Esalen Institute is open! However, Highway 1 to the south is closed — please review the alternate route directions.
Please note: On Wednesday September 20, online registration may be unavailable for up to 15 minutes while system maintenance is performed. If the 'Register Now' page does not load, please wait about 15 minutes and try again.
Since time immemorial, we humans have been curious and have thought deeply about altering our state of consciousness.
In this weeklong campus-wide program — together with Sravana Borkataky-Varma, Xotchitl Ashe, East Forest, Lucia Horan and Esalen in-residence faculty — we will explore and experience how, through an amalgam of pathways, altering our states of consciousness can shift personal and global challenges into individual and collective opportunities.
Moving the body through dance, calming and focusing the mind through meditation, uniting the mind and body through yoga can be just as effective a way to alter one’s consciousness as the more familiar exploration through mind-altering plants. Within the majesty of Mother Nature, people have long-documented the magnitude of their experiences in the natural world as creating transformative pathways to entering a trance state.
The arts are also a potent pathway into this space — a poem, a painting, a film, a piece of music can carry the consciousness shifting electricity that leads us toward a mystical experience. Esalen co-founder Michael Murphy, for example, brought his mystical experience through sport to life through his novel, Golf in the Kingdom.
Through these lenses, Esalen Institute is curating a wide array of conventional and non-conventional approaches to reaching an altered state. Indeed, we will dive deep into conversation about entheogens, and in community experience the potency of cacao in sacred ceremony. Together we will immerse in these equally potent and sacred modalities. Please note that other than the cacao ceremony, no other plants or substances will be offered for ingestion.
For many, altered states are perceived to be limited singularly to entheogens and psychoactive substances. The conscious and unconscious reality? There are many different substance and plant-free pathways to reaching and immersing into altered states. Come explore with us through dance, breath, work, meditation, yoga, the arts and music, to journey on your own consciousness adventure.
Learn more about the requirements to receive continuing education credit.
Sravana Borkataky-Varma, PhD, is a historian, educator, and social entrepreneur. As a historian, she studies Indian religions focusing on esoteric rituals and gender, particularly in Hindu Śākta (Goddess) Tantra traditions. As an educator, she is an instructional assistant professor at the University of Houston. At present, she is a Center for the Study of World Religions fellow at Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University.
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Lucia Horan was born and raised in the Esalen community. She is a leader, wife, and mother. She has been teaching since 1998. Lucia received lifelong direct training with Gabrielle Roth in the 5Rhythms® method. She is formally empowered to teach Buddhist mindfulness in all capacities. She is a certified Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness teacher.
Read More
Xochitl (So-chil) Ashe is a trained herbalist with deep indigenous roots. Initiated at the age of sixteen in her Peruvian healing traditions, she has been a conduit for sacred medicines and herbs for twenty years. She works with transformational cacao and mushroom ceremonies in Mexico, especially attending to generational trauma.
Read More
East Forest is an internationally known teacher and composer with millions of listeners. His works and collaborations include Ram Dass, Google, Johns Hopkins, TED, UCSF, and the Yale Psychedelic Science Group, among others.
Read More
Radha is driven to understand what it means to be human, what is the nature of reality and what is God. Her classes and offerings aim to create a state of union within oneself for a felt sense of the ineffable.
Read More
Monday
5:00 pm – 5:45 pm
*How to Drop Into Esalen*
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Opening Ceremony
Tuesday: Bodies & Movement
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Optional Open Yoga Class
10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Pathway Through Movement
1:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Optional Meditation Session
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Panel Discussion: Connecting in Movement to Find Altered States (Live Streaming Event)
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Optional Sound or Movement Experience
Wednesday: Plant Medicine & Psychedelics
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Optional Open Yoga Class
10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Pathway Through Movement
1:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Optional Meditation Session
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Panel Discussion: Engaging With Plant Medicine & Psychedelics to Find Altered States
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Cacao Ceremony
Thursday: Sound
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Optional Open Yoga Class
10:30 am - 12:30 pm
Pathway Through Movement
1:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Optional Meditation Session
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Panel Discussion: The Power of Sound in Experiencing Altered States (Live Streaming Event)
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Sunset Ceremony Concert with East Forest
Friday
7:30 am - 9:00 am
Optional Open Movement Class
10:30 am - 12:30 pm
Closing Ceremony
Summer Groovers will experience Esalen in a format similar to our Self Guided Explorations workshops. Each Summer Groove week or weekend will open and close with a circle, and be filled with festive, nostalgic activities that harken back to those days of yore.
