The Esalen® Massage100-hour Professional Practitioner Training offers comprehensive bodywork education in the skills necessary to become a recognized Esalen Massage practitioner. This class is tailored for certified massage practitioners seeking to add the resources of Esalen Massage to their repertoire. It focuses on critical skills relevant for giving a full Esalen Massage, including centering and grounding, self-care and reflection, application of the long flowing strokes punctuated with detail specific to each segment, and an integrated experience of body-mind-spirit.

Additional points of the curriculum include work in the side-lying posture, passive joint movement, gentle stretching, and ethics of massage. Students will learn and practice communication skills to enhance deep self-reflection and to address emotional release that may arise during a massage session. The instructors offer on-going support at the table as well as assessment through receiving.

This course is designed to link body, mind and spirit in a professionally oriented, hands-on training. Successful completion includes full attendance (100 classroom hours), one 30-minute, and one 75-minute massage assessment session, fifteen documented off-site massage sessions, and payment of the certificate fee ( $150). Graduation grants the practitioner full Esalen® Massage privileges, including listing on the website and use of the brand to promote their work as Esalen® Massage as long as they remain in good standing.

Students will receive a resource book that includes the class schedule and curriculum, forms, and assessment guidance plus multiple articles by leaders notable in the Esalen Massage legacy. Attendance is kept daily; If health reasons prevent a student from attending a class, a student may arrange with the instructors to make up the class time.

Week One The first sessions will include personal introduction, enhancing the learning environment by developing communication skills, and what it means to be intentional with touch. Initial coursework will build sensory awareness skills, how to become centered and grounded, physically and energetically, and the practice of presence for self and with others. Students will be introduced to a variety of mindfulness practices, meditation, yoga, conscious movement and Tai Chi, to enhance and develop these skills. We will cover the history of Esalen Massage and its key influences, along with the evolution of Esalen massage today. Through lectures, demo’s and practice, students will become familiar with the Esalen approach to contact, connection and applying the signature flow of Esalen massage at the table. During the next few days, the course will teach creating safety through draping and how to build specific massage methodology in the prone position. Midway through the first week, attention will move to the front of the body, and by the end of the week, students will be able to give and experience a basic Esalen massage. Good body mechanics , mindfulness and communication skills form the backdrop for each massage session. Towards the end of the first week we begin the clinic where students are asked to bring together all the skills they are learning into 75 minute massages performed on a client and are given written feedback.

Week Two The instructors will add detail, moving through the layers of the body to address specific areas—limbs, torso, neck, head, hands and feet--with movement, stretches and 3-dimensional touch on front and back. Each session will be dedicated to focusing on techniques that address common issues and complaints, including stress, tension, pain or lack of awareness.

Break-out sessions will experientially explore healthy boundaries, empathy, and how to professionally differentiate between the two. A facilitated sharing circle will promote self-reflection, acceptance, listening skills, and illustrate the body-mind-spirit relationship. The instructors will offer massage strategies for clients that need alternate positions, such as side work, and addressing the back body from the front, and working partially clothed. Final assessment is by means of a practical session on an instructor, with verbal and written feedback. In closing, instructors will highlight the business practices relevant to Esalen massage, including professional ethics and boundaries, and the reach of the Esalen community.

Final Requirements: Students must fully participate and complete 100 in class hours. Some makeup hours will be provided. The students must successfully give an instructor an Esalen massage with all the outlined elements required, documents fifteen practice Esalen massage sessions off site after the completion of the course and submit them electronically to the instructor. Students may be asked to give additional massages to the instructors if they do not meet all the requirements of an Esalen massage. At completion students may apply to receive their Esalen certificate through the Esalen Massage and Bodywork Association (EMBA) by logging onto the website, completing an application and paying an additional $150 fee. Graduates gain the privileges of the Esalen Brand and and a listing on the website as long as they remain in good standing. EMBA membership is free for the first year, then students will be invited to maintain that membership for an additional $100 per year. The Esalen standards of ethics and by laws are listed on the EMBA website: massage.esalen.org.

