Wildtender offers immersive wilderness programs that cultivate intimacy with the natural world, connect with wisdom traditions, and nurture human wholeness.

Upcoming Programs

Stories of the Land

Immersive ANIMAL TRACKING WORKSHOP

BIG SUR

APRIL 4-7, 2024

Wild landscapes overflow with clues about the fascinating lives and ways of the wild beings that surround us. Fresh claw marks on a tree trunk, the murmurings of birds, or muddy paw prints by the stream are invitations to deepen our understanding of, and connection to, our wild kin. Join Wildtender for a four-day backpacking trip and workshop to experience and learn the fundamentals of wildlife tracking in the diverse and abundant Big Sur wilderness (ancestral homeland of the Esselen Tribe). 

Wild Pilgrimage

Backpacking Journey to Esalen

April 29 - May 5, 2024

Embark on an intentional wilderness journey through the sublime and seldom-traveled backcountry of Big Sur, concluding at the coastal grounds of the Esalen Institute. Among the fleeting gifts of Spring – free-flowing creeks, boundless wildflower fields and vibrant wildlife – immerse in the wild with an intimate cohort (up to twelve participants), practice awareness and community, and learn fundamental skills to feel at home on the earth. Over the course of five nights and four full days on the trail, we will embody a contemporary form of pilgrimage, traveling as reverent guests through this sacred wilderness (historic Esselen tribal territory). Inspired by Esalen’s co-founder Dick Price, who found healing and transformation wandering the Big Sur wild, we will engage Gestalt practices from the Esalen lineage – including group check-ins to help us connect with ourselves, each other, and the land…

The Creative Path

Hiking and Artistic Connection on the Big Sur Coast

Esalen Insitute

June 3-7, 2023

Sitting in stillness to draw a flower, tracing the mountain’s slope with brushstrokes by eye, following the sound of waves down corridors of memory, and free association through writing – these are gestures of connection as much as they are creative acts. Join us for an intimate creative workshop on the enchanted grounds of Esalen Institute and along the trails of the Big Sur coast to explore art making as a relational practice with the wild.

Reunion with the Wild Earth

Hiking and Nature Connection in Big Sur

Esalen Institute

August 19–23, 2024

How would it feel to move into a meaningful relationship with the living world, and beyond a mere passive appreciation of nature? In the long arc of human history, people across all cultures and traditions have lived in communion with the lands they called home. While this intrinsic connection has been largely severed in our modern age, the perspectives and practices common to our respective Earth-reverent ancestors are not lost. They lie dormant in the land, among the wild beings, and even in our own animal bodies, waiting patiently to be remembered and renewed.

Wild Presence

Relational Gestalt Practice in Nature

Esalen Institute

September 2–6, 2024

When we are present in the here and now, every moment in the natural world represents an opportunity to enrich, heal, and clarify our relationships to the Earth, ourselves, and one another. For five days, we will immerse in awareness practices and deep nature connection on the sacred grounds of the Esalen Institute and in the Big Sur wild (ancestral lands of the Esselen People). Together, we will explore our inner and outer landscapes by mindfully engaging with biodiverse wilderness and Gestalt practices under the open sky.

Wild Tao

Hiking and Qi Gong in Big Sur Wilderness

Esalen Institute

September 30 – October 4, 2024

Qigong — the practice at the heart of Taoism — is dedicated to harmonizing body, mind, and spirit with the elements of nature. In this age, when so many of us feel disconnected and overwhelmed, wilderness remains a powerful healer and teacher, and qigong can bring us back to center. Join us to learn an accessible qigong form called wai dan gong (“easy Tao”) while immersing in the majestic landscape of Big Sur, the ancestral homeland of the Esselen tribe. We rise each morning to practice, harmonizing breath and movements with the flow of waves greeting Esalen’s cliffs. After breakfast, we set out on a wilderness hike to mindfully explore Big Sur’s enchanted redwoods, sun-steeped meadows, and mountains that rise from the sea. All along the trail, we explore qigong and Taoist philosophy as pathways for returning to a grounded, spacious, revitalized state of being — in harmony with nature, embodying Wild Tao.