Ched Lee . Change Heals

🌾 Renewing the Roots of Leadership Embodiment in Asia

Each year in Japan, the award-winning rice grower meets with the next generation.

What he shares isn’t just technique — it’s how he pays attention: to the soil, to the water, to the season, to the invisible intelligence that allows life to thrive.

Through this cycle of giving and receiving, nothing is lost. Wisdom is a living system — in rice growing, as in Leadership Embodiment (LE) — a lineage of embodied practices that cultivate presence, compassion, and confidence under pressure.

Ten years ago, our founder Wendy Palmer, Shilpa, and I planted the seeds of LE in Asia. Inspired by the wisdom traditions of Aikido and mindfulness, LE evoked a flow state of being that we began to cultivate in organisations and communities across the region. Since then, practitioners have been quietly sowing transformation — for our countries, economies, families and everyday lives.

This coming January 2026, it’s time to gather again — to renew the flow together. With the entrustment of Wendy and Tiphani Palmer, I warmly welcome you to join me in Malaysia.

🌿 LE Retreat — Penang, 22–25 January
⚡ LE Fundamentals Level 1 — Kuala Lumpur, 30–31 January

Grateful to our Kuala Lumpur host venue CATalist Academy — a beautiful community and space for conscious learning.

With great joy, I invite my communities at Leadership Embodiment in Asia, New Ventures West, Asia School of Business established in collaboration with MIT Sloan, Newfield Network, USA, International Coaching Federation, TEC Leadership and Business Channel, Coaches Rising, BetterUp Coaching, The Narrative Enneagram and EMCC Global.

Let’s come together — like rice growers — to share presence, wisdom, cultural creativity, and the vast connection that Leadership Embodiment inspires.

💬 Details in first comment.
Welcome to tag someone who might love to join us in Malaysia.

We hiked for three days in Drôme Provençal area. Land of the southern Gauls in pre-Roman times. Beautiful groves of olives, sometimes cultivated alongside lavender and vines. Rows of oaks trees too interspersed with lavender rows creating the conditions for truffles. In Nyons, the capital of olives was this beautiful 12th century tabernacle. An easy adventure to feel like Indiana Jones as we explored the medieval villages and discovered with awe rare still visible medieval frescoes of the Roman Provençal church at La Garde Adémar, papal vineyard territory markers, the sacred springs and temple site dedicated to the water nymphes and much more, as we followed the old paths. The flower of the day is the humble Rhône Aster native to this land. I indulged in my growing addiction of finding new species (for me) of glorious native flora on my pet app Seek.

Surprise inspiring encounter with the legendary Ando-san. I wish i could understand everything he said. My favourite project is the Children Book Forest and floating libraries. Please build them everywhere! I wish many generations of children can be inspired with reading, grow the urban guérilla spirit and uplift everyone! .architecture

When the season is here, and all the conditions gather, even when we don’t want the fruit to grow they just do. These days I’m watching life give me lemons, and fast 💨 I even bought a lemon dress and shall declare the harvest festival of lemons whenever that is…feels soon.

Sharing the joy ✨ today I created my perfume! I’m beaming from such a beautiful day blessed with glorious perfect weather and inspirations all around me. Walking in nature, opening to the elements and many cemeteries recently (reflections in LinkedIn x my Japan posts) seem to have heightened my senses. Even when the sky was overcast, the shadows were beautiful. Isseya, Inokae and Stephane, this is just the perfect kind of fun 🌈 I loved it! Perfect timing ~ thank you for your presence and love.

PS I love how I smell. The essences are Provençal…French gift to humanity. The process was about freeing labels about what i think i like. And what came about is the answer to what uplift feels like 🙏 i don’t have words for this yet ✨

.t71

Medusa 水母, ink and washi

I’m enjoying creating art again as I rehabilitate my relationship with drawing - ｓｋｉｐｐｉｎｇit and painting directly and intuitively. I feel my left arm grow to energetic fullness. As a child, I was prolifically practising portraits, but this flow was thwarted. I have long yearned to return. The choice of making my outer home in inspiring places has shifted my inner home to be more inspired too. I feel the welcome of this very joyful and gentle process that is healing my heart and whole being. Today at class, the Medusa became our natural muse. We call the Jellyfish « water mother » in Chinese. Water is symbolic of the emotional world - unpredictable and ever-moving; and Mother is one’s nurturer and source. Jellyfish, the Medusa is ever-moving and luminous. I curated many water mother inspirations over the years, not knowing why I was fascinated. Today all these inspirations come together.

Inspirations

My teacher in Sumi’e Grazie mille 🙏✨
The show
Irukanji and other jellyfish species

Reunited after Guangzhou adventures (2007-2009) with in Fukuoka. First stop hello to Buddha at Tochoji (first temple built by Kukai on Kyushu around 806), Sakura Hanami 🌸 at Ohori Park, yatai street food stalls…without premeditating quite spontaneously my time in Kyushu was a joyful reawakening of childhood memories of my favourite family holiday to Kyushu when I was 14. More to come.

Sakura petals floating on the onsen,
Yamame,
First ryokan experience
Of this life, today
A disqualified haiku
Along with many other firsts,
And many unfirsts
This island girl with .t71

The Indian Mahogany, hosting bird nest ferns, typically lines our thoroughfares in Singapore. This one cuts through what was jungle towards the north. Beautiful jungle of Singapore - covers 15-20% of the island I think. They are our water catchment system and I pray they stay protected. They are essential to remind us here that we are bigger than the stories that happen on this little island.

We arrived in Singapore on the ides of March to celebrate nine years of IRIMI on our land of birth!

Travelling with IRIMI
I crossed over and back on the Galata Bridge last night between Asia and Europe - so physical and symbolic of my life’s journey thus far. IRIMI was born in Singapore and the work has travelled with me to many places.

I arrived on the steps of the Hajia Sophia -“Divine Wisdom” sanctuary over centuries, sat among the praying and prostrating ones under the thousands of star-like mosaics. On that ancient hippodrome place, Awe arose as I breathed the air of Istanbul charged with the beauty, the magic, the lives and deaths, triumphs and losses of generations of leaders and peoples - all as ephemeral. In the anonymity among the thousands picnicing, Ramadan festivities, fast-breaking, wandering, praying and playing under the strong moonlight, I felt Kalu Rinpoche’s words - that in being nobody, I was everybody.

Do I matter, does IRIMI matter, nine years, 3000 years, any difference? Not in the grand Suchness, yet there is Beauty and Fullness in doing our work, bringing whatever change and benefit that we can’t hang on to. We cannot stop Flow. We can Enter In fully present to the mystery and mastery that Life calls of us - exactly what IRIMI means and the work about.

I’m grateful for You - clients, coachees, mentees, fellow learners, team leaders, fellow practitioners, mentors and teachers, - You are supporters and inspiration for IRIMI! .t71 great practice partner, sanity inspiration and bringer of Fire 🔥 and Light✨🌟 rejoicing being here with you 🙏

Enjoy IRIMI! Enter In www.chedlee.com