YEAR 1 - LEVEL 1

BlissDance Foundation Training

for

Personal & Practitioner Mastery

12-MONTHS

STARTING MAY 2023

APPLY NOW

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, for example:

BODY ARMOURING:

We hold our bodies rigid in an attempt to protect ourselves from feeling too much

– or feeling what we have been suppressing.

Sometimes it’s laughter or ecstasy, sometimes sadness, fear or anger.

All these states are welcome in BlissDance.

HABITUAL ASSOCIATIONS:

Over a lifetime of suppressions, we have built up meaning through associations.

When someone touches us, what does it mean?

When we enjoy or dislike the touch, what fears come up?

Do they relate to past experiences or future projections?

In BlissDance, these subconscious processes become conscious.


In embodied awareness lies liberation


One of the keys of BlissDance is its invitation to break out of our habits and stuck ways.

We enact some of the dramas of everyday life – like having to put down a healthy boundary

– but dance this drama in a conscious way, as a celebration of the body, and as an act of liberation.

In experiencing it consciously, something gives way, more space is created, and we celebrate our expansion.


Something opens up; I taste only sacredness


The moment softens, our hearts soften, and our bodies melt. We get to feel everything intimately.

We welcome what is, we no longer resist, and in that we can meet the beloved

- in the dance and in the moment.

In the first place, the beloved is our very own being.

Then we can meet him/her in the other, the group, our lives, and in existence.


In BlissDance we get to practice embodying

our Awakening, and our Desire

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.

To live our lives as blissful sovereign beings able to manifest our deepest desires, we must first get out of our busy minds and feel and move everything from the past too painful to process at the time of it happening - and so was put away to feel for later. We need to de-armour ourselves physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually.

BlissDance supports soul reclamation, helping us to heal:

↠ Trauma

↠ Cultural and religious conditioning

↠ Unconscious patterns and habits of focus

↠ Self-limiting beliefs, identifications and narrow filters that no longer serve us

Most patriarchal religions shame the body and sexuality. We need to reclaim our beautiful bliss bodies and sacred sexuality. So much contemporary spiritual teaching is conceptual, which keeps us in our busy monkey minds.

Other spiritual traditions encourage disembodied transcendence, which is a kind of spiritual bypassing or dissociation. Very few integrate and balance polarity / duality into a total and direct embodiment practice.

BlissDance is both embodied and transcendent, masculine and feminine, dark and light, and critically, engages the shadow aspects of our sexuality and unconscious, bringing all into the loving light of compassionate consciousness and blissful integration.

BlissDance is a profound Tantric Movement Practice of Awakening: awakening in us our universal desire for Truth, Presence, Love, Connection, Beauty, Freedom, and Pleasure!

What you will learn

  • How to use movement and music transformationally and holistically, for personal and collective healing and growth
  • How to progress dancers from the sympathetic into the parasympathetic nervous system - where all rest, relaxation, restoration and healing happens
  • How to develop a coherent and congruent dance journey. Every class / workshop / retreat is a unique journey into the interior and exterior landscapes of existence.  For the journey to be meaningful, it needs a clean and clear intention and vision, set by the facilitator. This intention becomes the themed invitation of the journey
  • 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 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

BlissDance is a spiritual movement practice of awakening for people who deeply desire to relate to the world in blissful intimacy and harmony through the sensed intelligence of the body / mind.

Investment in Yourself

Please note: there are 3 parts to this application process.

You do not need to complete the parts in order, but please ensure that you do complete all 3 parts for your application in order to be enrolled successfully.

Space is limited to 50 students.

PART 1:

Complete the application form.

Level 1 Application Form

PART 2:

Book your Discovery Call with Kali Satyagraha Widd.

* Please ensure that you have filled in the application form at least 48 hours before booking your call.

PART 3:

Secure your spot by completing your payment for this course.

