The Art of REPAIR: The Practice of Relational Healing

Conflict is inevitable in any relationship. What shapes the health of a bond is how skillfully we find our way back to each other afterward. This relational healing workshop in Big Sur, California, invites you into a practical, embodied approach to repair, one that turns rupture into connection, clarity, and trust.

Led by relationship facilitator Hazel-Grace Yates at Esalen Institute, The Art of REPAIR guides you through the six-step REPAIR Process™. As Dr. Becky Kennedy puts it, "An apology will shut a conversation down. A good repair opens one up." Over five days, you practice meeting conflict not as a threat but as a portal to deeper intimacy, collaborative problem-solving, and long-term relational health.

Whether you arrive on your own, with a partner, or with a group of any kind, this workshop offers a place to practice, play, and expand your capacity for love.

What to Expect

The Art of REPAIR draws on an integrative framework that blends somatic and nervous system intelligence, authentic relating and relational attunement practices, power dynamics, trauma-informed communication, interpersonal neurobiology, attachment theory, and restorative justice principles. Learning is not only conceptual. Hazel-Grace weaves in movement, songs, playful connection games, guided reflection, and time in nature, so that understanding settles into the body as well as the mind.

Through guided practices, interactive exercises, and real-life application, you will learn to:

- Regulate your nervous system to meet conflict with clarity, presence, and care rather than reactivity.
- Create a shared reality in complex disagreements so both perspectives are heard and understood.
- Explore five actionable pathways to restore integrity, rebuilding trust and connection.
- Strengthen courage and boundaries to speak your needs without defensiveness or collapse.
- Turn conflict into connection by replacing avoidance or resentment with repair conversations that foster intimacy.

You leave with tools you can use for life, and perhaps a new understanding that conflict, when navigated well, can be one of your greatest access points to connection.

If you are new to this work, the organizer offers a 2-minute introduction video and a 20-minute mini-course overview that cover the core principles and the six-step process you will begin practicing. Recommended reading is Us: Getting Past You & Me to Build a More Loving Relationship by Terry Real.

Venue & Logistics

This in-person workshop takes place at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA. Registration options include workshop with an on-site stay, workshop with an off-site stay, and an individual day pass, and a scholarship application is available for those who need one. Because Highway 1 access around Big Sur can be affected by road closures and travel advisories, review Esalen's current travel advisory before you plan your journey.