Our Purpose

we are here to remove fear and connect leaders to the whole picture, that they can lead with wisdom.

By helping people move freely through life, we can manifest our purpose and create a better world. Zen training forms the condition in your body that allows you to create what you’re here to do.

From early on in life, we have a sense of a world revolving around our ego, and our ego as our identity. Both of these assumptions are false, but that’s how it seems, so that’s how we live. Until something makes us dig a bit deeper. Who are we in the daily grind? How can we move from coping with circumstances to realizing our purpose? How can we better connect with the people and energy around us? When we start asking these kind of questions, we’re ripe for Zen Leadership.

Most leaders struggle to stay effective and energized in these wildly disruptive times; we combine the Zen experience of interbeing with embodied leadership skills to strengthen their resonance and reduce stress, so they can lead with purpose, joy and resilience.

Zen Leader goes well beyond the limits of mindfulness to help you fundamentally reframe the challenges you face, transform what is holding you back, and ultimately get out of your own way. Through zazen meditation and other transformational practices, we create an unforgettable experience and energy that takes hold across all areas of your life.

IT’S INCREDIBLE WHAT CAN HAPPEN IN JUST A FEW DAYS WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE AND THE RIGHT DIRECTION.

Ready to Get Started?

Our Team

Our faculty has been there: in the leadership trenches trying to make big things happen, from building a space station, to getting cities and healthcare systems working for more people, to helping people face into the most difficult situations of their lives. We’ve also been developing leaders and training in Zen, from several years to several decades, and we put all that together in our commitment to help you stretch as far as you want to go.

Ginny Whitelaw

Roshi, Founder

Board | Roshi | Zen Instructor | Zen Leadership Instructor

Ginny Jiko Whitelaw is the founder and CEO of the Institute for Zen Leadership, a Zen Master, scientist, and expert in developing the whole leader.

Gordon Greene

Roshi, Abbot, Chosei Zen, Clinical Professor of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin

Gordon Hakuun Greene is the Abbot of Chosei Zen, a Rinzai Zen Buddhist training organization headquartered in Madison, WI, and the Head Priest of Spring Green Dojo, its rural training center.

Kenneth Kushner

Roshi

Kenneth Setsuzan Kushner is a priest and Zen Master in the lineage of Tenshin Tanouye Roshi, Founding Abbot of Chozen-ji, a Rinzai Zen temple. Kushner Roshi founded the Chosei Zen Dojo of Wisconsin in 1982 and is the principal instructor in the Madison Dojo.

Patricia Greene

Roshi

One of the delights of training at the Spring Green Dojo is eating a meal cooked by Pat Greene, who serves as tenzo (temple cook). She began her Zen and martial arts training in 1975 and, in 2006, moved to Wisconsin with her family to help start the Spring Green Dojo, the rural training center for Chosei Zen.

Scott Kiel

Roshi

Scott Kiel started his formal Zen training in 2006 under Greene Roshi. He teaches and serves as jiki in the Institute for Zen Leadership programs.

Heather Scobie

Roshi

Heather Meikyo Scobie is the head of the Chosei Zen Virtual Dojo. She began Zen training in 2001, was ordained in 2006, and received inka from Kushner Roshi in 2020. She practices kyudo (archery) as part of her Zen training.

Geoffrey Ashton

Roshi

Professor Geoffrey Ashton is an Associate professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of San Francisco.

Rebecca Ryan

Roshi, Zen and ZL Instructor

Rebecca Ryan is a futurist and economist who helps public sector leaders “lead fearlessly”. She’s a ZL instructor and has served previously as Board chair of the Institute for Zen Leadership

Andy Robins

Roshi and ZL Instructor & Coach

An executive coach, former businessman, and ex-Royal Navy field gunner, Andy Robins felt like he was coming home as he experienced his first IZL program in 2013 at the Spring Green Dojo. He became pivotal in expanding Zen Leadership to Europe and Asia and is now growing Zen and Zen Leadership training in the UK where he lives with his family.

Dennis Tirman

ZL Instructor & Coach

Dennis began Zen training 7 years ago and is an instructor in Zen Leadership. Active in the Institute for Zen Leadership (IZL) from its start, Dennis has co-taught in several IZL programs, and has trained in Zen sesshin and BodyZen.

Marcela Kyngesburye

IZL Instructor and ZL and FEBI Coach

Marcela Kyngesburye actively working for the Latinx Community as an IZL instructor, Multicultural Community Outreach and Education Specialist for the Rape Crisis Center, faculty member of the Mindfulness Core Team of the Madison Metropolitan School District, TRE practitioner and Transformational Coach.

Cris Nakano

Director In Europe and ZL Instructor & Coach

Cris is a strategist, coach and facilitator, passionate about helping develop more inclusive, engaging and “on-purpose” leaders and organizations, where people can be their best selves at work and live meaningful and fulfilling lives.

Kristi Crymes, DO

VP, Head of HEAL, IZL Instructor, Family Medicine Physician

Kristi Crymes is an IZL instructor, head of the HEAL program, a member of the board of directors and a Chosei Zen student. When she isn’t at work as a family medicine physician and faculty at Cox Family Medicine Residency, you can find her on the virtual dojo or exploring the wilderness.

Cindy Haq, MD

HEAL Instructor, Chair of the Department of Family Medicine, University of CA, Irvine

Cindy Haq, MD, is Chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of California, Irvine. She has been a champion for health equity, primary health care, community health and family medicine throughout her career.

Bethany Howlett, MD

HEAL Instructor

Bethany Howlett, MD, MHS is an Associate Professor in the UW Department of Family Medicine and Community Health (DFMCH). She is on the Board of Directors for Chosei Zen Dojo of Wisconsin.

Alex Greene

Zen Instructor

Alex Greene is a long-time Zen practitioner and Zen priest in the lineage of Tenshin Tanouye Roshi, Founding Abbot of Chozen-ji a Rinzai Zen Temple. He has been a core part of building the Spring Green location of Chosei Zen Dojo of Wisconsin and has taught in numerous IZL programs in the US and UK.

Bob Caron

Education Consultant, Deloitte, IZL Instructor & Coach

Dr. Bob Caron is a certified instructor of Zen Leadership and a FEBI Certified Coach. He brings a dynamic and caring presence to the team and seeks to guide leaders, entrepreneurs and anyone trying to make a difference in the world toward their true purpose and passion.

Adrienne Hampton, MD

Zen and HEAL Instructor

Adrienne Hampton, MD is Integrative Medicine residency curriculum director at the University of Wisconsin Madison Family Medicine Residency. She provides a patient-centered blend of Integrative and Allopathic primary care, as well as Integrative Medicine consultations with a focus on one on one therapeutic yoga and meditation. Adrienne is an ordained priest and instructor in the Chosei lineage of Zen.

Kate Watters

Board Chair and ZL Instructor

Kate is certified in Zen Leadership and FEBI from IZL. She is an E-RYT 200 certified yoga instructor with additional training in trauma-informed yoga.

Emily Alpert

Master FEBI Coach and IZL Operations Manager

Emily Alpert is the “coach’s coach” for FEBI and the IZL Operations Manager.

ROOTED IN A RICH TRADITION

IZL is affiliated with the Chosei Zen Dojo of Wisconsin, a center of world-class Zen training and teachers in the Rinzai tradition. Its Spring Green Dojo hosts many of our programs, and is a way to further training in Zen and ongoing IZL programs for our alumni. The Spring Green Dojo accommodates groups of up to 20 people in full immersion programs, including meals cooked in the Zen tradition and lodging nearby. It is located about 1 hour’s drive west of Madison.