The Spirit of Bamboo : Meditation and Ink Painting Retreat

Event Details

Time & Date: Saturday 24 May 10.00 am - Sunday 25 May 4.30pm

Location: Earth+Sky Dojo Dublin (1 Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin 1)

Registration: Spots are limited. Please book early to save your place.

What are included: 

• Two simple vegetarian lunch, refreshments, oriental tea selections

• All painting tools and materials will be provided onsite (feel free to bring your own brushes);

• Cushion and mattress to meditate;

• Blanket to keep you warm;

During the two day retreat, we will explore mindfulness, awareness and presence through Zen meditation, Tai Chi  movement and meditative brush practice. We will learn to trust the flow of ch'i (lifeforce) through our brush, and onto the paper, and likewise how we bring awareness and concentration into our everyday activity.

Bamboo is the Noble Spirit of the first season of the year, when the yang energy starts to grow and lives are forming. Bamboo has always played a key role in Chinese culture and art. As the bamboo grows upright, weathering all conditions, it came to represent the perfect gentleman who always remains loyal. Wen Cheng Ming wrote:

“A pure person is like a tall bamboo,

A thin bamboo is like a noble man.”

Each session will start with some simple and relaxing Tai Chi movement followed by zen meditation. This is to help us relax our body and calm the mind. 

During the brush practice, you will be introduced to the oriental painting materials. You will learn how to hold a brush, the body posture and how to relax your body with brush movement. You will learn how to paint bamboo and the spirit behind it, and explore various brush techniques and exercises supported with step-to-step guidance. At the end of the workshop, you will paint a bamboo piece with black ink on rice paper.

It's a wonderful time to learn, to reconnect and to share with people and co-create a real live experience.

What are included: 

• Two simple vegetarian lunch, refreshments, oriental tea selections

• All painting tools and materials will be provided onsite (feel free to bring your own brushes);

• Cushion and mattress to meditate;

• Blanket to keep you warm;

Meet the Presenters

Yingge Xu 

From an early age Yingge Xu learned Tai Chi, meditation and calligraphy alongside her father while receiving a traditional education in China. Later she trained at the Chinese Flower and Bird Painting Institute and continued her learning with ink brush artists from both China and Japan.

Moving to Ireland in 2015, Yinnge has been teaching meditative brush painting workshops and retreats in meditation centers, art studios and schools across Ireland.

Mary Soshin Laheen 

Mary Soshin Laheen is a Zen Teacher in the White Plum Asanga - an association of Zen

teachers in the lineage of Taizan Maezumi Roshi, based generally in the Americas and

Europe -. She has practiced zen since the 1990s and is the spiritual director of Earth+Sky Zen

Dublin Dojo at 1 Upper Gardiner Street, in Dublin’s city centre. Mary is also an architect and

If you have any questions please contact us through: info@artofthebrush.ie.

We are looking forward to practicing with you this May!