Esalen Massage Courses Taught
Esalen® Massage 175-hour Practitioner Training | March 2025, Bali, Indonesia with Ellen Watson and Jingni Wang
Esalen® Massage 100-hour Professional Training | September - October 2024, Oakland, CA with Char Pias
Intro to Esalen® Massage | 12 hours, June 2024, Orcas Island WA with Shayu Talbot
Intro to Esalen® Massage | 8 hours, June 2023, Seattle WA
Intro to Esalen® Massage | 8 hours, April 2023, Bellingham, WA
Intro to Esalen® Massage | 10 hours, November 2022, Oakland, CA
Intro to Esalen® Massage: The Long Stroke, Neck and Shoulders | 12 hours, March 2022, Orcas Island, WA with Whitney Bell
Intro to Esalen® Massage: The Long Stroke, Hands & Forearms | 12 hours, January 2020, Oakland, CA
Intro to Esalen® Massage: The Long Stroke and Presence | 8 hours, July 2019, Berkeley, CA
Intro to Esalen® Massage for Esalen Work Scholars | 4 hours, September 2019, Esalen Institute, Big Sur, CA with Whitney Bell
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Esalen® Massage 100-hour Professional Training (assisted) | January-February 2024, Esalen Institute, Big Sur, CA with Deborah Medow and Nora Matten
Esalen® Massage 100-hour Professional Training (assisted) | March and May, 2023, Hot Springs, NC with Robin Fann-Costanzo and Jessica Fagan
Esalen® Massage 100-hour Professional Training (assisted) | February-March 2023, Oakland, CA with Char Pias and Jessica Fagan
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Other Courses Taught
Couples Massage | February 2025, Orcas Island WA with Iona McCombie Smith
Deep Tissue Applications | 2018-2019, McKinnon Body Therapy Center, Oakland CA
Deep Tissue: Integration and Assessment | 2018-2019, McKinnon Body Therapy Center, Oakland CA
Anatomy & Physiology | 2018-2019, McKinnon Body Therapy Center, Oakland CA
Before I became a massage therapist, I tried graduate school, baking, academic publishing, and printmaking. I wasn't fully aware that I was searching for an embodied practice that brought me closer to myself and was an act of service. I took my first massage class on a gut feeling that it would help me connect better with myself and the people I love. It was definitely out of my comfort zone - and on the first day of class I discovered just how profound a fit it was.
I have been a massage therapist since 2008. Today I am an Esalen® Massage teacher and practitioner, and a Deep Bodywork® practitioner with over 1000 hours of training in several modalities. I work with adults seeking to cultivate greater awareness of themselves through touch. My clients regularly report feelings of deep relaxation and wholeness, pain or symptom relief, altered states of consciousness, and lasting benefits from my more focused, structural offerings.
You can learn more about Esalen Massage below.
In addition to my private bodywork practice, I lead retreats and courses in Esalen Massage. This practice has changed my life immeasurably for the better, and I teach in order to pay that gift forward. I am a teaching member of the faculty at Esalen Institue Massage School in Big Sur and guest faculty at McKinnon Body Therapy Center in Oakland. I am a Yoga Alliance Registered Yoga Teacher and enjoy working with anyone who is curious about their embodied experience.
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Bhakti Massage is named in honor of the bhakti yoga tradition, the practice of selfless devotion. During our time together, I devote my intention, skill, and compassion to your healing journey. You deserve to be healthy and happy!
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My family moved to Orcas Island, WA in 2021, and I am grateful for the welcome and trust of the island community and visitors.
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If you would like to organize or host an introductory Esalen Massage course with me, or a certification course with me and another Esalen Massage teacher, please email info@bhaktimassage.com.
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What is Esalen Massage?
"Esalen massage is characterized by four basic principles:
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1. The practitioner is working with, instead of on, the client.
2. The massage is a moving meditation; the practitioner is committed to being as fully present as possible for the entire massage session, bringing a full-hearted, meditative presence to the table.
3. The practitioner is aware that a client may be affected on physical, mental, emotional or even spiritual levels.
4. Long, flowing strokes, integrated throughout the massage give a sense of relaxation, connection and wholeness.
When looking at these principles more deeply, it is apparent how interrelated they are: When a practitioner is working with, instead of on, a client, the practitioner learns to listen and respond to what he/she is feeling both in the actual tissues and on an intuitive level. Consequently, the Esalen practitioner responds to the unique issues presented by the individual client, instead of imposing a particular protocol, from or set way of working as in some other forms of massage. In order to successfully feel and know what is appropriate for a particular client, the practitioner needs to develop a full-hearted presence, the ability to be truly present and focused with the client, and to listen with the whole being.
Often, bringing this full-hearted presence to the table enables a client to feel safe enough internally to relax and let go on very deep levels. Formerly unexpressed emotions, the holding of tissues that often follow with trapped emotions, or even held pain due to physical or emotional trauma-all have the opportunity to rise to the surface and clear from the bodymind, frequently affecting the client on more than a physical level.
The responsibility of the Esalen practitioner is to stay fully present and provide a safe space, thus supporting the release of the pain or emotion that was originally trapped in the tissue in the body.
The fourth principle, the long, flowing strokes in Esalen massage, not only relax and prepare clients for deeper touch, they also easily move the practitioner from one area to another are of the body, supporting the feelings of connection, integration and wholeness. The effectiveness of the long integrating strokes is becoming more apparent as evidenced by the number of other massage modalities have begun incorporating signature Esalen strokes.”
~Deborah Anne Meadow – Massage Magazine, April 2011