Beyond Duality: Healing Wisdom and Ceremony for Personal Health and Well-being

Most of us live as though we must choose a side: light or dark, active or still, giving or receiving. This healing workshop at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA, invites a different recognition, that these are not opposites at war but complementary aspects of a single wholeness, and that the sense of being divided within ourselves is a story that can be set down.

Ceremonial leader and wisdom carrier Erika Gagnon guides Beyond Duality: Healing Wisdom and Ceremony for Personal Health and Well-being as a sacred journey beyond the false duality of a divided self, and beyond the concepts of "self versus other" and "self versus nature." For those who feel stuck in old patterns, carry inherited wounds, or long to live in greater harmony with themselves and the world around them, this is a space to look honestly at what is out of balance and begin to realign.

The workshop is a five-day program, and it rests on a simple understanding: black and white, night and day, earth and sky, masculine and feminine cannot exist without one another. When we see that we are the wholeness that encompasses our dual nature, we move from separation toward unity.

What to Expect

Over the course of the workshop, you will engage with healing wisdom, practices, and ceremony to honor your gifts and continue to heal your wounds. Guiding questions shape the inquiry:

- How can we identify what is out of balance, within us and in our lives?
- What emotions, memories, and old patterns keep us stuck or no longer serve us?
- What social, cultural, racial, religious, and historical energies influence our lives?

You will have the opportunity to participate in three traditional healing ceremonies, which form the heart of the experience. You will also be offered tools to transform trauma and unhealthy patterns, and to realign body, mind, spirit, and soul while exploring the origins of dis-ease in the physical, mental-emotional, and spiritual bodies.

Participants leave with a reconnection to their authentic wisdom and power, a felt sense of balance within, and a renewed gratitude for the natural and spiritual elements of this planet.

This workshop follows a gift economy. Esalen is not collecting the typical leader fees. Instead, Erika's compensation is self-determined by each attendee, who offers a donation at the end of the workshop reflecting their gratitude, the value they received, and their wish to support her ongoing work. Erika has also established a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, person of color) scholarship for her workshops; to receive one or to donate toward it, contact her at info@erikagagnon.com.

About Erika Gagnon

Erika Gagnon is a ceremonial leader and wisdom carrier who guides this workshop through ceremony, guided inquiry, and the traditions of the gift economy and reciprocity. Her approach invites participants to look beyond division and rediscover how to live in harmony within themselves and with the world around them.

Venue & Logistics

The workshop takes place at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA. Please bring a journal, along with items for the group altar, including photographs of loved ones and ancestors and sacred objects that hold meaning for you. Registration options include workshop with an on-site stay, workshop with an off-site stay, and an individual day pass, and scholarships are available through Esalen. Highway 1 access around Big Sur has been affected by road closures, so please review Esalen's current travel advisory before planning your journey.