...helping the artist in you find beauty and meaning in unexpected places.
Everything at Red Ladder Studio is rooted in meditation and the teachings of Buddhism. You don’t have to be a Buddhist to get something from those teachings, loads of people are using mindfulness not knowing it’s 'buddhist'. And, you know, there’s more great stuff where mindfulness came from.
Red Ladder Studio mixes up art and Buddhist teachings, finding new ways of seeing and experiencing ourselves and our world.
You've seen all those blogs and podcasts telling you how to make the most of your time, ‘dominate your day before breakfast.’ Well yeah, but for what? Just so you can ‘get more done’? Nope.
Red Ladder Studio is dedicated to making time for uselessness.
Rachel led a three day long Dharma Meets Art retreat at Moderna Museet, through the initiative of Cullberg Ballet and LABO Festival.
She is a very good meditation instructor and an excellent teacher in Buddhist philosophy. She is very present and conducts the retreat in a relaxing and reassuring way.
The word Buddha means ‘awake’. The Buddha woke up from illusion, or delusion, and understood the true nature of things. It strikes me that art and artists are attempting to do just this. To drop the veil, to bring down the barrier between themselves and the world.
To help this process I create a meeting between dharma and art.
All workshops are individually designed for your particular sphere. We’ll book an initial meeting and talk over what you do, what you are curious about, where you want help. Then I'll put together a workshop or series of workshops for you.
This time for the pop-up urban retreat we’ll be walking the city silence. Location to be decided.
Who is red ladder studio?
Hi, I'm Rachel, also known by my Buddhist name Vajradarshini. I started Red Ladder Studio as a way to focus on the connection between art and dharma, between meditation and creativity. Dharma is what we call the Buddhist teachings and could be applied to any teaching that leads to freedom.
I started practicing Buddhism in 1988 and since 1997 I’ve been teaching and leading retreats. In all that time the aspect of practice that I loved the most was bringing the Buddhist teachings together with art. Something would happen, the art illuminated the dharma and the dharma illuminated the art.
There are so many connections between the two and the process of practicing them both could be said to be the same thing. As Stephen Batchelor says, “Art and dharma are both ways of coming to terms with our own suffering.” Not only that, they are both ways of revealing the beauty of life.
Red Ladder Studio is a space in which I can explore these connections with others, with you.
I send out my Red Letter roughly once a month to let you know about Red Ladder Studio events, and share any treats I’ve found in the meeting between meditation, art, life and dharma.