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Liberate Yourself, Set Yourself Free
September 20–24, 2021
September 20–24, 2021
with Justin Michael Williams and Shelly Tygielski

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.

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Need a scholarship? Apply here.

Need a scholarship? Apply here.

What the world needs right now, more than ever, is for all of us to wake up together and to truly claim our authentic voice--both for our lives, and for the collective movement toward equality.

Liberate Yourself, Set Yourself Free is a workshop based on the expansive eight-week course that Justin and Shelly have co-created called Liberation Experience. The workshop combines personal growth, spirituality, activism, wellness, science, social justice, and mindfulness to show what it really means to set yourself free, and set one another free.

A hint: coming together through proximity, intimacy,  vulnerability, and connection.

Together, Justin & Shelly model the power of coming together across gender, age, race, and sexual orientation. In this work they create a channel for a wildly inclusive and compassionately interactive week of shifts, calls into action, and the building of a roadmap to step back into your life with greater clarity, freedom, and ease.

Participants in this workshop will learn the ‘Feel > Reveal > Heal’ model, and how to process your challenging emotions. You will learn deep shadow work, how to set boundaries, and how to call people forward (instead of “out”) when you need to make a change.

We’ll move beyond  “fighting against” and instead move “towards” one another to heal our individual and collective trauma and create a new vision for the world.

In this five-day retreat, you will practice embodying:

  • How to heal from intergenerational trauma and break free from the binds that hold you.
  • Evidence-based tools on weaving compassion, empathy, and collective wellbeing into your inner- and outer- work in the movement for equity, diversity, and change.
  • Why “oneness” is not enough, and how to actually come together as we create a new vision for our lives and the world.
  • How to take action in your life, reset, and make commitments toward what matters to you most.  
  • How we might, together, end racism in one generation--and change the world.
  • How to set boundaries with a clear, three-step process for having difficult conversations across divides with friends and family
  • Practical action steps each person can take, from where they are now, to make an impact today.

Expect both a deeply invigorating, yet rejuvenating week with a  diverse group, and a profoundly opening experience.

Recommended reading: Stay Woke, by Justin Michael Williams; Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson; How to Be An Anti-Racist, by Ibrahim Kendi; Bringing Your Shadow Out of the Dark, by Robert Augustus Masters.

Recommended reading: Stay Woke, by Justin Michael Williams; Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson; How to Be An Anti-Racist, by Ibrahim Kendi; Bringing Your Shadow Out of the Dark, by Robert Augustus Masters.

Learn more about the requirements to receive continuing education credit.

Lead photo:
Justin Michael Williams

Justin Michael Williams

Justin Michael Williams is a transformational voice bringing people together across divides with a multigenerational message of hope, empowerment, and unity. He is an award-winning speaker and teacher, a Grammy-nominated recording artist, and the author of the groundbreaking book Stay Woke.

Read More

Shelly Tygielski

Shelly Tygielski

Shelly Tygielski is a humanitarian, trauma-informed mindfulness teacher, author, and activist. She is the founder of Pandemic of Love, a global organization that was recognized by CNN Heroes, and the author of the award-winning book, Sit Down to Rise Up.

Read More

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Workshop Schedule

Mon 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Tue, Thu 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Wed 9:30 am – 12:30 pm
Tue, Wed, Thu 4:15 pm – 6:15 pm
Tue, Thu 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Fri 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

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.

Accommodations & Tuition

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.

Accommodations & Tuition

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.

Accommodations & Tuition

For this workshop, you will register and pay for accommodations and tuition in two separate steps.

First, sign up and pay tuition directly to

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.

COVID Update

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.

COVID Update

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.

COVID Update

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.

COVID Update

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.

COVID Update

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.

COVID Update

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.

COVID Update

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.

COVID Update

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.

COVID Update

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.

All-inclusive Pricing

with Justin Michael Williams and Shelly Tygielski

September 20–24, 2021
Register Now

What the world needs right now, more than ever, is for all of us to wake up together and to truly claim our authentic voice--both for our lives, and for the collective movement toward equality.

Liberate Yourself, Set Yourself Free is a workshop based on the expansive eight-week course that Justin and Shelly have co-created called Liberation Experience. The workshop combines personal growth, spirituality, activism, wellness, science, social justice, and mindfulness to show what it really means to set yourself free, and set one another free.

A hint: coming together through proximity, intimacy,  vulnerability, and connection.

Together, Justin & Shelly model the power of coming together across gender, age, race, and sexual orientation. In this work they create a channel for a wildly inclusive and compassionately interactive week of shifts, calls into action, and the building of a roadmap to step back into your life with greater clarity, freedom, and ease.

Participants in this workshop will learn the ‘Feel > Reveal > Heal’ model, and how to process your challenging emotions. You will learn deep shadow work, how to set boundaries, and how to call people forward (instead of “out”) when you need to make a change.

We’ll move beyond  “fighting against” and instead move “towards” one another to heal our individual and collective trauma and create a new vision for the world.

In this five-day retreat, you will practice embodying:

  • How to heal from intergenerational trauma and break free from the binds that hold you.
  • Evidence-based tools on weaving compassion, empathy, and collective wellbeing into your inner- and outer- work in the movement for equity, diversity, and change.
  • Why “oneness” is not enough, and how to actually come together as we create a new vision for our lives and the world.
  • How to take action in your life, reset, and make commitments toward what matters to you most.  
  • How we might, together, end racism in one generation--and change the world.
  • How to set boundaries with a clear, three-step process for having difficult conversations across divides with friends and family
  • Practical action steps each person can take, from where they are now, to make an impact today.

Expect both a deeply invigorating, yet rejuvenating week with a  diverse group, and a profoundly opening experience.

Recommended reading: Stay Woke, by Justin Michael Williams; Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson; How to Be An Anti-Racist, by Ibrahim Kendi; Bringing Your Shadow Out of the Dark, by Robert Augustus Masters.

Recommended reading: Stay Woke, by Justin Michael Williams; Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson; How to Be An Anti-Racist, by Ibrahim Kendi; Bringing Your Shadow Out of the Dark, by Robert Augustus Masters.

Learn more about the requirements to receive continuing education credit.

Lead photo:
Justin Michael Williams

Justin Michael Williams is a transformational voice bringing people together across divides with a multigenerational message of hope, empowerment, and unity. He is an award-winning speaker and teacher, a Grammy-nominated recording artist, and the author of the groundbreaking book Stay Woke.

Read More

Shelly Tygielski

Shelly Tygielski is a humanitarian, trauma-informed mindfulness teacher, author, and activist. She is the founder of Pandemic of Love, a global organization that was recognized by CNN Heroes, and the author of the award-winning book, Sit Down to Rise Up.

Read More

Workshop Schedule

Mon 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Tue, Thu 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Wed 9:30 am – 12:30 pm
Tue, Wed, Thu 4:15 pm – 6:15 pm
Tue, Thu 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Fri 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

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.

Accommodations & Tuition

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.

Accommodations & Tuition

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.

Accommodations & Tuition

For this workshop, you will register and pay for accommodations and tuition in two separate steps.

First, sign up and pay tuition directly to

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.

COVID Update

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.

COVID Update

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.

COVID Update

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.

COVID Update

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.

COVID Update

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.

COVID Update

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.

COVID Update

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.

COVID Update

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.

COVID Update

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.

All-inclusive Pricing