[EARLY BIRD] until midnight PT 31 March 2023

Onetime Payment: $3,495

12 x monthly: $335 per month

~~~
ZAR Onetime: ZAR 41,600

ZAR 12 x monthly: ZAR 3,985 per month

~~~

* For ZAR payments, email: info@shaktishiva.academy

[REGULAR] until midnight PT on Sunday 7 May 2023

Onetime: $4,020

12 x monthly: $385 per month

~~~
ZAR Onetime Payment: ZAR 47,820

ZAR 12 x monthly: ZAR 4,585 per month

~~~

* For ZAR payments, email: info@shaktishiva.academy

YEAR 1 - LEVEL 1

BlissDance Foundation Training

for

Personal & Practitioner Mastery

To see more of what you will dive into in each module, click here


SEMESTER 1

MODULE 1

An overview of the conscious dance landscape, and where BlissDance fits in

Live Class: 10 + 24 May 2023

  • Brief history of indigenous ecstatic dance, out of which forms of contemporary conscious dance originated
  • Overview of BlissDance, and as a Tantric Movement Practice of Awakening, what makes it distinct from other conscious dance forms

MODULE 2

A deeper dive into BlissDance, it's unique differentiation, benefits, and purpose

Live Class: 7 + 21 June 2023

  • The nervous system’s 3 settings - Sympathetic, Social and Parasympathetic, and dances to support these different states
  • What is body armouring, and how different movement practices can support de-armouring and capacity-building for greater presence and intimacy

MODULE 3

The First Weave: The Eros of Relating

Live Class: 5 + 19 July 2023

  • Relations as reflections of Self - life is not happening to us, life is happening from us, there’s really only one of us here
  • Humans as relational beings, and why healthy relating leads to a healthier life experience

SEMESTER 2

MODULE 4

The Second Weave: The Eros of Sexuality, Sensuality & Sensuousness

Live Class: 6 + 20 September 2023

  • The body as the unconscious in form - resolution of the unconscious and integrating our sexual shadow
  • Embody your desire - relating to desire from a subject vs object orientation

MODULE 5

The Third Weave: The Eros of Inspiration & Creativity

Live Class: 4 + 18 October 2023

  • Movement and music as allies of the imagination, memory and creativity
  • Kundalini, alpha and beta states as creative muse - peak states and regressive states

MODULE 6

The Fourth Weave: The Eros of Shamanism, Anthropomorphism and Multidimensionality

Live Class: 8 + 22 November 2023

  • Expanding consciousness:  what are altered states of consciousness?
  • How to use breath, movement and music to induce altered states of consciousness

SEMESTER 3

MODULE 7

The Fifth Weave: The Eros of Trance: Regression & Transcendence, Death & Rebirth

Live Class: 10 + 24 January 2024

  • Dancing the sacred hoop of life: preparing to face our primal fears, and dancing birth, death and rebirth
  • The wisdom of the caterpillar to butterfly dance journey - what we can learn from metamorphosis

MODULE 8

The Foundations of Fabulous Facilitation

Live Class: 7 + 21 February 2024

  • The definition of facilitation, and why we call ourselves facilitators versus teachers or healers or any other term associated with transformative processes
  • Facilitation and transmission

MODULE 9

God is a DJ: The Importance of Music as Medicine

Live Class: 6 + 20 March 2024

  • The vital role of music in BlissDance
  • Creating magical dance immersions, soundscapes and sound baths

How is the course structured?

Our BlissDance Level 1 Foundation Training has been thoughtfully and carefully designed to meet you where you are + guide you on this journey.

As soon as you join us, you’ll receive an email with all the pertinent details: links, login information, downloads, and more.

Each month, you’ll receive a pdf and audio download of the month’s theoretical module, together with associated video links and assignments, as well as recordings after the 2 x 2-hour live teaching sessions held on Zoom.

There are 2 teaching classes each month, 1 masterclass each semester + 1 study hall each semester.

We will have ongoing discussions where you can post your contemplations around the homework assignments and receive feedback and reflections from the facilitators in our private Mighty Network group.

Download LEVEL 1 Information Pack

"Bliss is the balance

that happens

when we

fully embrace

both our

shadow & our light

and come to rest

as Love"

- Shakti Malan

Facilitation Team

Kali Satyagraha Widd

~ The Dancing Dakini ~

Custodian & Lead Teacher

Before Kali was irrevocably called to the lightning-fast path Tantra, she was a top brand strategist in Johannesburg, Dubai, London, and Cape Town. Upon shattering her left knee (her body’s feminine support structure) while horse riding, she realised she needed a radical change.  From promoting unconsciousness through marketing global alcohol brands, she transitioned – not without some considerable challenges – to promoting embodied consciousness through non-dual movement, body de-armouring, and meditation. She turned to teachers at the cutting edge of non-duality to heal the extreme polarities that had played throughout her life; amongst whom were Isaac Shapiro, Sw. Rahasya, Andrew Barnes, and Shakti Malan, the founder of BlissDance and Shakti Shiva Academy.

