LEARNING PATH & CERTIFICATION
What is BlissDance?
BlissDance is a profound Tantric Movement Practice of Awakening: awakening in us our universal desire for Truth, Presence, Love, Connection, Beauty, Freedom, and Pleasure!
BlissDance, like Tantra, supports the powerful integration of all seeming polarities such as the sacred, profane and the sexual; the light and the shadow; and the masculine and the feminine.
One of the first principles of BlissDance, as a Tantric movement practice, is Presence – being present in the here and now, in our bodies, in our senses. Another is the connection between our desire, our sexuality and our hearts. As this happens, we get to experience and confront some of the unconscious patterns keeping us from being intimate with life
Who is BlissDance for?
BlissDance training is perfect for those who love to learn, heal, grow and transform through movement and music, and for whom conscious dance is medicine. It’s also a perfect fit for those who have achieved very high levels of intellectual prowess and skill-in-action in the linear realms of the masculine, who now realise they’ve reached a ceiling, and cannot grow any further without achieving similarly deep levels of skill in the realms of feminine sensing, feeling and intuiting, accessed through multi-level, conscious embodiment.
BlissDance is for those yearning for authentic presence, intimacy, connection, pleasure, love, freedom and truth. It’s for brave spiritual warriors unafraid to fly their freak flags and have their vulnerability witnessed by others.
All it takes is a little willingness and a lot of curiosity. The music, the facilitation and the group carry us along into what we really, really want: a deep heart opening into this present, precious moment. Any body in a body can move.
Certification
Become a BlissDance Facilitator
You can enrol in our comprehensive 3 year certification track for BlissDance.
BlissDance welcomes everything, and leaves nothing out. As such, BlissDance is an open source spiritual practice, enabling you as a facilitator to weave any and all your existing tools and practices into the dance space.
Shakti Malan brought her love of Qigong and Guided Meditation to BlissDance, whilst Kali brought her love of Shamanism to it. You can add your passions here too.
Why become a BlissDance Facilitator?
It’s a question deserving sincere consideration, especially given two macro trends in the conscious dance world over the past several years:
- The growing divide between conscious dancers who appreciate and want constant facilitator guidance (e.g. Biodanza) VERSUS those who don’t want any guidance at all (e.g. Ecstatic Dance)
- The broader cultural questioning around the integrity of Neo Tantric spaces, which has left many in the west wondering whether offering Tantric-based modalities remains a viable path VERSUS the confusing proliferation of conscious dance modalities with very little historic lineage or depth
We find ourselves at a fascinating crossroads, which is precisely where the opportunity lies:
- What if turning neither left nor right is the answer?
- What if choosing to forge a middle way has the effect of unifying and expanding the field of somatic consciousness, aligning us with an enormous mega trend, currently in its nascent phase?
- What if, rather than simply learning to create and facilitate movement meditations, we viewed our BlissDance training as an invitation to become so, so much more of who we are, whilst simultaneously placing us on a wave of multi-dimensional opportunity beyond our most orgasmic dreams?
This is what makes BlissDance such a compelling modality, whose time is NOW! Founded in the profound lineage of Totality Tantra, it equally welcomes every part of us: the shadow, the light and the dark / and the good, the bad, and the ugly / and the physical, the emotional, and the spiritual.
It equally treasures solo exploration / and group connection. There’s powerful holding and guidance / and there’s space for us to simply move to our own idiosyncratic inner rhythms.
BlissDance exquisitely balances and harmonises the polarities into an expansive, blissful whole so much bigger than the sum of its parts, without the danger of becoming bland, or nondescript.
BlissDance invites us to courageously surf our own edge: the edge between the known / and the unknown, between fear / and excitement (exfrightment!), and between agony (exstagony!) / and ecstasy – to name but a few.
BlissDance welcomes everything, and leaves nothing out. As such, BlissDance is an OPEN SOURCE spiritual practice, enabling you as a facilitator to weave any and all your existing tools and practices into the dance space.
Shakti brought her love of Qigong and Guided Meditation to BlissDance, whilst Kali brought her love of Shamanism to it.
You can add your passions here too.
"BlissDance is an exploration of intimate presence with ourselves and with others, in movement and in stillness, music and silence. We find the authentic expression that comes from within. From the inside out, we let life dance us. We follow the breath. We follow the heartbeat of the earth pulsing through us. We rest in the amniotic fluid of being. We follow the spark of our bliss."
— SHAKTI MALAN
Certification Overview
The full certification takes 3 years to complete
year 1
BlissDance Foundation Training
Personal & Practitioner Mastery
next cohort: may 2027
Introducing the conscious dance landscape, the BlissDance model, and the foundations of intimate presence and relating.
