2011

An idea emerges

Setting foot on the Spring Green Dojo of Chosei Zen, one more deeply feels the earth. Senses come alive in sparkly light, filled with buzz, rustle, gravely crunch, and whiff of wood fire.

Not long after the walls were up on the dojo building, Ginny Whitelaw was meditating inside and an idea grabbed her: she could train leaders here. She’d been teaching leadership programs in corporate and academic settings for decades, but she knew a different depth of work would be possible with a group of bold, self-selected leaders in a setting as inspiring as this one.

2012

Taking root

The idea grew beyond running a program into building an institute, offering an immersion into physical Zen training combined with embodied leadership skills. The following year, 2012, saw the publication of Ginny’s book, The Zen Leader, whose reframing “flips” shaped the first program of the newly-founded Institute for Zen Leadership (IZL).

Describing the fledgling Institute, Ginny wrote: “Zen and Leadership belong together. Only through Zen can leadership fully culminate in the free and full expression of the whole leader. Only through leadership can the full benefits of Zen be brought to the world.”

2013

The idea evolves

IZL evolved its reach and curriculum through tight-knit programs where people had life-changing experiences and referred others. A guest speaker, futurist Rebecca Ryan, brought the program to local government leaders and helped the Institute grow its future.

2014-2017

Becoming a healing way

Physicians attending the program wanted to bring it to healthcare professionals and helped to create and teach the accredited HEAL program.

Third from the left is Dr. Kristi Crymes, our HEAL Director, who is now bringing HEAL into residency training and Food-as-Medicine programs.

Crossing continents

A participant from the UK, Andy Robins, wanted to bring the program there, and would be later joined by Cris Nakano in anchoring IZL programs and Zen training in the UK and Europe.

Others, including Sridevi Tohai, wanted to bring Zen Leadership to Asia, and inspired the rollout of a certification pathway for instructors and coaches.

2018-2019

Growing instructors

Our instructors, numbering close to twenty, all of whom have been trained in Zen and Zen leadership, integrate their specialties and expertise into our curriculum.

Growing capabilities

Further growth was made possible with the addition of the mind-body personality instrument, FEBI, and a full-time Operations Manager and FEBI master coach, Emily Alpert. We built out pathways to certify coaches in FEBI, as well as practitioners, coaches and instructors in ZL and HEAL. By 2019, our programs were spreading on three continents.

2020-2022

Pivot to online

COVID changed everything in our world, as it did in yours. We moved all of our programs online, where most of them remain today, adapted to work for time zones around the world.

We continue to hold in-person HEAL training at Spring Green, even as we continue to expand and be surprised by how much can be taught through a screen.

2023-2024

Expanding collaborations and convening summits

Feeling into a world increasingly in need of healing, we felt called to do something beyond programs. We joined with others in convening global summits to help people find how they could create a better world and practices and communities to support them. We brought together Zen, Zen Leadership, Nature- and Indigenous-inspired wisdom in the One Earth, One Health, One With summit and, the following year, in Living and Leading with Deep Resilience. A core team of volunteer IZL instructors joined Ginny and Emily to support this expansive work, including Kate Watters, Jasleen Kaur, and Kelly Bannister.

2025-

The story continues

IZL continues to build and serve a community of leaders passionate about living into their purpose. Listening to leaders, we’re hearing that, from climate emergencies to socio-political unrest to emerging AI, in addition to caring for the planet and one another, we do well to be prepared for a wildly uncertain future. That is a leadership challenge we want to help you and all leaders rise to. We seek and welcome opportunities to collaborate with like-hearted partners and share what IZL is best at: practices for cultivating one-withness, working with energy, bringing desired futures into the present, bringing others along, and leading fearlessly. With our sister organization, Chosei Zen, we continue to resource leaders with deep resilience, connected wisdom, and skillful ways to co-create a more loving world.

Join us in writing, embodying and enacting the next chapter.

Our Story