Make art as a spiritual practice.
A live online program for women & gender-queer creatives who want to reconnect with their creative voice and experience art as a path of awakening.
Tap into the river of sacred creativity.
Ignite the joy of your full expression.
Enrollment opens on March 21, 2026.
Join the waitlist to be notified first when the doors open.
If this sounds familiar...
You feel called to dive deeper into your creativity but aren’t sure how to begin.
You want to make work that comes from within you, not just from copying teachers or techniques.
You’ve been searching for your creative voice — or wondering if you even have one.
You want creativity to move back to the center of your life.
You sense something inside you that wants to be expressed… and you don’t want to leave it unexplored.
Awakening Creativity
A 4-month online journey rooted in Zen Buddhism and down-to-earth intuitive practices that will help you:
—> build a creative practice that nourishes your life,
—> connect with your own experience of the sacred,
—> bring presence and authenticity to your creative expression, and
—> let your creative spirit come fully alive.
What is Awakening Creativity?
Learn to bring your full presence to your creative expression and make art as a spiritual practice. You'll be guided by practices that interweave Zen Buddhism, Insight meditation, intuition, somatic knowing, as well as the science-backed approaches for cutting through procrastination, the Inner Critic, and imposter syndrome.
How do we get these amazing results?
Awakening Creativity is all about supporting you to creatively express yourself like never before. So the main priority of the program is your creative practice. If you're not clear on what you'd do for your creative practice, then you'll come to the first bonus live workshop: Designing Your Ideal Creative Practice, to be guided step-by-step to identify and craft your plan.
Each week, you'll watch (or listen via private podcast) to fabulous curriculum at your own pace, then integrate and discuss on the live group calls, and dive deeper with bespoke support in your solo sessions with me.
All this is supported in a vibrant heart-centered community — on the group calls, on the portal, and in your small group Artmonk Sangha Circles (more on that below).
10 modules of short training videos
Pre-recorded videos, audios, and PDF handouts are released weekly. Grounded in Buddhist philosophy and informed by shamanic & psychological inner work, the material is designed to deepen your creative experience.
LIVE group coaching & artshare
Twice-a-month live, recorded sessions alternate between Artshare and Group Coaching for guidance, feedback, and support every step of the way.
1:1 coaching with Suiko McCall
Personalized, heart-centered support on your journey. With nearly 20 years of experience, I'll guide our 1:1 time to focus on your specific needs and most potent breakthroughs.
Library of creative practices & resources
Each module directs you toward optional deeper dives, meditations, practices and prompts to foster your creative blossoming.
This program is right for you if you're a woman or gender queer who...
This program is not right for you if...
Together, we build even more than community, we build sangha
Sangha is a sanskrit word that means community — but more than community, it is a worldwide sisterhood (otherhood?) of deep connection, mutual support, and fellow travelers on the path.
This is a safe haven for you to be yourself, fully, unabashedly, and without apology.
Where we link arms to show up for each other, again and again. Where we serve the mission of liberated, authentic self-expression, with courage and compassion.
We are a circle of women & queer folks who feel nourished in woman-centered spaces. We fully get it — the vulnerability, the courage, the humor, the frustration, and the joy of making from your heart.
Become a creative force – together
Meet Your Guide: Suiko McCall
I’m the Founder and Abbess of the Art Monastery, an international arts organization dedicated to personal awakening and cultural transformation through creativity, spiritual practice, and community.
I’ve authored two books and two workbooks, now available in 14 languages, and hold degrees from Yale and the San Francisco Art Institute. My large-scale paintings have been exhibited worldwide, from San Francisco to Rome. Certified as an International Transformation Host, Morning Altars teacher, and Mindfulness Meditation teacher, I spent four years in residence at Green Dragon Zen Temple. My spiritual practice blends Zen, shamanism, and intuitive exploration.
For nearly 2 decades, I’ve helped artists and non-artists alike embrace their creativity. It’s my passion, and I’d love to support you on your journey.
Here's everything you’ll learn
In Awakening Creativity, weekly modules are released inside a private, members-only portal. We alternate learning weeks with integration weeks to help you stay on track with ease.
Pricing is tiered, with "Pay What You Wish" options available for BIPOC participants.