What you will learn in Year 1
Personal Mastery: Develop a deeper, more embodied presence through personal de-armouring, shadow work integration and soul reclamation. Cultivate healthy discernment and boundaries, gain clarity on what you truly desire, and deepen your capacity for conscious sexuality, emotional processing, authentic intimacy and meaningful connection with yourself, others and the planet.
Practitioner Mastery — A Taste of Bliss with…: Learn the foundations of creating a safe, sacred container and begin embodying and facilitating selected BlissDance practices within your existing or planned practitioner offerings, such as yoga, coaching, breathwork or meditation. Explore the basics of music curation, DJing techniques and sourcing world-class music, while becoming part of a global conscious Tantric and BlissDance community.
year 2
Fundamentals of Embodied Facilitation
Professional Mastery Training
next cohort: may 2028
Cultivate the depth, rawness and beauty of true Embodied Facilitation while benefiting from the wisdom and guided practices.
What you will learn in Year 2
Professional Mastery: Develop the skills and confidence to facilitate small, intimate groups safely and effectively. Discover your unique facilitation style and strengths while learning practical tools for building emotional safety, navigating challenges, addressing concerns, protecting vulnerable participants and maintaining group integrity. Through extensive practice, roleplay, event planning and bonus masterclasses with world-class facilitators, you’ll learn when to adapt and when to hold the structure, take responsibility and guide groups back on track when challenges arise.
Deepen your practice into embodied facilitation and transmission, becoming a living invitation for exploration in each moment. Develop your personal integrity statement, strengthen individual and team accountability, and join a growing community of facilitators pioneering new ways of exploring, sharing and transforming embodied consciousness.
year 3
BlissDance Focused Facilitation
Specialist Mastery
next cohort: may 2027
This training is about being more rooted in subtle movement practices of intimate presence foundational to blissful living and loving.
What you will learn in Year 3
Specialist Mastery: Deepen your facilitation skills to create powerful, seamless and coherent BlissDance journeys through embodied invitations, intentional music curation and skilful guidance. Learn to work with all layers of the body, support physical, emotional and spiritual de-armouring, and guide dancers through different nervous system states and altered states of consciousness, bringing them back to a grounded, integrated presence. Develop the skills to create safe, sacred spaces, navigate challenging group dynamics, support responsible self-awareness and intimate connection, and balance the insights gained through dance with everyday life.
Refine your unique facilitation style and signature, learn the fundamentals of DJ technology, and explore self-care practices that support you before and after facilitating. Discover how to build a committed dance community, plan and hold successful classes, and bring your gifts into service through a sustainable and prosperous BlissDance practice. Completion of all three years and the certification requirements qualifies you to facilitate full BlissDance classes, while A Taste of Bliss with… offerings can weave selected practices into other modalities, such as yoga, meditation, dance or coaching.
Requirements for Certification
The BlissDance certification pathway consists of three progressive levels, each designed to deepen your personal practice, facilitation skills and professional mastery. Each level has specific requirements to complete before graduating, including participation in classes, assignments and other learning experiences. Explore the requirements for each year below to understand what is needed to progress through the training and qualify as a BlissDance facilitator.
Year 1: BlissDance Foundation Training
To complete Level 1, students must watch at least 80% of the online Wednesday classes, live or recorded, including the three Masterclasses and three Study Halls, and complete at least 80% of all assignments.
You must also participate in at least 80% of the 9 online BlissDance Mixology classes, attend the 7-night/8-day in-person retreat (in South Africa), and meet regularly with your Study Buddy partner(s). One-to-one coaching is available throughout the course at an additional cost.
Students who do not complete Year 3 may offer classes entitled A Taste of Bliss with [Your Name] or weave the practices into their existing practitioner offerings.
Year 2: Fundamentals of Embodied Facilitation
To complete Year 2, students must watch at least 80% of the online teaching classes, live or recorded, complete at least 80% of all assignments, and attend at least 80% of the online BlissDance Mixology classes.
Optional one-to-one coaching is available throughout the course at an additional cost.
Year 3: BlissDance Focused Facilitation
To complete Year 3, students must attend the three monthly online classes and three Wednesday Masterclasses, attend at least 80% of the nine Wednesday BlissDance Mixology classes, and participate in at least one Study Hall.
You must complete 100% of assignments and meet regularly with your Study Buddy partner.
Certification also requires a one-to-one coaching session in preparation for a Supervision Class and the Body of Bliss creative dissertation. Both the Supervision Class and dissertation must receive a mark of at least 80%. Students must book and complete one Supervision Class, with the supervision fee included in the annual investment, and attend the 7-night/8-day in-person training retreat (in South Africa) at an additional cost.
