams writes: “In this retreat, we
will celebrate the Shadow and bridge the split
between who we are and who we want to be.
The simple gifts of the Shadow are this: You
can open your heart to yourself, and to others.
As you embrace your shadow you are freed of
the fears that cause you to pretend to be
someone you’re not.
Introduction to Natural Capitalism
and the Resource Efficiency
Revolution
Amory Lovins
Industrial Capitalism defies its own logic by
liquidating, but not valuing, its largest stock
of capital—the natural resources and ecosystem services that make possible all life. In
contrast, natural capitalism behaves as if not
just money and goods but also people and
nature were properly valued, but without
needing to know or signal that value.
Previous industrial revolutions economized
on people because the relative scarcity of
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
“Our time begins with a Purification (sweat)
Lodge. Then, to locate our unique Shadow
parts, we’ll take the Dreamtime Journey, a
visionary induction made possible through
Note: Please bring costume and shadow regalia
for the Shadow ritual. For more information,
e-mail: [email protected].
44
people limited progress in exploiting seemingly boundless nature. Now people are
abundant and nature is scarce. Applying the
same logic to this new pattern of scarcity,
natural capitalism makes natural resources 10100 times more productive. It redesigns
industry on biological models with closed
loops and zero waste, and changes the business model to reward both these shifts.
Finally, as any prudent capitalist must do, it
reinvests in restoring, sustaining, and
expanding the natural capital that creates
wealth and sustains life.
The result profitably addresses many social
problems. Lack of work and hope, shortages
of satisfaction and security, are not isolated
pathologies, but result from the intimate links
between the waste of resources, money, and
people. Their solutions are equally intertwined: firing the unproductive tons, gallons,
and kilowatt-hours lets us keep the people,
who will have more and better work to do.
Based on the book Natural Capitalism (Paul
Hawken, Amory & Hunter Lovins, www.natcap.org), this workshop explores practical
resource-management principles and solutions at a basic and intermediate level, mainly
for firms.
Mindfulness and Heartfulness:
The Healing and Transformation
of Mind and Body
to practice, and the teaching can be applied to
everyday life.
Mark Abramson & Fred Luskin
This program is designed to integrate the
practice of mindful awareness with directed
heartfulness in order to facilitate growth,
healing, and change. It is based on Dr.
Luskin’s research at Stanford Medical School
on the healing effects of forgiveness and
heartfulness and Dr. Abramson’s work as the
director of Stanford’s Mindfulness Based
Stress Reduction Program.
The workshop introduces the practical application of techniques of mindfulness and
heartfulness to transform emotional states
and unleash the great potential for deep healing of the body. The goal is to learn new ways
of relating to experience that allow greater
opening, understanding, and the possibility of
transformation. “Our work,” the leaders write,
“has shown us that this creates an increasing
experience of gentleness, kindness, and
respect for oneself and others.”
The program offers guided practice in mindfulness meditation, body movement, breathing practices, and heart opening, interspersed
with lecture and interactive discussion. While
the practices are especially helpful for people
who are experiencing emotional or physical
concerns, the universality of the experience
makes this program valuable for all.
Movement from the Martial Arts:
Introduction to the Ryu-Ki System
Esalen will be closed to the public during
these five days.
Experiencing Esalen
selves together into something wondrous and
illuminating to ponder. By focusing on the
intuitive, our everyday existence can become
a doorway to the profound. To discover this
dimension of existence is to awaken to what
is often ignored and can be key to our inner
development.
The self is always seeking completion; thus,
even the simplest fantasies that occur to us
are fragments of unresolved conflicts, the
very conflicts that manifest themselves in our
dreams. As we become aware of these forgotten elements of our existence, a growing realization of their importance becomes part of
our lives.
What to Do With the
Rest of Your Life
Ann Sayre Wiseman
This workshop is a hands-on visual-mapping
exercise in which you document the ups and
downs of your personal life on large sheets of
paper using color, symbols, dates, art, and words.
This enables you to see, for the first time, where
you have been, illustrating the cause and effect
of where you are at now. With this information,
you can better design your most creative plan
for a future you would truly love, a future that
would satisfy your creative potentials.
First you will map your important past and
present episodes, to reclaim your true Self,
harvest your strengths, recognize self-sabotage, and celebrate your potential. Guided by
the wisdom of your dreams, the creativity of
the inner child, the language of feelings, you
will mend obsolete injunctions, acknowledge
early survival strategies, and create new ones.
Yoshi Sakuyama
Ki, or Chi, the vital energy that flows through
the body, has been valued by martial artists
because it gives them health, vigor, equanimity, and, above all, the courage to conquer fear.
They have devised special breathing practices
and physical movements to enhance their Ki
as well as their skills.
Then you will map the future. By observing
the obstacles to creativity, giving to the Self
what you have been waiting for, and retiring
obsolete conditioning, you can reframe new
ways to negotiate with the creative child, integrate the higher guide, and transform faults
and “survival strategies” into helpers, ready
for allowing yourself the life you truly want.
In this workshop, Yoshi Sakuyama, a sixthdegree black belt and movement artist from
Japan, will introduce Ryu-Ki, a system of
essential movements drawn from the martial
arts. These simple yet powerful movements
amplify Ki flow and refine one’s actions.
Things to bring: materials you’d like to
enhance your map, notebook, glue, colored
markers, scissors, tape, photos, recurring or
important dreams. For more information,
visit www.annsayrewiseman.com.
Participants will be guided toward greater
bodily awareness through such Ryu-Ki
System practices as basic movements (feeling
and moving from the body’s center), pair
work, breathing techniques, and Kiatsu massage. The fluid, dancelike movements are fun
The Dream Master:
Dreams and Fantasies
Pierre Grimes
Dreamwork, contemplation, recollection, and
examination of idle fantasies can weave them-
In this way, the ancient art of recollecting
becomes a natural part of one’s life. When this
is complemented by dreamwork and selfreflection, our waking days are infused with
new significance. As we become our own
object of study our work gains a luster, since
we are presenting ourselves with a way to discover personal meaning to our existence in all
its richness. To ponder and reflect on this
existence unfolds an unexpected depth and
majesty to our lives.
This workshop is an exploration of this
process. Please bring writing material and a
small tape recorder to record your dreams.
Tango—More than a Dance
John Harris
The purpose of this workshop is to authentically engage with another—risking, relating,
creating, impacting, and being impacted
upon—all within the context of Tango. At the
core of dancing Tango lies our ability to allow
the subjective experience of another to meet
with, and have a positive influence on, our
experience of self—somatically, emotionally,
and relationally.
In the Tango, this encounter is representative,
in many ways, of the intimate relationships
we are continually developing and deepening—or sometimes desiring—in our lives outside the dance studio. Trust, respect, mutuality, reciprocity, vulnerability, holding and
being held (both physically and psychologically), teamwork, purposefulness, and play are
all components both of this elegant dance and
of intimate relationships. Therefore, Tango,
when taught with relational dynamics in
mind (that is, not merely learning steps or
routines) can be an arena for us to experiment
with, to nurture and increase our capacity for
intimacy and intersubjective experiencing
within a contained and safe environment.
45
This workshop is appropriate for people with
no dance experience as well as for dancers
who want to explore intimacy and relationship while improving their leading and following technique.
Please note: Wear comfortable shoes with hard
leather soles and loose, comfortable clothing.
The Handmade Book
Rebecca Ramos
An archetypal form, the book contains ideas,
information, and inspiration. As an intimate
artifact, it serves as a tactile repository for
journal writing, poetry, and art work. Even in
the computer age, the book retains its archetypal power. In this workshop, Rebecca
Ramos will guide you through an exploratory
introduction to an age-old art: the handmade
book.
You’ll begin with paper-marbling techniques.
Marbling involves floating inks on water, and
then, through a combination of intention,
intuition, and chance, transferring the inks
onto paper. First used as a way to preserve
paper, marbling has evolved into a responsive
art form based on the dynamics of movement
between water and air. Marbling is capable of
capturing your state of mind in the moment,
as each piece of paper becomes a personal
artistic expression.
In phase two, you will incorporate the marbled papers into a book of your own making.
Rebecca will provide instruction in binding a
book with exposed stitching down its spine.
Decorative, functional, and durable, this technique offers an opportunity for combining
paper, fiber, beads, and other elements, while
maintaining a useful, sturdy structure. You
will leave with a both one-of-a-kind book and
a working technical vocabulary and set of
skills for future independent work.
tice time and individual guidance.
Fundamental elements of bodywork such as
breath awareness, grounding, refining the
quality of touch, and stress relief will be
included. The leaders will present an introduction to gentle stretching and energy work.
This workshop is for beginners as well as
those who wish to brush up on their massage
skills and will provide a safe atmosphere for
healing and exploration.
and inner realities that live in the subconscious mind and the cells of our bodies.”
This workshop is like dreaming on your feet.
Expect to surprise yourself, and to become
more playful and at ease before an audience.
You might even find that the sense of wellbeing achieved during the workshop not only
expands your creative abilities but also
enhances your experience of daily life. And
while it is not therapy, Improvisational Being
can be surprisingly, delightfully, holistically
healing.
Recommended reading: Wise, A Big, New, Free,
Happy, Unusual Life.
A Big, New, Free, Happy,
Unusual Life: Self-Expression
and Spiritual Practice
Nina Wise
Most of us are conditioned not to express ourselves freely, but once encouraged to feel our
inner impulses and to follow them with abandon, we encounter a vast landscape of characters, memories, stories, and images that lead
us toward freedom. Through movement,
vocal exercises, meditation, song, and dance,
this workshop offers physical and spiritual
tools to translate your inner life into theater.
“Everyone has a story to tell,” says Nina, “and
stories reside as much in the body as in the
mind. So we begin with movement—slow
stretches to open the body. We open the voice
with playful classical and jazz-based exercises.
We meditate to calm the heart, dance to free
the spirit, find a way to effortlessly compose
with language. The journey leads to giving
voice and physicality to the private characters
Kabbalah, Buddhism, and
Transformation
Rabbi Steven Fisdel & Gerald S. Cohen
In our rapidly evolving world, there is an
increasingly urgent need for us, as individuals
and as a society, to heal the traumas that
impair our ability to live life to the fullest. As
spiritual beings, we have the capability to
experience, in our daily lives, the very essence
of who we truly are. To reach that point, we
must be ready to connect with our inner self,
to embrace it fully, and to be guided by it.
Following this principle, Rabbi Steven Fisdel
and Dr. Gerald S. Cohen present a program of
inner preparation and transformation, focusing on both personal and professional needs.
They will guide participants through the five
stages of the healing process, then through a
course of spiritual restructuring and emotional recalibration. Drawing from the deep wellsprings of the Kabbalah and Tibetan Buddhism,
participants will engage in a process of deep
Esalen Massage is a healing practice that often
feels as wonderful to give as to receive. This
workshop is designed for people wanting to
develop or strengthen their ability to give a
restorative, nurturing full-body massage. It
will also focus on developing the centered
and peaceful internal connectedness that
makes it such a pleasure to give.
The instructors will use a hands-on approach
with short demonstrations and plenty of prac46
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
Laurie Lioness Parizek & Robert Helm
introspection and spiritual enrichment, with
emphasis on working through personal issues
as well as on developing skills for helping others through theirs. The workshop will present
applied techniques for enriching life experience, improving relationships, and expanding
consciousness.
Rabbi Fisdel and Dr. Cohen will demonstrate
their pioneering work in the practical application of ancient Hebrew tonal patterns, sacred
texts and music, Kabbalist and Buddhist meditation, the Tarot of the Kabbalah, and
Hebrew Alphabet Energy Patterning, offering
participants a blend of ancient technology
and modern science.
For more information see Special Programs,
page 74.
The Courage to Change—
The Alchemy of Transformation
Malcolm Stern
We live in extraordinary times. All around us
are signs of breakdown and decay—the old
ways of being no longer work for us. Yet there
are also signs of rebirth and beauty with
which we can align ourselves and realize our
potential to change outmoded habits and
destructive behavior. We need to transform
ourselves in order to transform the world
around us. And we need the support of others
to share the journey into the unknown: to be
fellow pilgrims in the search for authenticity
and radical aliveness.
We lose our aliveness when we reject the
unworthy, shameful, “dangerous” parts of ourselves, when we suppress anger, grief, sexuality, and fear. Once we dare to be our authentic
selves, when we honor and accept our shadow, we literally lighten up. From this place of
lightness we can see our world with a
renewed sensitivity. This renewal represents
the possibility for a radical shift in our entire
perception. In seizing the courage to change,
we can transform ourselves and liberate our
potential.
This workshop is an inquiry into the nature
of “wholeness.” It seeks to highlight emotional
blocks and places where energy is drained or
unused. Sessions will utilize group process,
dance and bodywork, sharing, ritual, and healing. Participants will explore the parameters
of our individual maps, discovering hope for
the future within the supportive framework
of a group committed to the nurturing
process of reflective honesty, compassionate
attention, and trust.
Deborah Anne Medow & Robin Fann
Esalen Massage has several characteristics
which distinguish it from other styles of
bodywork: the concept of working with someone instead of on someone; a commitment to
being present, approaching the massage as a
meditative experience; an understanding that
the practitioner may affect the recipient—and
vice versa—on physical, mental, emotional,
and even spiritual levels; and the long flowing
strokes which not only help the practitioner
move from one area of the body to another,
but also give a sense of wholeness and deep
relaxation.
In this workshop, through lecture, demonstration, and brief discussions, participants
will be instructed in the fundamental elements of Esalen Massage: grounding and centering, breath awareness, touch sensitivity,
technique, and intention. A hands-on
approach will combine the long integrative
strokes with detailed attention to specific
areas of the body. The inclusion of meditation, yoga, and movement will enhance a
sense of self as well as the connection
between practitioner and client.
Please bring your favorite CDs for massage, a
questing mind, an open heart, and a sense of
humor.
Painting the Fantastic
Robert Venosa & Martina Hoffmann
The “fantastic” is marked by “a lack of restraint
in the imagination.” This is the approach to
painting taken in this workshop. For beginners and accomplished artists alike, this
course is for all those who wish to tap into the
artistic capabilities that lie within their reach
and to discover the joy and illuminating
power of painting.
Following an approach called “Serendipitous
Exploitation,” first an emotional outpouring of
color and form is applied to a surface; then the
studied, individual detailing of personal vision
and the imagination is added. Through this
simple process, the artist can begin to create
essential form and color that is enlivening,
enlightening, and amazingly fantastic. The
premise: to exercise right-brain potential in an
effortless and exuberant manner that instills
joy, self-discovery, and newfound self-esteem.
Participants will also be introduced to the
“Master’s Technique,” (employed through the
centuries by such artists as Rembrandt, van
Eyck, and Max Ernst) and will work with an
updated, simplified version. Upon completion of the workshop, the group will hold an
exhibit of their creations for all to see.
Please note: Upon registration, participants will
be sent a list of materials to bring.
A Tender Invitation
David Schiffman
“Our aims for this weekend are simple,” writes
David Schiffman. “To join together and share
the magical timeless realities of Big Sur’s sea,
sky, and mountains. To feel emotionally and
physically restored, healed, and cleansed. To
rediscover the lovingly creative inner
resources of our own music, poetry, and
prayer. To feel ready again to face whatever
comes next in our lives.
“Together we will create a mood of sanctuary
and a time to be met by kindred spirits. The
approaches utilized will be drawn from a
wide variety of practices aimed toward physical, emotional, and spiritual attunement in
order to restore our gratitude and appreciation for being alive.”
The Music of Life
Adam Rudolph
This workshop is for people seeking to awaken their creative potential through sound and
rhythm. Writes Adam Rudolph: “The stress
and noise of modern life makes it difficult for
us to hear our own inner music, to find the
balance of right rhythm for our living. We
will spend the weekend rediscovering our
natural ability to live in harmony, in tune, and
in rhythm with ourselves and our environment. We’ll explore a wide variety of practices,
traditional and nontraditional, including:
• Overtone singing—overtones provide
music’s emotional color and feeling; we’ll
create collective singing meditations
• Body rhythms—using simple movements
and drum-rhythm vocalizing, we’ll
rediscover inner rhythms of breath,
heartbeat, walking, even thought and
speech
• Drumming—we’ll learn basic hand drum
techniques and several international drum
languages to create a drum circle of power
and self-expression
47
• Improvisation and intuition—using guided
melodic themes, we’ll tap into the
emotional freedom that musical
spontaneity and deep listening can offer
• Creating personal songs—we’ll weave the
methods we have learned with our
imaginative spirit to create our own songs.”
The workshop is open to those with no prior
music training as well as musicians and music
educators. Participants are invited to bring
any instruments or drums. Instruments will
also be provided.
Karmic Relationships:
Healing Invisible Wounds
Charles Richards
ceremony. Guided by the spirit of this traditional art, we will strive to create our wares
without attachment to the final product.
“We will dig and prepare our own clay from
the Big Sur hills, make our wares, and fire and
glaze them in kilns at the Esalen Art Barn.
Giving moment-to-moment attention to the
process, we will build a tea house for group
ceremonies. We will cultivate sensibility
through appreciation of the utensils and
materials employed, and of the formal movements and manners that arise in each
moment. Come make ‘Raku pleasure’ and
drink tea as friends. There is no other secret.”
You can preview this workshop on the Web at
www.mapstead.com/noel, or e-mail Noel and
Keiko at [email protected].
Yoga: A Weekend Intensive
Deborah Anne Medow
As 2002 draws to a close, it is the perfect time
to pause, reflect on what has been, and move
toward what could be. The ancient practice of
yoga is a wonderful way to create more serenity, joy, and balance in life—both internally and
externally.
With regular practice, yoga not only strengthens, revitalizes, and helps to heal the body, it
also calms the emotions, focuses the mind,
and uplifts the spirit. This weekend will be
devoted to learning and practicing yoga, consciously affecting ourselves on physical, mental, and spiritual levels. Emphasis will be on
breathing exercises (purifications), medita-
Have you ever wondered what the spiritual
law of karma is, why it’s been discussed from
ancient times to the present, or how it might
be affecting your relationships and the way
you live your life today? Through a simple
non-hypnotic process called Soul Journeys,
you will be given the opportunity to examine
more deeply the hidden influences that condition your behavior.
Many of us face repetitive patterns in relationships, irrational fears related to intimacy or
abandonment, and emotional reactions—both
positive and negative—to people or situations
that seem irrational and without cause. Some
believe that these patterns have roots that
extend beyond our current lifetime into past
lives and are manifestations of a karmic
dynamic. Changing or resolving this dynamic
can require a different way of looking into our
psyche and relationships.
This workshop will utilize Soul Journeys and
various other experiential and group processes designed to clarify and bring greater understanding into the nature of our karmic ties
with others.
Recommended listening: Richards, The Way of
Karma (available at www.joderegroup.com or
800-569-1002).
Big Sur Clay:
Raku with Tea Ceremony
Noel Mapstead & Keiko Suga
Bearing the mind in lofty awakening, return to
the mundane.
Noel Mapstead writes: “Raku ceramics developed in Japan over 400 years ago as a means to
make functional wares—tea cups, flower vases,
incense burners—for Chanoyu, the zen tea
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DANIEL BIANCHETTA
— Basho, 17th century Japanese poet
tion, asanas (yogic body postures), and the
coordination of breath and movement within
the asanas. There will also be discussion of
yogic philosophy and theory.
With Big Sur’s coastal beauty, and the power
and spirit of the Esalen land, it will be easy to
fall into the natural rhythm of practicing
yoga. Everyone is welcome.
Week of December 29–
January 3
Being Single
Seymour Carter & Constance Jones
A positive self-image does not necessarily
depend upon being in a partnership.
However, being single in a partnership-oriented world can create low self-esteem. Is
being single a conscious or subconscious
choice, a trick of fate, a lack of opportunity, a
way of avoiding intimacy, a valuable state of
being? Changing our belief systems about the
meaning of being single offers new understanding and opportunity for living a more
fulfilled single life, either in openness for
future relationships or in contentment in
being single.
In this workshop, participants will explore
blocks to personal growth and opportunities
for new relationships, using Gestalt methods
and interactive processes including role playing, massage, and communication skills.
Whether you’re wishing to remain single,
searching for a partner, or a professional
working with single people, this workshop
can assist you with your choices and ease you
on down the road.
Body Tales: Bringing Our Movement
Stories to Life
Olivia Corson & Lysa Castro
This Body Tales workshop interweaves intuitive movement and personal story to encourage creative expression, communication, and
healing. Participants engage in imaginative
practices for exploring impulses, needs, and
values through improvisational movement,
dance, sound, language, and writing.
“Body Tales opens up a wealth of resources—
we are touched and inspired by our commonalties and our differences,” writes Olivia
Corson. “We humans have a tremendous need
to share our artistry and our passions. It is not
enough to write in a journal forever and have
no one read it, not enough to dance alone to
the gods. There is something about dancing
for your tribe, about being seen, heard, and
appreciated, that is tremendously affirming.
My joy in this work is tapping into the miracle of the body and making way for our fierce
and tender stories—our wisdom. We dance for
relatedness and for freedom, for autonomy
and for belonging.”
This somatic practice, developed over twenty
years, enables you to create transformative
movement theater embracing the sacred and
the mundane, the personal and the planetary.
Experience the enlivening and healing power
of being witnessed. Encourage and protect
your creativity. Come to your senses—in your
body, your relationships, and your world.
CE credit for MFTs and LCSWs: see page 71
SIKE: Healing and Health Through Ki
Energy—The Source of Wellness
Mallory Fromm & Therese Baxter
Spinal Integration/Ki Energy (SIKE) is a
hands-on experience in the curative powers
of Ki (qi) energy. Mallory and Therese have
synthesized an acclaimed holistic healing art
hitherto available only in Japan with Western
alignment techniques to create SIKE. The
SIKE technique is elegant and effective, and
uses the transmission of Ki energy rather
than manipulation to induce healing and
structural realignment.
SIKE combines the systematic with the intuitive in treatments for preventive medicine,
pain relief, acid reflux, sleep disorders, relaxation, female health and hygiene, and
mind/body cleansing. Participants give and
receive individual bodywork. The goal is for
each participant to change structurally,
acquire a new perception of our innate potential for healing and health, and have a lot of
fun in the process.
“Ultimately,” write Mallory and Therese, “a
knowledge of, and facility with Ki energy provide insight into the human spirit, elevating
our understanding and compassion. SIKE
workshops not only impart a glowing sensation of vitality and tranquility, but enable participants to promote the physical health and
spiritual growth of themselves and others.
The pursuit of healing Ki energy is a classic
quest leading to remarkable self-discoveries.”
To learn more, visit www.sikehealth.com.
Recommended reading: Fromm, The Book of Ki.
Spinning Straw Into Gold:
The Craft of Memoir
Katy Butler
Everyone has a story to tell. This week, begin
to tell yours. Nothing is off-limits—no matter
how delicious, mysterious, joyful, funny, poetic, or painful it may have been. This workshop
provides a supportive sanctuary where you
can let your mind roam over the landscape of
the past, mine the ore of your life, and refine it
for its truth. First, using freewriting and the
supportive company of others, you will write
about the cards life dealt you—and how you
played your hand. Later in the week, you’ll
take up the tools of the writer’s craft and transform first drafts into polished scenes that can
electrify other readers, even strangers.
This workshop takes its title from “Rumpelstiltskin,” the fairy tale character who secretly
entered a miller’s home at night and and spun
cast-off straw into gold. The same alchemy is
possible when you write memoir. Although
this workshop is definitely not a process
group, writing your truth and unleashing your
creativity can be joyful, absorbing, and
growthful. Studies have shown that writing
about meaningful life experiences for only
twenty minutes a day for three weeks can significantly improve the symptoms of physical
illnesses. It can heal the soul and heart as well:
You may find new meanings in old life stories
and begin to write surprising new chapters.
Natural Powers: Making a Real Life
out of Our Heart’s Desire
David Schiffman
“This workshop,” writes David Schiffman, “is
for people who seek the courage, skill, and
support to live their lives with true originality, passion, and integrity. It will be a time to
explore the realms of unconventional logic
and the mysteries of spirit, the fundamental
realities of those who are self-made, spiritually independent, and visionary in orientation
and ways. Our aim will be to cultivate the
resources, rhythms, and wisdom that come
from deep self-knowledge and self-mastery.
“In a climate of mutual support, simple trust,
and honest interest in each other, our aim will
be to bring ourselves entirely toward whatever we hope for and cherish. A wide variety of
psychological themes and attunement practices, both dynamic and meditative, will be
used to illuminate the character of our commitment to ourselves and our style of relating
to others. Together we will see what we can
49
do to strengthen our faith and adeptness at
applying the logic of our hearts to our own
self-care as well as to our relationships,
careers, community, and the understanding of
our life’s true mission.”
debilitating back spasm re-orchestrated her
life journey.
Experiencing the Esalen Arts Center
Recommended reading: Rubenfeld, The
Listening Hand; Mechner, Healing Journeys: The
Power of Rubenfeld Synergy.
Esalen Arts Center Staff
This workshop is for those wanting to
immerse themselves in a week of abundant
creativity. Silk painting, clay sculpting, mask
making, mosaic, and print making are some
of the mediums that may be available to
entice what lies beneath the ocean of your
imagination. Participants will experience a
variety of artistic approaches and mediums
that are both accessible and fun. The workshop is structured to provide the guidance,
materials, and supportive environment to
awaken and explore your creativity and artistic expression.
Weekend of January 3–5
Humor and Other Martial Arts:
Healing the Emotional/Spiritual Body
Ilana Rubenfeld
What is this precious love and laughter
Budding in our hearts?
It is the glorious sound
Of a soul waking up!
— Hafiz
Many of us live in a state of tension, feeling
chronically tired, emotionally drained, and
physically unconnected due to everyday
stress. In this workshop, participants will
learn how to become aware of the tensions
locked in their bodies, decode their messages,
and learn practical techniques for returning to
a state of relaxation, vitality, and connectedness. Utilizing the Rubenfeld Synergy
Method®, a system integrating bodywork,
intuition, and psychological approaches, Ilana
teaches how to use humor to interrupt the suffering trance, conducts group exercises, shares
her “Self Care Toolbox,” and demonstrates how
tensions are “truth signals” for stressful personal and work-related life situations, all in an
environment of safety, trust, and learning.
