February 24 - February 26, 2025

Participants will explore the art of connection through touch—learning to give and receive massage with a partner. Guided by a seasoned instructor, you'll delve into practices of deep listening, effective communication, and hands-on massage techniques. Leave with a valuable new tool for relaxation and bonding. 

This all-inclusive, two-night retreat is open to any pair—whether couples, friends, or family members—and no prior massage experience is required.

March 31 - April 4, 2025

This workshop is the perfect opportunity for you to enjoy the natural beauty of Esalen’s springtime bloom while gaining a foundation in Esalen® Massage. Senior teachers will guide you in this experience of connection and presence translated to the massage table.

Through lecture, demonstration and practice with your co-students, you will be introduced to the essentials, including quality of touch, rapport, a deep respect for our natural impulse toward healing, and mindful body mechanics. You will listen to what is felt as well as what is said. You will learn how to comfortably drape, and how to easily apply the foundational long, integration strokes, detail work,  and gentle stretches. You will have plenty of time for guided practice and to effectively share your experience. At the end of the week you will be able to give a simple massage to friends and family back home.

Esalen massage promotes feelings of wholeness and reconnects us with our natural state of being. Teaching tools include experiential exercises to awaken the senses, demonstrations, and tableside guidance appropriate for you. The class is appropriate for the new and curious as well as the professional who would like to rejuvenate their senses and the quality of their touch.

26 hours of continuing education provided by the faculty through Esalen Massage and Bodywork Association Teachers.

December 1-3, 2023

The soothing quality of massage is a delightful antidote for stress or that out-of-sorts feeling. With brief lecture demonstrations and plenty of at-the-table guidance, the instructors will offer the essential elements, highlighting the foundational long, integrating strokes and gentle stretches. Grounding, sensing, contact, and the impact of touch will be introduced and practiced with classmates, building a firm base.

The professional caregiver or practitioner can also refresh their existing work with Esalen’s pace, presence, and sensitivity — “the listening hand.” Don’t be surprised if you come away realizing you like giving a classic Esalen massage as much as you like receiving one.

Feb 20-22 , 2023

An experienced Massage Instructor will guide Couples, Partners and Friends through exercises, massage demonstrations, and hands-on coaching to help participants learn a new way to connect, relax and find balance. $1700 per couple Includes:

Participants will explore heart- centered communication skills in initiating and receiving touch, deep listening, and massage techniques. Surrounded by wildlife and rugged California coastline, this is a unique opportunity to sink into a deeper connection with one another, and with ourselves as we explore the healing power of touch.

March 15-17, 2023

In this introductory workshop, couples, partners, and friends will refine their relationship with touch, our forgotten language. Participants will be encouraged to ask for what they want, listen to each other, gain sensory skills in initiating and receiving touch, experience the felt sense of muscle release, and close with a balanced tenderness. Seasoned instructors will offer exercises, massage demonstrations, and at-the-table guidance during paired practice. The simple principles of Esalen® massage – presence, attending rather than fixing, self-care, and slow-paced strokes encompassing the body – will build a heartfelt experience with our partner or friend, and perhaps most significantly, ourselves.

By the final session, participants will share and take home the basics of a classical Esalen massage. Experienced practitioners and caregivers will find it refreshing to apply the Esalen method and notice its effect as their rhythm slows and the mind becomes focused on compassionate contact rather than technique.

Touch soothes us and evokes an opening to spirit. Participants experience a healthful balance of body, mind, and the vast awe of this natural setting. The edgy wildness of Esalen’s grounds, canyons, hot springs, and mountain backdrop sustain deeper connection.