Further one-to-one coaching sessions are available at an additional investment.
"Bliss is the balance that happens when we fully embrace both our shadow & our light, and come to rest as Love"
— SHAKTI MALAN
How is BlissDance different from other conscious dance modalities?
BlissDance is less of a conscious dance form (like 5Rhythms, Biodanza, Nia, Ecstatic Dance, Movement Medicine, Dancing Freedom etc), and more of a Tantric Movement Practice of
Awakening.
Like Yoga, the benefits accrue over time. The same movements and exercises may be experienced repeatedly, yet each time, the dancers will meet themselves at a deeper, ever-more profound level than before. Because it requires commitment, courage and a genuine love of truth, it’s not for everyone.
Thus the BlissDance Practitioner / Facilitator Training Levels are best suited to more experienced, advanced meditators, conscious dancers, yogis, Tantrikas, and embodiment/somatic practitioners.
Did you know?
It took approximately 50 years for yoga to reach a global tipping point after migrating from the East Conscious Dance hasn’t reached its tipping point yet!
Kali – a top global brand & marketing strategist for 30 years – predicts when Conscious Dance tips in approximately 5 years from now, the movement will be exponentially larger than yoga. Yoga requires a certain level of strength and flexibility-building, which in turn requires regular class attendance and a particular innate athleticism – whereas anybody in a body can move!
Training in a Conscious Dance modality today is an opportunity to set yourself up as an in-demand teacher for the future – one who can hold classes and retreats anywhere in the world – from Bali to Costa Rica and from Ibiza to Cape Town. You can enjoy a richly rewarding path on every level, as your own mistress or master, and confidently know you’re contributing to the creation of a more grounded and blissful new world.
The origin story of BlissDance
Over a decade and a half ago, Shakti Malan – the founder of the Shakti Shiva Academy – created a dance methodology called BlissDance to support Lovers of Eros to embody their true awakened essence, as well as to create authentic, deeply intimate connections with their inner selves, one another, and the planet.
Shakti recognised how people today are very much conditioned to be in their heads: our bodies simply life-support systems for our busy minds! The masculine aspect of linear logic and valuing of action dominates at the expense of the sensed, multi-focused, felt, intuitive wisdom of the feminine
As a leading teacher of Totality Tantra, she desired a simple and powerful way to redress this imbalance to wake people up, and transmit the Tantric teachings beyond intellectual concepts and theories, and directly into an embodied, intimate and authentic lived reality.
She also realised that the body is the unconscious made manifest. If we could de-armour our existential defences and use the body as a tool for consciousness, then we might begin to regain sovereignty, dissolving the unconscious layers of illusion, conditioning and trauma obscuring our true essence, and inhibiting our sexual life force energy and intimate relationships.
Then, and only then, can we take radical responsibility for our lives, and playfully and pleasurably co-create with reality!
Music and movement are universal human languages, stretching back to the beginning of time, beyond the machinations of the mind, and thus perfectly suited to manifest Shakti’s dream.
Based on Shakti Malan’s training in Tantra, Biodanza, Meditation, Qigong, and Yoga, she created BlissDance, a Tantric Movement Practice of Awakening, where we get to truly Embody our Desire.
Over a decade and a half ago, Shakti Malan – the founder of the Shakti Shiva Academy – created a dance methodology called BlissDance to support Lovers of Eros to embody their true awakened essence, as well as to create authentic, deeply intimate connections with their inner selves, one another, and the planet.
Shakti recognised how people today are very much conditioned to be in their heads: our bodies simply life-support systems for our busy minds! The masculine aspect of linear logic and valuing of action dominates at the expense of the sensed, multi-focused, felt, intuitive wisdom of the feminine
Read More
As a leading teacher of Totality Tantra, Shakti desired a simple and powerful way to redress this imbalance to wake people up, and transmit the Tantric teachings beyond intellectual concepts and theories, and directly into an embodied, intimate and authentic lived reality.
She also realised that the body is the unconscious made manifest. If we could de-armour our existential defences and use the body as a tool for consciousness, then we might begin to regain sovereignty, dissolving the unconscious layers of illusion, conditioning and trauma obscuring our true essence, and inhibiting our sexual life force energy and intimate relationships. Then, and only then, can we take radical responsibility for our lives, and playfully and pleasurably co-create with reality!
Music and movement are universal human languages, stretching back to the beginning of time, beyond the machinations of the mind, and thus perfectly suited to manifest Shakti’s dream.