Ilana Rubenfeld, author of The Listening Hand,
directs body-mind-emotional energies as if
conducting a symphony, and well she should.
The creator of the Rubenfeld Synergy Method
graduated from the Juilliard School of Music
and enjoyed a career in conducting until a
50
This workshop fulfills one of the requirements for acceptance into the Rubenfeld
Synergy Training Program. Ilana is also teaching a five-day workshop January 5-10.
White Lotus Poetry Workshop
Ellen Bass
Its wonderful root and bud are snow-white, bright.
When was it parted with the western skies?
Nobody knows how deep the mud it grows in is.
When it emerges from the water, we know it is the
white lotus.
— Joshu
“In this workshop,” writes Ellen Bass, “we will
allow ourselves to extend our roots deeply
into the mud of our experience in order to
give voice to our poems. This is an opportunity to meet the poems that gestate within us
and to engage our greatest resources—attention, courage, precision—in bringing them
into being. We will strive for language that is
accurate, fresh, and interesting in itself and
we will work to create poems whose form,
rhythm, language, and meaning work as an
effective whole.
“This is an opportunity to delve deeply into
our writing without distractions or interruptions. In our busy lives, many of us long for
more time to write. This weekend will be a
way to nurture the creative voice inside us
and allow it to speak. There will be time for
sharing and for response, hearing what our
work touches in others, but mainly it will be a
writing retreat—a time to explore and create.”
It is well to understand as early as possible in one’s
writing life that there is just one contribution
which every one of us can make; we can give into
the common pool of experience some comprehension of the world as it looks to each of us.
— Dorothea Brand
Getting Real: Telling the Truth as a
Path to Freedom
Susan Campbell
Everyone values honest communication, but
how many of us really have the necessary
honesty skills? “Most people are afraid to be
totally honest,” writes Susan Campbell. “They
fear rocking the boat, creating a hassle, or
hurting someone’s feelings. Yet many of us
would be more honest if we only knew how
to communicate without all our past baggage
creeping into the interaction. Here is where
the ‘10 Truth Skills’ come in! Getting Real is a
step-by-step curriculum for helping people
make the shift from being right to being real.
Most people waste their energy trying to be
right, look good, or appear in control. This
comes from thinking that you can control
how others react to you—which you cannot!”
In this workshop, participants explore honesty as a spiritual path, getting to the essential
self that is beyond conditioned fears, beliefs,
and control patterns. The workshop will
examine such questions as: What are the areas
of my life where I feel I need to lie, sugar-coat,
or pretend? What does this reveal about my
beliefs about myself and the world? What
practices are available to support my living in
my here-and-now experience instead of in my
beliefs, judgments, and shoulds? What if I
decided to let go of my need to control things,
and see what happens? How can I be intimate
with others and still be 100% true to myself?
Facing the Final Mystery
Laura Larsen
The way you regard aging, dying, and death in
your daily life shapes your ability to live
intensely and in the moment. Preparation for
these inevitable events requires skills and
information that you need now, before an
emergency occurs and before an illness
becomes life-threatening. This workshop is
designed to deepen and broaden your attitudes and feelings concerning death and the
diminishments of aging and dying. Equally
important, the information and experience
allows you to have those delicate conversations, and to take action, concerning the complex and subtle end-of-life issues. During the
weekend you will:
• Begin to understand and overcome feelings
that keep you from talking bout aging,
dying, and death
• Participate in exercises designed to initiate
these conversations with families, friends,
clients, patients, and caregivers
• Create your own action plans, utilizing
daily materials and experiences
• Learn about options and resources for endof-life care
• Share in and benefit from the stories of
other participants
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
Ecomotion: A Movement Laboratory
Marjorie Malone
We practice slowing down, being patient, and
looking closely for things minor and hidden.
Sometimes beauty spontaneously occurs and
we experience an extraordinary moment of poetry
and grace . . .
Ecomotion combines traditional Eastern
physical training with the freely expressive
dance developed in the West. Through the
basic principles of Butoh technique, an
improvisational form that allows the body to
become the immediate voice of an imaginary
world, dancers inquire into the physical
nature of the human body.
“We begin,” Marjorie Malone writes, “with
physical practice that increases emotional,
physical, and mental strength. Rather than
dancing to express inner aspects of the individual, we suspend ordinary judgment and
release habitual patterns, allowing for the
expression of prehistoric material contained
within the muscles and bones to emerge and
teach us. Practicing in pairs to allow each
individual the opportunity to study and
change the border and limits of the bodylandscape, we use touch, breath, and release to
train sensitivity of perception, consciousness,
and imagination.”
Each dancer will create a movement
sequence, or path, and present it to the group.
Please bring a journal.
Week of January 5–10
Secrets of Successful Relationships
Linda & Charlie Bloom
Having a good 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. We seek relationships hoping to
bring greater fulfillment and meaning into
our lives; however, for an alarming number of
couples the dreams of infatuation soon dissolve into the disappointment of a cold, joyless relationship or end in divorce.
Yet it is possible for all of us, even those with a
history of failed relationships, to create the
partnership of our dreams. Strong, healthy
relationships are not a function of choosing
the right person, having had a happy childhood, or undergoing years of psychotherapy.
This possibility is available to any couple that
understands and is willing to engage in the
practices that these unions require.
This workshop, for both individuals and couples, will identify the common principles and
practices of successful relationships.
Participants will define the qualities that fulfilling partnerships require and, through a
series of experiential exercises, begin the
process of cultivating those qualities. In addition, the workshop will introduce the art of
conscious combat and show how to dissolve
repetitive, dysfunctional relationship patterns.
Balance from the Inside Out
Howard Joel Schechter & Barbara Lee
Stress is epidemic today. At the same time
there is a deep craving for psychological and
spiritual sustenance. If we emphasize the
external at the expense of the internal, work
at the expense of family and personal lives, we
are, as a result, out of balance and dissatisfied.
All attempts at rearranging the external elements will inevitably fail—it is like trying to
rearrange the furniture to save a sinking ship.
To enjoy that most precious of life’s gifts, a
deep sense of well-being, we must give priority to nourishing our internal process.
This workshop explores what constitutes a
life in balance. It presents a blueprint for a
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DANIEL BIANCHETTA
personalized, integrated daily practice which
nurtures our physical, mental, emotional, and
spiritual components. It offers models from
various psychological and spiritual perspectives presented in a fresh formulation of traditional wisdom. The emphasis, however, is not
on formulas or models but on each participant generating an understanding of what
uniquely nurtures his or her own internal
harmony and creates a satisfying balance.
With our deepening awareness of the
mind/body/emotion connection, the bodycentered psychotherapy movement has
become one of the most important trends in
personal growth today. People have discovered that what we communicate verbally is
not always congruent with our body’s story,
and by incorporating body movements and
intentional touch we can greatly accelerate
the process of change.
Recommended reading: Rubenfeld, The
Listening Hand; Mechner, Healing Journeys: The
Power of Rubenfeld Synergy.
“We will identify and explore each of our
unique strengths for developing harmony and
balance,” write Howard and Barbara. “We will
identify and address the blocks each of us has
created that limit our sense of well-being.
There will be experiential and interactive
exercises as well as focused guidance; however, the actual movement of the workshop
from one moment to the next will be determined by the interests and needs of the individuals in the group.”
Using the Rubenfeld Synergy Method, a healing system integrating bodywork, intuition,
and psychological work, Ilana will teach
body/mind exercises, conduct demonstrations,
and lead hands-on practices for developing a
compassionate listening touch that can open
gateways for contacting and expressing feelings. This workshop is designed to teach you to:
In the great myths that are woven through
the cultures of all times, the Heroine/Hero
comes to a breaking point with the known
and familiar. Often there is the presence of a
herald or guide offering encouragement:
“Have courage. Take heart. You can do it. You
are almost there.”
Recommended reading: Schechter, Jupiter’s
Rings: Balance from the Inside Out.
The Body Tells the Truth®: The
Rubenfeld Synergy Method®
Ilana Rubenfeld
When it’s over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world
into my arms.
— Mary Oliver
52
• Discover body metaphors that reveal
patterns in your life
• Deal with stress and use tools for self-care
• Listen to the signals of the somatic system
• Heighten awareness and sensory
awakenings
• Heal the wounds of dysfunctional families
• Use laughter and humor to interrupt the
suffering trance
This course fulfills one of the requirements
for acceptance into the Rubenfeld Synergy
Training Program. Ilana is teaching a weekend workshop January 3-5.
Yoga Practice:
Engaging the Hero’s Journey
“For many of us today,” writes Thomas, “the
yoga practices provide an array of disciplines to
support our descent into the underworld of our
karmas and samscaras (past impressions). The
great sages and gurus repeatedly assure us that
our body and being is the temple of supreme
consciousness, and the yogic disciplines can
guide us to a place of facing our inner demons.
We break with the past and descend into the
depths to become conscious of that which has
been hidden or unacceptable. In the end, we
make an offering of our shadow material to the
light of consciousness, and, over time, the
union of light and dark occurs.
“In this weeklong retreat, we will hold this
awareness and intention as we engage the
practices of meditation, pranayama, strong
asana, and restorative practice, as well as
chanting. There will be time for sharing and
opening to the wisdom of our yoga circle. All
are welcome. Please have a minimum of 3
months of recent yoga experience.”
dent George Leonard and chairman Michael
Murphy. Developed through their pioneering
research in the field of human potentialities,
Integral Transformative Practice (ITP) stands
at the leading edge of a cultural shift away
from the quick fix and toward long-term, balanced, evolutionary practice.
You will have the opportunity to immerse
yourself in a program involving body, mind,
heart, and soul. You’ll learn ways of creating a
sustainable daily practice through proven
tools and techniques. You will learn a fortyminute series of physical, mental, and spiritual exercises which includes yoga, aikido, relaxation and visualization techniques, as well as
positive affirmations and meditation. You will
also engage in interpersonal processes and
discussions on the art of peaceful resolution
of differences.
Raku with Tea Ceremony
Noel Mapstead & Keiko Suga
chanoyu to wa
tada yu o wakashi
cha o tatete
nomu bakari naru
mono to shiru beshi
(Know that chanoyu
is a matter of just
heating water,
preparing tea,
and drinking.)
— Rikyu, 16th century Japanese
tea master and poet
Raku ceramics originated in Japan as a means
to create pottery items such as tea cups,
incense holders, and flower vases in order to
participate in the Japanese Zen tea ceremony.
This workshop will focus on making ceramic
utensils to enjoy in a traditional tea ceremony
performed in a teahouse constructed by the
group.
Erik Riswold is one of the original ITP trainers with Leonard and Murphy, and Barry
Robbins heads the largest and longest-running ITP practice in the country. The workshop is for people interested in an experiential weekend and involves non-strenuous
physical movement. Simply come with beginner’s mind and an open heart.
In outings along the Big Sur coast, the group
will collect local clays and glaze materials to
create the ceramic objects and fire them.
Participants will then create a number of
experimental tea houses for the occasion and
serve tea to each other. There will also be a
sweat lodge with clay mud baths. The workshop is designed to instill an aesthetic apprehension of things that is rooted in self-awakening.
The Life We Are Given; Leonard, Mastery;
Murphy, The Future of the Body.
You can preview this workshop on the Web at
www.mapstead.com/noel, or e-mail Noel and
Keiko at [email protected].
Experiencing Esalen
Integral Transformative Practice:
The Power of Yes
Erik Riswold & Barry Robbins
Are you looking for a way to achieve your
dreams and aspirations? Have you tried various quick fixes, only to have them fade away?
This workshop will introduce you to a
remarkable practice created by Esalen presi-
The Way of the Dancer
Zoë Yayodele Ryan & Gordy Onàyémi Ryan
Join Gordy and Zoë Ryan in this celebration
of soulful music and ecstatic dance embodying the spirit of Earth, Air, Water, Fire, and
Space. Guided by Zoë, and supported by
Gordy’s inspirational drumming and singing,
participants will experience, as Zoë writes,
“rhythm, song, and stillness from our toes to
our fingertips as we dance to reclaim our own
wild natures. The dance becomes a powerful
practice to root and ground you, a way to
move blocked energy and to inspire your creative expression. Wrap yourself in the spirit of
play and drink from your own soulful nature
as we all become the Dance!”
Chaos—Our Lost Soul Regained
Ralph Abraham
“This will be a lecture/discussion weekend
devoted to the loss of the soul in the 17th century and its resurgence in our recent chaos
revolution,” writes Ralph Abraham. “We will
review the last of the soulful cosmologies,
that of Marsilio Ficino of Florence, then fol-
low the life history of the world soul as it
morphs into a machine in the time of Kepler
and Galileo. We will use history in an attempt
to understand our present moment, as the
chaos revolution offers to put the soul back
into modern science, along with its traditional role as the source of: intuition and creativity, the integrity of nature, the web of life, and
the emergence of form and simplexity from a
field of chaos and complexity. We seek nothing less than the inspiration of planetary culture and the revision of a sustainable future.”
This is mindplay for intellects on holiday. No
homework, no standarized tests.
The Alchemy of Initiation, Transition,
and Transformation
Ronald Alexander
The journey of 10,000 miles begins with one step.
— Ancient Taoist proverb
All of life’s conflicts can be described as a
struggle between letting go or holding on,
opening to the present or clinging to the past,
expansion or contraction. Life’s journey is a
series of challenges that confront the self with
difficult yet highly purposeful choices. The
Ego clings to the “familiar” long after the
nourishment has run dry. At this point, we
face our deepest fears—and truths. Our
matriculation through the mystery of life asks
that our soul awaken, take courage, and
choose a more passionate life.
When we enter into the essence of our true
nature and heed its call, we undergo a
death/rebirth of the self. We journey into the
unconscious to destructure the Ego and
reemerge with a freer self. This encounter
with our underworld guides us toward our
inner fire for a more creative and soulful way
of living in the unknown. Referred to as the
Hero’s Journey, this is the ancient initiatory
process of transition and self-transformation.
This workshop is for those seeking to ignite
the flame of creative change. You will have
the opportunity to deeply explore your pattern of holding on, of not moving forward
with your life’s calling. The workshop will use
the healing power of the circle, Gestalt
Practice, trancework, principles of self and
Buddhist psychology, meditation, mind/body
healing practices, and deep music to begin the
initiation into the sacred rites of passage.
This course may be especially useful for those
in the helping professions seeking new skills.
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Love’s Way: The Union of Body, Ego,
Soul, and Spirit
Brenda Schaeffer
Life seems to fear love itself because the moments of
experiencing its safety, freedom, and power have
been so scarce.
Based on her latest book, Love’s Way, Dr.
Brenda Schaeffer moves beyond love addiction to challenge participants to a bigger definition of love, beyond the tangle of pseudorelationships based on projection, compulsion, and trauma. She will illustrate how science is now validating what the mystics and
poets have been telling us all along: Love is
real, an energy that is readily available and
eager to be used. Though love is easy, because
of the common experience known as trauma,
being vulnerable to it is not. The workshop
will emphasize why it is essential to bring
love, the most overused, overdiscussed, and
underexperienced word in the English language, to life and relationships. And it will
stress that we are meant to experience love in
all ways—body, ego, soul, and spirit—and it is
time to stop arguing as to which is in charge.
Topics to be covered:
• What is love?
• Love illusions: sex, romance, and
dependency
• The body in love
• The ego in love
• The soul in love
• The spirit in love
The workshop will include lecture, guided
imagery, and experiential exercises, as well as
consider the specific needs of participants.
Ilana Rubenfeld, who still leads workshops at Esalen
Not For the Feint of Heart
Energy Medicine and Practical Magic
Mariah Fenton Gladis
Timothy Dunphy
This workshop is not for the feint of heart.
Nor for the faint of heart. It is designed for
people with a passionate commitment toward
creating healthy relationships within healthy
lives. It offers each participant the opportunity to benefit from intensive individual work,
which may involve emotional injuries rooted
in the past, recurring themes or patterns of
dysfunction, or personal longings in the hereand-now. Whatever the content of your work,
this workshop will help you:
“This workshop,” writes Timothy Dunphy, “is
dedicated to the proposition that a community of people can heal the people in the community. We will use our collective intention
and work toward profound healings at all levels of our being.”
• Discover the issues that are immediately
obstructing the quality of your life
• Learn contact skills and understand their
importance as a measure of healthy
functioning
• Risk working more deeply in an
atmosphere of trust and mutual support
• Develop more authentic and vital
communication skills
• Expand your capacity for generosity and
compassion for yourself and others
This workshop is particularly helpful for
adult children of dysfunctional families,
human-relations professionals, and those on a
path of personal betterment. This experiential
and didactic workshop will blend individual
and group Gestalt work, spiritual practice, and
bodywork. Mariah is also well known for her
effective and innovative use of music to
enrich the workshop experience.
Joan Baez, Mimi Fariña, and Judy Collins in 1967
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This course introduces Chi-Aura Integration,
developed by Dunphy over the last fifteen
years. The work is both hands-on and energetic, and is performed on massage tables.
Says Dunphy: “Chi-Aura Integration uses the
body’s innate properties of bio-electric and
bio-magnetic fields, sound, color, and shamanic elements” to enable participants to:
• Cleanse intrapyschic blocks and resistances
to personal fulfillment
• Become connected through meditation to
“the Hearts of Heaven and Earth”
• Work specifically to relieve panic/anxiety
attacks
• Share in the healing of one another, assist
in the changes, and witness the
transformations
• Be lovingly touched
Freeing the Artist:
Intuitive Watercolors
Helen Jerene Malcolm
You can learn how to create striking watercolors, unique to your individual expression, by
seeing within the first blends of colors a
theme that is waiting to be developed.
Intuitive Watercolor is a painting practice in
which you learn how to open and listen to
your intuition as it guides you through the
development of your painting.
Each day begins with a demonstration of the
techniques to be used in that day’s process.
You’ll explore a method of directing the pouring and blending of colors, saving the brightest-value whites as highlights. This process
weaves back and forth from negative to positive painting spaces and creates fresh, loose
watercolors. You’ll learn how watercolors that
are worked on thoroughly wet surfaces can
combine soft, ethereal areas of mystery with
brilliantly vivid, crisp detailing.
Painting meditations will help you understand how intuition is the motivating energy
that allows the painting to come alive
through you. What is going on within you is
reflected in what you see and paint. Intuitive
paintings unfold as you relax into a flow of
creativity.
For the absolute beginner as well as the professional artist. A list of materials to bring will
be provided upon registration.
Archeology of the Self
Tom Truss & Matthew Shyka
“As gay men,” writes Tom Truss, “we have very
few role models, and often live without reflections of who we are within the straight culture or the gay community. That invisibility
factor can squash our potential to be dynamic,
grounded, healthy, spontaneous, loving men.
“Archeology of the Self will look at our personal history, along with the Queer
Community’s modes of expression, and how
they have affected us as individuals. We will
uncover the myths and patterns that limit
who we are as multidimensional beings, and
create new stories that support the kind of
man each of us wants to be. Our tools as selfarcheologists will be playing, singing, art
making, group and solo explorations, plus the
rich forms of the Alexander Technique and
Authentic Movement.”
Inside Rhythm:
The Song of the Drum
Gordy Ryan & Bruce Langhorne
Gordy and Bruce write: “With our voices,
hand drums, djun-jun (Yoruban music) or
dunun (Malinke music), bells, shekere, and
melodic instruments, we’ll take a cultural
journey from Africa to Big Sur via the
Caribbean and New Orleans. Through
embodying songs, refining our hand technique, and clarifying our understanding of
rhythmic orchestration, we’ll open our ability
to hear the muse of sweet inspiration and feel
the groove as a point of awareness in the
body.”
From playing traditional rhythms and songs
with integrity to finding the source of creativity for composing new music, these sessions
are designed to spark new dimensions of consciousness in your musical experience. Bruce
and Gordy have lived this music for decades
and bring wisdom and Big Fun to the creative
moment.
Developing a Personal Yoga Practice
“In the last five years, there has been an
exploding popularity in the practice of yoga,”
writes Thomas. “Although for thousands of
years this practice has aided the spiritual and
emotional development of millions of people,
in this modern day we tend to view yoga as a
purely physical practice. While the healing of
the body is an important aspect of hatha yoga,
there is a far greater depth which we are able
to access. We have many choices as we
approach the yoga room, yet we assume that
our initial encounter somehow defines the
breadth of yoga. Just as there are many styles
of dancing, there are many forms of yoga.
During this weekend we will explore some of
them as we build a personal practice.
“We will immerse ourselves in pranayama and
meditation, engage the slower and more
refined qualities of Iyengar yoga through the
focus on alignment and the use of props, dive
into the experience of restorative yoga,
express our hearts as we chant in Sanskrit
with live music, and purify our bodies with
the more vigorous vinyasa style as we conclude our yoga retreat.”
Beginners are welcome. All yoga props will be
provided.
Buddhist Philosophy:
A Basic Introduction
Dale Wright
Although philosophy has a reputation for
abstraction and impracticality, the point of
Buddhist philosophy is the most practical
form of self-transformation. Buddhist philosophy begins in the learning of a series of simple principles intended to change the way you
understand yourself and the world. In a very
relevant sense, Buddhists make no distinction
between philosophy and meditation—deep
and principled thinking about fundamental
dimensions of human life is one form of
Buddhist meditation, and the primary intention of all forms of meditation is to transform
the quality and character of your participation
in the world.
“This workshop is designed to put Buddhist
philosophy at your service in this practical
way,” says Dale Wright. “We will work to master the basic principles of Buddhism, and
Paul Winter and Chungliang Al Huang in the 1970s
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then learn to apply those principles to a variety of real-life situations. Learning these principles in the first place includes basic training
in awareness meditation and in the various
ways that accomplished Buddhists have
learned to keep focused on what is really at
stake in the life situations we face. No background in Buddhism is required; we will start
from the very beginning and end with a strategy for cultivating Buddhist skills beyond the
workshop.”
Art and Attentiveness—
Matisse and MTV
Arden Reed
With the rise of our modern, secular culture,
religious contemplation was replaced by contemplating art. But in a world of nonstop
stimulation, of market forces that encourage
us to consume images immediately so that we
can consume yet more, is there any place left
for the aesthetic gaze? What effect does our
age of speed have on understanding art? How
do you look at Matisse if you’re accustomed to
MTV?
Does this culture of distraction frustrate or
dull our experience of art? Are there coping
strategies we could use to help us refocus? Or,
might speed and distraction actually constitute new forms of attention and contemplation? How have contemporary artists
responded to this challenge? Why are art
museums popping up in Las Vegas? And
what, anyhow, is the nature of aesthetic attentiveness? Is it simply the opposite of distraction, or might distraction in some way prove
useful or necessary? Is attending to art a disembodied or embodied experience? An individual or group experience?
tine of living with families, friends, and lovers
that, in truth, they have not been adequately
prepared to meet the demands of loving relationships.
This workshop will focus on the nature and
basic requirements of healthy relationships. It
offers participants opportunities to assess
their abilities and disabilities, to develop
awareness, and to practice risking positive
action with others. It is for anyone who has
“hit the wall” in a relationship or who has
experienced being stuck at some seemingly
impenetrable contact boundary and wants to
break through. Particularly helpful for adult
children of dysfunctional families, ACAs, and
human-relations professionals, this experiential and didactic workshop blends individual
and group Gestalt work, spiritual healing,
bodywork, and personal metaphor.
Sherry Galloway & Peter Cline
This weekend workshop will provide the
basic techniques of Esalen Massage blended
with the detail that creates a balanced fullbody massage. Each session will contain a
brief lecture and demonstration followed by
hands-on practice with plenty of personal
instruction and assistance, as needed.
Fundamental elements of bodywork such as
breath awareness, grounding, movement and
quality of touch will be introduced. The goal
will be to create a firm foundation of massage
upon which to build and to have fun in the
process. This workshop is designed to enable
Intimate Connections
Mosaic Art Intensive: From the
Ordinary to the Extraordinary
Jayson Fann
The Orders of Love:
The Work of Bert Hellinger
Judith Hemming
This workshop is a chance to experience the
approach to working with family constellations developed by Bert Hellinger and to
learn about the hidden “Orders of Love” operating in human relationship systems. These
“orders” refer to invisible forces deep in the
soul of both the family and the larger system,
forces that influence the flow of love.
Judith Hemming writes: “You will have the
opportunity to work with the internal
dynamics of your own family system, which
can release a compassionate and healing love
felt by all participating, and can open the way
to life-enhancing solutions. While every family is unique, all follow certain patterns and
tendencies. Bert Hellinger’s approach has
identified many common destructive patterns
and the processes, rituals, sentences, and
movements of soul that can resolve them.”
PhotoGestalt: Self-Portraits,
Self-Awareness
Mariah Fenton Gladis
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Please wear loose, comfortable clothing.
Working in this way can provide an understanding of The Orders of Love as a practice
for daily life, an understanding that includes
valuing experience above belief, practicing
open-ended inquiry and love of truth, and
taking an active interest in the larger systems
of which we are a part. Judith is offering this
workshop for the second consecutive year.
Considering both slow- and fast-paced art,
this workshop will explore ways of sustaining
and adjusting attention, ways of learning to
look at painting, photography, and film.
Participants will also read brief fictions and
essays and listen to music, using discussions,
exercises, and practical suggestions.
Creating stable and fulfilling relationships is a
challenge that everyone faces. To be successful, human relating must be understood as an
activity, an ability that requires movement,
purpose, emotional capacity, and contact
skills. People often believe that good relating
evolves naturally, but they discover in the rou-
each student to return home with the ability
to give a complete Esalen-style massage.
Dorothy Charles
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of Transcendental
Meditation, on an early visit to Esalen
Knowing who we are and what we feel or
want can be difficult when our self-knowledge is distorted, confused, outdated, or unexamined. Creating self-portraits and working
with the images can help us to perceive and
recognize ourselves more clearly. Making
riencing burnout can re-inspire and refresh
themselves. There will be ample time to enjoy
the magic of Esalen and the beauty of Big Sur.
Completions and Transitions—
Letting Go and Moving On
Mary Goldenson
Early sign (pre-Esalen)
images with the intent to represent feelings,
aspects of identity, inner conflicts, and avoided parts of ourselves can be a way of deepening our awareness and providing the possibility for change.
