The past week has been an indescribable deep dive into the psyche. A weaving of self-study, vipassana and guided imagery meditation, intentional self-care, and long soaks in healing waters as ocean waves crash underneath. Something ancient and powerful moved through me there.
I am deeply grateful to have been selected as a scholarship recipient for the Luminous Darkness workshop at the Esalen Institute. It is an experience that will leave a lifelong mark on me… one that is already reshaping my relationship with myself, expanding the teachings I share, and widening my capacity for joy, creativity, and inspiration.
If you are not familiar, Esalen sits perched on the wild and untamed coast of Big Sur. The surrounding mountains are so steep and defiant of human effort that the highway has been closed, perhaps forever. It feels like the land itself is asking for reverence.
The name Esalen comes from the Esselen people, the Indigenous tribe who have lived on and tended this land since time immemorial. That lineage is not a footnote. It is palpable.
Esalen is known for its devotion to exploring human potential and has long offered immersive weekend and week-long workshops spanning consciousness, healing, creativity, and embodied inquiry. Over the decades, extraordinary thinkers and artists have gathered here to explore the edges of what it means to be human. Alan Watts, Abraham Maslow, Aldous Huxley, Joan Baez, Henry Miller, Ansel Adams, Buckminster Fuller, Joseph Campbell, Gary Snyder, Terrence McKenna, Deepak Chopra, and so many more.
You feel it immediately upon arrival. The energy is unmistakable. My meditations there were unlike anything I have experienced. To be in a place where focused intention has been channeled daily for generations creates a field that feels alive, responsive, and generous.
Art lives everywhere. In the trees. On the walls. In each other’s eyes. Even the gift shop feels like a small gallery of devotion and beauty.
And while the grounds are exquisite, the rooms, at least on the simpler end, are quite basic. That is part of the teaching. The value is not luxury. It is the hot mineral baths beneath a vast night sky, the nourishment of locally grown food, the integrity of the facilitators, and the depth of connection that unfolds when people are willing to arrive honestly.
There was very little small talk. We went deep almost immediately. I do not know what many of my peers do for work, but I know what they carry in their hearts. I know how similar our fears and longings are. That kind of intimacy is rare, and it stays with you.
Luminous Darkness
Among Esalen’s many offerings, I chose to explore intention-setting through the lens of Zen Buddhism in a workshop called Luminous Darkness, guided by environmentalist and former monastic Deborah Eden Tull.
With her steady, soothing presence, Eden led us through practices that invited us to meet the light that lives within darkness. We reviewed the past year, named lessons and accomplishments, listened deeply, and called in what longs to be born. We sat with what was uncomfortable. We shared from places that felt tender and true.
Each participant was invited, in their own capacity, to move toward their fears, grief, losses, and unanswered questions, and to begin transmuting them into fuel for the year ahead.
It was heavy at times. And it was exactly what I needed.
Life is not only brightness and forward motion. As the powerful storms unleashed their fury outside, I felt my own inner thunder move through me. There is slowness, grief, shadow, and necessary darkness. When we refuse to meet those places, they shape us unconsciously. When we welcome them, they become teachers. The darkness becomes fertile soil.
Creating Conscious Intentions for 2026
The journey home has been its own initiation. As with all peak experiences, the integration is real and ongoing. Before returning fully to the rhythms of daily life, I am allowing myself to linger in this liminal space. To gather what wants to be carried forward.
I feel a strong call to share what I received.
That is why I am offering a completely free online workshop to guide you through a grounded, soulful process of reflection and intention-setting. Not the performative kind. Not resolutions born from pressure or self-judgment. But a conscious turning toward what this past year has taught you, and what is quietly asking for your devotion now.
If you are feeling the pull to pause, listen more deeply, and create a vision for the year ahead that is honest, embodied, and alive, I would love to hold this space with you.
Join me on Saturday the 3rd at 10am Pacific Time for a powerful guided practice of release, remembrance, and envisioning.
This is an invitation to root your intentions in truth, and let the dark inform the light you are calling in.
Send me a message, and I will send you the invitation link.