Beginning September 3, 2021 all guests will be required to provide proof of vaccination upon arrival. Please review our updated COVID safety guidelines.
Our workshops are designed to support you in the challenging work of self exploration, in partnership with some of the leading minds of the day. Join us in discovering the next frontiers of individual and societal transformation. (Interested in a scholarship? Learn more here.)
For one human being to love another, that is the most difficult of all of our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof, for which all other work is but preparation. –Rainer Maria Rilke
A great 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. Yet for a disturbing number of couples, the dreams of infatuation dissolve into a cold and joyless relationship or end in divorce. The biggest mistake that many people make is not in expecting too much from their relationships, but in desiring too little. A true partnership can be a means through which our deepest longings are awakened and ultimately realized.
In this experiential workshop, we will work in dyads, small groups and the group as a whole. The lecture component will be interactive, with plenty of time for Q&A from the group. We’ll also practice mindfulness meditation. Together we will examine the unique qualities that exceptional relationships embody and identify the various means through which it is possible to develop and integrate those qualities, and to manage the inevitable differences that arise. We will identify and engage in practices that can transform the quality of connection in ways that promote co-creativity, unconditional acceptance and spiritual awakening. This workshop provides tools that can promote enduring love and deep intimacy.
Recommended reading: Bloom and Bloom, Happily Ever After and 39 Other Myths About Love, Secrets of Great Marriages: Real Truth from Real Couples about Lasting Love, 101 Things I Wish I Knew When I Got Married: Simple Lessons to Make Love Last and That Which Doesn’t Kill Us : How One Couple Became Stronger at the Broken Places.
“Energy moves in waves. Waves move in rhythms. Rhythms move in patterns. Patterns move in cycles. A human being is just this. Nothing more. Nothing less. A dance” –Gabrielle Roth
In the dance of life, the state of Grace is one that is free of all resistance. Learning to embody this is a gift that you will take with you for all time. If we call off the fight with reality, we can begin to accept what is. In doing so, we diminish suffering and learn to relate to the reality of pain in a more skillful and compassionate way.
Through the map of the 5Rhythms, we investigate the art of graceful transitions. How are you at beginning, following through, and ending?
This practice gives us a clear method of understanding these stages. In doing so, we learn where we are moving and where we get stuck. With this knowledge, we can bring grace, balance and ease into each stage of the creative process. From birth, through life, to all endings and even death.
The 5Rhythms are a moving meditation practice, a map of how energy moves. They teach us the patterns, rhythms and cycles of life through the rhythms of Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical and Stillness®.
In this workshop we will integrate the stillness of Buddhist mindfulness meditation with the moving meditations of the 5Rhythms. The Buddha encouraged us to bring wise attention to every aspect of our lives.
In sitting meditation, we have the opportunity to observe the mind and body at rest through silent introspection. In the practice of the 5Rhythms, we engage in mindfulness while in motion. The two polarities of moving and sitting meditation together mirror the dance of life and open the door to peace, well-being and balance.
All workshop hours contribute to the 5Rhythms® Teachers Training. No experience is required.
Recommended Reading: Maps to Ecstasy by Gabrielle Roth; Sweat Your Prayers, by Gabrielle Roth; Connections, by Gabrielle Roth; Dancing With Dharma: Essays on Movement And Dance In Western Buddhism” edited by Harrison Blum, published by McFarland & Company.
Awe is the feeling of encountering vast mysteries that transcend our current knowledge and understanding of the world. It is the feeling and the practice in appreciating the moral beauty of others, nature, the arts, and it is rooted in a spiritual understanding of life.
In this new, paradigm-shifting workshop, we will uncover the latest scientific understandings of awe. By engaging in evolutionary and neuroscientific approaches to the mind, and using narrative and cultural approaches to the meanings of awe, we will begin to tease out where awe lives in our own minds and hearts and how to cultivate it more deeply in our lives.
Together, we will discover a number of practices to cultivate awe in our own lives and how to deepen one’s relationship to it. We’ll travel by way of reflective writing, using expressive writing principles and models from Contemplative Studies.
During our time together, we will:
Join us for this incredible opportunity to refresh your heart and mind in the incredible natural setting of Esalen and Big Sur.
Role Mate to Soul Mate begins with a series of exercises that teach you the art of appreciating your partner. You then practice both the art and discipline of hearing your partner’s criticisms without becoming defensive. For example, so you don’t have to fear “walking on eggshells” before sharing a concern, your partner first learns how to prepare her or himself to emotionally associate your criticism with an opportunity to be more deeply loved.
Soul Mate is designed as the next evolutionary shift beyond active listening. Active listening allows the criticizer to feel heard, but fails to teach the person hearing the criticism how to emotionally associate the criticism with an opportunity to be more deeply loved. The problem? Unless the listener feels safe, the person sharing their concern cannot feel safe.
During the workshop, you will learn a series of skills that will allow you to connect more deeply with your partner, with yourself, and with your own innate ability to consciously create a more loving and communicative environment in your lives. We will do this by sharing a number of practices and experiences:
To support your connection after the workshop, you are also invited to multiple free, on-going, group follow-up calls to resolve stumbling blocks. If you wish to review the insights and exercises at any time, you will also have the option of purchasing a Zoom version of the course.
This workshop is for couples of all genders and sexual orientations. A couple could be any two people with a history who desire a better future (i.e. parents or partners, married or divorced; newlyweds; parent-child; siblings; etc.). Developed over the past 30 years, the workshop is also used by many health professionals in their work with clients and patients.
Learn more about the process.
Recommended reading: Women Can’t Hear What Men Don’t Say, by Dr. Warren Farrell.
