Self-Guided Explorations Week of December 21-25, 2026

There is a stretch of the year when the world asks for more, and a quieter invitation arrives alongside it: to step away, listen inward, and decide for yourself what you need. This spiritual retreat at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA, is built around that invitation. Instead of a set curriculum, you are given a supportive container and the freedom to move through it by intuition and curiosity.

Self-Guided Explorations is a retreat for reconnecting with yourself, your dreams, and your desires. Some people arrive hoping to awaken dormant passions or tend to old wounds. Others simply want to remember the joy of being alive. With Sam Stern and Micha Merrick among the teachers listed for this winter week, the days are shaped by open classes, time on the land, and the rhythm of a community gathering at the beginning and the end.

If you have been craving a reset without a rigid schedule, this retreat offers a way to choose, and also to choose not to choose.

What to Expect

The retreat opens and closes with a circle with your cohort. Between them, the days present options rather than obligations.

- Open classes: Teachers in Residence lead the daily open classes, which may include yoga and dance-based movement, journaling sessions, breath work, and other practices designed to encourage joy and mindfulness.
- Wider offerings: You might explore meditation, conscious dance, or the creative arts, attend presentations by guest faculty, or take a long soak under the stars.
- Healing arts: Esalen Massage and holistic healing services with compassionate practitioners can be added to deepen the journey.
- Unstructured time: Embodiment practice and writing, solitude, and quiet enjoyment of the land are all part of the experience, as is doing much less.

The atmosphere is nurturing and self-directed. Participants can leave feeling reset, refreshed, and recalibrated, with a clearer sense of what vitality and well-being feel like for them.

About the Lineup

Sam Stern is a musician listed among the teachers for this Self-Guided Explorations week. The Teachers in Residence lead the daily open classes, where the offerings may include movement, journaling, and breath work. Specific class details from Sam are not yet published, so the open schedule is the best place to see what is offered each day.

Micha Merrick is also a musician on the lineup for this week at Esalen. As with the other Teachers in Residence, Micha's role is part of the open class schedule that guests move through freely, choosing what calls to them in the moment.

Venue & Logistics

The retreat takes place at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, a coastal campus devoted to human potential and quiet introspection. The registration includes housing accommodations, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, coffee, tea, and snacks, access to the hot springs and other campus features, and classes on the open schedule. Healing arts sessions such as Esalen Massage, specialty coffee, tea or alcohol from the bar, and bookstore purchases are not included. Guests have access to open classes but not to preregistered workshops. Registration options include a workshop with an on-site stay, a workshop with an off-site stay, and an individual day pass, and scholarships are available by application.

Highway 1 travel conditions around Big Sur have been affected by road closures, so please review Esalen's current travel advisory before planning your journey.