Based on her training in Tantra, Biodanza, Meditation, Qigong, and Yoga, Shakti created BlissDance, a Tantric Movement Practice of Awakening, where we get to truly Embody our Desire.
BlissDance Certification
The full certification takes 3 years to complete
Year 1 for Personal & Practitioner Mastery: A Taste of Bliss
Personal Mastery
- Personal de-armouring
- Shadow work integration
- Soul reclamation
- Development of healthy discernment and boundary setting
- Clarity on embodying what you really, really, really want
- Delicious, more embodied presence
- A more subtle, embodied, conscious sexuality
- Deeper capacity to feel and process life’s experiences
- Greater capacity for true connection, authentic intimacy and relating with self, others and the planet
Practitioner Mastery: ‘A Taste of Bliss with…’
- Basics on how to create a safe, sacred container
- Basics of how to embody, transmit and weave a selection of powerful BlissDance practices and exercises (“A Taste of Bliss with + your name”) into your existing or planned Practitioner offerings – such as Yoga, Coaching, Breathwork, Meditation etc.
- Basics of music curation + deejaying technicalities + where to source world class music
- Belong to a global conscious Tantric / BlissDance community
Year 2 for Professional Mastery: Fundamentals of Embodied Facilitation
- Skilled, effective, safe, small group facilitation
- Discover your own personal facilitation style and genius
- What you are responsible for, and what you are not responsible for
- Practical tools for building emotional safety
- The opportunity to practice – a lot!
- How to roleplay common concerns and how to address them
- How to listen to underlying concerns and how to address them from multiple perspectives
- How to facilitate through common obstacles
- How to get back on track after a derailment
- When to be flexible and when to stick with the program
- How to protect vulnerable students
- Have your own personal integrity statement + building individual and team accountability
- How to plan for successful events
- Bonus masterclasses with world class facilitators
- Discover your own unique, personal facilitation style and genius
- Take your facilitation experience to the next level: embodied facilitation or transmission, where you become the direct, living invitation, in each moment, for every exploration
- Skilled, effective, small, intimate group facilitation
- Belong to a growing community of facilitators pioneering a radical new way of exploring, sharing and transforming embodied consciousness
Year 3 for Specialist Mastery: Focused BlissDance Facilitator Certification
- How to transmit edgy, or intense, or very subtle dance practices through embodied invitations
- How to develop powerful, seamless, coherent dance journeys through genius music curation and sage guidance
- The basics of deejay technology
- How to create containers for deeper dropping, especially when the class isn’t dropping
- How to deal with class disruptors and saboteurs
- How to empty out prior to a class and how to fill up afterwards – self care
- When to cancel or postpone a class
- How to bring your unique gift and signature to your classes
- How to build a committed, loyal dance community
- How to make BlissDance your path to prosperity
- How BlissDance can rise up as your path to greater service and purpose
What you will learn:
- How to use movement and music for personal transformation, expansion and growth
- How to progress dancers from the sympathetic into the parasympathetic nervous system – where all rest, relaxation, restoration and healing happens
- How to set a clear intention and vision for every class, and how to weave BlissDance exercises and practices into your current and new offerings as a practitioner. These weavings into your offering – whether dance, meditation, yoga, coaching etc – may be called ‘A Taste of Bliss + Your Name.’ Only those who successfully complete all the requirements of the 3-year Certification track may facilitate BlissDance classes
- How to set a clear intention and vision for every class, and how to weave BlissDance exercises and practices into your current and new offerings as a practitioner – these weavings into your offering, albeit dance, meditation, yoga, coaching etc – are called ‘A Taste of Bliss’ as you will only qualify as a full BlissDance facilitator should you undertake the 3-year Certification track.
- BlissDance is a practice of deep intimacy, connection and awakening – you will learn how to support dancers to de-armour on a physical, emotional and spiritual level by creating immaculate safe, sacred space
- How to work with all the layers of the body, from the most physical to the most etheric
- How to take dancers into altered states of consciousness, both transcendent and regressive
- How to bring dancers back out of altered states of consciousness, and ground them in the still, quiet centre of their beings
- How to support dancers to develop their capacity for responsible self-awareness and intimate connection with self, others and life
- How to balance and integrate the therapies and learnings from the different movement practices and dance journeys into your own life, and the lives of your dancers
- The role of music, and how to select the best music for a particular practice and outcome
Ways to Experience BlissDance:
From the freedom and joy of a single BlissDance class; to the profoundly soul-shifting BlissDance Retreats; we invite you to keep expanding your capacity to embody your desire and follow your bliss!
Certifcation Overview:
