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Summer Institute Module

June 22-28, 2008
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Leader as Artist: Cultivating Authentic Leadership
through Shambhala Art

with Barbara Bash, Lanny Harrison, and Arawana Hayashi

The Shambhala approach to art and leadership ignites our natural wakefulness and creativity. This module is for people who want to deepen their understanding of leadership by immersing themselves in a creative process. We will practice ways of tuning into the wakeful mind of the artist—that fresh, direct, inquisitiveness that is always available. Exercises from the visual and performing arts will provide a method for cultivating genuineness, daring, empathy, and a sense of humor—leadership qualities that will inform and enrich your personal life and positively influence the life of your organization.

Through brush calligraphy, embodied presence, theatre improvisation, and Social Presencing Theatre, you will engage four art practices that allow you to approach every situation with greater creativity and accuracy:

"Back to square one" cultivates the ability to drop mental models and rest in the open, inquisitive state of mind from which fresh perspectives arise.
"First thought, best thought" overcomes unnecessary hesitation and self-consciousness, and develops the capacity to trust the intelligence that is already present.
"Joining heaven and earth" connects vision with the practicality of the immediate context, so that our actions have integrity and transcend limiting hopes and fears.
"Art in everyday life" allows us to meet every situation with fresh appreciation and authenticity.

This module taps into the rich reservoir of the Shambhala tradition, as it has been assimilated and taught by three Shambhala Institute artists over the past 30 years. Barbara Bash, Arawana Hayashi, and Lanny Harrison are all professional artists and educators who studied with the meditation master Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche at Naropa University in the late 1970s. They are founding members of the Shambhala Institute and have collaborated with other module leaders, integrating their work with methodologies such as Theory U and the Art of Hosting.

Printable (PDF) module description

Barbara Bash is a published author and performance artist who lives in the Hudson Valley of New York. She has worked for many years as a calligrapher and teacher of book arts and nature journaling. She was co-director of the book arts program at Naropa University and has collaborated over the years with musicians, storytellers, and dancers,exploring calligraphic performance art. Her study of Dharma Art with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Chinese pictograms with Ed Young contributed to her understanding of eastern principles as applied to western forms. She has written and illustrated many award-winning books on natural history for children and adults. Her most recent book is True Nature : An Illustrated Journal of Four Seasons in Solitude. She teaches Big Brush calligraphy workshops throughout the U.S. Barbara has been involved with Creative Process at the Institute since 2002. She has also been collaborating with Bob Wing and Toke Moeller in developing a leadership workshop that draws on the principles and practices of the "Circle, Brush, and Sword."

Lanny Harrison began her career in the New York Pantomime Theater in 1966. She has played character roles in Off-Broadway musicals and films and, for the past 25 years has written and performed one-woman shows, touring America and Europe. She is currently at work on “Isba”, a new solo. Ms. Harrison has collaborated with the late musician Collin Walcott, with Steve Clorfeine, Lily Pink and with Meredith Monk. She has been a member of The House, Monk's company, since 1969. For the past eight years, she has been part of the Creative Process team at the Shambhala Institute. Ms. Harrison teaches theatre to children in upstate NY, in the Gallatin Division of NYU and at The New York Shambhala Center.

Arawana Hayashi is a dancer and choreographer, with roots in Asian and Western arts. Arawana has been on the faculty of the Shambhala Institute for Authentic Leadership since its inception. She also teaches extensively within the international network of Shambhala meditation centres and is leading the development of Embodied Presence Practice in collaboration with C. Otto Scharmer (MIT) at the Presencing Institute.