embodying the Five Elements of East Asian medicine
through art, movement, and meditation
Green Gulch Farm
Elemental Creativity
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Experience how the Five Elements of East Asian Medicine manifest within and around you through art, movement, and meditation.
Play with your body wisdom, guided by the elements of Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal.
Deepen your understanding of the principles of mindfulness and apply them — through the lens of the Elements — to channel your creativity.
Align with your innate gifts to fulfill your highest potential, and have fun doing it!
All this in the remarkable natural beauty of Green Gulch Farm.
You’ll walk away with
- a deeper, more personal understanding of the Five Elements
- a solid experience of mindfulness meditation in a Zen context
- a collection of drawings, paintings, and ephemeral art that you created
- a wealth of inspiration for your creative practice and techniques you can continue to practice at home
This is a welcoming introductory course particularly suited for newcomers to Chinese medicine, Zen Buddhism, and artmaking. That said, it will also offer experienced practitioners the opportunity to deepen their practice.
Elemental Creativity
November 29 to December 3
a 4-night retreat at Green Gulch Farm
with
Jiling Lin, acupuncturist, herbalist, yoga teacher
Fu Schroeder, Green Gulch Farm former Abiding Abbess
and Suiko McCall, painter, Art Monastery Founder & Abbess
Furyu Nancy Schroeder
a resident of Zen Center since the 1970s, became Abiding Abbess at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in March 2014. She stepped down from the role of Abbess in March 2023 and is now a Senior Dharma Teacher. Fu has held most of the monastic positions at Zen Center and has been an active supporter of programs for children, people of color, the gay and lesbian community, and the interfaith community. In 2008 she was elected to the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame, and in 2010 she was appointed to the Board of the Marin Community Foundation. In addition, she has previously co-led Zen Center’s Contemplative Caregiver Course. She received Dharma Transmission from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1999.
Jiling Lin
is a Licensed Acupuncturist (L.Ac), herbalist, and yoga teacher who cultivates thriving health through nature, art, movement, and ritual. Jiling’s integrative medical practice in Ventura, CA nourishes wellness for all people, specializing in sports acupuncture, women’s health, and chronic illness. Her gentle yet powerful acupuncture and herbal treatments center accessible lifestyle medicine solutions for creating profound transformation over time.
Jiling is faculty for the Esalen Institute, Balanced Rock Foundation’s Yoga Teacher Training, and Artemisia Academy’s Herbal Apprenticeship Program. She writes for Mountain Rose Herbs and various publications, runs “Tea Talks with Jiling” on the Herbal Radio podcast, and teaches classes ranging from seasonal wellness to multi-day backpacking adventures.
Jiling broke both wrists in a major mountaineering accident in 2006. Acupuncture, yoga, and herbs helped restore her mobility, stability, flexibility and strength. She’s back in the mountains hiking and backpacking, along with surfing, biking, and climbing. Jiling now supports other injured athletes through recovery, with direct personal experience from her own healing journey.
Jiling holds a B.A. in Art, M.S. in Acupuncture and East Asian Medicine, and is certified as a 500-hour Yoga Teacher, InterPlay Leader, and Morning Altars Practitioner. A first generation Taiwanese-American woman, Jiling bridges eastern and western botanical medicine traditions, wilderness awareness education, expressive arts, and contemplative spiritual practices.
A passionate teacher, clinician, artist, and adventurer, Jiling is devoted to reconnecting humans with the wild beauty of their inner and outer landscapes. By providing the best integrative medicine and experiential education, Jiling helps empower thriving health and environmental stewardship in our bodies, communities, and world.
Suiko Betsy McCall
brings her experience as a competitive synchronized swimmer, professional knitter, and founder of the Art Monastery Project to inform her visual art and her retreat hosting. Garnering degrees from Yale University and San Francisco Art Institute, Suiko’s paintings have been exhibited from San Francisco and New York to Rome and Budapest.
In 2013, she co-authored and illustrated the book, “Hosting Transformation: Stories from the Edge of Changemaking”. In 2017, she authored and illustrated the workbook, “Live Your Dream. Start Here. Start Now.” Her self-empowerment workbook, “Innertopia: Become Who You Are” will be coming out in 13 languages in the summer 2023. Her paintings have been published in International Interiors Magazine, Leaping Clear Literary Magazine, Holy Folio, on the cover of Cream City Review and the covers of multiple other books.
She is the Founder and Abbess of the Art Monastery, an arts organization dedicated to cultivating personal awakening and cultural transformation through artmaking, spiritual practice, and reciprocal relationship with the earth. An international arts non-profit, the Art Monastery is one of the founding organizations in the International Partnership for Transformative Learning / Transformation Hosts International (hostingtransformation.eu).
Suiko lived at the Art Monastery in its various locations throughout Italy for seven years and Art Monastery Vermont for five years. She lived at Green Gulch Farm / Green Dragon Zen Temple in California on & off for four years. Suiko now lives on the ancestral land of the Kanaka Maoli, on the Big Island of Hawai’i.
In the video below, Suiko & Jiling talk about what life experiences led them to what they teach.
Elemental Creativit
Elemental Creativity
November 29 to December 3
a 4-night retreat at Green Gulch Farm
1601 Shoreline Highway, Muir Beach, California
register at sfzc.org
Creativity
During our time together in the valley, we will explore the 5 Elements:
WATER | Fear & wisdom | trace the breath with graphite & improvise color field painting
WOOD | Anger & compassion | trace sensations with colored pencils & draw with scissors
FIRE | Joy & propriety | channel emotion into gesture with crayons and markers
EARTH | Worry & trust | calm the mind with pattern-based mark-making with pens
METAL | Grief & equity | earth altars
We’ll begin with an overview of the Five Elements, then focus on one Element each session.
With each Element, we will:
- Move — practice yoga asana and intuitive movement to experience the phases by aligning body, breath, and Spirit.
- Create — explore abstract drawing & art making, journaling, and other expressive arts to integrate our understanding.
- Connect — identify the Five Elements within ourselves and in nature to welcome direct insights from the Elements in the natural splendor of Green Gulch.
- Contemplate — practice Zazen and explore Soto Zen Buddhism’s perspective on the themes presented by the Elements in daily Dharma talks and discussions
As the world shifts and shapes us, we can choose how we dance with our inherent gifts and challenges. Observe the Five Elements within and around you to honor your limits, embody your highest potential, and transform your creative blocks into portals for expression.
YES
register at sfzc.org
In the video below, Suiko & Jiling talk about how Zen and the Elements relate to creativity.
Elemental Creativity
Retreat Schedule
Each day of the retreat will include
- Zazen (sitting meditation)
- Movement practices (led by Jiling)
- Contemplative art practices (led by Suiko)
- An introduction to each East Asian Element (by Jiling)
- A dharma talk (by Fu)
- The opportunity (but not the requirement) to practice Zazen in the Zendo with the Green Gulch resident Zen students
Elemental Creativity
What to Bring
- a journal and pen
- sketchbook
- any art supplies you might enjoy playing with such as
- drawing pencils
- colored pencils
- crayons / pastels / markers
- watercolors / ink & brush
- comfy clothes you can move in
- a canvas tote bag or basket for gathering natural materials
- camera (or phone)
Elemental Creativity
Sliding Scale
Please note: The workshop fee does not include overnight accommodations.
When you register you will first book accommodations and then you’ll choose Elemental Creativity from the program add-on list.
- General $361
- Current SFZC Members $306
register at sfzc.org
Or call 415-865-1899.
ElAny questions? Send us an email at info@artmonastery.org!
In the video below, Suiko & Jiling talk about their hopes & dreams for the retreat.
