“Trust your hands. Trust your heart. You are welcome.”
Lili’s way into Esalen® Massage began quietly, with one massage that touched something deep inside her. What followed was a path of presence, stillness, and flow that continues to shape her teaching. Today, as part of the EMGV26 team, she shares this journey with others who are drawn to the same field.
The Moment She Became the River
Sometimes, a single touch changes everything.
Lili remembers clearly: she was in her early forties, living a life that looked full from the outside. She had her children, her career, her family. And yet, something within whispered of absence. A longing.
“I had children, I had my job, my family… and still, there was something I longed for that I could not name,” she recalls.
It was a psychotherapist who first pointed her toward Esalen® Massage. She booked a session without knowing what to expect.
“When I came out of that massage, I went walking along the river. Suddenly, I felt I was the river. Everything was in flow. I had this vast perception of my surroundings — so friendly, so loving. I thought, ‘This is it. This is what completes my life.’”
That experience — of dissolving into flow, of becoming nature itself — became her compass. It was not only relaxation; it was awakening. The kind of moment practitioners and seekers quietly dream of: a sense of belonging, not only to one’s own body, but to the wider web of life.
Meeting Challenge With Presence
The journey into Esalen Massage training, however, was not all ease and flow. Alongside beauty came the rawness of emotions.
“The biggest difficulty in my training,” Lili shares, “was learning to stay with processes as they unfolded — sadness, joy, anger. When the first tears came, I felt ashamed. Memories surfaced and I didn’t know why.”
She could have walked away, numbed herself, or kept those doors closed. But something in her knew that presence itself was the medicine.
“I could have pushed it away, but I stayed. I’m still staying as best I can — staying with the process.”
This practice of staying became a cornerstone — not only of her personal growth, but of her work as a teacher. It is what she now offers her students: not escape, not quick fixes, but the courage to remain in contact with whatever arises.
When the Profane Meets the Sacred
After becoming an Esalen Massage practitioner, Lili trained in Visionary Craniosacral Work with Hugh Milne.
“Right from the start, I was touched to the core by how Hugh expanded bodywork into something sacred. There was a place of stillness, acceptance, and deep presence that was an enormous gift in my Esalen Massage practice. It changed the way I viewed bodywork.”
All she needed was to drop into herself, to find stillness within. From that wellspring, her touch transformed.
“This was my deep inner well. Out of this place I could witness, and I found a deep connection to my intuition — to know what to do next with a client. I let myself be guided by that inner knowing.”
From Dance to the Table
Another turning point came when Lili discovered Soul Motion, a conscious dance practice that became an unexpected teacher.
“In Soul Motion, you meet yourself, you meet others, you meet the world. I realized this was exactly what we do in Esalen Massage. First meeting ourselves, then entering contact, pausing in presence, always beginning anew — and then stepping out of contact again. Within this stepping in and out, we become part of something bigger. These experiences from the dance floor came with me to the table.”
One phrase from her Soul Motion teacher Michael Molin-Skelton stays close to her heart:
“We are more together than alone.”
“As a group, we are bigger, stronger, more creative than we could ever be on our own,” she reflects. “That’s what I want to embody — not just as a teacher, but as part of a community that lifts us all.”
For her, dance and massage are not separate worlds. They are different expressions of the same truth: that presence can move, flow, and shift — whether through a body in motion or through a hand listening at rest.
The same river she once became in that first massage continues to ripple through her teaching: a reminder that touch and movement are never static, always alive.
Community as the Heart of Esalen
Lili recalls her first stay at the Esalen Institute in 2016 as a workscholar, where she took a monthlong training in songwriting with John Smith. Until then, she had studied Esalen Massage in Switzerland and Germany — and though she had trained in the method, she had never experienced the birthplace of the work itself.
“That experience connected me deeply to Esalen as a place. I hadn’t known it before — and suddenly, I felt its spirit in my body.”
And yet, she realized it was not just the cliffs or the Pacific Ocean that made Esalen special.
“The place seemed to facilitate whatever was happening to the people, but the core, the heart, were the groups — the respect, the love, the listening to each other, the community. Community, that is at the heart of Esalen.”
A later Teacher Training in 2019 wove her even more firmly into the lineage. Today, she treasures the inspiration she receives from co-teaching and peer exchange.
“I let myself be inspired again and again by others. Every co-teaching, every new group is a source of renewal. What I treasure most is reflection — that I am not isolated as a teacher, but part of a living exchange.”
The Work of Organizing
Behind her calm presence lies determination. For two years, Lili has been weaving the threads that will become EMGV26. She booked the seminar house years in advance.
“At first there was just this vision, and the support of my German teacher friends,” she reflects. “Then I found project support through EMBA. Today, I feel fortunate to be working with a wonderful organizing team — together with Patrick Stockstill and Robin Fann.”
“Now there is all the practical work — finances, contracts, coordination. It’s a lot.”
“I sometimes think I must be crazy,” she laughs.
And yet, she stays with it, and trusts the process.
Her dream is simple and luminous: the moment when the tribe arrives. Practitioners from around the world, stepping into one space, gathering as one community with many voices and hands.
Looking Toward The Global Village
“My experience has taught me that when practitioners who studied with different teachers come together and begin to share, something wonderful happens. Group wisdom, collective intelligence emerges. I look forward to all the beautiful meetings.”
For her, EMGV26 is not only about offering, but about receiving — receiving inspiration, connection, and the joy of being part of something larger.
Flow as Closing Gift
She reminds us that in pausing we find nourishment, in contact we find belonging, and in stepping together we discover a force that carries us.
May your hands remember the river.
May your heart stay soft enough to flow.
And may you know, again and again, that you are never alone.
Find Lili in Her Practice
You can meet Lili in her practice in Switzerland at www.lilispraxis.ch.