Working in pairs, using a Polaroid instant
camera, participants will create their own selfportraits, with partners serving as neutral
shutter-pressing assistants. The picture-taking
sessions may include humor, fantasy, props, or
still lifes. The workshop will incorporate journal writing and artwork to augment the photographic images. Participants will then use
Gestalt Practice to work with the results, both
in pairs and in the larger group. The discussion will include participants' experience of
the process as well as the results of their selfportraits.
Polaroid cameras will be provided. Bring any
props you might like to include in your selfportraits.
Often in our lives we feel incomplete with the
past. Unresolved issues inhibit us from moving into the present with an open and generous heart. Though we experience them as
“finished,” old memories continue to haunt
us. When we exist more in the past than in
the present, it is time to make the distinction
between “finished” and “complete.”
Transitions without completions foster
unsuccessful marriages, friendships, and
careers, producing sorrow and, some believe,
the causes of illness.
Transitions are crossroads in our lives that
give us the opportunity to complete the past,
reconnect with our present truth, and renew
our passion, courage, and commitment for the
future. The focus of this workshop is an indepth review of our lives to try to discover
what needs to be transformed from “finished”
to “complete.”
Finding Your Long-Lost Musician
David Darling
David Darling’s music improvisation workshops have touched thousands of people from
all walks of life, including corporate executives, school children, teachers, professional
musicians, prisoners, and therapists, opening
their hearts to the mystery of sound. David’s
passion is to provide an environment in
which each participant has a chance to discover and work with his/her own unique musical
abilities—to find the tools for lifelong inspired
musical enjoyment. He has spent the last
forty years developing methods that bring
people face-to-face with their own wondrous
sounds and rhythms.
Working in groups and individually, people
will find the classes relaxed and humorous,
yet intensely centered on the profound qualities of the wonders of music. Please bring any
instruments you play or want to play. No
experience is necessary. Piano and percussion
instruments are provided.
Sensitive Chaos
Seymour Carter
The workshop will provide a safe, supportive
environment that includes risk taking,
intense bodywork, Gestalt, imagery, movement, and meditation to keep us committed
to the process of discovering ourselves.
Elemental Esalen Massage
Brita Ostrom & Dean Marson
Seymour Carter, Esalen’s self-described resident alien and secular skeptic, was a member
of Esalen’s famed Flying Circus, a group of
maverick artist/social scientists who revolutionized personal growth work in the late
1960’s. He continues to experiment with the
dynamics of expressionistic group processes,
In this workshop Dean and Brita will guide
participants, via touch and movement, to
savor the elemental skills of Esalen Massage.
Group members will discover methods to
embody the flowing approach punctuated by
structural detail which defines this style.
Even those with little or no bodywork background can learn to give (and receive) an
effective and pleasurable massage.
Attention will also be given to the physiology
of breath and relaxation and to the psychological impact of touch. There will be daily
supervised demonstrations, and practice with
self-care throughout. The course includes an
introduction to meditation and movement
practices which promote awareness and ease.
This workshop is suitable for people wanting
to learn the basic elements of massage or for
professionals wishing to add another
approach to their practice. Practitioners expe-
Ida Rolf, whose Structural Integration work found a worldwide audience at Esalen in the late ’60s (and friend)
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tions, Andrew Nugent-Head offers an understanding of what Qi is and isn’t, from the
Chinese perspective. Participants will then
integrate this understanding with real experience by learning the Eight Storing Qi and
Developing Sensitivity Exercises. These exercises are the foundation practices of medical
practitioners and energy-bodyworkers of the
Yin Style Bagua tradition, which was part of
the Qing Dynasty court at the end of the 19th
century. They are designed to increase, store,
and move Qi within the body. Mr. NugentHead will then discuss the different stages and
issues involved in affecting the Qi in other
people, critical in testing and strengthening
one’s own practices. Finally, he will demonstrate by tangibly creating Qi sensations in
others at various points on the body.
Mr. Nugent-Head is a translator and practitioner of Chinese traditional arts who lived in
Beijing for fifteen years. This workshop is
designed as a first step to making Qi a tangible part of one’s life and practices.
Combining EMDR and Meditation:
A Workshop for Therapists
William Zangwill & Rachel Harris
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
The process of meditation naturally releases
habitual thought and emotional patterns. We
often gain new levels of insight and awareness, but then we just “sit with them.”
Combining Eye Movement Desensitization
and Reprocessing (EMDR) with a meditation
retreat offers the opportunity to move
through personal issues as they arise.
creating an exciting environment to explore
the adventure of personal identity.
Everyone has unused capacities for further
personal development which, when recognized and given attention, can unleash a natural force that, like a tide, carries the individual to a higher level of ability and action. This
workshop has been likened to a white-water
rafting trip with its mixture of a quiet, serene
connection with our deeper nature and the
thrilling turbulence of on-the-edge risk-taking. Our natural capacities for engagement,
for intensity, for an inner peace which comes
from being challenged, are provided in this
approach, evoking the security inherent with58
in our awakened vitality and curiosity.
This work is rooted in the Gestalt methods,
supported by studies in various body disciplines. Each person’s process of development
will be honored and encouraged.
Demystifying Qi: On Developing a
Clear Understanding and Practice
Andrew Nugent-Head
Often called “energy” in the West, Qi has
many different meanings in Chinese.
Through exploring what it literally means in
the Chinese language, its cultural usages, and
contrasting it with current English transla-
This workshop is only open to therapists
already trained in both levels of EMDR,
regardless of level of other training or clinical
experience. Experience in meditation is not
necessary. The evocative power of meditation
combined with the possibilities for healing
offered by EMDR creates a powerful transformative process.
Time will be spent sitting in quiet contemplation, walking mindfully in nature, and meditating with guided imagery. As in the EMDR
trainings, there will be time in small groups
to develop EMDR skills as well as work on
personal issues. Body awareness exercises,
creative expression, energy work, and journal
writing will augment the deepening experience of meditation and healing.
Recommended reading: Harris, 20-Minute
Retreats.
Radical Rx for Health Professionals:
Heal Thyself
Charlea Massion & Bob Stahl
“We care for others,” write the leaders, “but
how about ourselves? Both in our training
and our everyday work as health professionals, we focus on care of patients, clients, and
their families. Daily we encounter people
who are in pain, suffering intensely, and in
major life crises. As health professionals we
are expected not only to apply knowledge and
technical expertise but to respond with empathy and compassion, regardless of our own
physical, emotional, and spiritual difficulties.
Typically there are few opportunities to
‘metabolize’ the grief, sorrow, and discomfort
that we intimately experience in our work.”
This workshop—for health professionals—will
focus on identifying, exploring, and improving health practices of the caregiver. Through
training in mindfulness meditation, exercises
in transformative writing, group discussion,
and other modalities, participants will learn
skills that support health professionals in caring for themselves as well as others.
Mindfulness meditation is a way to quiet the
mind by cultivating nonjudgmental awareness. Mindfulness develops our potential to
experience each moment, no matter how
unexpected or intense, with serenity and clarity. Participants will learn specific practices
such as the body scan and meditations during
sitting, eating, walking, and stretching. These
practices support the caregiver’s own health
and can be extended to families, colleagues,
patients, and clients.
Finding Your Long-Lost Musician
David Darling
For workshop description see January 24-26.
The Way of the Shaman and The
Spirits of Nature
David Corbin & Nan Moss
This course introduces core shamanism, the
universal methods of the shaman to enter
non-ordinary reality for problem solving,
well-being, and healing. Emphasis is on the
classic shamanic journey, the remarkable
visionary method to explore the hidden universe otherwise known mainly through myth
and dream. Participants are initiated into
shamanic journeying, aided by drumming
and movement practices to experience the
shamanic state of consciousness and to awaken dormant spiritual abilities. Participants are
provided with methods to discover their own
spiritual teachers in non-ordinary reality.
The course also provides an opportunity for
advanced work with the spirits of nature in
Esalen’s beautiful and powerful setting. By
learning from the plants and animals, the
rocks and mountains, the wind and waters,
and from sun, moon and stars, shamans
helped their peoples live in harmony with the
universe. In a world out of balance, the way of
the shaman can teach us once again how to
respect nature, our planet, and its inhabitants
at a deep spiritual level.
This special course incorporates the
Foundation for Shamanic Studies Basic workshop, as well as “Shamanism and the Spirits of
Nature,” an advanced course. It qualifies participants to take additional advanced trainings with Michael Harner and the faculty of
the Foundation.
Please note: Bring a rattle or drum (if you have
one), a bandanna, and a pen and notebook to
record your journeys.
Getting Naked:
Writing Sexual Essay and Memoir
Lisa Palac
Lisa Palac has been writing about and discussing sexual politics for sixteen years. “I
believe that honesty encourages honesty,” she
says. “Telling the truth about sex—the most
intimate, contradiction-filled, hard-to-be-honest-about subject of them all—has given me
the courage to face the rest of my complicated
life as honestly as I can.”
In this workshop—for both men and women,
beginning and experienced writers—participants will have the opportunity to acquire
new writing skills and find the inspiration
and courage to write more honestly about sex.
The week will be spent choosing an idea to
work with and shaping it into a finished
essay. Through lecture, writing assignments,
readings, and extensive group discussion, participants will learn:
• How to find and organize autobiographical
material
• Hands-on literary techniques and styles of
essay and memoir writing
• The importance of emotional candor when
writing about sexuality
• Techniques for maintaining confidentiality
while still telling the truth
• How to overcome the obstacles of
vulnerability and self-doubt
If you like, bring relevant “memory” material
(photographs, letters, dreams, books, or
music) that can help spark emotions and visual images.
Developing Love, Strength, and
Awareness in the Fire of Community
Lane Arye, Ann Bradney & Bill Say
How can you use the events of the world to
create a deeper understanding and expansiveness within yourself? How can you use your
deep personal work to affect the world outside of you?
Community can be your greatest vehicle for
transformation. In community there is the
support, diversity of people and perspectives,
and fire to accelerate your awakening.
The leaders write: “In this workshop you will
help create a community experience in which
the deepest personal and collective issues can
naturally arise. Valuing our own diversity, we
will work with and transform conflict into
community. You’ll have the opportunity to
take what is most repressed, whether fear,
weakness, sexuality, race, or power, and begin
to make it your deepest gift. Individual and
collective processes will feed each other back
and forth, strengthening you and the community. Here you will see your impact on the
world and vice versa.”
Using two approaches, Core Energetics, created by John Pierrakos, and Process Work,
developed by Dr. Arnold Mindell, you will
explore body/mind, emotions, relationships,
symptoms, conflicts, and large-group dynamics. This workshop is for laypersons and helping professionals, as well as for people interested in personal growth and collective issues.
Opening to Ourselves and Others
Rachel Harris
In order to survive and make our way in the
world, we develop defense mechanisms, rigid
patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.
We deaden, dissociate, or sacrifice parts of
ourselves during early childhood experiences,
chronically stressful situations, or traumatic
events. These brittle habits, originally
designed for survival, limit our vital connection to ourselves as well as to others. We create our own self-limiting prisons.
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“This workshop is about softening, melting,
opening,” says Rachel Harris. “We’ll create a
safe opportunity to identify our chronic
defense patterns and explore who we are
underneath these personality structures. We’ll
seek to become more objective about ourselves and increase our psychological freedom. The focus: to deepen our sense of ourselves and enhance our capacity for relationship with others.
“We’ll use an integrated approach of body
awareness, mindful introspection, breathing,
creative expression, and dyadic exercises to
gently lighten the burden of our chronic
defenses. The opportunity is to stop being
who we think we have to be and develop the
process of being with ourselves as we are,
which is all we really have and what we will
take home with us.”
Recommended reading: Harris, 20-Minute
Retreats.
intended to live. It is through self-repair that
loving relationships and personal spirituality
fuse. The practical skills offered here are easily integrated into daily living. This workshop
is ideal for individuals, couples, and professionals.
Life Coaching for Results: An
Introduction to The Inquiry Process
Amaran Tarnoff
Whether you are a professional manager,
therapist, consultant, or coach, or find yourself wanting to help your children, family, or
friends deal with what’s stopping them from
producing results, this course can give you
the tools. It offers the same fundamental
coaching tool—The Inquiry Process—that professionals have used for years to support
employees or clients with life issues such as
career, relationship, and well-being.
Weekend of January 31–
February 2
’Tis a Gift to Be Simple
David Schiffman
For workshop description see September
13-15.
Seeing Your Life Through New Eyes:
Changing Yourself and Your
Relationships
Paul & Deborah Brenner
“Healthy relationships have been our quest;
reclaiming the soul our dream,” writes Paul
Brenner. “It is on the path of relationship that
we meet our shadow, reclaim our disowned
parts, and so become whole.”
This hands-on workshop offers you the
opportunity to see yourself without blame,
judgment, or guilt. Paul has created a simple,
visual psychological model to break those patterns that destroy loving relationships and
personal creativity. Utilizing his “Family
Triangle” process in conjunction with his
technique of silent communication and
Deborah’s creative arts, unconscious behaviors are revealed that define “how you love
and what interferes with that love.”
This workshop is designed to free your
authentic self and reveal your personal service
to life, enabling you to live the life you were
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Einstein said, “We cannot solve problems at
the same level of thinking at which those
problems were created.” The Inquiry Process
is a particular kind of conversation, composed
of asking and answering questions, which
provides us with a post-psychological way of
thinking and being. It is based on these
premises: (1) Most of the time people already
have the answers; what’s missing are the right
questions; (2) It is much easier for people to
listen to questions than to be told what to do;
and (3) Something powerful happens in relationships when people ask questions of others instead of already “knowing all the
answers.”
This course is designed to teach you how to
coach others to:
• Think through their issues and problems
• Manage from support instead of “authority
and control”
• Listen powerfully
• Ask questions instead of “having all the
answers”
• Create partnership and trust in
relationships
Core Holoenergetics®: The Art and
Science of Healing with Love
Leonard Laskow
Holoenergetic® healing, a process of “healing
with the energy of the whole,” is based upon
dissolving the illusion of separation which is
at the core of illness. It takes enormous energy to maintain the misperception that we are
not one interconnected whole but only many
individuals. Through heart awakening,
Holoenergetics can help us come into wholeness and liberate this bound energy, which
can then be used for growth and healing.
In this hands-on seminar, Dr. Laskow will
introduce heart-focused energy healing and
present breakthrough scientific research that
integrates the advances of medical science
with the unifying power of a loving consciousness. Participants will experience how
subtle energy and intention can restructure
physical matter (evidenced by verifiable
changes in water, wine, and oranges) and
effect profound change deep within the inner
self. This seminar will help you learn how to:
• Establish a loving, healing presence in
alignment with your spiritual essence
• Detect and evaluate subtle energies with
your mind, heart, and hands
• Activate the body’s immune system to help
transform illness into wellness
• Recognize, understand, release, and reform
energy patterns that are sources of illness
• Bring peace, power, and intuitive guidance
into your life and the lives of others.
Recommended reading: Laskow, Healing with
Love.
Yoga Education: Creating Successful
Yoga Programs for Youth
Tara Guber & Leah Kalish
Yoga offers children a counterpoise to life’s
demanding pace and a foundation for selfrespect. When presented in a context of
informed exploration, yoga provides a platform for youth to develop self-awareness and
learn self-management. Yoga tools become life
skills that act as preventive medicine for the
challenges and stresses of growing up by helping kids stay balanced and make healthy
choices for themselves.
This seminar shows you how to successfully
structure and present yoga to children in fun
and empowering ways. You will learn how to
create lesson plans that bring yoga to life and
engage the whole child. The workshop will
integrate themes such as breathing, alignment, observation, balance, and finesse with
imaginative play, pose formations, partner
yoga, games, metaphors, art activities, and
visualizations. As these skills and techniques
for teaching children are explored, you will
reconnect with your own playful spirit. As
teachers, parents, and caregivers, when we
shift our thinking from “control and inform”
to “play and inspire,” we can design yoga programs for youth that are playgrounds and laboratories of personal growth, building a foundation for lifelong health and wellness.
Week of February 2–7
Christine Stewart Price & Guest Leader
For workshop description see October 20-25.
The Ordinary Miracle of Healing:
From Trauma to Aliveness
Peter Levine
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
In this workshop participants will have the
opportunity to explore the possibility that the
obstacles and overwhelming experiences in
our lives hold the potential for genuine emotional and spiritual growth. For transformation to occur, we need the courage not only to
face our traumas but also to let go of our identification with being wounded or “damaged”
as we learn to trust in the emergence of a
deeper, more authentic sense of self.
Many of our habitual behaviors and emotions
are outside our conscious awareness. They are
ways that we have reacted to events often forgotten by our minds but remembered by our
bodies. However, in our bodies are not only
the “imprints” of difficult and horrible experiences but also the “antidotes” that catalyze
transformation. This road toward freedom
may be simpler than we might think once we
learn to attend to and follow the wise inner
promptings from our bodies. While trauma is
a fact of life, it need not be a life sentence.
In this experiential/didactic workshop Peter
A. Levine, author of the best-selling book
Waking the Tiger, Healing Trauma, will work
with individuals in a supportive group setting. Various body-centered awareness and
journal-writing exercises will be used to support participants in their healing journey.
Ariel Giarretto will be assisting. This workshop is open to professionals and nonprofessionals alike. Please bring a note pad and pen .
The MAX: Stretching the Limits of
Your Self-Expression
Paula Shaw
The MAX is an outrageous voyage through
your own humanity—a journey to turn yourself inside out and explore the extent of your
self-expressive power. It employs a variety of
acting, communication, and observation
methods designed to expand your limits “to
the max” and move you into a new arena of
personal creativity and self-expression.
The MAX is extremely challenging.
Participants must commit to a rigorous exploration of the sources of their emotional limitations. Seminar hours are longer than usual
early in the week (and shorter later in the
week). Participants work individually in front
of the room, playing to and with other group
members. There are exercises that use raw
emotion, role-playing, and “dress-up” assignments.
This is an opportunity to experience yourself
in a way you may have dreamed about but
never imagined possible. The game is risk, the
premise: You’re either daring or dead. This
The new, nearly finished baths
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DANIEL BIANCHETTA
course is not for the faint of heart, but it is full
of heart, humor, and irreverence and is constructed with the understanding that this
kind of risk taking requires a very safe workspace. If your heart beats faster when you
think of taking this workshop, then maybe it’s
just the thing to do.
Please note: Due to the intense and sequential
nature of this workshop, attendance at all sessions is necessary.
Prerequisite: A 1-3 minute memorized piece—
monologue, poem, song, etc.
Story Power
Karen Dietz
Do you need to influence others with your
ideas? Do you want to bring forth your vision
more powerfully into the world? Then perhaps it’s time you turned your attention to
stories. Stories are a direct and powerful form
of communication because they bridge the
gap between speaker and audience. They convey ideas, knowledge, and wisdom faster than
any other form of communication, are
remembered and repeated long after facts and
figures fade, and are inspiring, empowering,
and fun. If you want someone to remember
you, your material, product, or service, and
believe it, tell a story.
This workshop is designed for those who
want to build their storytelling skills, create a
beginning repertoire of stories that will bring
others into their vision, come across authentically, and become influential and effective
communicators. The workshop utilizes storytelling, collage, nondominant hand journaling, and poetry to help you to experience:
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Connecting to people in potent ways
Clarity of message
An engaged audience
Meaningful messages that are remembered
Discovering the deeper meaning in your
stories, work, and life
• Tapping more of your potential
• Clarifying goals and intentions
Imagining Your World:
A Painting and Drawing Extravaganza
Alan Leon
Alan Leon writes: “Using our surroundings as a
departure point, we will ride a flow of fluid
forms, blossoming colors, and new ways of seeing in specific exercises that allow our creative
well to be tapped and channeled. We will use
both subtle and bold approaches to immerse
ourselves in form, color, texture, and meaning.
“We will ‘try on’ fifty different perceptual filters in looking at the immediate and imagined environment. Participants will create
and realize images in small and large watercolor format, with special attention to the
process of discovery. After each painting or
drawing exercise we will have a brief discussion that allows us to share stories, visions,
and comments, and to gain perspective.
“We will use the best quality super-intensity
Yarka watercolors and heavyweight paper, so
that participants may leave with an elegant
presentation portfolio of work.”
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Weekend of February 7–9
Experiencing Esalen
For workshop description see September 2729.
The Tao of Practice
George Leonard
We’ve tried them all—the ten easy steps to
power and prosperity, the programs offering
instant enlightenment or total fitness in fifteen minutes a week—and we’ve discovered
they simply don’t work. More and more, people are beginning to say no to the false and
often destructive promises of the quick fix.
Moreover, new research is showing the efficacy of patient, long-term practice, which, it
turns out, is far more important than talent in
achieving mastery.
“In this workshop,” Mary Goldenson writes,
“we will courageously peer into the depths of
our hearts and minds and ask the questions:
• Does my life reflect my heart’s desires?
• If fear did not stop me, what might I be
doing differently?
• What truths do I need to tell to live?
• To whom or what have I given power over
my life? What must I do to reclaim it?
• How shall I live, knowing I shall die?
“More than the answers, our questions define
where the real meaning of our life resides.
Firmly grounded in the moment, we will
explore ways to reconnect with our source of
creativity and spirituality.”
This workshop offers ways to help complete
the past, be open to the present, and create the
future. A safe, supportive environment will be
provided. Didactic and experiential exercises
will draw from Gestalt, Reichian work,
imagery, dance, and meditation.
In this workshop, human-potential pioneer
George Leonard introduces a path (tao) of
practice that can bring long-term pleasure and
fulfillment. Drawing on the Integral
Transformative Practice (ITP) he cofounded
with Michael Murphy, Leonard will offer the
fundamentals of a program for realizing the
potential of mind, body, heart, and soul.
You will have a chance to learn a forty-minute
series that includes physical movement,
breathing practice, relaxation, transformative
imaging, and meditation. You will practice
balancing and centering, the use of chi,
focused surrender, and the creation of effective affirmations. There will be discussions of
the principles of human transformation as
revealed in a two-year experiment Leonard
and Murphy conducted.
This workshop involves physical movement
but is not strenuous. All that’s needed is a generous heart and a willingness to participate.
The Life We Are Given; Leonard, Mastery;
Murphy, The Future of the Body.
A New Beginning: Courage and Heart
Mary Goldenson
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began . . .
— Mary Oliver
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear,
not absence of fear.
— Mark Twain
The Enlightened Healer: Healing
Ourselves, Healing Our Workplaces
Jamieson Jones
Something we were withholding made us weak,
until we found it was ourselves.
— Robert Frost
This workshop provides a reflective pause to
explore how to bring new levels of understanding, imagination, and love to the evolution of healing. “The goal,” writes Jamieson
Jones, “will be to provide a spaciousness for
discovering individual possibilities in healing
as well as exploring its larger collective potential in our places of work.
“We will explore the boundaries imposed by
our current perceptions, our areas of collective limitation in consciousness. Many of us
have developed self-realized understandings
in our personal lives; can we take those same
principles to the workplace? In creating any
individual shift in awareness, it helps to recognize the ways we protect ourselves emotionally, own our reactivity, and dismantle the
complex latticework of self-sabotage and past
associations. We can recognize and then use
those unresolved past wounds and losses in a
way that will expand our ability to heal and
be healed. We’ll begin by probing ourselves
for our inner reflections of the external hierarchies, dogmatism, power, and patterns in
our workplaces. This involves recognizing
that to heal and be healed is a simultaneous
requisite for deepening our potential.
“This workshop is designed to be a plunge
below and beyond the edges of our familiar
reality into the depth of our human potential,
both individually and collectively.”
Drawing From the Natural World
Victoria Saxe
Drawing is a skill. Like any other skill, it can
be learned through practice and concentration. We think that people who “can do it” are
somehow magically beyond us. This workshop will dispel that notion. Starting with
how to hold a pencil in a non-writing way and
ending with using pencils in the manner of
paint medium, participants will draw some of
the “break-your-heart” beautiful things that
can be found at Esalen.
Collecting subjects from the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, participants
will learn how to create color renderings of
the natural world. The class will begin with
simple pencil drawings which will later be
refined and transferred to the finished medium (Bristol board paper). Final drawings will
be rendered in rich, many-layered Prima colored-pencil “paintings.”
A slide presentation will acquaint participants
with the history of scientific art. The cave
painters, Leonardo da Vinci, and the fifteenthcentury Flemish botanical painters are some
of our ancestors in this tradition.
Developing the skills of precise drawing leads
us into the realms of mastery and meditation.
This class is for everyone—master and beginner.
Awakening Creativity and Inspiration
Jayson Fann & The Esalen Arts Center Staff
For workshop description see October 6-11.
Self-Healing: Awakening Your Power
to Create Health and Vitality
Meir Schneider
You can take charge of your own health. Meir
Schneider’s Self-Healing Method has helped
thousands of people with a wide range of
“incurable” conditions and injuries make
remarkable gains in health and function.
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People with refractive errors such as nearsightedness and diseases and injuries of the
eye have used this method to improve their
eyesight. Computer users, health-care professionals, and others have learned how to prevent and overcome repetitive strain injuries.
Athletes and musicians have used SelfHealing to overcome injuries and enhance
performance.
Self-Healing is body/mind work—every exercise teaches you how to listen to your body
and respond to its needs. It grew out of Meir
Schneider’s personal journey as a teenager
from congenital blindness to full functional
vision. During this period of intense self-discovery, with Braille-sensitive hands, Meir
began to craft massage and movement regimens for disabled people that brought about
dramatic improvements. In this workshop
you’ll learn Self-Healing movement, massage
and self-massage, visualization, and breathing
exercises to nurture many systems of the
body. Highlights include:
Recommended reading: Schneider, The
Handbook of Self-Healing.
CE credit available for physicians, psychologists, and
other health-care professionals.
Playing the Edge
David Schiffman
In the early stages of growth, success seems to
be its own reward. Excitement, vitality, and
the willingness to face life boldly are characteristics of those who are involved in new and
successful ventures. To keep this spirit alive is
not easy. Enormous pressures, grinding routines, and demands of involvement can
dispirit even the healthiest people. To listen
to one’s heart requires the courage to pause. In
this willingness to stop and listen to the deeper self live the true resources that guide and
protect us.
The purpose of this workshop is to create a
mood of sanctuary for people in transition
considering major changes in career, relationship, or matters of the spirit; those in need of
a break from stressful responsibilities; and
individuals interested in breaking new
ground in the areas of self-nurturance, intuitive functioning, and problem solving.