 

To rehabilitate her knee, Kali trained in Biodanza (completing the 18 months Personal Development course) with Marcelo Toro - the grandson of the dance movement’s founder - and then deepened her conscious dance training with Shakti Malan, who had developed BlissDance, a Tantric Movement Practice of Awakening.

 

Over the past 10 years, she has held weekly BlissDance classes in Cape Town for 3 years, together with closed groups, workshops and retreats throughout Southern Africa, the UK, and the Netherlands.

 

The key differentiator of BlissDance is its lineage, steeped as it is in Totality Tantra and the invitation to constantly stalk our shadows and bring them lovingly into the light of healing, together with the substantial gifts they deliver to individuals and the collective.  BlissDance also has the capacity to de-armour the body-mind while ensuring the development of clear discernment and setting of healthy boundaries from moment to moment.  BlissDance invites us to meditate consciously on what we really, really want, and develops our capacity for authentic intimacy with Self and with life as the Beloved.

 

Kali became renowned for the depth to which she could invite dancers to drop within a safe, sacred container - and for her superb music curation, which in turn organically led to her being invited to deejay at private events and festivals. 

 

Together with Shakti Shiva Academy, Kali is delighted to announce the launch of a substantial 3-year BlissDance Teacher Training Certification: the exciting manifestation of Shakti’s dream to bring this exquisite movement practice to the world!

 

Read more about Kali here:

www.dakinikali.com


Stephen Tredrea

~ Dances with Chaos ~

Support Teacher

A perfectly orchestrated quarter-life ensemble, leading from the turn of the century, introduced Steph to Shakti's tantric teachings, working with her to become a practitioner and BlissDance facilitator. As an invitation into the fullness of embodiment and present moment awareness, conscious movement forms an essential aspect of his personal journey and offering.

"When I first danced BlissDance with Shakti I was able to face the discomfort of the stigma I had created. It was a safe container in which to do that and doing so dissolved the stigma.

I stepped through fears and limiting self beliefs to express myself in ways I had never previously imagined. Through the guidance of BlissDance I became more present and my self confidence blossomed."

 

Read more about Stephen here:

www.danceswithchaos.com

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.

Masterclasses with Guest Teachers

Marcelo Toro

MASTERCLASS 01

"Relating in Intimacy with Self"

Live Class: 28 June 2023

BIODANZA ROLANDO TORO is the International Organization of Biodanza SRT. It maintains its objectives and the statute of the former International Biocentric Foundation, created by Rolando Toro in 2003 whose mission is preserve the integrity of “Biodanza Sistema Rolando Toro” and its evolution, in accordance with its theoretical model. In addition to divulging the artistic and intellectual legacy of Rolando.

I live in Granada, Spain, where I direct the Rolando Toro System of Biodanza, founded in 2010. Third Generation of Biodanza Facilitators.


In 2000 I received a Biodanza Facilitator at the School of Buenos Aires with Raúl Terren and Verónica Toro.
In 2002 I received as a Didact with my grandfather Rolando Toro (Creator of the Biodanza System).
From 2002 to 2010 I live successively in Argentina, Brazil, Dominican Republic and Spain teaching Biodanza.
From 2010 to 2013 Director of the School of Biodanza SRT of Granada Spain.
From 2013 to 2017 Director of the School of Biodanza SRT of Cape Town South Africa.
In 2015 I go around the world with Biodanza on 12 consecutive weekends with the Hermes Project.
In 2015 I develop Biocentric Steps, a program for biodance schools and their students.
In 2017, with the collaboration of 12 Biodanza Schools, I made “Around the world in 80 days with Biodanza”.
In 2017 I am invited to participate in the training team of future Didactics in South America.
In 2018 with the collaboration of Viviana Canalis We inaugurated the new cycle of the School of Biodanza SRT: Granada!


