Belly, Heart & Hands – From Structure to Flow in Esalen® Massage
With Anne-Kareen Thielen and Lili Imboden
This full-day massage workshop invites you to build a bridge between anatomy and the flow at the massage table.
We explore key structures of the body — the diaphragm, ribs, sternum, and shoulder girdle — to see how form and function support movement and ease.
Step by step, anatomical knowledge becomes sensing, sensing becomes movement, and movement turns into flow at the massage table.
Practical exercises and self-exploration help translate this knowledge into felt experience and embodied awareness.
Morning — The Diaphragm and the Breath Axis
In the morning, we focus on the connection between the abdomen and the chest.
Through anatomical orientation and guided palpation, we explore the diaphragm as a central structure of breathing and support.
We study its position, shape, and attachments to the ribs and lumbar spine, observing how it influences abdominal tone and rib mobility.
This renewed felt sense of the diaphragm is then integrated at the massage table through focused Esalen Massage practice.
Afternoon — The Shoulder Girdle and the Heart Space
In the afternoon, attention moves upward — from sternum to clavicle, from heart to hands.
We examine how the shoulder girdle relates to breath and chest expansion, and how the clavicle connects the sternum with the scapula.
In Esalen Massage practice, we explore these relationships directly — freeing the rib cage, softening the chest wall, and integrating the arms into the continuous flow of touch.
By the end of the day, you will have studied, sensed, and applied a living map of your own anatomy.
You are warmly invited to refine your understanding of structure — and let that knowledge come alive in your own body and through your hands.