The process will be gently restorative, illuminating, and enlivening. The intention will be
to create a community based on trust and
goodwill with emphasis on individual freedom. Traditional methods of self-inquiry
(Gestalt Practice, bioenergetics, psychosynthesis) will be combined with music, meditation,
poetry, ritual, and prayer to foster this spirit of
living fully.
Psychodynamic Imaginative Trauma
Work—For Helping Professionals
Luise Reddemann
Psychodynamic imaginative trauma work is
based on the phase-oriented model of trauma
treatment. This workshop—for clinicians
only—presents a three-phased process that
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
• Methods to let go of deeply-held tension
and stress
• Natural vision improvement exercises
• Pool/hot tub exercises for joint mobility
• Exercises to overcome back pain
• Strategies for preventing and overcoming
repetitive strain injuries
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uses self-healing and self-regulation through
mindfulness meditation and awareness training.
First, during the stabilization phase, imaginative exercises and spontaneous imaginative
work are employed to help the client feel safer
and to create an inner space of healing. In this
phase, the work is with the inner child or
with younger parts. The everyday ego, usually
well-functioning, needs help to take proper
care of its younger selves. Regression then
takes place in the so-called inner stage. At this
point “introjected perpetrators” are often
evoked and imaginative work is utilized to
neutralize them.
In the confrontation phase, imaginative work
is used to meet the trauma more directly with
the help of the inner observer. This work can
be subtle and helps the client minimize suffering while confronting the traumatic material. During the third and final phase, imagination is used with fairy tales to support integration and healing.
Participants will have the opportunity to
learn how to deal with phase-oriented imaginative work. Numerous exercises will be
demonstrated and practiced to enable participants to apply imaginative work to their practices.
CE credit available for psychologists; see page 71.
The Upledger Institute’s CranioSacral II
This workshop further explores the CranioSacral System and its function in relationship
to other patho-physiological body systems.
The course will begin with the study of cranial
base dysfunctions as perceived, diagnosed, and
treated by Dr. William Sutherland, the father
of cranial osteopathy. Students will learn how
to integrate Sutherland’s techniques for identifying and evaluating lesions into a ten-step
protocol and how to apply individual correction treatments when needed.
Evaluation and treatment processes of the
hard palate, the mandible, and temporomandibular joint will be presented and practiced to complete the exploration of the masticatory system. Emphasis will then be directed to whole body evaluation, as discussions
will center on various “physiological phenomena” that occur within the body.
The SomatoEmotional Release process will
also be introduced with discussion and
demonstration of an “energy cyst.”
Participants must have completed the
Upledger Institute’s CranioSacral Therapy I,
either at Esalen or elsewhere.
call The Upledger Institute at 1-800-233-5880.
Philosophy for Everyday Life
Sam Keen
Always the beautiful answer.
Who asks a more beautiful question?
— ee cummings
“The practice of philosophy,” Sam Keen
writes, “is a way of life that results from
falling in love with questions—the great mythic questions that can never be given definitive
answers. Who we are and what we will
become is determined by the questions that
animate us, and by those we refuse to ask.”
Bring your urgent questions to this seminar
which explores:
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What is the purpose of my life?
What can I know?
What ought I to do?
For what may I hope?
Whom do I love? Why?
What curtails my freedom?
How can I escape from the constricting
social, political, sexual, and economic
myths that were imposed on me by my
family and culture?
To what cause, ideal, faith may I surrender
without destroying the integrity of my ‘self?’
What does it mean to experience the sacred?
How can I live a spirited life in a world
dominated by a secular-technologicaleconomic vision of reality?
How can we create a more just and peaceful
world?
What is my credo? My philosophy of life?
understanding of effective therapeutic action.
The leaders will show how the trauma
response is a specific defensive bodily reaction that people initially mobilize in order to
protect themselves, and then use against feeling the totality of their horror, helplessness,
or pain. However, in the long range this
response keeps them frozen, stuck in the past,
unable to fully be in the here and now. Fixed
in the defensive trauma response, the shame,
defeat, and humiliation associated with the
original event replays itself over and over
again in the body, detached from history, but
experienced in the present.
Traditionally, therapies have attempted to
change perceptions of the world by means of
reason and insight, along with conditioning,
behavior modification, drugs, and medications. However, perceptions remain fundamentally unchanged until the internal experience of the body changes. Even after the
death of a loved one, physical injury, rape, or
assault, people can learn to have new bodily
experiences, then come to heal and accept
what has happened and create new lives and
new communities.
Couples Massage Weekend
David Streeter & Rachel Fann
This workshop is designed for couples who
would like to bring the benefits of massage
into their everyday lives. The workshop will
teach simple massage techniques, developed
by Esalen Massage practitioners, which have
proven valuable to anyone who wants to help
a partner, friend, or family member feel better.
Techniques that help relieve pain, increase
vitality, or simply soothe the nerves will be
demonstrated briefly and practiced with lots
of hands-on instruction. This workshop is
especially helpful for loving couples, as Esalen
Massage is greatly beneficial in its connective
and healing qualities.
The Body Keeps the Score:
Mind, Brain, and Body in the
Transformation of Trauma
Passion and Dreams:
Federico García Lorca
Peter Levine & Bessel van der Kolk
“A winged heart and a crystalline waterfall.”
That is how Pablo Neruda describes Federico
García Lorca. Written in everyday language,
the verses of this beloved Spanish poet and
playwright, widely read all over the world, are
filled with his zest for life and his magnetic
joyfulness.
This workshop unites two of the leading figures in the field of trauma research and bodyoriented treatment approaches. Together they
will explore the implications of recent findings
in the neurosciences, from how the brain and
body deal with emotional information to an
Amelia Barili
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In this workshop participants will learn about
García Lorca’s passionate life and work, evoking them through music, films, and images of
the places he held most dear. Reading, games,
free writing, relaxation, and reflection will
allow participants to explore how his rich
imagination resonates with our experience,
and to share the sheer beauty and sensuality
his poems and his theatre generate.
Although the workshop will be in English,
the viewing and reading material will be in
both English and in Spanish. No previous
experience with literature nor any reading is
required.
Recommended viewing and reading: Films:
Saura, Blood Wedding; Burge & Espert, The
House of Bernarda Alba; Books: Stainton, Lorca:
A Dream of Life; Lorca, Collected Poems and
Three Plays.
Nurturing the Pregnant Couple:
Massage for Expecting Parents
Peggy Horan
Creating a field of nurturing support for the
arrival of the baby is something every family
can do. Massage can be a key component in
this creation, both as a way to love and comfort the pregnant mother and as an avenue for
communication and exchange of energy
between partners. Drawing on principles of
Esalen Massage, the workshop will explore
techniques of touch especially developed for
pregnant women. Participants will also learn
some simple ways that Mom, even while pregnant, can work on Dad. Massage during labor,
postpartum care, and baby massage will also
be addressed.
The Yin and Yang of the CC Flow™
Massage
Carl Chase (CC) & Daniela Urbassek
If you are a certified massage practitioner or
have substantial massage experience, this
workshop is an invitation for you to enhance
your skills and to explore the creative edge of
movement in bodywork.
The workshop will present the CC Flow, a
form of massage that keeps the body in a state
of constant motion and touch. Based on the
idea that life begins in a fluid world—the
womb— where movement and touch are elemental, the CC Flow was developed to allow
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the receiver to experience a feeling of pure
liquid freedom.
CC and Daniela will introduce grounding and
centering techniques that enhance the quality
of presence and awareness a practitioner
brings to touch, along with the proper body
mechanics to prevent injury and strain in the
practitioner. The workshop will present principles and practices that will allow you to
push past restrictive routines and help to
transform your work from the ordinary to the
extraordinary.
Treating Trauma:
An Integrative Approach
Peter Levine & Maggie Phillips
This workshop—for professionals only—
explores the treatment of post-traumatic
symptoms and conditions through a synthesis of Somatic Experiencing, hypnosis,
EMDR, and other techniques. By understanding the biological impact of trauma, participants can discover and practice more effective
ways of applying “cutting-edge” approaches to
their work with traumatized individuals. The
leaders will focus on ways of freeing the
immense energies bound in trauma and of
using these instinctual strengths as resources
to lead clients into the ecstasy of the deep self.
This workshop is an opportunity to observe,
practice, and do personal work with the subtle energies underlying the healing of trauma.
Types of trauma to be addressed include accidents, natural disasters, rape, invasive medical
procedures, surgeries, childhood abuse, exposure to violence, and developmental and prenatal stress. Models for interweaving bodyoriented psychotherapy, EMDR protocols,
and hypnotic techniques will be presented
and demonstrated.
recognize our diversity and celebrate ourselves as sexual and spiritual beings. We will
find new ways to touch each other—emotionally and physically—and learn how to make
contact with other men in safe, nonthreatening ways. We will pay attention to our body’s
erotic maleness through which our spirits
seek expression of the sacred within us. We
shall reclaim our souls, hidden beneath our
sexual personas.
“The fulfillment of your dreams is achievable,”
continues Rob, “whether single or in relationship, whatever your history and whatever
your heartbreak. As a gay male, you can discover what you need to know and what you
can do to greatly improve your chances for
finding and keeping love with another, as well
as fulfillment within yourself. Come learn
about yourself and how you can be more than
you had dreamed possible.”
The workshop will present listening and communication skills, the healing aspect of touch,
and how to be present in the moment. Please
bring your generosity of spirit and your
laughter, stories, and feelings. All gay, bi, and
trans men are welcome, regardless of age or
HIV status, single or in relationship.
The Journey from Abandonment
to Healing
Susan Anderson
“Abandonment is the most primal human
fear,” says Susan Anderson, “and the main
underlying issue of most emotional distress
and dysfunction.” Author of The Journey from
Abandonment to Healing and Black Swan: The
Twelve Lessons of Abandonment Recovery,
Anderson is the founder of the Abandonment
Recovery movement and has studied this
field for twenty-five years.
Rob Bauer
In this workshop she presents a highly effective program of emotional and spiritual healing that provides the means to reverse the
universal wound of abandonment.
Participants will learn specific exercises for
each of the five stages of abandonment (shattering, withdrawal, internalizing, rage, and
lifting); how to overcome self-sabotage and
“abandoholism”; how to make new connections; and the twelve steps of healing from
abandonment. She will also share recent findings from the field of brain science that shed
new light on the biological and chemical
processes that underlie our emotional
response to loss.
“In this workshop we will honor the dream of
gay male wholeness,” Rob Bauer writes, “to
Whether you’re experiencing a recent
breakup, the loss of a loved one, or a lingering
Peter Levine and Maggie Phillips have taught
and published on trauma and stress internationally, and bring a wealth of experience and
theoretical knowledge.
Please note: Training in hypnosis and Level I
training in EMDR is strongly recommended.
Celebrating the Gay Male Spirit
and learn how to evaluate and improve upon
our own work.”
Come prepared for a whirl of creative selfexpression and the weary, wonderful feeling
of leaving a workshop with a collection of
your own paintings which celebrate the
process of inspiration, reclamation, and the
journey of self-discovery. All that’s needed is
life experience and a willingness to play. For
more information, call Studio Zocolo at 415488-4710, or visit Nicholas Wilton’s website,
www.NicholasWilton.com.
Recommended reading: Bayles, Art and Fear.
Taking Flight: A Writing Workshop
Carolyn Miller
Participating in a writing workshop is an act
of daring, like jumping off a cliff: Sometimes
you may end up on the rocks below, but other
times you will sprout wings and end up in a
place you could never have otherwise imagined. The kind of deep attention created by
responding to writing exercises allows you to
produce poems and prose that will surprise
and delight you.
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
In this workshop, participants will write new
poetry or prose on the spot, during the workshop sessions and as overnight assignments.
Reading model poems, short prose pieces,
short stories, and essays will help to serve as a
springboard for courageous leaps of faith.
Participants may also bring 10 pages of poems
or 15 pages of prose to be discussed in a 30minute private consultation with the leader.
wound from the past, this workshop can help
you begin to restore your sense of self and
increase your capacity for love.
Recommended reading: Anderson, The
Journey from Abandonment to Healing and Black
Swan: The Twelve Lessons of Abandonment
Recovery.
Artplane
Nicholas Wilton
This workshop is a lighthearted, playful
exploration of the creative image-making
process. It presents practical principles of
painting coupled with a fresh approach to
working more freely and intuitively. In addition to demonstrations, critique, and extensive hands-on painting, this course offers
clear, concise explorations of color theory,
harmony, value, and design, .
“There will be little time to worry about success or failure,” Nicholas Wilton writes, “as
our process will take the form of a flowing
series of small paintings or multiples. We will
sometimes be painting on two or three pictures simultaneously. Working in this way
helps to avoid the tendency to overly focus
and constrict the creative process. The fundamental idea of this class is to recognize and
remain in this state of high creativity—the ‘artplane.’ This process enables us to see the
opportunities made possible by our mistakes
Words are priceless gifts that can allow us to
create meaning in our life and live more fully
in the world. Whether you are a beginning
writer or an experienced one, this workshop
will help take your work to a new level.
Note: Participants are asked to bring one of
their favorite poems or short prose pieces
(not their own) to share in the first workshop
session, and encouraged to bring pen and
paper rather than a computer.
Undefended Love:
When Close is Not Close Enough
Jett Psaris & Marlena Lyons
The capacity exists in all of us to love without
defenses or requirements, so that real intimacy—direct, unmediated, heart-to-heart connec-
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tion with ourselves and with our partner—
becomes a lifelong expression of our deepest
nature. This is the power of Undefended
Love, a transformative path that guides us
beyond close, companion-based partnerships
toward intimate relationships, where each
moment is a fresh, spontaneous expression of
who we genuinely are.
This workshop, open to couples and individuals, offers a vision to cut through personal differences and reach the direct connection—
with ourselves and others—that can only
occur when the heart is undefended. The
focus is on shifting our center of gravity away
from our conditioned personality (the places
where we feel stuck, confused, hurt, and
defensive) toward our essential self (the part
of us that is free, whole, connected, peaceful,
powerful, and joyful). Through lively experiential practices, participants will learn:
• What unconditional love really is and how
to achieve it
• How to sustain our experience of ourselves
regardless of what our partner is feeling
• How to “dissolve” rather than “resolve”
relationship problems
• When “needs” can be unexpected guides to
undiscovered inner resources
• How problems can be entry points to
deeper connection
• Why there is no difference between men
and women when it comes to intimate
loving
• How comfort and safety can prevent rather
than promote intimacy
corporations, and even prisons as a tool for
accessing self-healing and inner peace.
Recommended reading: Brooks, Sensory
Awareness.
Participants will delve into the easy Dao Yin
(self-care Qigong) of The Healer Within and
then penetrate the mystery of Qi through the
Nine Phases of Qi Cultivation and Mastery
from The Healing Promise. The workshop will
explore the inspiring story of the HeartMind
and its promise of emotional and attitudinal
rebirth.
Dr. Jahnke writes: “People who have never
explored the Qi love this experience. People
who are seasoned practitioners of Tai Chi,
Qigong, and Yoga love this experience. We
build a community as we we deepen into the
domain where the Qi of Heaven and Earth
merge as Tai Chi—harmony and balance. And
then to culminate our time together we practice the Tenth Phase—Transmit Qi, practicing
Qigong to have a healing influence on others.”
Sensory Awareness:
The Rediscovery of Experiencing
Jill Harris
Jill Harris recalls: “At the beginning of my
study of Sensory Awareness with [pioneer]
Charlotte Selver nearly thirty years ago,
Charlotte asked me to come directly and simply from standing to lying on the floor. After
my third attempt Charlotte observed that I
seemed apprehensive. ‘Well,’ I said, ‘the floor
seems quite a distance away.’ ‘It is a distance
from your head,’ she replied. Then she asked,
‘How far is it from your feet?’
The Mussar Way: A Jewish Path of
Introspection and Transformation
Alan Morinis
Mussar is a powerful traditional approach to
self-improvement that has evolved within the
Jewish world over the past 1000 years.
Following its step-by-step path can help us
heal, transform, and, ultimately, to blossom
with the holiness that is the natural potential
of the soul.
Through talks, demonstrations, and supervised group practice, participants will become
acquainted with Mussar’s history, Mussar’s
insightful map of the soul, and the techniques
that the Mussar teachers have evolved to
guide our healing and our growth. Some practices are contemplative; others show us how
to turn everyday life experiences into spiritual practice.
The focus in the workshop is on becoming
intimately familiar with your own soul and
on learning practical, time-tested methods to
cut through the blockages that obstruct your
heart. No knowledge of Judaism is required,
though a yearning soul is an asset.
Alan Morinis has been pioneering the rediscovery of the Mussar discipline, a journey
recorded in his book Climbing Jacob’s Ladder.
Please bring a pen and a pad of paper.
Recommended reading: Psaris & Lyons,
Undefended Love.
CE credit for MFTs and LCSW.
Feel the Qi: The Healing Promise of
Tai Chi and Qigong
Roger Jahnke
Tai Chi and Qigong—Chinese Yoga—are
ancient and profound, yet they are destined to
be among the most radical breakthroughs of
the contemporary era for vitality, healing, and
personal transformation.
Roger Jahnke’s new book, The Healing Promise
of Qi (Chi), is already a classic in the Tai Chi
and Qigong community. It reveals deep
secrets of Qi cultivation and mastery that lead
into the very heart of radical self-discovery
and self-maximization. His first book, The
Healer Within, has been acclaimed by hospitals, wellness programs, schools, churches,
68
“With that question I realized that I had no
sensation of standing, that my orientation was
mental and visual, and that something essential was lacking.”
This workshop is designed to be a reminder
that our sense of ourselves and the world is
based on being open to the sensory experience inherent in our daily life. In an age and a
society in which both sensory and information overload are common, we may still discover within ourselves unexpected capacities
for discernment and perception, capacities
awaiting the interest, patience, and inner
quiet necessary for their revelation.
“In our time together,” writes Jill, “we will be
exploring, sensing our way through such
basic activities as sitting, walking, coming
into contact ... in other words, the immediacy
of direct experience and the possibility of
being more present with whomever we meet
and in whatever we do.”
Awakening the Mind: Mastering the
Power of Your Brainwaves
Anna Wise
Inside each person lives a wealth of knowledge, capacities, and power rarely transmitted
to the conscious mind. Brainwave training,
combined with meditation and biofeedback
monitoring, can help develop these deeper
resources, allowing access to greater creativity,
reduced stress, and a deeper awareness and
understanding of the inner self.
After assessing the brainwave patterns of
hundreds of unusually highly-functioning
people, the late C. Maxwell Cade of London’s
Institute for Psychobiological Research began
to see similarities in the patterns of optimal
states of mind. Drawing upon Cade’s work,
Anna Wise has developed a program to help
access these optimal states.
Brainwaves are affected in specific ways by
different methods of meditation, visualization, and psychophysiological relaxation, as
well as by specific acts such as tongue, eye,
and body positions. This workshop presents
techniques for brainwave development of
beta, alpha, theta, and delta, and helps you
determine which practices are best for your
particular brainwave pattern. It also addresses
how to use these optimum states for creativity, mental flexibility, self-healing, problem
solving, and spiritual development.
The Mind Mirror™ EEG will be utilized to
demonstrate brainwave patterns, and each
participant will be able to use an Electrical
Skin Resistance Meter to measure the depth
of arousal or relaxation of the nervous system.
Making Peace With God
Philip Goldberg
This workshop with Philip Goldberg, coauthor of Making Peace With God, addresses the
major conflicts that come between us and the
Divine: anger and disappointment toward
God, guilt and shame in the eyes of God, fear
of God or cosmic punishment, resentment
toward religious institutions and authorities,
crises of faith, and other vital psychospiritual
issues. Using exercises, quizzes, and thoughtprovoking questions, the workshop will
encourage both private and collective reflection, helping participants resolve their
doubts, restore their faith, renew their sense
of meaning and purpose, and strengthen their
commitment to their spiritual path—on their
own terms.
Adds Philip Goldberg: “We will reach beyond
making peace with God to experience the
peace which surpasses understanding. The
goal of ending the false separation between us
and the holy—and, in doing so, becoming
whole—underpins the entire workshop. For
each of us is a piece of God yearning for the
peace of God.”
The Heart (and Art) of Healing in
Relationships
Ann Ladd
Even in the most loving relationships, people
sometimes feel stuck in defensive, upsetting
exchanges that produce nothing of value and
chip away at the mutual goodwill. This workshop presents a “map” for understanding
these negative loops and practical steps to get
off that “here-we-go-again” roller coaster. It
will teach you to use these inevitable times of
difficulty to deepen the intimacy, compassion,
and commitment in the relationships central
to your life.
True intimacy occurs when we are fully present in the moment, no matter what is happening. This course will assist you in using
the intensity of upsets with your partner or
other loved ones as an opportunity to
strengthen and heal your relationship with
each other—and with yourself. The key is
emotional literacy—having access to the full
range of your emotions, making meaning of
your internal experience, expressing emo-
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
Whether we are Christian, Jewish, Hindu, or
Muslim, believe in the Torah or the Tao Te
Ching, love Jesus or Buddha; whether we are
formally religious or a spiritual independent,
think of God as masculine or feminine or neither or both; even if we don’t like the word
God at all, most of us are looking to make
peace with the supreme and sacred mystery
we call God—and finally be at peace with ourselves.
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African mythology, allowing these cultural
stories to affect and inform our own personal,
stories.
Joseph Campbell says that “ritual is the enactment of myth.” Describing this workshop,
Megan Don writes: “On a psychospiritual
level, we will enter into the mythologies with
our minds and spirits. On a physical level we
will enter into our own ritualistic dances,
finding what ritual means to us in the twentyfirst century, what bonds connect us to our
ancestors, and in what ways we can express
through body and voice to connect us to the
world we live in today. We will dance the
myth, sing the old songs in new form with
new voices, and we will even refashion ourselves with clay.”
Buckminster Fuller led early seminars at Esalen
tions appropriately for the current situation,
and translating feelings into effective communication and behavior.
Through mini-lectures, exercises, and inner
work, participants will have the opportunity
to learn and practice this new paradigm: that
self-awareness, compassion, intimacy, and
acceptance can be gained in distressing upsets
as well as in the tender, loving moments you
share. The workshop is designed for couples
and singles who wish to gain a deeper understanding of what caused past relationship
breakdowns and be given tools to create
healthy relationships that allow each person
to grow.
Weaving Dreams
Amelia Barili
Amelia Barili writes: “Jorge Luis Borges
once told me ‘I am just a weaver of dreams.’
Reflecting on it, I realized we all are just that.
We weave the circumstances of our lives, our
work, family, friends, spiritual practices,
hopes, and fears into a dream story that
shapes us.”
cises, this workshop will open you to a deeper
appreciation of the stories and poems, as well
as your personal history, calling forth sensibilities sometimes buried under the stress of a
hurried life and finding creative ways to
express your innermost dreams and visions.
Newcomers to literature and experienced
readers alike are invited to participate.
Ritualistic Dance
Megan Don
Since the beginning of time, ritual has been
used as a means of communication, a gathering of community, and a tool to enter altered
states of consciousness. Tribal societies have
traditionally used dance as a primary ritualistic modality, enabling them to enter other
worlds and to affect the world around them.
What is the common ground upon which traditional societies enter such rites? What are
their means of motivation? Their desired outcomes? To answer these questions, this workshop will explore Aboriginal (Australia),
Maori (New Zealand), Native American, and
In this workshop, you are invited to expand
that story by entering a rich culture notable
for its celebration of everyday life, for romantic and passionate love, and for finding joy in
the simple things through a rich imagination.
While reading the love poems and elemental
odes of Pablo Neruda, the beautiful and magical stories of García Márquez, and the fascinating fictions of Jorge Luis Borges, you will
reflect on their stories and yours, weaving
your dreams with theirs.
Through lecture, discussion, sharing, writing,
deep relaxation, dreams, and awareness exer70
This course is for anyone interested in ritual
and self-expression through movement. No
experience is necessary.
The Mystical Quality of Stained Glass
Esperide Ananas & Piovra Caffe
This workshop provides an opportunity to
work with two master artisans and educators
who have devoted more than twenty years to
the construction of the Temple of Mankind, a
five-story underground temple in the Turin
region of Italy which features some of the
largest stained-glass dome ceilings, doors, and
windows in the world. The temple was built
in a community called Damanhur, a vibrant
artistic and spiritual community known for
its advancements in the relationship between
the arts and spirituality.
Each participant will be shown the secrets of
working with art glass: how to turn an idea
into a suitable design, how to cut, mount, and
solder. Participants will take home a piece
that they have made during the week.
Piovra and Esperide will share some of the
techniques used by Damanhur’s artists to
enhance creativity and artistic expression.
Breathing techniques, inspirational drawing,
the use of archetypal symbols and dance
movements, as well as specific preparation for
dreaming will be utilized to encourage a sense
of freedom in the artistic process. This workshop is suitable for total beginners as well as
the advanced artist. For more information
you can visit Damanhur’s website at
www.damanhur.org.
Esalen cofounders Michael Murphy and Dick Price
continuing education programs
by the National Certification Board for
Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB)
as a continuing education provider under
Category A (provider number 043062-00).
Workshops for which CE credit has been
approved are listed below and also noted in the
Seminars section. For furthur information,
contact Brita Ostrom at 831-667-3040.
Esalen as a provider of continuing education for
registered nurses (provider number 01152).
For additional information on CE courses for
nurses, contact Sherry Galloway, R.N., Continuing
Education Coordinator, 831-667-3000.
Please note: All two-day workshops offer 10 hours
of CE credit and all five-day workshops offer 26 hours.
