Rewilding Consciousness: Embodied Wisdom and the Ecology of Awakening

Rewilding Consciousness is a five-day spiritual retreat at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, led by Buddhist teacher Chandra Easton and climate investor Tenzin Seldon. It is for people who are hungry for a deeper way back into the body and the felt experience of being alive, and who want to bring contemplative practice together with questions about how we live on the earth. Elemental meditation, mantra and pranayama sit alongside group inquiry into regeneration.

What to Expect

The week is woven from two converging paths. One is elemental meditation, mantra and pranayama, with earth, water, fire, air and space as direct doorways into the body and into nature. The other is research on regeneration, tracked through what is called GDR, or Gross Domestic Regeneration: the practice of measuring what we build back rather than what we extract.

Practice includes:

- Elemental meditation held outdoors, weather permitting, so presence and intuition are met directly on Esalen's land.
- Group inquiry into regeneration, weighing what you personally extract and rebuild.
- Practices for meeting conflict and grief, including ecological grief, with care rather than avoidance.
- Sensory reawakening and devotional music, to settle each day's inquiry into the body.
- Inquiry into AI, energy and what it means to be human, held from an embodied place rather than an abstract one.

The shared conviction is that the shift we are looking for will come less from more thinking and more from feeling.

The schedule begins on Monday with a "How to Drop into Esalen" orientation from 5:00 to 6:00 pm, followed by an opening session from 7:15 to 9:30 pm. Tuesday through Thursday each have a morning session from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm and an afternoon session in the late afternoon, running roughly 4:00 to 6:00 or 6:15 pm. The days move from elemental practice, to deepening inquiry, to integration. A final session on Friday, 9:30 am to 12:00 pm, closes the week. Between sessions there is ample free time to rest, walk the cliffside gardens and soak in the natural hot springs.

About Chandra Easton

Chandra Easton is a Buddhist teacher, devotional music artist, author of Embodying Tara and co-translator of Sublime Dharma. Rooted in Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, she holds the title of Dorje Lopön (Vajra Teacher). She has led annual retreats at Esalen since 2003.

About Tenzin Seldon

Tenzin Seldon is Founder and Managing Partner of Pulse Fund, which invests in climate technologies. A Rhodes Scholar and Harry S. Truman Scholar, she serves on boards including Marathon Digital Holdings and Stanford's Human-Centered AI institute, and previously worked with the United Nations Environment Programme.

The Setting

Esalen Institute sits on the cliffs of Big Sur, with ocean views, gardens and natural hot springs. Meals are taken on campus: breakfast, lunch and dinner, with coffee, tea and snacks.

Accommodation ranges from budget-friendly shared options to private rooms and suites. At the simpler end are sleeping bag space, where guests sleep on the floor in their own bedding, and gender-inclusive bunk rooms for four to six people with a private bathroom. Standard rooms include shared, queen and two-bed options with private bathrooms. Premium rooms, yurts and suites offer ocean or forest views and private outdoor space. Among the suites are the Price House Suite, in the former residence of Esalen co-founder Dick Price, and the Rolf Suite, perched above the hot springs. Participants can also choose to stay off-site or attend with a day pass.

Travel into northern Big Sur has been affected by a Highway 1 advisory, with Caltrans-run convoys at 7:00 am and 5:00 pm. Check current conditions and plan your arrival and departure around them.

Before You Go

The workshop fee with an on-site stay covers the workshop, housing, all meals, coffee, tea and snacks, hot springs and campus access, and Esalen's open-schedule classes. Healing arts sessions such as Esalen Massage, specialty coffee, tea and bar purchases, and bookstore items are extra. Since much of the practice is outdoors, bring layers for coastal weather.