Instructors

Ara Kataak

Ara Kataak, also known as Heidi Mo Hawkins, is the Artist in Residence at the Tao Fawu Monastery. They are also the Executive Director of Kulshan College of Intuitive Medicine. Ara has practiced a number of different arts, with an emphasis on the Art of Medicine. They continue to teach and practice this art at Kulshan College.

Ara is a multi-instrumentalist with an emphasis on rhythm. They are a veteran of performance art, poetry readings, and DJing. Currently, their focus is on the Long Covid Clinic at Kulshan College, making murals with hand-cut stencils, writing poetry, making hand-bound books, block printing prayer flags and other sacred art, and the Monastic sign language dialect of ASL they helped create in the signing and silent monastic tradition. MSL has an emphasis on inclusive and non-oppressive language. MSL is now an integrated part of the practice of Tao Fawu qigong. Including outsiders is one of Ara’s passions, with a recent focus on including deaf and intersex people.