More activities can be found on our open class schedule.
See general schedule information including arrival, departure and meal times.
Click Register Now to view availability of accommodations and all-inclusive, program-specific tuition. Please note that not all accommodation levels are available for every workshop and additional faculty fees may apply.
We offer scholarship funds for those with financial need. Learn more.
Please note: On Wednesday September 20, online registration may be unavailable for up to 15 minutes while system maintenance is performed. If the 'Register Now' page does not load, please wait about 15 minutes and try again.
Click Register Now to view availability of accommodations and all-inclusive tuition that includes lodging, three meals per day, access to the baths, and all activities on the Summer Groove schedule.
We offer scholarship funds for those with financial need. Learn more.
For this workshop, you will register and pay for accommodations and tuition in two separate steps.
Second, click Book Accommodations from this page and enter the password to complete your reservation to stay at Esalen.
Prices for accommodations include your lodging, meals, open classes, and use of the baths and other facilities. View partner program accommodations pricing.
As of June 30, 2023 we no longer require a negative COVID test at the time of check in. Please read our current COVID safety guidelines for complete details prior to booking your stay.
All guests and faculty must provide proof of negative test results at time of check-in. Please read our current COVID safety guidelines for complete details prior to booking your stay.
In addition to proof of vaccination, all guests and faculty must provide proof of negative test results at time of check-in. Please read our current COVID safety guidelines for complete details prior to booking your stay.
Effective January 7, 2022 in response to the rapid spread of the new Omicron variant, all guests and faculty will provide proof of negative PCR, NAAT, or antigen test results at time of check-in. The test must be taken within 72 hours nd results must come from a laboratory or healthcare provider.Please read our updated COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.
Effective December 15 in accordance with new guidance from Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Department of Health, all guests, students, staff, residents, and faculty are required to wear masks in all indoor public settings, irrespective of vaccine status, for the next four weeks (December 15, 2021 through January 15, 2022). Please read our updated COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.
Effective November 19, 2021, in accordance with new guidance from the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, all guests, students, staff, residents, and faculty are no longer required to wear masks indoors on campus. Please read our updated COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.
Starting November 5, 2021, due to substantial levels of COVID-19 transmission in Monterey County, a mask mandate established by the Monterey County Board of Supervisors will go into effect. Please read our COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.
All guests will be required to provide proof of vaccination upon arrival starting September 3, 2021. Please read our COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.
Masks are no longer mandated indoors or outdoors, except during massage sessions. Guests are not required to provide testing or vaccination verification before arriving on campus. Please read our COVID safety guidelines prior to booking your stay.
Since time immemorial, we humans have been curious and have thought deeply about altering our state of consciousness.
In this weeklong campus-wide program — together with Sravana Borkataky-Varma, Xotchitl Ashe, East Forest, Lucia Horan and Esalen in-residence faculty — we will explore and experience how, through an amalgam of pathways, altering our states of consciousness can shift personal and global challenges into individual and collective opportunities.
Moving the body through dance, calming and focusing the mind through meditation, uniting the mind and body through yoga can be just as effective a way to alter one’s consciousness as the more familiar exploration through mind-altering plants. Within the majesty of Mother Nature, people have long-documented the magnitude of their experiences in the natural world as creating transformative pathways to entering a trance state.
The arts are also a potent pathway into this space — a poem, a painting, a film, a piece of music can carry the consciousness shifting electricity that leads us toward a mystical experience. Esalen co-founder Michael Murphy, for example, brought his mystical experience through sport to life through his novel, Golf in the Kingdom.
Through these lenses, Esalen Institute is curating a wide array of conventional and non-conventional approaches to reaching an altered state. Indeed, we will dive deep into conversation about entheogens, and in community experience the potency of cacao in sacred ceremony. Together we will immerse in these equally potent and sacred modalities. Please note that other than the cacao ceremony, no other plants or substances will be offered for ingestion.
For many, altered states are perceived to be limited singularly to entheogens and psychoactive substances. The conscious and unconscious reality? There are many different substance and plant-free pathways to reaching and immersing into altered states. Come explore with us through dance, breath, work, meditation, yoga, the arts and music, to journey on your own consciousness adventure.
Learn more about the requirements to receive continuing education credit.
