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.
In his later years, Joseph Campbell celebrated his birthday at Esalen. Explaining why, he’d recount how Carl Jung — wondering “What myth am I living by?” and realizing he didn’t know — wrote, “I took it upon myself to get to know ‘my’ myth, and I regarded this as the task of tasks.”
“That’s what a birthday is for,” Campbell would conclude, “and what Esalen is about.” The year after Campbell died, his friends — recalling his dictum: “What you do, you do with play” — gathered at Esalen to inaugurate “Campbell Week,” a tradition that morphed into this playshop 30 years ago and still continues today.
Who were you? What has inspired your biographical saga? What treasures hide in your basement or attic? Who are you? What’s displayed on your refrigerator? What dangles from your rearview mirror? Who do you aspire to be? What’s on your bucket list? Dare to re-vision yourself and join our springtime rebirth rituals.
You needn’t be familiar with Campbell to relive dreams, rekindle visions, and embrace myth-making tools like drums and dance, music and song, or masks, medicine bags, and altars. Individual small- and large-group activities will provide reflective and expressive opportunities to retool the myths shaping your life. Bring a meaningful but expendable totem, unsung story, or evocative song.
“Re-vision — the art of looking back, of seeing with fresh eyes, of entering … from a new critical direction — is … an act of survival. Until we can understand the assumptions in which we are drenched, we cannot know ourselves.… We need to know … the past, and know it differently than we have ever known it, not to pass on a tradition, but to break its hold over us.” —Adrienne Rich
“What you do, you do with play.” —Joseph Campbell
Recommended reading: Anything by Campbell. Anything that makes you laugh. Poetry.
Learn more about the requirements to receive continuing education credit.
Robert Walter, Joseph Campbell's editor for a decade, and previous president of the Joseph Campbell Foundation and a poet/playwright with several decades of experience as group leader, teacher, publisher and theatrical producer/director/designer.
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Sunday
8:30 pm - 10:00 pm
Monday
9:30 am - 12:30 pm
4:00 pm - 6:30 pm
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Tuesday
9:30 am - 12:30 pm
4:00 pm - 6:30 pm
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Wednesday
9:30 am - 12:30 pm
4:00 pm - 6:30 pm
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Thursday
9:30 am - 12:30 pm
4:00 pm - 6:30 pm
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Friday
9:30 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.
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.
In his later years, Joseph Campbell celebrated his birthday at Esalen. Explaining why, he’d recount how Carl Jung — wondering “What myth am I living by?” and realizing he didn’t know — wrote, “I took it upon myself to get to know ‘my’ myth, and I regarded this as the task of tasks.”
“That’s what a birthday is for,” Campbell would conclude, “and what Esalen is about.” The year after Campbell died, his friends — recalling his dictum: “What you do, you do with play” — gathered at Esalen to inaugurate “Campbell Week,” a tradition that morphed into this playshop 30 years ago and still continues today.
Who were you? What has inspired your biographical saga? What treasures hide in your basement or attic? Who are you? What’s displayed on your refrigerator? What dangles from your rearview mirror? Who do you aspire to be? What’s on your bucket list? Dare to re-vision yourself and join our springtime rebirth rituals.
You needn’t be familiar with Campbell to relive dreams, rekindle visions, and embrace myth-making tools like drums and dance, music and song, or masks, medicine bags, and altars. Individual small- and large-group activities will provide reflective and expressive opportunities to retool the myths shaping your life. Bring a meaningful but expendable totem, unsung story, or evocative song.
“Re-vision — the art of looking back, of seeing with fresh eyes, of entering … from a new critical direction — is … an act of survival. Until we can understand the assumptions in which we are drenched, we cannot know ourselves.… We need to know … the past, and know it differently than we have ever known it, not to pass on a tradition, but to break its hold over us.” —Adrienne Rich
“What you do, you do with play.” —Joseph Campbell
Recommended reading: Anything by Campbell. Anything that makes you laugh. Poetry.
Learn more about the requirements to receive continuing education credit.
Robert Walter, Joseph Campbell's editor for a decade, and previous president of the Joseph Campbell Foundation and a poet/playwright with several decades of experience as group leader, teacher, publisher and theatrical producer/director/designer.
May 21–26, 2023
This program is full. Find another.
Applications are closed.
Applications are closed.
In his later years, Joseph Campbell celebrated his birthday at Esalen. Explaining why, he’d recount how Carl Jung — wondering “What myth am I living by?” and realizing he didn’t know — wrote, “I took it upon myself to get to know ‘my’ myth, and I regarded this as the task of tasks.”
“That’s what a birthday is for,” Campbell would conclude, “and what Esalen is about.” The year after Campbell died, his friends — recalling his dictum: “What you do, you do with play” — gathered at Esalen to inaugurate “Campbell Week,” a tradition that morphed into this playshop 30 years ago and still continues today.
Who were you? What has inspired your biographical saga? What treasures hide in your basement or attic? Who are you? What’s displayed on your refrigerator? What dangles from your rearview mirror? Who do you aspire to be? What’s on your bucket list? Dare to re-vision yourself and join our springtime rebirth rituals.
You needn’t be familiar with Campbell to relive dreams, rekindle visions, and embrace myth-making tools like drums and dance, music and song, or masks, medicine bags, and altars. Individual small- and large-group activities will provide reflective and expressive opportunities to retool the myths shaping your life. Bring a meaningful but expendable totem, unsung story, or evocative song.
“Re-vision — the art of looking back, of seeing with fresh eyes, of entering … from a new critical direction — is … an act of survival. Until we can understand the assumptions in which we are drenched, we cannot know ourselves.… We need to know … the past, and know it differently than we have ever known it, not to pass on a tradition, but to break its hold over us.” —Adrienne Rich
“What you do, you do with play.” —Joseph Campbell
Recommended reading: Anything by Campbell. Anything that makes you laugh. Poetry.
Learn more about the requirements to receive continuing education credit.
Robert Walter, Joseph Campbell's editor for a decade, and previous president of the Joseph Campbell Foundation and a poet/playwright with several decades of experience as group leader, teacher, publisher and theatrical producer/director/designer.
Esalen Institute
55000 Highway 1
Big Sur, CA 93920
US: 1-831-667-3000
info@esalen.org