Valentina Leo

MASTERCLASS 02

"Dancing Tandava"

Live Class: 11 October 2023

Tandava is the yoga of mystical union with the vast emptiness of pure space.  A very slow and spontaneous dance that leads to the perception of the Cosmic Body and attunement to our infinitely Empty Nature. It is our Majestic Magnificence making love to the Unknown.

Knowing how to be intimate with the erotic flow of pleasure in your body will bring you confidence, purpose, and a sense of deep belonging. When the body relaxes in its divine emptiness, naked as the darkest night and aware of its intrinsic brilliancy, it becomes a portal for Endless Cosmic Orgasm - the essence of Reality and your true nature.

In this bonus masterclass Valentina will share this traditional practice with the intention of catalysing the experience of spiritual arousal in the awakening of your Beautiful Breathing Body…

VALENTINA LEO (a.k.a. MrsLove) is the Mother of the School of Fascinating Wonderment. She’s a devoted student, a mystic, a lover & a fool.  Spiritual maverick, teacher of Erotic Wisdom and an Explorer of the Tantric Realms for over 20 years. Valentina is a Dakini ~ holder of the freedom lineage from the Tantric school of Fascinating Wonderment (Vismayo) ~ that spontaneously births female teachers of the pathless Path.


Andrew Barnes

MASTERCLASS 03

"Raising Your Vibration"

Live Class: 14 February 2024

Andrew Barnes is an internationally acclaimed Tantric sex, relationship, and orgasm coach, sexologist, speaker, master bodyworker, and author of Heart of the Flower and Relationship Tantra. Andrew is the developer of Tantric Body De-armouring, and over the last several years he has been running courses worldwide in this ever-popular modality.

He supports people to become more aware of the unconscious beliefs and behaviours of relationships, sexuality, and social disempowerment, how this can affect our ability to love without fear, and lower the vibrational frequency of the body. He shows how we can use our sexual energy as a spiritual platform for creating bliss states for healing, raising consciousness, and creating abundance/prosperity

Be held in an Ecstatic Intuitive Dance container to purify stagnant energy that’s been blocking the free flow of your creative life force energy. Embody breath, sound and movement practices that will cultivate ecstatic energy flow in your body/mind and support you to open energy pathways and expand higher consciousness.

Move beyond the confines of your egoic self and tap into your higher evolutionary creative potential. Be supported to experience your relationships, love, creativity, vocation and sexuality in new and inspirational ways.


Evolution is created through raising vibration and increasing vitality. The essential ingredients are breath practices, joyousness, dance, play, togetherness, authenticity, nutrition, ceremony, sensuality, sexuality, living in the now, music, and exploring wisdom pragmatically.

What you get:

  • x 2 2 hour classes per month 
  • x 3 90 min masterclasses with guest teachers
  • x 3 2 hour informal study halls
  • x 9 theoretical modules with video tutorials 
  • x 18 assignments
  • One of two in-person 7 day immersions in South Africa or Spain *
  • Optional one-on-one coaching *
  • Access to the private online BlissDance community cohort on Mighty Network
  • Access to Shakti Shiva Academy's Circle of Fire online community on Mighty Network
  • Monthly LIVE online community BlissDance drop-in class

* Additional to base investment

Intensives

There are two intensives for Level 1 Foundation Training.

The first will be in South Africa and the second one will be in Spain.

You will be required to attend one of these two retreats.

Retreat in South Africa @ Bodhi Khaya:

7-Day BlissDance Intensive

Dates: Friday 18 - Friday 25 August 2023

Investment: from ZAR 12950 to ZAR 17850*

*depending on type of accommodation selected.

- travel expenses excluded -

Retreat in Spain/Europe:

7-Day BlissDance Intensive

Dates: TBC Apr - May 2024

Investment: from ZAR20 000 to ZAR22 000

*depending on type of accommodation selected.

- travel expenses excluded -

Overview of the full Certification Track

*download this image to zoom in

Testimonials

"Embodying the elements ..the images of this weekend past are blowing through me still, the Ecstasy of the elements dancing through me, such awesomeness. Thank you Kali Satyagraha Widd for creating that space and allowing it to happen so easily and gracefully. There aren't actually words to describe being seized and danced by the earth...there are sounds...like a primal growl and sensations of being pulsated within the earth's heartbeat . Beautiful location too. I swear, I sense I took flight in that valley, and I don't think I've landed since. Bring on the next one...

