Koh Samui, Thailand

Awakening the Creative

September 13 -20, 2025

Click on the brochure below

to see more about the retreat location and rates.

Facilitated by Stewart Cubley and Zainab Zoeb

Join us for a transformative journey into the unexpected. Learn to trust your intuitive perception, not the mind’s critical chatter. Experience your imagination as intelligent and a doorway to deeper knowing.
This seven-day retreat will be all about the creative process rather than technique, training, or expertise. There will be no critiques, analysis, or judgment of the creative work or any focus on the finished product. In our respectful and nurturing studio environment, everyone is a beginner, whether you’re a veteran painter or you’re picking up a paintbrush for the first time. You’ll receive individual attention and gentle guidance to discover a creative voice that’s entirely your own.

Register before April 15th and receive a $500 Early Bird discount. Use this code when you register: EARLYTH

~ Take a quick look at your registration options ~

Workshop Information (Click on the bucket pointers below for more information)

Workshop Schedule

Arrival September 13

Check-in after 2pm on the first day of the retreat

Retreat welcome from 5-6 pm

Daily Schedule

On waking 6:45 Coffee & bananas
Morning circle 9:00 am – 10am
Brunch 10-11:30 am
Studio 11:30 am – 2 pm
Break
Studio 4 pm – 6 pm
Dinner 6 pm – 7:15 pm
Evening Movie – 7:30 pm

Complimentary Herbal & Steam room: 6 pm – 8 pm

Workshop Fee

Includes tuition, accommodations, and all meals.

Register before April 15th and receive an Early Bird discount worth $500. Use this code when you register: EARLYTH

Garden Private Room:
~ Queen Bed
~ Private balcony and private bathroom
$4000 for single (Early Bird $3500)
$3650 per person for a couple (Early Bird $3150)

Garden Semi-Private Room:
~ Two private bedrooms with a shared bathroom
$3800 per person (Early Bird $3300)

Shared Occupancy:
~ Two-bedroom two-story loft open plan shared bathroom
$3650 per person (Early Bird $3150)

Luxury Beachfront Rooms:
~ Exclusive beachfront sea-facing rooms
$4650 for single (Early Bird $4150)
$4350 per person for a couple (Early Bird $3850)

Note:
~ Registering as a couple: you and your partner will share a bed, and you will register separately.
~ Registering for a semi-private or shared loft: you will have separate bedrooms with a shared bath.
~ Samahita accommodates same gender participants together unless specified otherwise.
Requests for accommodations are based on availability.

Payment Options

~You may pay a refundable deposit or the full balance. The deposit is determined by your choice of accommodations calculated on the registration form.

Early Bird Discount

~ Register by April 15 and receive a $500 Early Bird Discount.

Use this code at checkout: EarlyTH

Extra Days

Add Extra Days Pre/Post Retreat:

You may want to arrive at Koh Sumui early or stay later. Your post registration email will contain information on extending your stay.

Travel

International Flights to Koh Samui, Thailand

Here’s a travel guide that could be helpful:

You will fly into Bangkok International Airport, and from there, you will have an inland flight to Koh Samui. Check prices online before working with your travel agent for promotional fares. Checking on www.skyscanner.com, www.orbitz.com or www.expedia.com will give you a good idea of costs.

International flights to Koh Samui are direct through Bangkok, Phuket, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Hong Kong, presenting travelers with many choices. Shopping around in advance will usually produce the best option.

If you are flying from the US, there are good choices through Korea, Japan, Taipei, and Singapore.

If you are in Europe, there are also many choices. Some airlines, like British Airways, fly directly to Bangkok and Singapore, with a daily service.

For those based in Australia/New Zealand or Asia, flying over is no more than a hop, skip, and a jump.

Airport Transfers

Once you register, we will provide you with a link to directly book your airport transfer with the retreat center.
If there are more people arriving around the same timing as you, then you will be allocated a shared ride and the cost will be divided.

Self Care

A package of 3X60 min self care therapies is included. Choose from a selection of massages, facials, scrubs, and skin treatments.

Map

Cancellation Policy

You may pay a refundable deposit to hold your spot, balance due by June 13th. After June 13th, if the remaining balance is unpaid, the deposit becomes non-refundable.

If you have paid in full, the following cancellation policy applies.

Cancellations received after July 10th but before July 25th: 50% of the program rate is non-refundable.
Cancellations received on or after July 25th: 80% of the program rate is non-refundable.

Continuing Education Credits

25+ CE Credits are provided by the Institute for Art and Living Fee: $25.00

MFT, LCSW, LPCC and LEP by CAMFT (California Board of Marriage and Family Therapists)

RN by the California Board of Registered Nursing.

Learn more.

Have any questions?

Why Paint for Process? (Click on the bucket pointers below for more information)

The exhilaration of creating without the pressure to perform, produce or succeed.

The goal is free-expression. Process painting emphasizes the creative process rather than technique or expertise. No prior art experience is necessary. We all start from beginner’s mind.

The personal power that grows from being present in the moment.

Process painting offers an exceptional opportunity to inhabit the present moment. It’s an engaged spirituality — a practice of equanimity, presence, and learning to stay present in the face of whatever arises.

The beauty of letting yourself be led rather than grasping for control or attempting to plan.

Through listening to your intuition — the color that calls to you; the placement of the brush on the paper; the shape, the form, the image that wants to be born — process painting invites you to unleash your inner wildness.

The rewards that come from experiencing doubt and carrying on anyway.

One of the myths of art is that you have to feel inspired, have endless ideas or feel confident in order to create. But not-knowing allows innocence. Accepting imperfection yields compassion. Risking vulnerability opens the door to breakthrough and awe.

The healing that comes from true completion.

Completion is one of the greatest mysteries in process painting. It can be a moment of astonishing surprise and release. Completion is an inner state of freedom that you experience when you carry a painting through to its natural end.

The development of an awakened stance towards life that is centered yet expansive.

The meeting with yourself that occurs in the painting process is meditation in action — where the circumstances of your life are seen as potentials rather than problems.