If you wish to receive a certificate, please notify your
workshop leader. There is a $10 fee for each certificate
of completion, payable to the office
The Board of Registered Nursing has approved
Integrity
Chakra Integration
Love and Violence
Clinical Aromatherapy
A Labor-of-Love Yoga Retreat
The Transformative Power of Emotions
EEG and Spirituality
How to Raise Your Self-Esteem
Verbal First Aid
Trigger Point Release
Choosing Aliveness and Intimacy
Energy Medicine
Meditating Together: Insight Dialogue
LaStone Therapy
Taoist Chi Kung
Working with the Dreaming Body
Evolutionary Psych & Spiritual Practice
Crossroads
Being Present for Your Life
Feldenkrais and Energetic Movement
The Dance of Agreement
New Dimensions in Bodywork
Stress Reduction: An East/West Approach
Resolving the Aftereffects of Recent Trauma
The Upledger Institute’s CranioSacral I
Self-Acceptance—The Heart of Healing
Reborn Sensuous
On Becoming a Group Leader
Lesbian Relationships
Yoga: Form and Formless Unite
Zero Balancing Open Forum
Healing of Heart and Mind
Acupressure Energy
Dialogue: Creating Wholeness and Aliveness
The Practice of Emotional Healing
Process Acupressure
The Transformational Enneagram
Conquer Your Critical Inner Voice
Love Yourself—For Everyone Else’s Sake
Cortical Field Reeducation® and Feldenkrais
Restoring Fun
Spiritual Massage: Lightbody Infusion
Mind/Body Connection and Chronic Pain
User Friendly Yoga
28-Day Massage Certification
Soul Search: Embracing Our Spirit
If Kafka Had Prozac
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Healing from Trauma
The Courage to Be You
A New Myth, A New Energy
Intro to Gestalt Awareness Practice
Living with Breast Cancer
Gestalt Awareness Practicum
Upledger SomatoEmotional Release II
Shadow Healing
Mindfulness and Heartfulness
Being Single
Body Tales
SIKE: Healing and Health Through Ki Energy
Humor and Other Martial Arts
Getting Real
Facing the Final Mystery
Secrets of Successful Relationships
The Body Tells the Truth
Yoga Practice: Engaging the Hero’s Journey
Initiation, Transition, Transformation
Love’s Way
Not For the Feint of Heart
Energy Medicine and Practical Magic
Developing a Personal Yoga Practice
Intimate Connections
Elemental Esalen Massage
Completions and Transitions
Demystifying Qi
EMDR and Meditation—For Therapists
Radical Rx for Health Professionals
Opening to Ourselves and Others
Seeing Your Life Through New Eyes
Core Holoenergetics
The Ordinary Miracle of Healing
A New Beginning: Courage and Heart
The Enlightened Healer
Self-Healing: Create Health and Vitality
Psychodynamic Imaginative Trauma Work
The Upledger Institute’s CranioSacral II
The Body Keeps the Score:
Massage for Expecting Parents
The CC Flow Massage
Treating Trauma: An Integrative Approach
From Abandonment to Healing
Undefended Love
Feel the Qi
Sensory Awareness
Awakening the Mind
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massage practitioners and bodyworkers
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salen is an approved provider of continuing education for: psychologists,
accredited by the American Psychological
Association (Association (Esalen maintains
responsibility for the program; California psychologists are required to report their hours to
the NICEP Accrediting Agency); MFTs and
LCSWs by the California Board of Behavioral
Sciences (provider number PCE1594); and
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invitational conferences
The Esalen Center For
Theory And Research
I
n its ongoing commitment to the fields of
education, religion, philosophy, ecological
economics, human values in technology,
and the physical and behavioral sciences,
Esalen regularly sponsors invitational conferences that bring together experts who share
their research and points of inquiry. These
conferences promote a cross-fertilization of
disciplines that have been shunned by traditional educational institutions, leading to pioneering projects in medicine, education,
psychology, somatics, meditation research,
physics, and Russian-American relations.
Most recently, these conferences have been
convened under the banner of the Esalen
Center for Theory and Research (CTR).
Second Annual Conference
on Integral Capitalism and
Governance
March 3–8, 2002
Building upon the inaugural March 2001 conference titled “Integral Capitalism,” the 2002
conference added the important phrase “and
Governance” to the title to acknowledge the
close link between governance structures and
the global economy. Facilitated by Jay Ogilvy
of the Global Business Network, Amory and
Hunter Lovins of the Rocky Mountain
Institute, and Walter Link of the Global
Academy, this conference tackled one of the
most pressing issues of our times: how to create a just and environmentally sustainable
global economy.
The conference hosted a mix of progressive
business leaders, natural-systems designers,
corporate consultants, world-class mediators,
and ecological activists who came from three
continents for this four-day global visioning
session. The roster included: Ray Anderson,
Interface Company; Janine Benyus, author
of Biomimicry; Anita Burke, Shell Oil Canada;
Jeff Foote, Coca-Cola; John Gage, Sun Microsystems; Jeff Gates, author of Democracy at
Risk; Mark Gerzon, The Mediators
Foundation; Allen Hammond, World
Resources Institute; Mary Ellen Klee, Esalen
board member; Marc Luyckx, European
Commission; Oscar Motomura, Amana-Key
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Brazil; Andy Nusbaum, Esalen Executive
Director; Will Rosenzweig, UC Berkeley
Business School; Roger Saillant, Plug-Power
Company; Alison Sander, Boston Consulting
Group; Jeremy Sherman, Adaptive Strategies;
and Raoul Weiler, University of Antwerp.
During their time together, this group of
high-caliber thinkers rolled up their sleeves
and entered into rich discussions about how
humanity can globalize more efficiently.
Below are some highlights of their conversation.
The New Network of Global Power
At the start of the conference, participants
acknowledged that globalization has transcended outdated power structures. In their
place a new global triad has emerged, comprised of: 1) civil society, 2) national and international governments, and 3) multinational
corporations (MNCs). Allen Hammond
pointed out that any one of the three bodies
has the power to delegitimize any of the others. For example, the December 1999 civil
protests in Seattle demonstrated that where
governance bodies don’t check the excesses of
MNCs, active citizen-interest groups will.
Many felt that this emerging network of overlapping checks and balances is preferable to a
single worldwide government body that
would regulate the entire planet like a gigantic bureaucracy.
Internet-Empowered Civil Society
Watchdogs
Also on the first day, participants discussed
how rapid technological advances have
enhanced the effectiveness of environmental
and social activists, who have become global
“watchdogs.” One notable example cited was
Global Forest Watch (GFW), which streams
live video footage of endangered forests onto
the internet using on-site digital cameras. By
making information publicly accessible and
verifiable, GFW has forced corporations to
adopt transparent forestry practices. In the
place of traditional governmental agencies,
nongovernmental organizations like GFW
are starting to act as independent certification
bodies which regulate fair business practices
and substantiate or deny companies their
marketplace reputation. For example, GFW
has forced Home Depot to adopt sustainable
forestry practices, and the global furniture
company IKEA now uses sustainable forestry
products to ensure its progressive brand status.
Transforming Multinational
Corporations
Several participants from global corporations
reported on social and ecological achievements within their companies. Coca-Cola, for
example, recently succeeded in eliminating
CFCs from all their Coke machines at the
2000 Atlanta Olympic Games. Although this
is a “nice start”, Jeff Foote acknowledged how
difficult it is to foster a more comprehensive
environmental outlook within his company.
Other participants responded with mixed
feelings about such positive news from big
corporations. On the one hand, they said it
was inspiring to hear that ecological awareness was dawning on corporate giants like
Coke, but they also noted that there is still a
long way to go before such companies are
looking beyond the financial bottom line and
embracing a truly just, democratic, and ecological outlook. Likewise, many thought that
it is the imperative of global corporations to
include the world’s poorest members in the
emerging global marketplace.
“Glocalization”: How to Attune
the Global to the Local
Conferees agreed that the push toward a completely free global marketplace would continue
to destroy many locally-attuned cultural and
economic practices. Many agreed that the
world trade bodies need to augment global
labor and ecological standards while local communities implement their own stringent placespecific standards. Walter Link pointed out
that longstanding local cultural economies,
such as the tradition of wine-growing in
France, are being threatened by the destabilizing forces of unregulated globalization. Many
agreed that the key in the future will be to find
the right balance between “coarse-grain” (global) and “fine-grain” (local) rules of commerce
when forging new trade agreements through
the World Trade Organization.
Globalization’s Hidden Financial
Game
A few participants brought attention to the
mostly hidden and unregulated global financial flows that facilitated the rapid pace of
globalization in the 1990’s. The ability of banks
and MNCs to liquidate and move capital
between distant corners of the globe at lightning speed has resulted in dire consequences
for some local economies (note, for example,
the Asian market crisis of the late 1990’s). Jeff
Gates coined the phrase “money on auto-pilot”
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
to describe how the accelerated flow of global
capital runs mostly unchecked by human
oversight. There was strong agreement that
the international financing system of the IMF
and World Bank has not helped this matter
and that both need systemic reforms.
Likewise, many called for expanding the narrow goal of “financial return to investors” by
multinational corporations, which need to
start including environmental and human values when assessing shareholder value.
How Much Do Human Values
Need to Change?
A question that received fascinating discussion, as well as differences of opinion, was
how much does humanity need to “transform
its consciousness” in order for us to survive?
Is a core set of “more evolved” global values
necessary to create a sustainable system? Is
that even possible? Some maintained that we
can create a viable global system without a
massive transformation of consciousness. By
creating the right incentives and systems of
rewards, average consumers and companies
will “do the right thing.” But others insisted
that a core change in humanity’s consciousness from ego-driven selfish consumerism to
heart-based compassion and global environ-
mentalism will be the only realistic way to
create a sustainable human civilization.
From Anti-Global to Global
Complexity
All participants agreed that globalization is an
inevitable process, but they also noted that the
media have misrepresented and dumbeddown the vast complexity of global issues.
Many said that the anti-global movement is
not against globalization so much as its excesses of social and environmental destruction.
Everyone agreed that a new global discourse
commensurate with the complexity and subtlety of the issues was urgently needed.
Creating a New Narrative for
Global Society
On the last day of the conference, acknowledging that humans need overarching stories
to make sense of their lives, participants
brainstormed over a viable story for humanity’s future. How do we sell the world on an
equitable and environmentally sustainable
story for humanity? Not an easy task. Many
agreed that ecologically efficient business
models, such as the Lovinses’ Natural
Capitalism, need to be advertised to the
broadest possible audience. Somehow a compelling narrative that involves a comprehen-
sive shift to eco-efficiency and global compassion for our fellow humans needs to become
the new story for our global civilization.
Beyond Despair: Creating the Design
Solution for the Global Problem
The late environmentalist Donella Meadows
once said, “It’s the system, stupid,” meaning
that global problems are not due to people’s
bad intentions but to the ineffectiveness of
the global system, which rewards all the
wrong business behaviors and encourages
none of the good ones. Conferees agreed: As
it is currently designed the global system is
destined for disaster. But this was a group not
interested in despairing. Instead, they maintained a strong sense of purpose, which, when
combined with the confidence to apply innovative design solutions to global problems,
left everyone with a palpable sense that global
transformation is possible.
For a more detailed report of the conference,
please visit www.esalenctr.org. A special thanks
is extended to Esalen board member Mary
Ellen Klee, whose generosity helped make
this conference a success. CTR coordinator
Frank Poletti organized the conference and
wrote this summary.
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special programs
T
he programs listed below are either
part of an ongoing series or longer
than the standard Esalen workshop.
Prices quoted below for these programs are
for standard accommodations as described in
Reservation Information, page 86. Sometimes
bunk bed space is available at a reduced rate.
Scholarships are also available; please see
Scholarship Information on page 87.
September 22–27
River’s Wisdom, Mountains’s Way:
A Wilderness Retreat
Home base for this Ventana Wilderness
retreat will be Kachun, a 4,000-year-old
Esselen Indian village site situated on the
banks and high cliffs above the Arroyo Seco
River, one of the few designated “Wild and
Scenic Rivers” in the U.S. that remains
undammed and unchanged. It is a place that
reverberates with ancient aboriginal life as
well as with the romance and pristine beauty
of colonial California's Rancheria days.
“Our aim,” writes David, “is to share the 'old
ways' of earth-based spirit medicine and the
natural, timeless realities of tribal village living. There will be time to explore the surrounding mountains, with their hidden treasures of oak-studded savannas interlaced with
cool streams abounding with wildlife.
“Our focus will be on physical and emotional
attunement and purification, along with personal reflection, rest, and rejuvenation, using a
variety of activities drawn from both Native
American and human potential practices. Our
intention is to examine, clarify, and strengthen
what it takes to live a soulful, authentic, creative life, a life that echoes the profound natural power that Mother Earth's gifts provide to
those who have the courage to stop and listen.”
The trip is suitable for newcomers as well as
seasoned wilderness veterans. No strenuous
hiking is required. For further information
call 831-659-9577. $885
Please note: Because of this expenses incurred in
preparing this wilderness workshop, a nonrefundable deposit of $200 is required to reserve
a space, with the balance due 14 days before
the program begins. If you cancel prior to 30
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DANIEL BIANCHETTA
David Schiffman &
The West Wolf Medicine Society
days before the retreat, your deposit may be
applied to other Esalen programs, to be used
within one year. If you cancel 30 days or less
from the start date, your deposit is forfeited.
28-Day Massage Practitioner
Ellen Watson & Vicki Topp
This monthlong professional training in
Esalen Massage and Bodywork provides professional instruction in fundamental massage
skills. The program presents Esalen Massage
as a form of somatic learning and a meditation
for both giver and receiver. Supervised handson practice sessions will be balanced with lectures and demonstrations, movement classes,
and experiential exercises in anatomy, grounding, centering, breath awareness, body process,
self-care, ethics, and business practices. Special
attention will be given to fostering a supportive environment so that learning can easily
occur and a blend between technique, intuition, and creativity can be achieved. This
training is for students new to the bodywork
field as well as for practitioners seeking to add
the Esalen approach to their work.
Following successful completion of the 150hour (minimum) program, students wishing
to fulfill certification requirements have 6
months to complete and document 30 massage sessions. Upon payment of a $100 processing fee, a California state-approved
Certificate of Completion will be issued.
This is a professional training group with limited admission. Please request an application
from our office. Applications will be reviewed
in the order received and preference given to
applicants who have completed a workshop in
Esalen Massage. For further information contact the Esalen office, or e-mail Ellen Watson
at [email protected] or Vicki Topp at
[email protected].
Standard accommodations: $4450
Bunk bed room, if available: $3340
Ongoing Series
The Diamond Approach:
A Spiritual Teaching for Our Times
Teachers of the Ridhwan School are offering an
ongoing series of workshops in the Diamond
Approach® (see Soul Without Shame: A
Compassionate Confrontation of SelfJudgment, October 4-11). This teaching
bridges the traditional divisions between what
is considered sacred and what is considered
mundane.
The methodology of the Diamond Approach is
open-ended inquiry into one's personal experience leading to an experiential understanding
of it. The format includes meditation, awareness and movement practices, talks, exercises in
self-inquiry, and personal processing within the
group. As we inquire into and travel through
our inner terrain, the identifications and beliefs
shaped by our conditioning—the obscuring
veils within—become more and more transparent, and we are able to contact dimensions of
reality and human potential traditionally accessible to only a few. As we gradually contact the
depths of who we are, our lives progressively
become embodiments and expressions of our
true nature.
As in many schools of spiritual work, spiritual
development in the Diamond Approach, while
noninvasive and nonconfrontational, does lead
to addressing the defenses of the ego and the
dissolution of its structures, and so is not appropriate for everyone. It is especially suited to
those who have done a lot of spiritual and/or
psychological work and who still feel that something within has not been touched. Reading
one or both of the books below is recommended to see if you resonate with this approach.
While one Diamond Heart workshop may provide a foundation for the next, each is complete
on its own and may be taken individually or as
part of the series.
Recommended reading: Almaas, Essence and
Diamond Heart—Book One.
The Kabbalah and Healing
Close collaborators for over thirty years, Rabbi
Steven Fisdel and Dr. Gerald Cohen have been
working to apply the most central teachings of
the Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition, to
the areas of diagnosis, physical treatment, and
psycho-emotional growth.
In the course of working with clients and
patients, Rabbi Fisdel and Dr. Cohen have
identified precise stages of the healing process
and have developed practices for the expansion of consciousness and for integrated healing. Their work is enhanced by correlating
Kabbalist doctrines with the wisdom teachings of Tibetan Buddhism as well as with current scientific research in the areas of consciousness, healing, and spirituality.
As part of an ongoing program of research and
development, Rabbi Fisdel and Dr. Cohen are
presenting an evolving series of seminars, sharing their most recent findings, demonstrating
their cutting-edge technology, and guiding participants through successive stages of the heal-
ing process as well as through expanding levels
of consciousness and personal transformation.
All seminars in this series are geared for new
participants and former seminarians alike.
Each seminar emphasizes new perspectives,
presents current research, and reviews pertinent material from earlier workshops.
See Kabbalah, Buddhism, and Transformation, December 22-27.
Three Pillars of Asian Wisdom
The Asian classics—Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching,
Chuang Tzu’s Inner Chapters, Confucius’s
Doctrine of the Golden Mean, Buddhism’s Zen
Oxherding Pictures, Compassionate Heart Sutra,
and the I Ching—have been gaining newfound
appreciation worldwide. For the first time,
Esalen is endeavoring to offer the type of
ongoing, in-depth study in these wisdom traditions normally available only in graduatelevel Asian Studies programs (See The I Ching
ence after returning home. Some Esalen practitioners and teachers travel in the United
States as well as internationally and are available for private sessions and classes. If you are
interested, please let us know. The Esalen
Massage and Bodywork Association (EMBA)
also extends Esalen Massage and associated
skills. (Our listings are public information and
are not meant to be an endorsement of any
individual or institution.)
A collection of books on health and transformation, healing, somatics, psychology, bodywork, and related subjects is available for
teachers, practitioners, and students while at
Esalen. For access to this project, write to
Laurie Lioness Parizek at Esalen, call 831-6673000, or e-mail [email protected]. For further
information about the EMBA, write to EMBA
at Esalen, call 831-667-3018, e-mail
[email protected], or visit the EMBA website at
www.esalenmassage.org.
Experience: The Tao of Personal Transformation, December 1-6).
future
programs
Chungliang Al Huang grew up in the villages
of China, where he received his training in the
classics and a variety of Oriental fine arts and
martial arts. The son of prominent Chinese
scholars, Huang left the mainland with his
family in 1949 to migrate to America, where
he continued to explore ways to share his lifelong learning: to translate the universal wisdom of these philosophical classics into tools
for everyday living in the West. A teacher at
Esalen since the mid-sixties, he has collaborated with seminal thinkers such as Gregory
Bateson, Joseph Campbell, and Alan Watts,
who called Huang “a gifted teacher who works
upon others as the sun and rain upon plants.”
Q
Huang is founder of the Living Tao Foundation,
an international cultural arts network for lifelong learning, and director of the Lan Ting
Institute, a cross-cultural study and conference center located in the historic sacred
mountains of the People’s Republic of China
and at Oregon’s Gold Beach.
March, 2003
Esalen Outreach and Education and
the EMBA
This project extends Esalen's work in the healing arts and sciences. An independent serviceoriented program of Esalen teachers and associates, Esalen Outreach and Education offers a
global information network linking Esalen
visitors to centers, teachers, and health professionals in somatics, psychology, and massage,
so people may continue their Esalen experi-
L
isted here are some of the programs
scheduled for the months ahead. This is
not an invitation to register, but information to assist you in your long-range plans
to participate in an Esalen workshop. Dates
are subject to change; please call the Esalen
office or see the next catalog for more specific
information.
28-Day Massage Practicitoner
The Esalen monthlong massage program provides comprehensive instruction in basic massage skills. The training provides a minimum
of 150 hours. After the monthlong program,
students wishing to fulfill certification requirements have six months to complete and document 30 massage sessions. Upon payment
of a $100 processing fee, a California stateapproved Certificate of Completion will be
issued.
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audio recordings
The Dolphin Tape Series
Dolphin Tapes has no complete catalog at this time, but each quarter we feature a unique
collection of titles from the Human Potential Audio Foundation archives. When you place
an order, please let us know your field of interest or favorite speakers. We may have more
titles by some speakers. The recordings vary in length, and are normally 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
The tape price is $10 per title, plus shipping.
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
Single-tape titles are $10:
Anne Armstrong: On Being a Psychic, 1971
Anne & Jim Armstrong: The Power of Intuition, 1987
Angeles Arrien: Eight Universals that Sustain Health, 1990
Gregory Bateson: Cultural Relativity and Belief Systems, 1976
Gregory Bateson: Metaphors and Butterflies, 1975
John Blofeld: Taoist and Zen Practice, 1978
Robert Bly: Six Powers of Poetry, 1983
David Brower: Breaking the Species Barrier, 1971
Fritjof Capra: Ecological Vision, 1984
Fritjof Capra: Characteristics of Systems Thinking, 1985
Barry Commoner: Human Meaning of Environmental Crisis, 1971
Prem Das: The Singing Earth (Huichol Chanting), 1977
Ram Dass: Yoga of Daily Life, 1970
Ram Dass: Involvement with Life, 1974
Big Sur Drums: The Sky Children, 1968
James Fadiman: Guided Fantasy and Fairy Tales, 1972
James Fadiman: Hasidic and Sufi Teaching Stories, 1980
Stanislav Grof: A New Paradigm for Psychotherapy, 1980
Willis Harman: Origin of the Psychedelic 1960s, 1977
Arthur Hastings: Transpersonal Realities, 1979
John Heider: Living in the Tao, 1987
Albert Hofmann: LSD and the Nature of Reality, 1978
Aldous Huxley: Human Potentialities (MIT Cambridge), 1961
Aldous Huxley: Visionary Experience (MIT Cambridge), 1961
Robert Johnson: The Roots of Modern Masculinity, 1990
Stanley Keleman: Biological Roots of Consciousness, 1970
Jack Kornfield: The Sword of Wisdom (Boston), 1979
Jack Kornfield: The Smile of the Buddha (Bombay), 1982
Stanley Krippner: Communes, Telepathy, and Dreams, 1977
Timothy Leary: American Culture: 1945-1985 (College of Marin), 1977
Janet Lederman: Early Childhood Experience (Gazebo), 1987
George Leonard: Steps Toward Utopia, 1966
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George Leonard: Ecstasy and Education, 1970
John C. Lilly: The Dolphin Experience, 1969
John C. Lilly: Dolphin Behavior with Humans, 1976
Abraham Maslow: Self-Actualization, 1966
Abraham Maslow: Psychology of Religious Awareness, 1967
Terence McKenna: Hot Concepts and Melting Edges, 1994
Terence McKenna: Laws and Freedom, Habits and Novelty, 1994
Ralph Metzner: Varieties of Human Transformation, 1984
Robert Muller: Toward the Language of Happiness (Tarrytown), 1983
Humphry Osmond: Early Psychedelic History, 1976
Joseph Chilton Pearce: Intelligence of the Heart, 1992
Fritz Perls: Dream Theory and Demonstration, 1967-1968
Fritz Perls: Gestalt Therapy and How It Works, 1966
Paul Rebillot: The Pluto Story: Journey into Madness, 1984
Carl Rogers: The Person of Tomorrow, 1970
Carl Rogers: My Philosophy and How It Grew, 1972
Rogers/Bateson: Dialogue on Thinking, Feeling, Learning, 1975
Virginia Satir: Conjoint Family Therapy, 1968
Will Schutz: An Inner Fantasy Experience, 1969
Will Schutz: Principles and Philosophy of Encounter, 1970
Bob Schwartz: Changing Nature of the Human Journey (Tarrytown), 1983
Charlotte Selver: An Introduction to Sensory Awareness, 1969
Rupert Sheldrake: Morphic Resonance, Formative Causation (Bombay), 1982
Sheldrake/Pearce: Resonant Fields of Heart and Brain, 1993
John "Jay" Shelfer: Taoist Chi Energy Breath Movement, 1993
Julian Silverman: A Lighthearted Course in Miracles, 1984
Julian Silveman: Normal Insanity, 1993
Huston Smith: The Nature of Reality, 1979
David Steindl-Rast: The Body, Sensuousness, and Spirituality, 1990
Richard Tarnas: The Passion of the Western Mind, 1993
Charles Tart: On the Paranormal, 1971
Alan Watts: Divine Madness, 1968
Carl Whitaker: On Becoming a Professional Therapist, 1989
Arthur M. Young: The Reflexive Universe, 1973
Please include $3.00 per title for handling and mailing, and add $3.00 per order
if you would like your order sent by Priority Mail. California residents include
7.25% tax. Allow 4 weeks for delivery (most orders are mailed within 2 weeks).
Please mail your order and your check payable to:
DOLPHIN TAPES, P.O. Box 71, Big Sur, CA 93920
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work study program
T
sage and healing—the laying on of hands. This
practice integrates both hands-on and energetic work. Yoga, meditation, artwork, and
Tibetan and bioenergetic exercises will be
incorporated to complement this energy work
and to help bring participants in tune with
their bodies. The program will integrate emotional release work and group process as they
organically emerge.
he Work Study Program is a 28day program for those interested in an
intense involvement with the Esalen
environment. A work- and service-oriented
program, it is emotionally and physically
challenging, and only rarely is it restful.
Participants work 32 hours per week in one of
Esalen’s departments and participate in that
department’s program.
Selection of work students is done by the
Work Study Coordinator. Since this is a work
and service program, preference is given to
applicants who are open and willing to learn
about themselves within the work context as
well as within the study/process groups.
Because the work can be physically challenging (lifting, bending, etc.), it may not be suitable for all who wish to apply. First-month
work students, in particular, are assigned to
departments largely on the basis of community need (usually the kitchen or housekeeping).
Please note: The Work Study Program is
designed to explore and apply human values and
potentials. It is not intended as a substitute for
therapy or as a “cure.”
Work Study Programs scheduled for this
catalog period are as follows:
September 15–October 13
Charlie Bloom leads a month of shadow-work,
the process of identifying and integrating
those aspects of the personality that we have
judged, disowned, and denied. The term “shadow” refers to those parts of ourselves that do
not meet with our own approval, or our projection of others' expectations. In addition to the
“dark shadow,” the group will explore the “golden shadow,” which includes the so-called “positive” elements to which we resist laying claim.
Liberating the shadow can free up vast ener-
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
During most evenings and one weekend
intensive, work students are together in one
of two groups (see below). Each group emphasizes one type of growth practice, such as
Gestalt, meditation, creative arts, massage, or
somatics work, and has a specifically assigned
leader(s) who is with the group throughout
the month, coordinating the study schedule
and facilitating many of the evening sessions.