Sravana Borkataky-Varma, PhD, is a historian, educator, and social entrepreneur. As a historian, she studies Indian religions focusing on esoteric rituals and gender, particularly in Hindu Śākta (Goddess) Tantra traditions. As an educator, she is an instructional assistant professor at the University of Houston. At present, she is a Center for the Study of World Religions fellow at Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University.
Lucia Horan was born and raised in the Esalen community. She is a leader, wife, and mother. She has been teaching since 1998. Lucia received lifelong direct training with Gabrielle Roth in the 5Rhythms® method. She is formally empowered to teach Buddhist mindfulness in all capacities. She is a certified Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness teacher.
Xochitl (So-chil) Ashe is a trained herbalist with deep indigenous roots. Initiated at the age of sixteen in her Peruvian healing traditions, she has been a conduit for sacred medicines and herbs for twenty years. She works with transformational cacao and mushroom ceremonies in Mexico, especially attending to generational trauma.
East Forest is an internationally known teacher and composer with millions of listeners. His works and collaborations include Ram Dass, Google, Johns Hopkins, TED, UCSF, and the Yale Psychedelic Science Group, among others.
Radha is driven to understand what it means to be human, what is the nature of reality and what is God. Her classes and offerings aim to create a state of union within oneself for a felt sense of the ineffable.
September 4–8, 2023
This program is full. Find another.
Applications are closed.
Applications are closed.
Since time immemorial, we humans have been curious and have thought deeply about altering our state of consciousness.
In this weeklong campus-wide program — together with Sravana Borkataky-Varma, Xotchitl Ashe, East Forest, Lucia Horan and Esalen in-residence faculty — we will explore and experience how, through an amalgam of pathways, altering our states of consciousness can shift personal and global challenges into individual and collective opportunities.
Moving the body through dance, calming and focusing the mind through meditation, uniting the mind and body through yoga can be just as effective a way to alter one’s consciousness as the more familiar exploration through mind-altering plants. Within the majesty of Mother Nature, people have long-documented the magnitude of their experiences in the natural world as creating transformative pathways to entering a trance state.
The arts are also a potent pathway into this space — a poem, a painting, a film, a piece of music can carry the consciousness shifting electricity that leads us toward a mystical experience. Esalen co-founder Michael Murphy, for example, brought his mystical experience through sport to life through his novel, Golf in the Kingdom.
Through these lenses, Esalen Institute is curating a wide array of conventional and non-conventional approaches to reaching an altered state. Indeed, we will dive deep into conversation about entheogens, and in community experience the potency of cacao in sacred ceremony. Together we will immerse in these equally potent and sacred modalities. Please note that other than the cacao ceremony, no other plants or substances will be offered for ingestion.
For many, altered states are perceived to be limited singularly to entheogens and psychoactive substances. The conscious and unconscious reality? There are many different substance and plant-free pathways to reaching and immersing into altered states. Come explore with us through dance, breath, work, meditation, yoga, the arts and music, to journey on your own consciousness adventure.
Learn more about the requirements to receive continuing education credit.
Sravana Borkataky-Varma, PhD, is a historian, educator, and social entrepreneur. As a historian, she studies Indian religions focusing on esoteric rituals and gender, particularly in Hindu Śākta (Goddess) Tantra traditions. As an educator, she is an instructional assistant professor at the University of Houston. At present, she is a Center for the Study of World Religions fellow at Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University.
Lucia Horan was born and raised in the Esalen community. She is a leader, wife, and mother. She has been teaching since 1998. Lucia received lifelong direct training with Gabrielle Roth in the 5Rhythms® method. She is formally empowered to teach Buddhist mindfulness in all capacities. She is a certified Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness teacher.
Xochitl (So-chil) Ashe is a trained herbalist with deep indigenous roots. Initiated at the age of sixteen in her Peruvian healing traditions, she has been a conduit for sacred medicines and herbs for twenty years. She works with transformational cacao and mushroom ceremonies in Mexico, especially attending to generational trauma.
East Forest is an internationally known teacher and composer with millions of listeners. His works and collaborations include Ram Dass, Google, Johns Hopkins, TED, UCSF, and the Yale Psychedelic Science Group, among others.
Radha is driven to understand what it means to be human, what is the nature of reality and what is God. Her classes and offerings aim to create a state of union within oneself for a felt sense of the ineffable.
Esalen Institute
55000 Highway 1
Big Sur, CA 93920
US: 1-831-667-3000
info@esalen.org