Opening the Way: Bridging Creative & Contemplative Practice
Courting the Muse: Cultivating Your Creative Spirit & Authentic Voice
Stop Procrastinating: How to show up Consistently
Accessing Intuition & Finding Flow
Dancing with the Inner Critic & Other Blocks
Playing with Possibility & Enjoying the Process
Finding the Inner Teacher: How to Continually Improve
Loving Yourself & Your Work
Sharing Your Work in the World & Bringing The Artist Out of the Closet
Integration & Reflection
Two ways of joining Awakening Creativity
Awakening Path
- Full 4-month program
- 10-module core curriculum
- Private online portal (Mighty Networks)
- Launch Session: 30-minute 1:1 session to co-create your creative practice plan or project. Personalized support so that you get the most out of the program.
- Live Group Coaching Calls twice a month, alternating between:
> Artshare is an opportunity to show / read / perform what you've been working on and receive reflections from the circle to find out what's landing. Artshares are not critiques. They are deeply supportive and extremely informative for next steps for your work. Artshare is always optional.
> Group Coaching focuses on processing and integrating the material in the curriculum. This is where you bring your questions, challenges, and road blocks and I'll offer you guidance, perspective shifts, and practices to heal and melt whatever dams your creative flow. The conversations are intimate, bonding, and participants consistently comment on the wisdom of the circle. - Artmonk Sangha Circles: small groups matched up for maximum relatability, loving accountability, and — dare I say — potential friendship. Some Circles choose to meet on Zoom on the weeks we don't meet as a larger circle. Other Circles prefer to set up a WhatsApp or text thread and check in with each other on a daily basis. Some pods are all painters, and others are practitioners in a wide range of media.
- Integration Session: 30-minute 1:1 session to cement in your progress and victories and co-create a plan to keep you making long into the future
$ 6,000
(within 24 hours of your consultation):
$ 4,800
Deepening Path
- Deep Dive Launch Session: Instead of the 30-minute Launch Session, you get a 90-minute 1:1 deep dive to co-create your ongoing practice or project plan. Advanced personalized support to lay the foundation for you to make work beyond what you thought possible.
- Five 55-minute 1:1 coaching sessions for personalized support to overcome resistance, stay consistent, develop & sustain a daily creative ritual, and shepherd a specific project (book, series, show, etc.). One of these can be your Integration Session. Use the 5 sessions during the program or spread out over 12 months.
- Extended Container & Momentum: Unlimited access to all Suiko's Art Monastery online programs for a full year. Attend live or keep recordings in your library of courses.
$ 9,000
(within 24 hours of your consultation):
$ 7,200
Ready to awaken your creativity?
When you join Awakening Creativity, you also unlock these bonuses.
Lifetime Access to Course & Resources
This isn’t a course you rush through — it’s a body of teachings you can return to for the rest of your creative life. Revisit the videos, practices, and workshops whenever you need guidance, encouragement, or a fresh beginning.
Artmonk Studio Co-working Sessions
If you’ve struggled to stay consistent with your creative practice, these sessions can make all the difference. Five times a month we gather in a quiet supportive space to create together, making it much easier to follow through and keep returning to your art.
Creative & Contemplative Resource Libraries
Whenever you need inspiration or a way back into your practice, you’ll have two rich libraries of creative prompts, practices, and guided meditations at your fingertips. These resources offer gentle ways to rekindle your creative flow, deepen your process, and nourish your artistic spirit.
Live Workshop: Design Your Ideal Creative Practice
This live workshop guides you in creating a sustainable, inspiring creative practice or project that truly works for you. I'll stay on until all questions are answered, and you'll get the recording too.
Live Workshop: Making Time for Making Art
Struggling to fit art into your life? In this workshop, you’ll learn practical ways to weave creative practice into your real schedule so your art stops living on the margins. You’ll receive the recording as well.
Live Workshop: Your Strong Creative Voice
Many artists spend years wondering what their work is really about. This workshop helps you recognize the patterns and instincts already present in your art so you can begin creating with far more confidence and clarity. And of course, you'll get the recording.
Instant Registration Bonus
Get a 20% discount off your tuition (either level) when you register by March 27 or within 24 hours of your 1:1 strategy call.
Ready to Awaken Your Creativity?
If you're interested in the next cohort,
get on the waitlist to be notified first when the doors open.
Risk-Free Guarantee
Unsure if it’s a fit for you?