Applicants may state their preferred group
and must be prepared to stay at Esalen for the
entire month.
gies and internal resources. The program will
utilize group process, individual work, interpersonal exercises, and guided meditation.
The path of yoga is an ancient practice which
involves the exercise of the physical body and
the evolution of human consciousness.
Thomas Michael Fortel leads this monthlong in which participants explore hatha yoga
(active and restorative asanas), pranayama, and
meditation, as well as other forms of yoga.
These practices help to clear the energetic and
physical blockages inherent in our mental,
physical, and emotional structure (karmas).
This work enables opening to the potential of
greater spiritual consciousness. Along with lots
of yoga practice, there will be group process
and other activities for personal development.
October 13–November 10
We spend most of our lives building an identity/personality, thinking it is who we really are.
At some point we begin to question what we
have created. This month with Oliver Bailey
will utilize self-inquiry, meditation, guided
imagery, Gestalt awareness, and individual and
group process in order to move from the
perimeter of our identity to the still center of
our being. This process is designed to enhance
the student's ability to see, moment to
moment, how psychological habit blocks connection with essence. It is an opportunity for
participants to find their center, stretch their
limits, and experience their truth.
Maria Lucia Sauer Holloman will lead a
monthlong program teaching spiritual mas-
The focus of a month with David Schiffman
is the theme of transition. This program is
geared for people facing major changes who
would like to create a time for sanctuary and a
mood of mutual support. The intention will be
to cultivate an individual approach to change
that is heartfelt, open-minded, and resourceful
in spirit. Traditional methods of self-inquiry
(Gestalt Practice, bioenergetics, psychosynthesis) will be combined with innovative methods
incorporating music, meditation, poetry, ritual,
and prayer.
Helen Jerene Malcolm guides a month of
Vision Painting, in which painting is used as a
process to expose the limitations of the conditioned mind. The atmosphere will be one of
exploration and acceptance, encouraging participants to suspend judgment and enabling
the creative impulse to play, take risks, and face
fears. Emotional awareness, visualization, meditation, music, and dream images will be used
to evoke creative expression—through color,
light, and form—from one's inner source of
wisdom and intuition.
Please note: There will be a $45 materials fee
paid directly to the leader.
December 8–January 12
This program with Gordy & Zoë Ryan is five
weeks of singing, drumming, and dancing the
music of West Africa, the Islands, New
Orleans, and funk. “Our goal,” they write, “is to
experience the Spirit of Humanity as One.” The
dancing and drumming will build on the foundation of the 5 Elements as you explore “tradition and creativity in the groove.” You will
learn and practice the 9 Ways of Zhikr (as
passed on by Oscar Ichazo) as a Ritual of
Unification. This rhythmic, soulful journey is
designed to lay the foundation for an ongoing
celebration of life.
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A program with Paula Shaw focuses on
process, play, presence, and self-expression.
Applying group and individual process, theater
games, improvisation, and irreverent humor—
sometimes all at once—the program is
designed to help participants interrupt habitual patterns of expression, examine core beliefs,
experience themselves in ways they haven’t
experienced themselves previously, and discover what stands between them and “being here.”
Please see notes below regarding fees for these two
5-week programs.
January 12–February 9
This Gestalt month with Dorothy Nell
Thomas will focus on individual and group
process. Emphasis will be on inner exploration
(“Who are the different ‘folks’ that make up the
whole of who I am?”), and the investigation of
being states of consciousness through such
practices as meditation and social silence.
Participants will be encouraged to practice a
deeper level of authenticity by surrendering to
the truth of what is, in the moment, and to pay
attention to what flows out of that process.
Structured fun and creativity will be thrown
into the mix—dancing, singing, painting, and
writing.
Please note: There will be a $20 materials fee
payable directly to the leader.
Vicki Topp will facilitate a month of Somatic
Touch and Movement—the body experienced
from within. This program will include handson and movement-meditation practices from
Authentic Movement, Continuum, BodyMind-Centering, Contact Improvisation, and
Esalen Massage. Participants will explore
breath and movement with music from around
the world, integrating cross-cultural healing
practices indigenous to all living beings. Come
awaken your senses, your emotions, your inner
spirit. Come prepared to move and be moved,
to support and be supported.
February 9–March 9
Jeremiah Abrams leads a monthlong
practicum exploring Love and Relationship.
Investigating the connection between inner
work and outer choices, the program provides
an opportunity to resolve impediments to love
and to learn from the love problems of others.
The program will employ soul-centered group
process, Purification (sweat) Lodge, Dreamtime
journey, music, and ritual to cultivate an
enhanced capacity for intimacy and the ability
78
to satisfy the seemingly contradictory needs
for relatedness and for autonomy, for connection and for self-realization.
Shamanism is the oldest spiritual system in
the world. David Corbin & Nan Moss offer a
monthlong exploration of the shaman's
ancient and universal methods to enter nonordinary reality for problem solving, wellbeing, and healing. Participants will learn to
enter the shamanic state of consciousness and
be initiated into the shamanic journey to experience the same sources of profound wisdom
and compassion known to our ancestors. The
group will seek to restore spiritual power and
to apply shamanism in contemporary daily life
to help heal oneself, others, and the planet.
Food and Housing: Accommodations are
shared (occasionally co-ed), with up to four
people to a room, usually at South Coast
Center, a staff complex located 1.5 miles north
of Esalen. Housing and meals are included in
your tuition.
Transportation: When making travel
arrangements, note that the closest airport to
Esalen is Monterey. With at least 48-hour
advance reservations, van service to Esalen is
available from the following locations on the
Sunday of your arrival:
Monterey Airport: Departs 2 pm. Cost: $30
Monterey Transit Center: Departs 2:20 pm.
Cost: $30
San Francisco Airport: Departs 11:45 am.
Cost: $80
For van reservations call 831-667-3005.
March 9–April 6
Helen Jerene Malcolm. For program descrip-
tion see November 10-December 8.
Self-exploration, group process, and the skills
of self-reflection and communication will be
the emphasis of a month with Seymour
Carter & Associates. The program will feature Gestalt group process, both structured and
unstructured, along with meditation, sensory
awareness, and guided fantasy in an atmosphere of self-disclosure and emotional honesty.
Each participant's process of development will
be honored, encouraged, and treated as a
unique expression of personal identity.
Commitment to the Work Study Program is
from 4 pm of the first Sunday to 4 pm of the
final Sunday. Inasmuch as the Work Study
Program is a complete program in itself, please
do not plan to take regularly scheduled catalog
workshops during your stay.
Fees: A deposit of $400 in U.S. currency is
required with your application. You may pay in
full at the time you apply. The work scholar fee
is $795 for the first month, $745 for the second
month, and $695 for the third month. For the
special 5-week program December 8-January 12, fees
will be $995 for first-month work scholars, $935 for
second-monthers, and $870 for third-monthers.
Work students may be invited to remain for a
second or third month depending on space
available and community needs (work scholars
may not, however, stay longer than three
months in a twelve-month period). Occasionally
it is possible to stay for a longer period as an
Extended Student. There are no scholarships
available for the Work Study Program.
Please note: Application is not registration
in the program. Registration is made only
after approval of application and upon receipt
of deposit and personal statement. If you do
not pay in full at the time of application, the
balance of the fee is due on arrival and is nonrefundable thereafter. If your deposit was
charged to a credit card, the balance will be
automatically charged to your card five days
before your arrival. If you choose to cancel,
you will be refunded the following amount
of your original payment: 15+ days prior to
start, $300; 8-14 days, $200; 3-7 days, $100;
0-2 days, $0.
Please mail the application form (see next
page) with your personal statement and
deposit to:
Work Study Program
Esalen Institute
Big Sur, CA 93920
or fax to:
Work Study Program
831-667-2724
We will contact you regarding your status
within 14 days of receipt of your application.
For more information contact the Work
Study Office at the above address or phone:
831-667-3010; fax: 831-667-2724; e-mail:
[email protected].
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work study program application
please print legibly.
Name _______________________________________________________________________________________
o Male o Female
Today’s Date __________________________________________
Phone: Day ( ————— ) ___________________________________ Evening ( ————— )_____________________________________ Fax ( ————— ) _______________________________________
Home Address __________________________________________________________________________ City/State/Zip __________________________________________________________________________
Country___________________________________ E-mail Address _______________________________________________________ Date of Birth ___________________________ Age ______________
Occupation ______________________________________________________________ Place of Employment____________________________________________________________________________________
Do you have any limiting physical/emotional conditions (e.g., bad back, severe depression) which might affect your full participation in this
program? o Yes o No If yes, please specify ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Are you currently taking any medication? o Yes o No
If yes, please specify ________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
If a former Work Scholar, list approximate dates and where you worked _________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Work Study Program is for 28 days, beginning and ending on Sunday. Sometimes particular dates and/or leaders are not available. List below,
in order of preference, the dates/leaders for which you are available. (For example, Choice 1: 1/12 to 2/9, Thomas; Choice 2: 1/12 to 2/9, Topp;
Choice 3: 2/9 to 3/9, Abrams; Choice 4: None.)
dates
Choice 1 _________________________________ to ___________________________________ Preferred Leader ____________________________________________________________________________________
If your application is accepted and we cannot give you Choice 1 above, we will place you in your next available choice. Should this occur,
would you like to be on a wait list for your preferred choice(s) or take the available guaranteed space only? o Wait list(s) o Guarantee only
Please note: Space may become available up until the program start date. You must let us know if you wish to be removed from a wait list, because if you’re on
a wait list and space becomes available, you will be automatically placed and then notified. If you cancel after placement, you will be charged a cancellation fee.
Work students may be invited to remain for a second or third month, depending on space available and the needs of the Esalen community.
Please indicate your availability for such an invitation (no obligation): o No extension o One-month extension o Two-month extension
We encourage ridesharing. Are you bringing a vehicle? o Yes o No; Are you willing to give a ride? o Yes o No; Receive a ride? o Yes o No;
I wish to rideshare from (if different from above address) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Assignments to departments are made according to community labor needs (usually kitchen or housekeeping). However, if you have preferences
in housekeeping, kitchen, maintenance, gardening, or groundskeeping, please list them below (skills not always necessary).
o Place me wherever I’m most needed – or – note my preferences below.
Choice 1 __________________________________________________ Skills/Experience ________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Please attach a personal statement about your interest in the Work Study Program and why you’d like to participate.
All applicants are required to sign a standard release-from-liability and assumption-of-risk form as a condition of participation
in the Work Study Program. This form will be mailed to you upon acceptance to the program.
Do you want van service? From o Monterey Airport, 2 pm ($30 fee); o Monterey Transit, 2:20 pm ($30); o San Francisco Airport, 11:45 am ($80).
Payment o $400 deposit
o $795
o $————— Other
o Check (U.S. banks only), attached and payable to Esalen Institute
o MasterCard o VISA o American Express
If you are making a credit card deposit, the balance will be
automatically charged to your card five days before your arrival.
Card No. _______________________________________________________________________________
Credit Card Expiration Date _____________________________________________________
Name (if different from name above) _________________________________________
Authorizing signature ______________________________________________________________
Please Note: No pets, drugs, or violence allowed.
Applications cannot be considered without a deposit and a personal statement included.
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biographical information
Lane Arye teaches Process work and
conflict resolution worldwide. He leads a
UN project in the Balkans working on ethnic tension and community building, has a
doctorate in psychology, and is author of
Unintentional Bride. p. 59
Tandy Beal, dancer, choreographer,
actress, comedienne, and dreamer, has performed as a solo artist and with her own
ensemble in major cities and festivals
throughout the world. She is director of the
Pickle Family Circus. p. 38
Deborah Brenner, an artist displayed in galleries internationally, is an art
therapist devoted to exploring the creative
process of relationship. She and her husband
Paul have offered workshops throughout the
U.S. and Canada. p. 60
Bill Benda is a graduate fellow of the
Program in Integrative Medicine at the
University of Arizona. His work focuses on
alternative approaches to health care and his
research examines the effect of equine-assisted
therapy on children with disabilities. p. 42
Paul Brenner holds a doctorate in medicine and psychology. Moderator of the PBS
series “Healing Through Communication,”
he is the author of Seeing Your Life
Through New Eyes and Buddha in the
Waiting Room. p. 60
Cynthia Johnson Bianchetta is a
photographer and a movement artist with
Esalen’s Movement Arts staff. Teaching
dance and movement for 30 years, she is a
12-year associate of Continuum. She is former director of the Weston Photographic
Gallery, p. 37
Byron Brown has been a teacher of the
Diamond Approach in the California
Ridhwan School since 1990. He leads
groups, works with individuals, trains
teachers, and assists in programs nationwide and in Germany. He is the author of
Soul Without Shame. p. 21
Carol Adrienne is the author of The
Purpose of Your Life, The Purpose of
Your Life Experiential Guide, The
Numerology Kit, and coauthor (with
James Redfield) of the two Experiential
Guides for The Celestine Prophecy and
The Tenth Insight. p. 13
Richard Balaban, a licensed clinical
psychologist and certified group psychotherapist, has taught at Indiana University and
SUNY at Buffalo. His passion is for his family, his work, and life’s journey. p. 12, 37
Daniel Bianchetta has been teaching
meditation and intuitive practice at Esalen
for over two decades. A photographer as well
as Esalen’s media coordinator, his photographic interests are the Big Sur coast and
Native American rock art. p. 37
James Baraz has taught vipassana
insight meditation retreats and classes since
1977. Cofounder of Spirit Rock Meditation
Center in Marin County, Calif., he holds an
MA in psychology and has a counseling
practice in Berkeley. p. 22
Charlie Bloom is a teacher, consultant,
and therapist specializing in relationship
issues. He has designed and facilitated experiential seminars since 1982, and codirects
The Empowerment Network with his wife
Linda. p. 10, 51, 77
Shelley Brown is medical director of
Monterey Bay Advanced Medical Group, an
integrative medicine practice. As a surgeon
she focused on breast cancer. Her current
healing practices include Bikram yoga,
music composition, and labyrinth meditation. p. 42
Ronald Alexander, psychotherapist
and executive coach practicing in Santa
Monica, has explored Buddhist meditation
and healing disciplines for over 30 years. A
business and entertainment industry consultant, he focuses on leadership coaching,
creativity, and communication. p. 27, 53
Flora Bardet trained with Subur
Rahardja, founder of the White Crane
School of Bogor, Indonesia. After more than
20 years of learning this art in Asia and
teaching it in Bali, she conducts trainings in
Europe, specializing in “Silat health tools”
and women’s empowerment. p. 12
Linda Bloom is a psychotherapist, seminar leader, and codirector of The
Empowerment Network. She has facilitated
relationship workshops throughout the U.S.
as well as internationally. p. 51
Esperide Ananas leads seminars on
healing, inspiration, and perception all over
the world. A graduate of Damanhur’s
School of Spiritual Healers (Italy), she is a
member of Damanhur’s Way of the Oracle,
researching dreaming and subtle energies.
p. 70
Amelia Barili is an Argentine-born
journalist and university professor who
teaches Latin American culture and creative
writing at UC Berkeley. Coauthor of
Conversations with Borges, she has practiced and taught yoga, tai chi, and qigong
for many years. p. 65, 70
Richard Feather Anderson,
founder of the American School of
Geomancy, brings a lifetime of study of
architecture, ecology, geometry, myth, and
ritual into his work to integrate Feng Shui
and European geomancy. He is the geomancer on Esalen’s long-range planning
team. p. 30
Ellen Bass has supported, encouraged,
and inspired writing for over 20 years. She
has published a dozen books, including poetry, nonfiction, and children’s stories. She
recently won the Pablo Neruda Prize for
Poetry and has a new volume, Mules of
Love. p. 50
A
Ralph Abraham has been a professor
of mathematics, chaos pioneer, and author
since 1960. He has recently written or
cowritten Chaos, Gaia, Eros; The
Evolution Mind; and Bolts from the
Blue: Art and Mathematics in the
Evolution of Consciousness. p. 53
Jeremiah Abrams has worked for
30 years in the helping professions. Director
of the Mt. Vision Institute (www.mtvision.org), a certification counseling program in Marin County, he is author of
Meeting the Shadow, The Shadow in
America, and Reclaiming the Inner
Child. p. 44, 78
Mark Abramson is a part of the
Stanford Center for Integrative Medicine
and heads the Mindfulness Based Stress
Reduction Program at Stanford Hospital
and Stanford University. He teaches at
Stanford’s School of Medicine and is on staff
at Stanford Hospital. p. 24, 34, 45
Susan Anderson is a psychotherapist
who specializes in helping people overcome
heartbreak, loss, and abandonment. She is
the founder of Abandonment Recovery, a
worldwide program of techniques and support groups that help people overcome their
abandonment wounds past and present.
p. 66
Alan Arkin has won or been nominated
for every major award in theater, film, and
television, both in the U.S. and Canada. He
has recently written several children’s books,
the latest of which is Cassie Loves
Beethoven. p. 37
80
B
Leanne Backer is the executive chef at
the Chopra Center for Well Being in La
Jolla, Calif. Her work reflects her background in natural foods preparation and
her extensive research in the art of
Ayurvedic cooking. p. 39
Oliver Bailey is a practitioner and
instructor of Esalen Massage. His background includes training in Gestalt Practice,
neurolinguistic programming, intuitive
work, and meditation. p. 77
Rob Bauer has been working with gay
men for 16 years as a body-centered psychotherapist. He has presented his groundbreaking “Touching the Body, Healing the
Spirit: The Rubenfeld Synergy Method for
Gay Men” at Esalen and Omega Institutes.
p. 66
Therese Baxter’s aptitude for healing took her from West End actress to
PhysioSynthesis instructor to Ki healing
practitioner (with 25 years’ experience in
Alexander Technique). She has a private
SIKE practice in Los Angeles, and works
extensively with performing artists. p. 49
Julie Bowden, a psychotherapist in
Santa Barbara for 20 years, now teaches as
she travels. Coauthor of Recovery: A
Guide for Adult Children of Alcoholics
and Genesis: Spirituality in Recovery,
she is cofounder of the National Association
for Children of Alcoholics. p. 36, 37
C. Jay Bradbury is a member of the
Esalen massage staff and in private practice.
The developer of Muscle Lengthening, he
works to encourage the quieting of the
mind-body with the intention to expand
consciousness. p. 33
Carolyn Braddock is a body-centered
therapist and consultant in private practice
in Lakewood, Colo. She authored Body
Voices and trains professionals in posttraumatic stress disorder using breath,
sound, and movement. p. 38
Ann Bradney is a senior faculty member at the Institute of Core Energetics East,
has a private Core Energetics counseling
practice in New York City, and has led
numerous workshops in New York and
California. p. 59
Nathaniel Branden is a practicing
psychologist in Los Angeles who does phone
therapy with clients nationwide. He is a psychological theorist and author of 16 books,
including The Art of Living Consciously
and The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem. p. 14
Barry Bub is a Gestalt therapist in
Manhattan, with 30 years of experience as a
family physician. He is director of H-Link, a
program which teaches the clinical applications of spirituality for health-care professionals. p. 12
Katy Butler’s autobiographical essays
and literary nonfiction have appeared in
The New Yorker, The New York Times
Book Review, Yoga Journal, and Whole
Earth Review. A longtime Buddhist practitioner, she was lay ordained by Thich Nhat
Hanh in 1991. p. 49
C
Piovra Caffe is an accomplished
painter and sculptor who specializes in artistic glass techniques, including Tiffany. She
supervises all artwork for the Temple of
Humankind at Damanhur (Italy) and is
directly involved in designing and making
art pieces for its halls. p. 70
Susan Campbell is a trained Gestalt
Therapist, a respected couples therapist and
couples group leader, and author of the bestseller The Couples’ Journey: Intimacy as
a Path to Wholeness and the recently published Getting Real. p. 50
Seymour Carter, Gestalt teacher at
Esalen for more than three decades, is a lifelong student of the ever-evolving models of
personal identity. He combines studies in
family systems theory with Buddhism,
Sensory Awareness, and other body/mindoriented practices. p. 17, 49, 57, 78
Lysa Castro has five years of in-depth
experience in Body Tales and Authentic
Movement, including the completion of the
three-year training program at the Authentic
Movement Institute. She has been working
with Olivia Corson since 1997. p. 49
Joyce Catlett, coauthor of Fear of
Intimacy, has collaborated with Robert
Firestone on all his publications. She is also
coproducer of the Glendon Association’s thirty-seven video productions, and conducts
couples workshops nationwide. p. 33
Bhagavan Das is a California-born
Bhakti Yogi who in the 1960s was the first
Western disciple of Neem Karoli Baba.
Author of It’s Here Now (Are You?), he
was instrumental in bridging the philosophies of East and West. p. 33
Joseph Cavanaugh is a licensed psychotherapist in private practice in the Sierra
foothills, a psychology instructor at a local
community college, and has facilitated personal growth workshops throughout
California for the past 30 years. p. 26
Bernie DeKoven is a pioneer of technologies for collaborative work and play.
Lecturer, author, and award-winning game
designer, he actually devotes his life to making the world more fun. p. 34
Carl Chase (CC), developer of the CC
Flow™, is a bodyworker who specializes in
cross-fiber friction and deep tissue methods.
He has also studied sports massage and softtissue manipulation. p. 23, 66
Peter Cline has been a massage therapist for 14 years and has been on the Esalen
staff since 1996. p. 56
Gerald S. Cohen is a lecturer on the
subject of consciousness and healing. He is
the executive director of the Foundation for
Mind-Being Research in Los Altos, Calif.
p. 46
Stephen Cohen, Gestalt practitioner
and longtime golf hacker, is founder and
president of The Shivas Irons Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing
golf’s beauties and virtues. p. 18
Emilie Conrad is the founder of
Continuum. Her innovative approach to
movement has enhanced the creativity of
artists in many fields and has led to new
insights in the healing process. p. 32
David Corbin is a shamanic practitioner and teacher, with a private practice
in shamanic counseling and healing in
Maine. He is a faculty member of the
Foundation for Shamanic Studies. p. 59, 78
Olivia Corson is a pioneering movement/story artist, teacher, and performer.
Body Tales, infused with her lively devotion
to Earth’s sacred and creative powers, has
inspired people internationally. Her website
is www.bodytales.com. p. 49
Phil Cousineau is a writer, filmmaker, and cultural historian. He worked with
Joseph Campbell for many years, cowriting
The Hero’s Journey, the documentary on
Campbell’s life. His books include Once
and Future Myths, The Book of Roads,
and The Art of Pilgrimage. p. 35
Karen Dietz is a folklorist, story expert,
consultant, and coach. She has over 17 years’
experience working with companies including Walt Disney, Chase Manhattan, and
Toyota. She utilizes stories to improve leadership, teamwork, vision and values, and
change efforts. p. 62
Megan Don has a background in theatre, movement, and sound. She has studied
Jungian psychology, anthropology, and
shamanism and has spent time with the
Australian Aboriginal people as well as
with the Maoris of New Zealand (where
she was born). p. 70
Patrick Douce, one of Moshe
Feldenkrais’s first American students, has
been associated with Esalen since 1972.
Since 1986 he lives half of each year in Bali,
developing programs with Indonesian Silat
martial-arts-for-health schools. p. 22
Timothy Dunphy is a national gold
medalist and master Taekwondo instructor
who has taught workshops in Europe,
Hawaii, Esalen, and across the U.S., working with individuals and groups to assist in
healing the energetic body. p. 54
E
Donna Eden is the developer of Energy
Kinesiology, based on an ability to see and to
work with the body’s energies in a systematic manner. She has been practicing energy
balancing for over two decades and teaches
worldwide. p. 17
Linda Ellinor is an organizational consultant and cofounder of The Dialogue
Group. She specializes in leadership, selforganizing/managing teams, interpersonal
communications, and integration of
Dialogue into a wide variety of settings.
p. 30
D
Victor Erofeyev is an internationally
acclaimed writer from Moscow. His book,
Russian Beauty, has been published in
over ten different languages including
English. Mr. Erofeyev edited The Penguin
Book of New Russian Writing, an
important collection of contemporary literature. p. 32
David Darling is a cellist, teacher, and
composer. He is cofounder of Music for
People, an organization dedicated to selfexpression through music and improvisation. His latest recordings include 8-String
Religion, Darkwood, and the Grammynominated Cello Blue. p. 57, 59
Stewart Esposito bridges the
Western mind to the Tantric/Taoist practices of intimacy and sacred sexual connection between beloveds. He brings 40 years of
experience as a CEO, consultant, and course
leader. Stewart is completing his first book
on Conscious Loving. p. 30
DANIEL BIANCHETTA
Dorothy Charles is a Gestalt practitioner whose primary interest is in combining Gestalt Practice with artistic expression.
p. 42, 56
Will Evans is a physician and writer
whose experience with Jonas Salk influenced a lifelong quest for healthy balance.
He lives in Colorado, practicing medicine
and teaching at Colorado Mountain
College. He is completing a book about the
heart as the mindful compass of our lives.
p. 35
Rabbi Ohad Ezrahi founded
Hamakom Retreat Center for the Study and
Experience of Jewish Wisdom, in the Judean
Desert. A teacher and author of Jewish mysticism, he received the tradition from
Kabalists in Jerusalem and was ordained as
a rabbi by Rabbi Zalman SchachterShalomi. p. 43
Maty Ezraty is a founder and director
of Yoga Works in Santa Monica, Calif. She
has been teaching and promoting yoga for
the past 17 years. p. 40
David Feinstein, a clinical psychologist, is coauthor of Mortal Acts, Rituals for
Living and Dying, and Weaving the
Energies, Fitting the Field. He has
taught at the Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine. p. 40
Lisa Firestone is Education and
Program Director of The Glendon
Association, adjunct faculty at UCSB, and
in clinical private practice. She is involved
in training and research in the areas of couple relations, parenting, and suicide and violence prevention. p. 33
Rabbi Steven Fisdel is a teacher
and author who has lectured on Kabbalah
for over 25 years. His current book is titled
The Practice of Kabbalah. p. 46
F
Lilias Folan continues to share yoga
through her PBS series “Lilias!”, her books,
and award-winning videos and audio tapes.
