Zen Leadership Instructor

You’re oriented toward whole leadership in your teaching or work, and perhaps you’ve experienced something of the depth of Zen or Zen Leadership. How might you integrate this boundless pathway into your life’s work? How might your teaching help others expand beyond the limits of ego, and how might your teaching expand?


Here’s your path to certification
as a Zen Leadership Instructor

Become a certified Zen Leadership Instructor, qualified to teach Zen Leadership in your work and part of the instructor pool for our programs

Zen Leadership (ZL) Instructor certification builds on your foundational teaching or facilitation skills and adds:

  • the reframing flips of ZL, as taught in Zen Leader 1, 2 and 3 (or their HEAL equivalents), with applications to your teaching or business

  • the agile energy patterns of FEBI, put to work for you in FEBI-4U and applied to others in FEBI Certification, where you learn to coach individuals, facilitate teams, and teach programs with FEBI

  • a regular Zen practice with our sister organization, Chosei Zen, including at least two intensive trainings (in-person sesshin or online keishin) and training in how to lead a Zen meditation group

  • your first year of participation in our annual Master Class, where you have a chance to teach and learn with others

  • greater interaction with and guidance from our teachers

  • being part of a like-hearted community with opportunities to teach in our monthly gatherings and paid opportunities to teach in our programs

Is This for You?

YES! If

You’re a teacher, facilitator or leadership development professional who wants to help leaders break free of ego-based limitations.

You’re motivated to train in Zen and want to integrate Zen and Zen leadership practices into your teaching or facilitation and/or would like to qualify for paid teaching work with IZL.

Ask us if you have questions about qualifying.

Transformation and Impact:

“In the past year, I’ve applied Zen Leadership flips in large and small workshops across 5 different clients and the reception was great. I learned a lot along this journey.”

Brad Reed, Somatic Performance Coach, ZL Instructor

“Nowhere else can you gather and learn from other Zen Leader master teachers. I’ve been attending for 5 years and every year, the program is stronger because the teaching corps grows and strengthens.”

Rebecca Ryan, Roshi, Futurist, Chosei Zen Board Chair, ZL Instructor

Pathway Structure

Enroll in each program separately or scroll down for how you can commit to the whole ZL Instructor pathway at significant savings.

FEBI-4U: Engage Your Inner Team of Energy Patterns

Learn the go-to patterns of your personality, how to read the patterns in others, and how to access any pattern as you need it. This is a great starting point for your journey, or take this program any time before FEBI Certification.

Zen Leader 1, 2 and 3

Experience and apply the reframing flips of ZL in this trio of 4-day programs including Leading with Energy and Connection, Leading Fearlessly and Transforming Relationships, and Leading Transformation. Each program includes opportunities to apply learnings to your teaching, facilitation, or business.

Alternatively, you can enroll in the equivalent HEAL programs if you’de like to earn CME.

FEBI Certification

Add the mind-body personality tool, FEBI, to your teaching and coaching and help people discover their go-to patterns, why each pattern is essential, and ways to cultivate any pattern they want easier access to. FEBI certification will equip you to coach individuals, facilitate teams, and teach programs using FEBI.

Master Class

Join with our community of ZL practitioners, coaches, and instructors in this annual opportunity to improve and expand our instruction. You’ll have a chance to teach a session in this program, receive feedback and coaching, and learn from others. The first year of attendance in Master Class is included in the ZL Instructor pathway.

Zen Training with Chosei Zen

Accompany and deepen your entire journey with a regular practice in Zen meditation (Zazen) and you’ll be able to bring this transformative depth into your teaching. This pathway requires participation in at least two intensive Chosei Zen trainings in person (sesshin) or online (keishin), as well as learning to run a Zen meditation group (i.e., jiki training). All training with Chosei Zen is on a donation basis.

How it Works

You can enroll in each of the 6 programs one at a time, or enroll in the ZL Instructor Pathway below and we’ll honor your commitment with our largest discount. You can also set up a 3-part payment plan and still receive the pathway discount. Contact us if you’d like to do this.

Once you enroll in the pathway, we’ll confirm with you when you’d like to attend each of the 6 programs. If something later comes up where you can’t make a program, we’ll roll your registration forward to the next offering over a period of three years.

In your first Zen Leader (or HEAL) program, you’ll be introduced to Zen meditation and to the Chosei Zen community, which you can continue to train with regularly online.

In addition to program requirements, one must demonstrate proficiency in ZL teaching, and IZL reserves the right to determine when this proficiency has been met. All training with Chosei Zen is offered on a donation basis apart from the fee for this pathway.

Your Investment

  • Approximately 200 hours of training over 6 programs plus Zen training

  • Can be taken over a period of your choosing, from 6 months to 3 years

  • Regularly $3694; if purchased separately with discount: $2744

  • Special pathway price: $1999

Scholarship Opportunities

We want to make our programs available to all who are eager to join. If resources are a barrier, you may apply for a partial scholarship.

If you can help make our programs more available by donating a little extra or gifting a program, we and those whom it benefits thank you!

Frequently Asked Questions

  • The pathways differ in the prior experience required; i.e., coaching vs teaching experience. Both pathways include the full ZL and FEBI curriculum. They also require regular Zen practice with Chosei Zen and attendance at one (for ZL Coach) or 2 (for ZL Instructor) intensive trainings (in-person sesshin or online keishin). ZL Instructor further requires training in how to run a sitting group; i.e., jiki training.

  • Prior teaching, facilitation, or leadership development experience is required for the ZL Instructor pathway. No prior experience in Zen is required. Ask us if you have questions about qualifying.

  • We recommend taking the programs in the 1-2-3 order, with FEBI-4U coming before or after Zen Leader 1 and before FEBI Certification. If it works better for your schedule to start in Zen Leader 2 and pick up Zen Leader 1 later, that is also possible. You have to have taken at least one Zen Leader program before attending Zen Leader 3 and complete all ZL programs before attending Master Class.

  • If you’re committed to making a positive difference in your personal or professional life, you fit our definition of leader, and we’re here to help you do it better.

  • We design our online agendas with options, so that they work with time zones around the world. We also record sessions so that no one has to attend beyond midnight local time.

  • No worries, we can transfer your registration forward to a future offering or you may be eligible for a refund. See our cancellation policy here.

  • No. Our training is compatible with any religion or none at all. We introduce physical Zen training, including meditation, to help you break through barriers and free the mind.