Reflections from those who answered the call
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely not! One of the course bonuses is designed to help you with exactly that: "How to design your ideal creative practice or project". I will offer that workshop live and you can bring your thoughts and I will help you figure it out. I'll stay on the Q&A at the end of that call until everyone has had their questions answered. Plus, we have a 1:1 Launch session to dial it in further and make sure you're set up to suck the marrow from this experience.
The live group calls are on alternating(ish) Saturdays, 10-11:15am Pacific, unless otherwise noted.
- April 18 — Opening Ceremony (2-hour session)
- Tuesday, April 21 — Portal Tour & Tech Q&A, noon-1pm Pacific
- May 2 — Coaching & Conversation
- May 16 — Coaching & Artshare
- May 30 — Coaching & Conversation
- June 20 — Coaching & Artshare
- June 27 — Coaching & Conversation
- July 11 — Coaching & Artshare
- July 18 — Closing Ceremony & Final Artshare (2-hour session)
Live Bonus Workshops
- How to Design Your Ideal Creative Practice
Thursday, April 9
10-11:30am Pacific
- Making Time for Making Art
Tuesday, May 19
10-11:30am Pacific
- Your Strong Creative Voice
Tuesday, June 30
12-1:30am Pacific
1:1 Coaching Sessions
You get to schedule your 1:1 sessions whenever works for you. The 1:1 Launch session is intended for use at the beginning of the course and the Integration session for the end. For those enrolled in the Awakening Path package, both 1:1 calls expire at the end of the course .and must be used by August 1. Those enrolled in the Deepening Path package have a full 12 months from the beginning of the program to use the six coaching sessions.
The flow of the live calls is:
10 min — guided meditation
30 min — coaching and Q&A
30 min — conversation or artshare
All live sessions will include the opportunity to bring your questions and specific situations for coaching. The teaching content is in the pre-recorded modules so that our live gatherings can be about interactive, personalized support.
Here's how I've seen a sample month play out:
You watch this week's video content (30-40 minutes) on Sunday (it's released every Saturday) — though last week you listened to it as a private podcast while you did the dishes, walked the dog, or played in the studio. You decide your creative rhythm for this week will be 12 minutes a day, 5 days a week, adjusting more or less time depending on what's happening in your life.
The second Saturday we meet as a group and discuss the content of the last two modules. You ask questions about how it relates to your practice, asking how it can resolve the specific challenges that arose for you in the studio. You get feedback from me and it turns into a juicy conversation on the text thread with your Artmonk Sangha Circle (whom you call your Sangha Sisters).
When realize you haven't been hitting your daily creative sessions, you pop in to co-working sessions to feel the supportiveness of the group container on Monday morning and Wednesday afternoon.
The third week of the month you have a 1:1 session with me. You arrive unsure of what you want to talk about, but after a couple of gentle questions from me, you find yourself making connections and seeing new perspectives on your relationship with your Muse.
The fourth Saturday you're ready to show your in-progress piece in Artshare, to hear what the rest of the circle sees in your work. You're touched and encouraged by what they feel when they receive what you've made. You see the work of others and can see how they're improving, how their creative spirit is coming alive, how they are blossoming. You realize that's happening for you too. You leave the call fired up, inspired, heart wide open.
Month 1 — Opening the Door
We begin by creating a foundation for your creative practice.
You’ll learn how to work in small, sustainable containers of time so creativity becomes something you return to regularly. Through meditation, reflection, and gentle creative exercises, you’ll begin reconnecting with your intuition and creative voice.
Participants often say this first phase helps them finally start again without pressure.
Month 2 — Listening More Deeply
Now that your practice has begun to take root, we explore how creativity arises from inner listening.
You’ll learn ways to quiet the inner critic, trust your intuition, and allow ideas to emerge rather than forcing them.
Many participants describe this stage as rediscovering the feeling of something “coming through them.”
Month 3 — Letting Your Voice Emerge
With a stronger creative rhythm in place, you’ll begin exploring your authentic creative voice.
Through playful experimentation and shared reflection within the group, you’ll discover new ways of working and expressing yourself.
This is often where participants begin to feel a new confidence in their art.
Month 4 — Living the Creative Life
In the final phase, we focus on integrating everything you’ve learned so your creative practice continues long after the program ends.
By this point, many participants find they are creating regularly and relating to their art with far more freedom and joy.
You’ll leave with tools and rhythms that can sustain your creative life for years to come.