She conducts seminars internationally and
has taught yoga and meditation in Russia
and Australia. p. 29
Jayson Fann, Esalen Arts Center coordinator, has 15 years’ experience as a musician, performer, visual artist, costume
designer, composer, and musical director. He
studied music in Africa and the Caribbean,
and has taught at Cal State University,
Monterey Bay. p. 19, 23, 56, 63
Thomas Michael Fortel is a longtime yoga practitioner/teacher, influenced
by the Iyengar and Ashtanga styles of hatha
yoga. In addition, he draws strongly from
his devotional experience in Bhakti yoga.
He teaches locally and leads retreats nationally and worldwide. p. 11, 29, 52, 55, 77
Rachel Fann joined the Esalen massage
staff in 1993. Her work integrates Esalen
Massage with approaches from
CranioSacral Therapy, aikido, Chi Kung,
breathwork, and meditation. p. 65
Ty Francis is a Gestalt-trained innovation specialist who works with global corporations. With a background in brand strategy, corporate communications, and organizational development, he now conducts
research in developing creative consciousness
and inspiring innovation. p. 18
Robin Fann has a lifelong background
in dance and movement. An Esalen
Massage practitioner, CranioSacral practitioner, and certified yoga instructor, she has
taught and assisted Esalen Massage trainings, yoga retreats, and Upledger Institute
trainings. p. 47
Mallory Fromm received his doctorate in Oriental Studies, and is adept at martial and healing Ki. An aikido shihan and
veteran practitioner of Ki healing, he leads
workshops in America and Japan, and is
author of The Book of Ki. p. 49
81
G
H
Sherry Galloway is an Esalen massage staff practitioner and teacher whose
focus is sports massage, balanced with
Esalen bodywork. A practicing RN, she specializes in emergency medicine and psychiatric intervention. p. 56
Steven Harper is a wilderness guide,
author, and Big Sur resident. He has led
both traditional and experimental wilderness expeditions internationally for over 25
years. His work focuses on wild nature as a
vehicle for awakening. p. 15, 25, 28
Glenna Gerard is a nationally recognized consultant in the area of interpersonal
communications and transformation. She is
coauthor of Dialogue: Rediscovering the
Transforming Power of Conversation.
p. 30
Jill Harris, resident and staff member at
Esalen from 1967-1971, is still grappling
with the question “But what about real
life?” She has a massage practice in Palo
Alto and has co-led Sensory Awareness
workshops with Charlotte Selver. p. 68
Mariah Fenton Gladis, longtime
Gestalt practitioner and trainer, founded
and for 17 years has directed the Bucks
County Institute. She is director of the
Pennsylvania Gestalt Center for
Psychotherapy and Training. p. 54, 56
John Harris, has studied, taught, and
performed Latin American dancing since
1994 in Greece, New Zealand, England,
and the U.S. His workshops synthesize
somatic psychotherapy, relational dynamics,
partner dancing, and the application of
intersubjectivity theory. p. 45
Philip Goldberg is a spiritual counselor, meditation teacher, and ordained
Interfaith Minister. Author or coauthor of
17 books (nonfiction and fiction), he lives in
Los Angeles where he counsels individual
clients, leads spiritual support groups, and
conducts seminars. p. 69
Mary Goldenson is a clinical psychologist, chiropractor, and certified Radix®
teacher in Los Angeles. She has a private
practice specializing in relationship therapy
and transitions, and leads mediation trainings and workshops around the country.
p. 16, 28, 39, 57, 63
Jan Goldstein is an award-winning
poet, playwright, screenwriter, and author.
A human rights activist and ordained rabbi,
he is the author of Life Can Be This Good
and the forthcoming Sacred Wounds:
Succeeding Because of Life’s Pain. p. 22
Harriet Goslins is the originator of
Cortical Reeducation®. She is a Feldenkrais®
practitioner with a background in psychosynthesis, applied kinesiology, craniosacral
work, and social anthropology. p. 34
Diana Gray is a lesbian psychologist in
San Francisco specializing in working with
the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender community. She has written articles and presented workshops on lesbian issues, and
trains helping professionals to facilitate psychotherapy groups. p. 28
Pierre Grimes is a philosophy professor
at Golden West College, founder and director of the Noetic Society, Inc. for the study of
Platonic and Neo-Platonic Works, and president of the Academy for Philosophical
Midwifery. p. 45
Tara Guber, a 25-year yoga practitioner, is the founder and coauthor of the
nationally-recognized yoga program at The
Accelerated School in Los Angeles providing
daily yoga and meditation classes, as well as
classes for parents, school staff, and the community. p. 60
82
Rachel Harris was in the 1968 Esalen
Residential Program. A psychotherapist in
private practice in Princeton, N.J., and a
consultant for executives on leadership and
interpersonal skill development, she is the
author of Children Learn What They
Live. p. 58, 59
Robert Helm is a longtime teacher and
practitioner on the Esalen massage staff.
p. 46
Judith Hemming is a British Gestalt
psychotherapist who specializes in working
with couples and families and in the spiritual opportunities that accompany human life
and suffering. She has studied and taught
The Orders of Love since 1993. p. 56
Paul Heussenstamm is a fourthgeneration artist and has taught “Art as a
Spiritual Path” throughout the U.S. and
abroad. Gabrielle Roth’s book, Maps to
Ecstasy, features his original mandala on
the cover. p. 29
Sha Sha Higby is nationally known
for her evocative and haunting performances and for the exquisite and ephemeral
body sculpture she creates to move within.
She has performed internationally and
studied extensively in Indonesia and Japan.
p. 13
Ardell Hill is a licensed massage therapist and reflexologist experienced in a variety of modalities, including shiatsu and
craniosacral. Author of Spiritual
Reflexology, she also incorporates the
chakras and meridians as a framework for
looking at the body. p. 19
Julia Butterfly Hill is an ecological
activist committed to empowering every
individual to discover how he or she can
make a difference. p. 11
Martina Hoffmann is a painter,
sculptor, and Reiki master whose art
explores women’s connection to the Goddess.
Her work is featured in the books Return
of the Great Goddess and One Source.
p. 47
Maria Lucia Sauer Holloman
has practiced spiritual healing in Brazil and
the U.S. since 1982. She has been a resident
student and teacher at Esalen and conducts
trainings and seminars internationally.
p. 35, 77
Peter Holmes is a professional herbalist and clinical aromatherapist who
researches, writes, and lectures extensively.
He is a regular contributor to the
International Journal of Aromatherapy
and the author of Jade Remedies and The
Energetics of Western Herbs. p. 11
Lucia Rose Horan was born and
raised in the Esalen community. She carries
on her family’s lineage through teaching
The 5Rhythms™ ecstatic dance practice and
Esalen Massage. Lucia shares her passion
and inspiration as both an embodied practitioner and teacher. p. 21
Peggy Horan has been practicing and
teaching massage at Esalen for over 25
years. She has also been involved in childbirth education and has practiced midwifery
in Big Sur for 15 years. p. 66
Chungliang Al Huang teaches Tai Ji
philosophy, East/West synthesis, and the art
of movement meditation. He is the founderpresident of the Living Tao Foundation and
director of Lan Ting Institute in the Sacred
Mountains of China. p. 39, 41
Russ Hudson is executive director of
the Enneagram Institute in New York. He
is the coauthor of Personality Types
(Revised Edition) and the forthcoming
The Wisdom of the Enneagram. p. 33
Terry Hunt is a licensed psychologist
and certified bioenergetic therapist. He has a
private practice in Boston, with subspecialties in adult children of alcoholic and abusive homes, addiction, and older adolescents.
He is a consultant to the Hazelden Institute.
p. 30
Leigh Hyams is a painter/teachingartist at UC Berkeley Extension, JFK
University, La Serrania on Mallorca, Spain,
and at Skyros Center, Greece. A Fulbright
Scholar whose work is exhibited internationally, she leads painting intensives and
museum tours worldwide p. 37, 38
David Hykes, composer, singer, and
the foremost Western authority on harmonics in sound and related meditative practice,
has released 9 CDs, co-hosted evenings with
the Dalai Lama and the Gyuto Monks, and
teaches and performs at spiritual centers
worldwide. p. 16
J
Roger Jahnke has practiced Chinese
medicine for 25 years. He is the director of
the International Qigong Instructor
Program at Santa Barbara College of
Oriental Medicine, and has made eight
research trips to the temples and sacred
mountains of China. p. 68
Constance Jones, an MFT for over
10 years, developed the human sexuality
course material at Mt. San Jacinto College.
She currently teaches at Chapman
University in San Diego, and practices and
provides facilitation in Gestalt and family
systems training. p. 49
Jamieson Jones started a neonatal
fellowship 15 years ago working with HIVinfected infants. The fields of neonatology
and HIV care challenged him to seek an
expanded model of medicine. Currently he is
coauthoring the forthcoming Enlightened
Healer, Enlightened Healthcare. p. 63
K
Leah Kalish is the program director
and coauthor of the yoga program at The
Accelerated School in Los Angeles. She wrote
and stars in Living Arts/Gaiam’s Yoga
Fitness for Kids videos and is co-creator of
the Yoga Kit for Kids and Games for
Life. p. 60
Jane Katra has a doctorate in health
education and has been a spiritual healer for
more than 25 years. She has taught at the
University of Oregon and presently works
as a spiritual healer and “immune system
coach” in Europe, Canada, and the U.S.
p. 13
Lynne Kaufman is an award-winning short-story writer and playwright
whose stories have appeared in Redbook,
Cosmopolitan, and, McCalls. Her plays
have premiered at The Magic Theatre,
Actors Theatre of Louisville, and
Theatreworks. p. 38
Jude Kaye is a nationally recognized
facilitator, trainer, and consultant to nonprofit organizations. She has over 20 years’
experience assisting individuals in learning
skills they need to be more effective in their
work and personal lives. p. 28
Michael Kearney has worked as a
physician with individuals facing death in
Ireland and England for the past 20 years.
He has published two books, Mortally
Wounded and A Place of Healing, and
currently teaches at McGill University in
Montreal. p. 21
Sam Keen is the author of numerous
books, including The Passionate Life,
Faces of the Enemy, Hymns to an
Unknown God, and, most recently,
Learning to Fly. p. 65
Pauline Kirby, a teacher and health
practitioner for over 25 years, has a background in both traditional medicine and a
variety of complementary medical practices
including acupuncture, herbs, and homeopathy. p. 30
Gregory Kramer, a Vipassana
teacher for more than 20 years, studied
Buddhist meditation and psychology with
respected Asian teachers. He directs the
Metta Foundation, supporting the development of Insight Dialogue meditation and
the Buddha’s teachings as they manifest
today. p. 19
Sybil Krauter teaches Integrated
Awareness® and Cortical Field
Reeducation®. Her background is in clinical
hypnosis, neurolinguistic programming,
and education. Currently her focus is on
how we create reality. p. 34
Stanley Krippner is professor of psychology at Saybrook Institute and the
California Institute of Integral Studies. He
is coauthor of Dreamworking, Dream
Telepathy, and Realms of Healing. p. 40
Rabbi Irwin Kula is an authority on
contemporary trends in culture and new
forms of religious and spiritual expression.
Religion & Ethics Newsweekly named
him one of the “10 People to Watch” shaping
the American spiritual landscape. p. 41
Peter Levine holds doctorates in both
medical biophysics and psychology. A stress
consultant to NASA’s early space shuttle
project, he directs the Ergos Institute for
Somatic Education and is the author of
Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma.
p. 61, 65, 66
Stewart Levine is dedicated to providing skills and ways of thinking that people
will need to thrive in the next millennium.
His book Getting to Resolution: Turning
Conflict Into Collaboration was named
one of the 30 Best Business Books of 1998.
p. 23
L
Master Share K. Lew, a youthful
84, is a healer and Taoist priest from Wong
Lung monastery in Southern China with
over half a century’s experience teaching
Taoist health practices such as Chi Kung.
p. 20
Ann Ladd is a psychotherapist/physical
therapist who founded Life Patterns for
Health® in 1972 to offer holistic programs.
She combines training in physical therapy,
Gestalt, transpersonal psychology, and deep
emotional healing to create safe, deeply
transformative groups. p. 69
Dennis Lewis, a longtime student of
the Gurdjieff Work, Advaita Vedanta, and
Taoism, teaches qigong, tai chi, and meditation. He is the author of The Tao of
Natural Breathing, and the audio program Breathing as a Metaphor for
Living. p. 16
Bruce Langhorne is a legendary
recording artist and composer who has been
nominated for an Academy Award in film
scoring. He is the inspiration for the Bob
Dylan song “Tambourine Man.” p. 55
Amory Lovins has been a resource-policy consultant to ten heads of state and has
published 26 books. The Wall Street
Journal named him among 28 people in the
world most likely to change the course of
business in the 1990s. p. 44
Laura Larsen is a graduate of UCLA
School of Nursing. She is the author of
Facing the Final Mystery: A Guidebook
for Discussing End-of-Life Issues Now,
and has been teaching workshops based on
this material since 1998. p. 50
Leonard Laskow is a Stanfordtrained physician who has studied the healing power of love for more than 25 years.
The developer of Holoenergetic® healing, he
teaches it to the public and to health and
healing professionals internationally. p. 60
Barbara Lee has been a circlemaker for
the past 21 years. Her primary focus is on
the heart-centered remembrance of the
Divine. She is the author of Loving
Yourself. p. 51
Alan Leon is an artist, muralist, and
Omega Institute artist-in-residence. He has
taught nationwide over the past 25 years.
He is a former landscape architect and
Fulbright scholar. p. 62
George Leonard is the author of 12
books, including Mastery, The Ultimate
Athlete, and The Way of Aikido. He is a
fifth-degree black belt in aikido, founder of
Leonard Energy Training (LET), and president of Esalen. p. 24, 63
David Levenson is the group leader
and former medical director for the Sequoia
Hospital Weight Program in Redwood City,
Calif. He is also cofounder of the
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program and a consultant to the hospital’s Pain
Treatment Clinic. p. 24
Til Luchau is a Somatic Psychotherapist
and a Certified Advanced Rolfer®. A coordinator and faculty member of the Rolf
Institute’s Foundations of Somatic Practice
program, his workshops in the somatic arts
have been offered in twelve countries. p. 20
Frederic Luskin is a Research
Associate at the Stanford School of Medicine
studying the psychospiritual factors of heart
disease. He directs the Stanford Forgiveness
Projects, and is a licensed therapist and the
author of Forgive for Good: A Proven
Prescription for Health and Happiness.
p. 29, 45
Susan Lydon is author of The
Knitting Sutra: Craft as a Spiritual
Practice. She is an accomplished knitter
and teacher and has been a student of meditation for more than 20 years. p. 17
Marlena Lyons cofounder (with Jett
Psaris) of the Bay Area’s Conscious Living
Center, has been in private practice since
1979 specializing in relationship issues and
the cultivation of the capacity for undefended love. p. 67
M
Patricia Ryan Madson, a senior
lecturer in the Stanford Drama
Department, is coach of the Stanford
Improvisors and a Constructive Living
instructor. She received the 1998 Dinkelspiel
Award for innovative contributions to
undergraduate education at Stanford. p. 14
Helen Jerene Malcolm, artist, consultant, and teacher, works with a visionary
consulting team designing long-range vision
paintings for individual clients and Fortune
500 corporations. p. 16, 54, 77, 78
Marjorie Malone attended the Arts
Student League and Alvin Ailey’s American
School in New York City. Founding director
of The Centre for Performance Art and
Culture, and artistic director of The Centre
Dance Collective, she has practiced Butoh
since 1989. p. 51
Noel Mapstead is a local fine artist
and potter. He has studied and exhibited
extensively in New York and Japan. He is
now at home with Big Sur clays using traditional firing techniques. p. 48, 53
Dean Marson is a practitioner and
instructor of Esalen Massage who uses selfcare techniques as a means of introducing
people to the pleasure and potential of
human touch. p. 57
Donna Martin, an international
Hakomi trainer who has worked closely
with Ron Kurtz since 1992, has a background as a yoga and meditation teacher,
psychotherapist, and addictions counselor.
She is writing a book with Ron Kurtz on
the practice of loving presence. p. 40
Charlea Massion is a family physician and women’s health specialist practicing in Santa Cruz, Calif. She is on the clinical faculty at Stanford University Medical
Center and is a member of the founding
board of the American College of Women’s
Health Physicians. p. 59
Bonny McGowan is a local designer
and artist who has worked with the
SoulCollage™ process for over eight years.
She is passionate about honoring, inspiring,
and encouraging the creative spirit in all
people of all ages. p. 20
Jeff McKay has worked as a leadership
educator since 1972, conducting programs
across North America, in Europe, and Asia.
He founded and directed the Redwood
Leadership Program at Stanford, based on
teamwork, communication, risk, and selfawareness. p. 15
Deborah Anne Medow, Esalen
workshop leader and bodywork practitioner
since 1969, teaches yoga, massage, creative
movement, awareness practices, and related
healing disciplines throughout the U.S. and
Europe. p. 23, 47, 48
Linda Trichter Metcalf created
Proprioceptive Writing in 1976 while a professor at Pratt Institute. Since 1982, she has
been Co-Director of the Proprioceptive
Writing Center, where she teaches, counsels
individuals, conducts writing therapy, and
provides teacher training. p. 28
Rabbi Goldie Milgram is the
author of the forthcoming Reclaiming
Judaism as a Spiritual Practice and creator of the award-winning website
Rebgoldie.com. A teacher of applied
Jewish spirituality, she has taught at
Kripalu, Princeton University, and Yeshiva
University. p. 12
Carolyn Miller, a book editor, writer,
and award-winning poet, leads writing
workshops in California and on the island
of Mallorca. Her second collection of poems,
After Cocteau, was published in 2002.
p. 67
Chuck Miller has been practicing yoga
for over 25 years and is an advanced
Ashtanga student and teacher. His teaching
reflects his deep commitment to yoga as a
way of life. p. 40
Joseph Montville spent 23 years as a
diplomat in the Middle East. He became a
political psychologist, wrote articles, edited
books, and conceived of track-two citizen
diplomacy at Esalen Institute while working on the Russian-American relationship.
p. 32
Alan Morinis completed his doctorate
in social anthropology at Oxford as a
Rhodes Scholar. He has held university
posts, authored books, and founded and
directed nonprofit organizations. For four
years the nearly-lost corpus of Mussar has
been his work and passion. p. 68
Beverly Kitaen Morse is a marriage and family counselor in private practice in Santa Monica and a senior instructor
and executive director of the RosenbergKitaen Institute for Integrative Body
Psychotherapy. p. 35
Nan Moss is a faculty member of the
Foundation for Shamanic Studies. As a
shamanic practitioner she teaches workshops on shamanism, and has a shamanic
counseling and healing practice in Maine.
p. 59, 78
Robert Moss is a lifelong dream
explorer, a shamanic counselor, novelist, and
former professor of ancient history and philosophy. He teaches courses in personal
growth, creativity, and Active Dreaming
(his original synthesis of dreamwork and
shamanism) worldwide. p. 23
Julie Motz is an internationally known
energy healer who pioneered the practice of
doing healing work in the operating room.
She has lectured at Stanford, Dartmouth,
and Columbia, and teaches workshops that
focus on problems she feels are not sufficiently addressed today. p. 11
Caroline Muir has been a yoga practitioner for over 20 years. She is a Tantric sex
expert who specializes in sexual healing and
awakening the Goddess energy in women.
p. 10
Charles Muir, a professional yoga
instructor for 28 years, is director of the
Source Schools of Tantra Yoga in Hawaii
and California. He is coauthor (with his
wife) of Tantra: The Art of Conscious
Loving. p. 10
Arthur Munyer, a trigger point specialist, has been a student and practitioner of
bodywork and emotional release for 30
years, most of them at Esalen. He has a private practice in Carmel, Calif. His website is
www.mbay.net/~amunyer. p. 15
83
Dulce W. Murphy is the director and
president of The Russian-American Center
(TRAC) in San Francisco. For the past 22
years she has been a leading figure in nongovernmental Russian-American relations.
p. 32
Michael Murphy is cofounder and
chairman of the board of the Esalen
Institute. He is also a founder of the Esalen
Institute Soviet-American Exchange
Program from which The RussianAmerican Center had its beginnings.
Michael is the author of both fiction and
nonfiction books. p. 32
N
Hani Naser is a hand drummer as well
as an accomplished oud player, songwriter,
and producer. He has performed and recorded with musicians such as Jackson Browne,
Ry Cooder, Hamza el Din, Santana, Bonnie
Raitt, and David Lindley. p. 43
Mary Nelson is the originator and
founder of LaStone Therapy, Inc. A former
bionutritionist, she is a licensed massage
therapist with a private practice in Tucson,
Ariz. Her work is inspired by her metaphysical studies of Christian and Native
American traditions. p. 19
Andrew Nugent-Head is the
founder/director of the Association for
Traditional Studies. He lived in China for
15 years, training in traditional, teacherdisciple relationships in the arts of
Baguazhang, Taijiquan, Qigong, and
Chinese Medicine. p. 58
Andy Nusbaum is a 30-year member
of the P.G.A., a longtime teacher, and a
founding board member of The Shivas Irons
Society. He is committed to the mysteries,
beauties, and transformative capabilities of
the game of golf. p. 18
O
Brian O’Leary was a NASA scientistastronaut during the Apollo program and
has served on the faculties of Cornell, UC
Berkeley, and Princeton. He is the author of
Miracle in the Void, The Second
Coming of Science, and Exploring
Inner and Outer Space. p. 24
Brita Ostrom, a licensed MFT, has led
massage and other workshops at Esalen for
over 20 years. She is trained in Gestalt
awareness work and participated in Esalen’s
two-year somatics education project. p. 13,
25, 57
P
Lisa Palac is a journalist, editor, producer, and TV and radio host whose work covers a range of topics, including pornography,
high technology, rock ‘n’ roll, religion, and
feminism. Her memoir is titled The Edge
of the Bed: How Dirty Pictures
Changed My Life. p. 59
84
Laurie Lioness Parizek combines
traditional and innovative ways of healing.
She teaches and practices interactive and
energetic healing and is a longtime teacher
of Esalen bodywork. She also pilots Esalen
Outreach and Education, extending Esalen’s
services to the world. p. 11, 13, 46, 75
Larry Payne is coauthor of Yoga for
Dummies, author of The Business of
Teaching Yoga, and is featured in the
User Friendly Yoga video series. He is
founder of the corporate yoga program at the
Getty Museum and the yoga curriculum at
the UCLA School of Medicine. p. 37
Maggie Phillips is a psychologist in
private practice and director of the California
Institute of Clinical Hypnosis in Oakland,
Calif. She leads workshops on hypnosis and
personal growth and is coauthor of Healing
the Divided Self. p. 24, 66
Char Pias, Esalen massage staff member
since 1980, is a facilitator and founding
member of the Esalen Arts Center. She is a
Reiki Master and a licensed minister of the
Center for Spiritual Healing in Tiburon,
Calif. p. 33
Susan Pinto is a certified Advanced
Upledger instructor and coauthor of the
SomatoEmotional Release Workbook.
She has a background in developmental psychology and is also an assistant trainer in
the Feldenkrais® method. p. 43
Judith Simon Prager is a clinical
hypnotherapist who has trained first responders, pediatric interns, and psychiatric nurses in Verbal First Aid and used it in a pre-,
intra-, and post-surgery pilot program at
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. p. 14
Christine Stewart Price is a
teacher and ongoing student of Gestalt
Awareness Practice and other approaches to
developing awareness. p. 28, 41, 42, 61
Jett Psaris, after a career spanning the
heights and depths of the financial world,
began to question every belief she held true.
After completing a Ph.D. in psychology, she
began offering workshops with Marlena
Lyons to other seekers on the path of selfknowledge. p. 67
R
Aminah Raheem is a transpersonal
psychologist, the originator of Process
Acupressure, an international teacher of
body psychology, and the author of Soul
Return: Integrating Body, Psyche, and
Spirit. p. 31
Rebecca Ramos has been teaching
the book arts, printmaking, and drawing for
seven years. She currently teaches at UC
Santa Cruz, CSU Monterey Bay, and
Monterey Peninsula College, while continuing to exhibit her own work nationally.
p. 46
Shiva Rea teaches flow (vinyasa) yoga
at Yoga Works and UCLA’s World Arts and
Cultures Program. She is creator of the
home-practice CD Yoga Sanctuary, and
the upcoming Yoga Chant and Yoga
Trance Dance with Jai Uttal and Geoffrey
Gordon. p. 15
Luise Reddemann is the director and
chief psychiatrist of the Clinic for
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine
in Bielefeld, Germany. She is the author of
numerous scientific essays in medical and
psychotherapeutic journals. p. 64
Layne Redmond has been a student
of yoga since 1970 with South Indian yogi
Swami Bua as her primary teacher. Author
of When the Drummers Were Women
and producer of the CD Chanting the
Chakras, she is an internationally recognized
percussionist/recording artist. p. 41, 42
Arden Reed, Professor of English at
Pomona College, teaches English literature
and French art history. He wrote a prizewinning study of Romanticism and the
weather, and a forthcoming book on
Modernism, the fruit of six years contemplating a single painting and two stories.
p. 56
Michael Rehm is a psychotherapist
and workshop leader with a particular
interest in the relationship between the
healing arts and creative/artistic development and expression. p. 38
Rhiannon is a gifted singer, composer,
and teacher who has been bringing her
potent blend of jazz, world music, and
improvisation, to audiences for three
decades. She is a founding member of the
innovative a cappella ensembles Voicestra
(with Bobby McFerrin) and SoVoSo. p. 34
Charles Richards is a therapist,
speaker, trainer, and explorer of the boundaries of psychology and spirituality. He is
the author of the tape/CD set The Way of
Karma and the book Karmic
Relationships. p. 48
Erik Riswold is an ITP trainer, a certified Leonard Energy Training (LET) trainer, and holds a third-degree black belt in
aikido. He has led numerous weekend and
monthlong workshops at Esalen. p. 53
Barry Robbins is a leader of
Community ITP in Mill Valley, Calif., a
consensus-based shared practice. He has a
25-year background in yoga and is a nationally-ranked athlete who has led previous
ITP workshops at Esalen. p. 53
Karen Roeper is a senior teacher at
the Rosen Bodywork Institute in Berkeley,
Calif., and has maintained a private practice in bodywork and movement for over 15
years. Her lifelong focus has been to explore
the relationships between body and emotions, the mind, and spirit. p. 25
Jack Rosenberg is a psychologist in
private practice and clinical director of the
Rosenberg-Kitaen Institute of Integrative
Body Psychotherapy in Venice, Calif. He is
the author of Body, Self, and Soul. p. 35
Peter Rosselli cofounded Cor
Communications, LLC, a consulting and
training company specializing in communication skills. Developer of programs in
improvisation, presentation skills, and team
building, he has consulted with companies
such as Apple Computer, AT&T, and IBM.
p. 25
Ilana Rubenfeld, 35-year pioneer in
the integration of body-mind-spirit and
originator of the Rubenfeld Synergy®
Method, is a certified teacher of Alexander
Technique, Feldenkrais Method®, and
trained with Fritz and Laura Perls in
Gestalt Practice. p. 50, 52
Adam Rudolph is a composer, percussionist, and educator who has performed
worldwide for the past 25 years. He has
toured with Shankar, Hassan Hakmoun,
Don Cherry, Pharaoh Sanders, and Yusef
Lateef. His website is www.metarecords.com.
p. 47
Douglas Rushkoff is the author of
seven books on technology, media, and culture, including Coercion, Media Virus,
and Ecstasy Club. He teaches media theory
and cultural anthropology at New York
University, and is a commentator on NPR’s
All Things Considered. p. 41
Gordy Onàyémi Ryan has 30 years
of experience playing with Babatunde
Olatunji’s Drums of Passion as well as an
extensive career as a recording artist and
composer for dance, albums, and films.
p. 53, 55, 77
Zoë Yayodele Ryan teaches transformational movement to people of all ages.