I am so ready."

~ Michelle Turner, BlissDance Weekend Intensive, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa

"A uniquely delightful combo of shamanic dance meditation & creative sharing moves me deeply every time.

DJ Kali opens the portal to an exquisite individual journey as she weaves the sounds into a spell of transformative conscious dance. After which sharing a community meal and witnessing or playfully sharing a song, a dance or a poem from an inspired place that leaves me feeling connected, nourished & fulfilled."

~ Shirene Botes (Tantrika, Co-Founder, Avalon Ashram), Cape Town

"There’s a magical, almost mystical marriage that emerges during our sexual awakening journey work, or any inner journey work for that matter – when blended with Kali’s specialised modality of dance and movement, known as BlissDance.

Having witnessed my own powerful shifts in BlissDance, I have over the years referred many clients to Kali’s BlissDance practice, knowing well her measured and tender facilitation brings profound insights, providing a rare portal for deepening into our own journey towards greater self-knowledge, love and mastery."

~ Dr Paul Abramowitz (Medical Practitioner, Author, Sexologist, Musician)

“I have touched many places in BlissDance with you, becoming more of me, experiencing a fuller range of emotions, gold and shadow, and feeling safe and held to express them freely and through my body. How liberating and effective. Embodiment through BlissDance has shifted many things for me and brought me to closer intimacy with myself and others, and allowed some of my boundaries to shift, and to become more open and trusting. Your themes and choice of music have been spot-on and powerful, providing me with what I needed right then and there (without always knowing it). Your skill and holding Kali, and intuitive sense of theme and music, are magical.”

~ Kate

“I have noticed something a little different but I'm a patient person so will be taking things slowly. The most important thing the dancing helped me with was just accepting the emotions as they come and go. I have spent many years denying or favouring others’ feelings, and I'm now more ready to accept myself for who I am (the light and dark in me).”

~ Greg

“I've been experiencing major shifts, so much so that my children remarked that I’m a different person to who I was before began the 8 weeks closed BlissDance group for women. What I learned in that sacred circle, the opening of my throat chakra to express myself for one, as well as so many things that continue evolving... but I especially learned compassion and unity and that has brought me right into the fullness of my being. I will always remember your words, when in doubt or despair, remember your truth. Thank you, Kali.”

~ Shihaam

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, 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 realized 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.

There’s never been a better time to Embody your Desire.

Together, let’s Bring on the Bliss!

F . A . Q .

Does the programme require specific knowledge or experience?

No. In fact, sometimes the less you know, the better it is – this opens you to beginner’s mind and enables you to meet the materials in a fresh way. What is important however, is that you are hungry and committed to this work.

What about confidentiality?

Your journey remains completely confidential. If you wish to share on the Mighty Network Community Platform, there is a confidentiality agreement in place.

Do I need good internet or internet skills to do this programme?

Only for downloading and interaction in the Q&A aspect of the live coaching calls. We will give you all the support we can – and you’ll see that, once you’re in the flow, it’s really easy.

Do I need to be a dancer and do I need to be musical in order to do this course?

Anybody in a body can move. We dance to express not impress so, you do not need to be a dancer or have any previous dance experience. Furthermore, this course will teach you the fundamentals of music selection and curation.

What if I need more support, are you available for sessions?

If you find you require additional support aside from the group coaching sessions provided with this program, then you are welcome to approach either of the facilitators and book private sessions. These sessions are booked and paid separately and negotiated between you and the facilitator in their private capacity.

Do you provide refunds?

Unless you cancel your registration timeously, the Shakti Shiva Academy does not offer a refund for any other reason. 

During the first month of the course, that is up to and including 31 May 2023,

you can de-register from the course by writing an email to info@shaktishiva.academy

If you selected the monthly payment plan when registering, we will cancel your future payments,

however, please take note that no refunds will be provided.

          If you selected to pay in full upfront when registering, we will refund 80% of your payment.

          After 31 May 2023 you can no longer de-register from the course.

Terms & Conditions

You can read our full terms & conditions here.

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.

Enjoy this gift of our December 2022 BlissDance Journey, "Freedom & The Nervous System"