As part of Awakening Creativity, you'll be matched with 3-5 other participants called your Artmonk Sangha Circle. You'll be grouped according to your preferences around a variety of factors such as: how you'd like to be in communication (text, WhatsApp, Zoom call, etc.), your medium (e.g., wanting to be with all writers or wanting to be in a group with diverse media), and/or your time zone. Sangha Circles offer an opportunity for heart-centered accountability, even deeper intimacy, and the foundations of art-friendships that can extend beyond the container of the program.
No problem! They will all be recorded and made available in the portal.
No problem. They will all be recorded and made available in the portal. Also, you are welcome to submit questions ahead of time and I can answer you on the live call even if you aren't there. I have had people enroll in a course knowing they could not attend a single live group call! They watched all the recordings, submitted questions ahead of time, were deeply engaged with their Artmonk Sangha Circle, and experienced profound benefits from the course. If you are called to be in this course but can't attend the live group calls, don't let that stop you.
Absolutely! The Deepening Path package is just for you: it includes a 90-minute Deep Dive Launch session followed up by five 55-minute sessions with me. This kind of bespoke guidance makes it possible to melt the inner and outer blocks that prevent you from your fullest, most liberated expression (in the studio and in the rest of your life!). There are limited numbers of spots, so you may want to secure yours early.
The first four modules are the heaviest with almost 60-90 minutes of recorded videos. After that, the modules total around 45 minutes/week. No one video is longer than 15 minutes. The bi-weekly live call is 75 minutes, and you'll get the recording.
One of the bonuses has been really popular: regular co-working sessions to support you to focus on what's most important to you and make progress right there on the call.
You will design your own creativity schedule and I strongly encourage you to keep that under 20 minutes/day.
All tolled, if you watch all the videos, attend all the live sessions, and do 20 minutes/day of your creative practice, the total time invested will be around 2.5 hours/week.
You'll be setting your own goals and deadlines. They don't need to conclude before the end of the course. You've got lifetime access to the recorded materials and handouts, so you can revisit those again and again on your own rhythm.
I will hold everything you say to me in our 1:1 sessions with the strictest of confidence. We'll make agreements as a group at the beginning of the course that we will hold each other in confidence. Our online portal is private.
Nope. When I lead creative practices on our live calls, I always encourage you to use whatever you have around. Most of the time I use a multi-media sketchbook & colored pencils. Other materials that work well for the practices that I lead include: oil crayons, chalk pastels, colored pens, watercolors, collage, or markers. You'll definitely want a journal / sketchbook and a pen that feels great to write with.
Nope. You will need a device so you can access Zoom and the portal. The portal is hosted on Mighty Networks, which has become increasingly clear and intuitive to navigate. I offer a live walk-through and introduction to the portal spaces. Mighty Networks has amazing customer support that you'll have access to as well.
This course is about growth. It's about practice. It's about digging in deep. No matter what your skill level is, you will be at a notably higher level by the end of this course.
Absolutely! While I am a painter and I teach from my own experience, I am also a coach and have worked with hundreds of artists in every imaginable medium. If what you want to do is creative, then this course will be relevant to you. In the past cohorts have included poets, playwrights, dancers, ceramicists, quilters, fabric artists, and more.
How do you define artist? Beth Pickens (author of Make Your Art No Matter What and Your Art Will Save Your Life) posits that artists are people who suffer when they don’t make art! If you fit that description, and you feel called to be part of this, it will be of great benefit to you. It does not matter what your medium is, if you have ever been formally trained, or if you have ever sold your art for money.
I offer a no-risk money-back guarantee. I am so confident that you will experience a deeply satisfying transformation that I guarantee it! Follow the program I lay out in the course for the first 30 days and if you are not completely satisfied, I'll refund 100% of your tuition. I do ask that you offer me some specific feedback so I can learn and improve.
If you change your mind within 2 weeks before the course begins, you can have a 70% refund. (I will apply the remaining 30% to the transaction fees and lost income because there isn't time to offer the spot to someone else).
Another option is that you can convert your current membership to the Self-Study version. This way you have access to the course content and dip into the pre-recorded videos & PDFs in moments that fit with your flow and needs. Next time I offer the course, you can apply $1000 to the cost of a full enrollment.
I am here for you! Shoot me an email at info@artmonastery.org
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You don't have to figure it out alone. Awakening Creativity will help you melt blocks, deepen your artistic practice, and connect with your most authentic creative self. Join us to throw open the barn doors of your creative heart.