Trained in Shakespearean theatre, she studied dance education in London, apprenticed
with Gabrielle Roth, and has lived and
breathed African dance with Baba Olatunji
and others for over 12 years. p. 53, 77
S
Sy Safransky is the founder and editor
of The Sun magazine. p. 19
Yoshi Sakuyama is a sixth-degree
black belt of Shorinji Kempo, a Japanese
martial art rooted in Zen Buddhism. He
has systematized basic martial arts movements to create the Ryu-Ki System, a practice for anyone interested in enhancing
mind/body health. p. 45
Carlos Sauer teaches workshops internationally, both independently and for the
Foundation for Shamanic Studies. He is
coordinator and a ceremonial leader of the
Esalen Sweat Lodge. p. 34
Victoria Saxe was trained in scientific
illustration at the Smithsonian Institution
Natural History Museum. Her art has been
included in exhibitions at the Oakland
Museum, The New York State Museum,
and The Houston Museum of Natural
Science. p. 63
Bill Say directs the Community Healing
& Leadership Training in Berkeley, Calif.,
taught at the Core Energetic Institute, and
is faculty at Naropa and JFK universities.
He is a Korean/Japanese American and a
father. p. 59
Brenda Schaeffer is an international
teacher, psychologist, and addictions specialist whose passion is to put soul back into psychology. She is author of Is It Love or Is It
Addiction? and Love’s Way. p. 54
Howard Joel Schechter is interested in learning and teaching about emotional and spiritual liberation. He is the author
of Rekindling the Spirit in Work and
Jupiter’s Rings: Balance from the Inside
Out. p. 51
David Schiffman is a longtime group
leader at Esalen. His primary interest is in
facilitating people in transition toward a
more heartful, unstrained existence. p. 13,
18, 23, 47, 49, 60, 64, 74, 77
Meir Schneider, an internationallyknown therapist and educator, is the
founder of the School for Self-Healing in
San Francisco. His latest publication is
Yoga for Your Eyes, a video on natural
vision improvement. p. 63
Stephen Schuitevoerder is a
Diplomate in Process Work and is on the
faculty of the Process Work Center of
Portland. Trained as a clinical psychologist
in South Africa, he facilitates trainings in
Process Work internationally. p. 20
Norman Seeff is a photographer and
filmmaker who for over 25 years has worked
with hundreds of public personalities,
including Ronald Reagan, Ray Charles,
Martin Scorsese, Michael Jackson, and the
Rolling Stones, among others. p. 27
Catherine Shainberg is a psychologist, bodyworker, and poet. She developed
her own system of bodywork and physiotherapy entirely activated by images. She
founded The School of Images, dedicated to
the development and practice of dreaming
and the Kabbalah of Light. p. 19
Phyllis Shankman is a licensed therapist in Southern California and a longtime
Esalen group leader. She offers retreats and
seminars on self-esteem, creativity, and spirituality. p. 26
Paula Shaw, a professional actress and
acting teacher for over 25 years, conducts
workshops in expanding self-expression,
well-being, and creativity for non-actors
across the United States and Canada. p. 38,
42, 61, 78
Matthew Shyka, a multidisciplinary
artist, is artistic director of Plan B, an
improvisational dance theatre company. He
facilitates groups in Authentic Movement
and Contact Improvisation. p. 55
Stephen Sideroff is a clinical psychologist and peak-performance consultant
in Santa Monica, Calif. He is an assistant
professor in the Department of Psychiatry
and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA and
the author of several audiocassette programs
in behavioral medicine. p. 36
Toby Simon was a professor of English
and Humanities at Pratt. He has been
teaching and writing poetry for 40 years. In
addition to teaching Tobin Simon’s Poetry
Writing Workshop in New York, he codirects the Proprioceptive Writing Center in
New York City. p. 28
Michael Sinel is director of Physical
Medicine and Rehabilitation, California
Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, Beverly
Hills, and an assistant professor in the school
of medicine at UCLA. He is the coauthor of
Win the Battle Against Back Pain and
Back Pain Remedies for Dummies. p. 36
Fritz Smith is a physician, cranial
osteopath, certified acupuncturist, and
founder of Zero Balancing. He is the author
of Inner Bridges: A Guide to Energy
Movement and Body Structure. p. 29
Bob Stahl is the director of mindfulnessbased stress reduction programs at hospitals
in Santa Cruz and the Bay Area. He is a
longtime meditation practitioner who lived
in a Buddhist monastery for over eight
years, and has trained with Dr. Jon KabatZinn. p. 59
Marvin Todd is a family therapist in
private practice who during the last 15 years
has specialized in working with adult brothers and sisters. He has five siblings: one sister and four brothers. p. 17
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®. p. 37, 74, 78
Tom Truss is a Quaker, Buddhist,
Queer activist, and professional dancer. He
has facilitated group creation, transformation, and exploration for over two decades.
He is an AmSAT-certified teacher of the
Alexander Technique. p. 55
U
Malcolm Stern is a British psychotherapist with more than 20 years’ experience. Cofounder of one of Europe’s largest
human-potential forums, Alternatives (at
London’s St. James’s Church), he runs
groups internationally and is the author of
The Courage to Love. p. 47
Nick Udall is a corporate strategist who
inspires executive leaders to co-create new
business concepts and deliver new business
opportunities. With a background in design,
he also has a doctorate in consciousness, creativity, and community. p. 18
Gail Stewart directs reSource, a bodywork training and continuing education
program in Berkeley, Calif. She teaches and
practices massage, Trager, and Reichian
approaches. p. 42
Daniela Urbassek is a long-term
member of the Esalen massage staff. Her
work is strongly influenced by her studies in
craniosacral work, movement, yoga, and
dance. p. 66
Candice Strack, a licensed occupational therapist, is a Diplomate Certified
CranioSacral Therapy practitioner and
instructor for The Upledger Institute. She is
also an ordained minister, Reiki Master,
and has trained in Zero Balancing under
Fritz Smith. p. 25
David Streeter, a certified sports massage practitioner on the Esalen massage
staff, has taught yoga and anatomy and
worked as an athletic trainer. Before joining
the Esalen faculty, he lived as a Camaldolese
monk. p. 27, 31, 65
Keiko Suga is a ceramic and textile
artist whose focus is on traditional techniques using natural materials. p. 48, 53
T
Russell Targ is a physicist who helped
develop the laser and its applications. He
currently pursues extrasensory perception
research in Palo Alto, Calif., and has coauthored five books, including, with Jane
Katra, The Heart of the Mind: How to
Experience God Without Belief. p. 13
V
Sietze VanDerHeide is a clinical
psychologist in private practice in Los
Angeles and a faculty member at Ryokan
College. He specializes in neuropsychology,
behavioral medicine, and interpersonal relations, focusing on the integration of psychotherapy and neurophysiology. p. 12
Bessel van der Kolk is a clinician,
researcher, and teacher in the area of Post
Traumatic Stress. His book Traumatic
Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming
Experience on Mind, Body, and Society
(coedited with A. McFarlane) is the premier
text on the subject. p. 65
Robert Venosa is considered one of
the outstanding masters of Fantastic
Realism. His work has been the subject of
three books, Manas Manna, Noospheres,
and the recent Illuminatus (with Terence
McKenna). p. 47
W
Amaran Tarnoff is the founder of
Results/Support Seminars, and has been
teaching the Inquiry Process for over 19
years as a professional coach. He is currently
writing a book titled The Inquiry Process:
Learning Together to Produce Results.
p. 60
Ellen Watson is a teacher/student of
transformational practices including
Gabrielle Roth’s 5Rhythms™, Trance
Dance™, yoga, Holotropic Breathwork™ and
Esalen Massage. She has been at Esalen
since 1984, practicing and teaching on the
massage and Movement Arts staff. p. 21,
27, 37, 74
Dorothy Nell Thomas was
founder/director of The Keys Institute in
Key Largo, Fla., and is also a former director
of the Work Study Program at Esalen.
Currently a process facilitator and writer,
she is foremost a lover of truth, even when
the truth “ain’t pretty.” p. 78
Paul Watson is a biology professor at
the University of New Mexico, specializing
in the evolution of social and reproductive
psychology and pondering traditional esoteric teachings under the sobering influence
of evolutionary theory. p. 20
Radhule Weininger is a licensed
clinical psychologist in private practice in
Santa Barbara. Her experience ranges from
working as a physician in Germany to
counseling AIDS patients in the Bay Area.
She has led dream workshops, art classes,
and has meditated for 20 years. p. 21
Nicholas Wilton has been working
professionally as an artist for over 18 years.
His paintings are exhibited in numerous
galleries and private collections, and have
been featured internationally in magazines,
children’s books, and print and digital
media. p. 67
Anna Wise has taught meditation and
training brainwaves worldwide for over 25
years. She is the author of The HighPerformance Mind: Mastering
Brainwaves for Insight, Healing, and
Creativity and Awakening the Mind: A
Guide to Mastering the Power of Your
Brainwaves. p. 12, 68
Nina Wise is a performance artist whose
provocative and original works have been
honored with seven Bay Area Critics’ Circle
awards and three National Endowment for
the Arts fellowships. Her written pieces have
appeared in numerous magazines. p. 46
Ann Sayre Wiseman is an art and
dream therapist, artist, and the author of 12
books, including Making Things and
Dreams As Metaphor. She currently
teaches at the Cambridge Center for Adult
Education, the Association for the Study of
Dreams, and leads workshops abroad. p. 45
Jerry Wolfe has been a fine-arts photographer for 30 years. Featured in several
one-man shows, his works are in the permanent collection of the Monterey Museum of
Art and numerous private collections. His
work can be seen at www.imagemakers.org.
p. 33
Adam Wolpert is a painter, teacher,
and director of the arts program at the
Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. He has
taught classical painting in Los Angeles and
San Diego, landscape painting at New
College of California, and has shown extensively throughout California. p. 41
Dale Wright is a professor of religious
studies at Occidental College. He writes
extensively on Buddhism, including
Philosophical Meditations on Zen
Buddhism, and speaks frequently to a wide
variety of audiences. p. 55
John Wymore is the founder and
director of The Gestalt Center of New
Mexico. His current fascination is with neuroscience and evolution and how they will
impact the theory and technique of psychotherapy. p. 20
Z
William Zangwill is an EMDR trainer who teaches therapists worldwide. He has
a private practice in New York specializing
in PTSD, sexual and relationship issues, and
family therapy. After many personal meditation retreats, he presents workshops combining EMDR and meditation. p. 58
85
Q
reservation information
Making Contact with Us
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register for a workshop at Esalen is to fax
or mail your reservation. If you fax your
reservation, be sure to include accurate
credit card information.
Esalen’s Fax: 831-667-2724
(Our fax line is exclusively for reservations—
no personal correspondence, please.)
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card five days before your arrival. (Please see
page 87 for information on discounts and
reduced rate options.)
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we are unable to reach you.
Esalen Institute reserves the right to cancel any
program at any time.
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tion by phone, please be prepared with your
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ext. 7321 (Express reservations are for those
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and know the workshop, date, and leader of the
workshop for which they are registering. Please
have ready your credit card and type of accommodation you desire.)
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Fees and Accommodations
Please Note: Workshop fees cover
tuition, food, and lodging. All accommodations are shared. We cannot
guarantee requests for singles.
Beginning November 1, there will be
a rate increase (see Esalen Notes, page 4).
Standard Accommodations: This is shared
housing, two or three persons per room. In
some cases, bathrooms are shared. Couples
will always be housed together.
7-Day Rate,
per person
$1370
5-Day Rate, Weekend Rate,
per person
per person
$885
$990
$485
$545
Messages: 831-667-3000, ext. 7402
After 11/1 $1535
(to leave a message for a seminar participant or
room and board guest.)
Bunk Bed Rooms: This is shared housing,
Phone Reservation Hours:*
four or more persons per room. There are a
limited number of these spaces, which are
reserved on a first-come, first-served basis.
Mon., Tues., Thur.:
10 am to 7 pm
Wednesday:
10 am to 12 noon
Friday:
10 am to 5 pm
Saturday:
10 am to 3 pm
Sunday:
12 noon to 5 pm
*The reservation office is closed on Christmas
and New Year’s Day.
World Wide Web: http://www.esalen.org
Registration
Fees and Reservations: Preregistration, by
fax, mail, or phone, is required prior to arrival.
A registration form is provided on page 88.
Since workshops fill quickly, it is advisable to
sign up as early as possible. In order to reserve
a space in any workshop, we require full payment or the following deposits:
Weekend:
$150
5 to 7 days: $300
12 to 14 days: $400
More than
21 days: $600
Deposits are payable in U.S. currency only.
Overseas residents must pay by checks drawn
on U.S. banks or use a credit card. The balance
86
7-Day Rate
$1020
After 11/1 $1145
5-Day Rate
Weekend Rate
$660
$740
$360
$405
Sleeping Bags: Meeting rooms are sometimes used as shared sleeping bag space and
may be available for workshop participants
with limited financial means. Sleeping bag
spaces are for sleeping only, as meeting rooms
are frequently in use and therefore inaccessible
between 9 am and 11 pm. There is a 7-day
limit on sleeping bag stays.
7-Day Rate
$655
After 11/1 $735
5-Day Rate
Weekend Rate
$425
$475
$230
$260
Own Accommodations: If you are staying
off the property the following rates apply.
7-Day Rate
$805
After 11/1 $900
5-Day Rate
Weekend Rate
$520
$580
$285
$320
Camping on the grounds, either in tents or
campers, is prohibited. We do not have parking space to accommodate RVs.
Room and Board
Occasionally, when beds aren’t needed for
seminarians, room and board is available. This
gives visitors the opportunity to enjoy the
grounds, the baths, and massage without participating in a workshop. Accommodations
are standard (2 or 3 per room) or bunk bed (4
or more per room). Not all rooms have private
baths. Room and board rates include dinner
on the day of arrival and breakfast and lunch
on the following day. We require full payment
at the time of reservation. There are no cancellations; this payment is nonrefundable and
nontransferable.
Note: Room and Board reservations must be made
by phone with a reservation specialist, not by fax.
For a room and board stay between Sunday
and Thursday, please call us no earlier than
the Thursday before for room availability. For
a Friday or Saturday night stay, please call no
earlier than the Sunday before. The following
rates are per person, per day.*
Weekend
(Friday and
Saturday nights)
Weekday
(Sunday through
Thursday nights)
Standard Accommodations (2 or 3 per room):
$150
$130
After 11/1 $170
$145
Bunk Bed (4 or more per room):
$95
$90
After 11/1 $105
$100
*Off-season rates are in effect from October 1
through March 31, holidays excepted.
Cancellation Policy
Cancellation and Refund Policy:
Cancellations must be made by phone with
one of our reservation staff. If you cancel or
change any part of your reservation at least
five full days before the start of your workshop(s), your nonrefundable deposit, less a
$50-per-workshop processing fee, will be
transferred to a credit account to be used
within one year. If you cancel with less than
five days’ notice, you forfeit your entire
deposit. If you have prepaid your entire
reservation fee, we will retain the deposit,
as above, less the $50 processing fee, and
return the balance to you.
Scholarship Information
Esalen is able to provide some scholarship
assistance to workshop participants in exchange
for a work commitment (usually in the kitchen).
Approved scholarship recipients will receive
their work schedules upon arrival at Esalen.
Assistance
Weekend
5-9 days
$ 50
$100
Work
4 hours
8 hours
If additional scholarship assistance is required,
please send a letter of explanation to:
Scholarships at Esalen. Due to the number of
requests we receive, we can only provide one
scholarship per person per year.
Reduced Rate Options
and Discounts
If you pay in full at the time you make your
reservation, you will receive a $10 prepayment
discount per workshop and be eligible for
express check-in upon arrival. This discount
does not apply to scholarship recipients, sleeping bag accommodations, own accommodations, or the Ongoing Residence Program.
Senior Citizen Discount: Esalen offers a
special discount to individuals over 65 years
of age. The discount for a weekend workshop
is $25; for a five-day or longer program, it’s
$50. Please request this discount at the time
of registration. When you complete the reservation form on page 88, please indicate the
discounts for which you qualify. If you qualify, and you make your reservation by phone,
be sure to ask for this discount. (Please note:
Senior discounts are not available for the
Work Study Program.)
The Early Childhood Program is available to
seminarians who would like child care at
Esalen. Child care is provided during workshop hours only. Daytime activities for the
children include gardening, pony rides, learning about animal care, exploring nature, a real
boat, the magic castle, and an Indian tepee.
Evenings are spent with a teacher in the
Gazebo Farmhouse, engaged in activities that
are age-appropriate, such as reading, learning
and playing with the computer, baking, arts
and crafts, or building-block play.
Reservations should be made at least a month
in advance. Call the Gazebo Farmhouse,
831-667-3026, for more information and
reservations.
Weekend: $250 Week: $450
The Gazebo School Park
Early Childhood Program
The Gazebo School Park is a unique educational experience for children one to six years. It is
open year-round and has an average of 15 to
20 children in attendance each day.
Schedules
Check-in/Check-out and Meals: Rooms
become available at 4 pm; however, guests are
welcome to arrive anytime after 2 pm. Weekend
programs begin with dinner on Friday and end
with brunch on Sunday. Five-day and longer
programs begin with dinner on Friday or Sunday and end with lunch on Friday or Sunday.
Check-out time is noon on departure day.
Workshops: Workshop sessions normally
begin at 8:30 on the first evening and end at
noon on the final day.
Internship Program: This is a three-month
program for those who wish to have intense
exposure to life at the Gazebo School Park and
its unique educational resources. The Internship Program offers experience with children,
the Gazebo environment, and its teaching philosophy. Applicants must have completed at
least three work scholar months at Esalen
before being considered for this program.
Call the Gazebo Farmhouse, 831-667-3026,
for more information or reservations.
1st month $450/2nd month $400/3rd month $350
Seminarians as Volunteers
For Your Information
Health Services: There are no medical ser-
vices or pharmaceutical supplies available at
Esalen. If you will require medical attention
or supplies during your stay, please come
prepared to administer to your own needs.
Esalen is 45 miles from the nearest medical
facility or pharmacy.
Technology and Communications:
Esalen is technologically inconvenient and
lacks ready access to e-mail, computers, faxes,
television, and other inventions to which you
may be habituated.
Seminarians in residence at Esalen are invited
to contribute one or two hours per week to
work with the staff, usually in the kitchen.
Your help enables us to meet the pressures of
peak working times and enables you to experience Esalen from the inside out.
Money: We are unable to act as a banking service. Please bring adequate funds for your stay.
Transportation to Esalen
Snoring: All of our accommodations are
Accommodations for Families: Two full-
paying adults housed in standard accommodations may have their children in the room
for a meal charge of $20 per child per day
($10 for children under six). Note: If children are enrolled in Gazebo School Park or an
Esalen workshop, additional fees are required.
Contact the Gazebo, 831-667-3026, for
information regarding their fees.
van service from Esalen is on Fridays and
Sundays at approximately 6:30 pm. If you plan
to use this departure service, please make sure
that your plane reservations are after 8 pm.
Ridesharing: We would like to encourage
ridesharing to reduce the number of cars on
the road and at Esalen. See the reservation
form on page 88 for ridesharing options.
Van Service: On Fridays and Sundays we
have van service from the Monterey Airport
at approximately 4 pm and from the Monterey
Transit Plaza (corner of Pearl and Alvarado,
next to Ordway Drug) at approximately
4:20 pm. If you plan to use this service, please
inform the Esalen office at least 24 hours
prior to your arrival. The $30 one-way fee
(subject to change) is payable to the Esalen
office when you check in. Return reservations
may be made at that time. The only departing
Valuables: The Esalen office has no facili-
ties to store your valuables.
Flashlight: Please bring a flashlight for use at
night while walking on the grounds.
shared. You or your roommate may snore.
Please come prepared (nose guards, ear
plugs, etc.) for this possibility.
Smoking: Smoking is not permitted in any
of our accommodations or meeting rooms.
Illegal Drugs: In accordance with state and
federal laws, the possession or use of illegal
drugs on Esalen grounds is strictly prohibited.
Guests: Seminarians are not allowed guests
on the property during their stay.
Pets: No pets are allowed on the property.
Lost and Found: To inquire about items left
behind from your Esalen visit, call 831-667-3019.
87
S
esalen institute reservation form
phone number. A nonrefundable deposit for each person registering
and each workshop applied for must accompany this form. (Please see
Reservation Information, page 86, under Fees and Reservations,
Making Contact with Us, and Cancellation and Refund Policy.)
This form is for your convenience in reserving a space in Esalen workshops. If you wish to make reservations for more than one person,
please photocopy this form so that each registrant has his/her own
form, unless you are registering as a couple with the same address and
Name of Registrant___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PLEASE PRINT
Address ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sex: M o F o Couple o
E-mail _____________________________________________________
City ______________________________________________________________________________________
State __________________________________________________
Zip _______________________________
Home Phone ( __________ ) ____________________________________________________________
Work Phone ( __________ )___________________________________________________________________
o Check if you have previously been to Esalen and this is a new address.
Passenger Van Service:
Ridesharing: We support ridesharing and hope you will too. If you are driving to
Esalen and willing to give a ride to someone from your area, check here o
Occasionally there are unexpected situations that require us to contact you immediately
before your stay here. If you will not be at the above numbers during the two weeks prior
to the workshop, where may we reach you?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Please mark your first and second choices for housing after referring to page 86 for accommodation descriptions and rates. Total cost includes workshop fees, lodging, and meals.
o
o
o
o
Check for standard accommodations, if available.
I want transportation from (check one):
o Monterey Airport at approximately 4:00 pm on
___________________________________________________________________________________
(date of arrival, Fridays and Sundays only).
o Monterey Transit Plaza at approximately 4:20 pm
(corner of Pearl and Alvarado, next to Ordway Drug)
The $30-per-person charge (subject to change) is payable on
arrival at Esalen. Please prepare to arrive at the airport well before
4:00pm so you do not miss our van. Esalen cannot be responsible
for taxi fare or other transportation costs. If your plans for use
of the passenger van service change after you have made
your reservation, please notify us. The only departing van
Check for bunk bed room, if available.
Check for sleeping bag space, if available.
service from Esalen is on Fridays and Sundays at approximately
6:30 pm. If you plan on taking this van please make sure that your
plane reservations are after 8:00 pm. Passenger van service is not
available at any other time.
Check if you wish to room as a couple.
Write here the name(s) of any person(s) with whom you wish to room.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Other Notes:
All workshop reservations require a nonrefundable deposit. The balance will be
All of our rooms are non-smoking. If you smoke, please plan to
do so outside.
No pets allowed.
We are unable to act as a banking service for our guests. Please
bring adequate funds for your stay.
automatically drawn from your credit card five days before your arrival.
Your signature below authorizes Esalen to charge your credit card for the balance.
Workshop Date
Leader’s Name
Fee
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Workshop Deposits Enclosed __________________________
Tax-deductible contribution to Esalen (Optional) __________________________
$5 Catalog Contribution (Optional) __________________________
Subtotal __________________________
Total Amount Enclosed __________________________
o
o
o
o
Check here for $10 prepay discount (see page 87).
Check here if this is your first visit to Esalen.
Check here if you need directions to Esalen.
Check here if you are a senior.
o Check here if you do not want your phone number given out
for ridesharing.
Please make checks payable to Esalen Institute, in U.S. currency
only. (There will be a $15 fee for returned checks.) Overseas residents must pay by checks drawn on U.S. banks or with one of the
charge cards below. Checks or credit card information must
accompany the reservations form. Or, you may fax this form to us
at 831-667-2724. If you do so, you must include payment
via one of the credit cards below.
Card No. ____________________________________________________________________________
Expiration Date __________________________________________________________________
RES INITIALS
CIRCLE DEPOSIT CC
DEPOSIT AMT.
RES. BK
CC AUTH. #
DATE TYPED
TYPED INITIALS
88
nizations who have services, information, or events that might
be of interest to our subscribers. Please check here if you prefer that your name be used for Esalen mailings only.
Your reservation can be charged to:
o MasterCard
o Visa
o American Express
FOR OFFICE USE ONLY
DATE REC.
o We occasionally make our mailing list available to other orga-
PP
SCHOL
CK
LIMO
CA
SUS
SENIOR
Authorizing Signature _________________________________________________________
Thank you for your reservation. As soon as it is processed you will
receive by return mail a receipt for your deposit and a notice of
confirmation. Please review your confirmation for accuracy.
Esalen Institute is a center to encourage work in the
humanities and sciences that promotes human values
and potentials. Its activities consist of public seminars,
residential work-study programs, invitational conferences, research, and semi-autonomous projects.
Esalen Institute
Highway 1
Big Sur, California 93920-9616
Address Service Requested
Non-Profit Organization
U.S. Postage
PA I D
Permit No. 2543
Las Vegas, NV

September 2002 Esalen Catalog

Transcription

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