Skills for developing presence and mindfulness through movement and meditation

Understanding the History, development, and influences on Esalen massage: How it began, who developed Esalen massage. How the Esalen Institute and the era of the 1960’s was important. How the work of Charlotte Selver, Swedish massage, and others played a key role in its evolution. How Esalen massage continues to evolve today

Understanding the principles of Esalen Massage: presence, listening skills, flow, responsiveness.

Using the Esalen principles when addressing specific areas of concern. Review of anatomical terms, muscles, origins and insertions, working with injuries, working with resistance, understanding the contraindications of massage, communication during a session, working at a variety of depths,

Deepening the art of sensing and listening while giving and receiving a massage: how to interpret what you are feeling, engaging the client in the process of receiving, how deep to go.

Learning to build repertoire with your client through professional communication and relational assessment: building safety and trust, how to ask for feedback, relational approach: understanding the relationship between mind and body, and working with both, working with the mind/body connection and staying in scope of practice, understanding the psychology of relaxation, what to do when emotions arise.

Learning specific massage techniques and Esalen principles for each segment of the body: limbs (arms and legs), torso (back, chest, abdomen), hands, feet, neck, head (face and scalp)

Understanding the role of the nervous system in massage and learning techniques that impact the nervous system: the anatomy of the nervous system, pacing, rocking and holds

Learning how to apply passive joint movement: safely moving arms and legs, assessing for limitations and restrictions in movement

Learning stretches to lengthen and release muscles with the legs, arms and neck

Learning to work with the antagonistic muscle and primary muscles together

Learn self-care exercises for practitioners to work with ease, maintain strength, and cultivate calm and focus: best practices for good body mechanics and self-care

Understanding energetics of massage and working with chakras, meridians, and holds

Understanding and addressing Ethical concerns in massage: focus on boundaries, professionalism, power differential, communication skills, and dual relationships

Understanding best business practices in massage: navigating financials, policy, and social media/advertising

Additional accommodations for clients with special needs: working in the side-lying position, what does it mean to be “trauma-informed”

Students will be able to be more aware of their clients through observations, listening, and palpation skills

Assessment: practical assessment and peer feedback

Students will learn to use good body mechanics, maintain boundaries, physically and emotionally, and communicate with their clients.

Visual assessment by the instructor, self-reported, peer feedback

Students will be able to give each client a massage that is customized based on the client’s needs and requests.

Practical assessment on instructor, peer feedback

Students will apply the principles of Esalen Massage to give a 75 min. Full body Esalen Massage.

Assessment by observation and peer feedback.

Students will be able to incorporate verbal clues and guidance into the session.

Assessment: congruence of client and practitioner feedback.

Students will be able to safely and effectively incorporate stretches and movement of limbs in a session.

Assessment by observation, peer feedback, instructor assessment session.

Students will apply holistic principles and energetic concepts to each massage.

Assessment: Instructor observation and practical assessment on instructor.

Instructional methods include experiential exercises, lecture, demonstration, use of skeleton and charts, supervised practice. Instructors work with all students one on one at the table. All sessions will include one or more of the following: body awareness exercises which could include meditation, movement, stretching, walking, hands-on massage practice, self-awareness training, one on one coaching from an instructor, giving and receiving peer feedback. The emphasis of this course is on experiential learning and the practice of Esalen Massage. You must be able to fully participate to attend this course.

Esalen Massage Demonstration, theory and practice 64 hours

Esalen Massage 48 hours

Passive joint movement 05

Contraindications 05

Special needs clients 06

Practitioner Development 08 hours

Sensory awareness practice 03 hours

Mindfulness training 05 hours

Science 15 hours

Anatomy and Physiology 06 hours

Pathology 03 hours

Kinesthetic movement 05 hours

Ethics 03 hours

Business practice 03 hours

Psychological Aspects 04 hours

Hands on Assessment 03 hours

Total hours 100 hours