Fundamentals of Embodied Facilitation

Ripening the Fruit, Sharpening the Blade

Professional Mastery Training

1 YEAR COURSE
STARTING 16 MAY 2024

Cultivate the art of true Embodied Facilitation

We’re excited to have you join us for an incredibly unique one year learning journey.

During this training, you’ll cultivate the depth, rawness and beauty of true Embodied Facilitation while benefiting from the wisdom and guided practices that anchor such learning. Our aim is to create a structure that supports your evolution as an individual, allowing the falling away of what is not you, to reveal more and more of your essential and embodied self as a Facilitator.

Wherever you are on your journey with Shakti Shiva Academy – whether or not you’ve done courses with us in the past, or if you are simply interested in somatic-based facilitation – this course is for you.

While Fundamentals of Embodied Facilitation can be taken as a stand-alone training, it is also an integral part of our 3-year Facilitator Certification tracks – helping you fulfil requirements to become a Sexual Awakening for Women Facilitator, a Sexual Shadow Integration Facilitator, and/or a BlissDance Facilitator.

To learn more about our 3 certification tracks, click here.

Radical, Embodied & Total

How this course is different from other facilitation courses

Our approach to facilitation is different because it is alive, fluid, responsive, grounded and authentic. Our aim is to fully embrace that we know nothing – even as teachers and facilitators. We source, instead, from the present moment, even as we are prepared and seasoned with our content. There is something more potent that comes through when we don’t rely on our intellectual knowing.

Fundamentals of Embodied Facilitation teaches the radical method of guiding a group or individual from a place of emptiness, of knowing nothing, of being the hollow bamboo. That is to say, we practice dropping perfection and cultivating clear intuition and sensing

This course increases your capacity to feel and be present with everything that is happening in the space, always receptive to the intelligence of the group and each moment arising – no matter what. We learn to lay down any templates or ideas of how ‘our’ facilitation should look like, inviting the ‘greater facilitation’ of the field, the moment unfolding, and all that they contain.

"Facilitation is the art of supporting your students in accessing their own experience. It's about clearing a path for your participants to notice what is happening, the meanings and feelings they attach to it, and to discover for themselves how they want to integrate those experiences into their lives. As a facilitator, the techniques and information you know matter less than your ability to clear space for your students' to experience the work for themselves."

~ Marcia Baczynski (Educator. Writer. Instigator. Facilitator)

There is no hierarchy (or idea that we know better) through which we separate ourselves from the group. Therefore, while we as Facilitators are the ones holding the group with our energetic authority, we simultaneously know to follow the greater guidance of what is happening in the now. With this unique way, we create a safe home for vulnerability (our own and others’) in the space, which is the gateway to real intimacy, truer connection and deeper transformation.

It is the teachings of intimacy, intuition, vulnerability, emptiness and loving, compassionate presence which weave through the course content and offer their gifts for your personal growth and style of facilitation.

We replace perfection with intuition, being right with staying connected, hierarchy with synarchy and synergy, tools with pure presence, ideas with embodied wisdom, and knowing with sensing and feeling. Consequently, we also understand that any trigger or discomfort is our Guru, our benevolent Teacher.

Are you ready to learn?

✶ How to facilitate from a place of humility, emptiness and ‘knowing nothing’ even as you’re experienced and thoroughly prepared 
✶ How to be fully in your power and your vulnerability at the same time
✶ How to guide from a place of unwavering presence in your body
✶ How to radically trust the moment, your intuition and your body-knowing
✶ How to have both solid ground and fluidity in your facilitation?
✶ How to be firmly rooted in your centre even while turmoil or chaos is around you
✶ How to source deep love, compassion and acceptance for yourself, others and the process that’s unfolding

The naked truth of our human experience, felt inside the body, heart and mind in each moment, is what our work is based on. Your embodied experience of the now is what becomes your ground and guide as a facilitator – through storms, choppy water and difficult terrain as well as rainbows, clear skies and calm waters.

You will learn and practice how to

✶ listen deeply and continuously from your body (sensation & intuition), heart (feeling) and mind (consciousness)…
✶ sense and meet the field as well as the other/group from this listening place…
✶ drop any mind stories or agenda, handing the guidance over to the wisdom inside your body-being…
✶ cultivate your capacity to meet everything that arises with full body presence and openness…
✶ love, feel and stay fully connected to yourself, while holding space for others…

Who is Fundamentals of Embodied Facilitation Training for?

Is it right for you?

We created Fundamentals of Embodied Facilitation for practitioners who want to build a more embodied facilitation style – somatic practitioners, breathworkers, coaches, psychologists, sexologists, body workers, dance and movement leaders, personal growth trainers, spiritual development guides etc.

“Fundamentals of Embodied Facilitation is designed for people who are already facilitating and want to up their skill level even more. It's for people who are in some sort of therapeutic role - coaches, counsellors, therapists - of any type and any modality. Additionally, it is for educators, people who are already educating or have an interest in educating and want to sharpen facilitation skills of how to hold a group field and be in community while delivering information or delivering a presentation. It doesn't matter how large or how small the groups are that you're imagining yourself working with, because facilitation skills are facilitation skills! Whether it's one other person you're with or whether it's 1,000 people you're with, the same awarenesses apply because it's still a relational art regardless of how many people you're relating to and with.”

~ Claire Rumore, (Sex Educator, Erotic Blueprint Coach & Senior Faculty at Shakti Shiva Academy)

Watch the replay of our Gather 'round Info Session:

How this course supports your personal growth

Cultivating True Embodied Facilitation

The actual quality and depth of facilitation do not depend on accumulated qualifications or knowledge. The true pearl of a loving, fun and effective facilitator is the presence and quality of their pure being that fills, and thus holds, the space.

This is a journey of continuously emptying yourself out of limiting patterns, stories and beliefs while falling more and more deeply in love with yourself as you are. Your future students and participants will benefit greatly from the polished jewel of your essential essence.

Together we meet in truth and vulnerability...

Together we meet in truth and vulnerability – simply being ourselves, quirks and all – in each given moment. You will practice fully feeling the moment, your body and your intuition while staying rooted inside your being – whatever happens around you.  In this way, you will learn to feel and respond to the intensity of any situation while simultaneously embodying the presence of the loving Witness.

From all this, ripples of positive transformation flow into your everyday life and into all your relations and creations. The inner and the outer will seamlessly merge more and more in your living and loving.

How this course supports your personal growth

The actual quality and depth of facilitation do not depend on accumulated qualifications or knowledge. The true pearl of a loving, fun and effective facilitator is the presence and quality of their pure being that fills, and thus holds, the space.

And so this course is a journey of continuously emptying yourself out of limiting patterns, stories and beliefs while falling more and more deeply in love with yourself as you are. Your future students and participants will benefit greatly from the polished jewel of your essential essence.

Together we meet in truth and vulnerability – simply being ourselves, quirks and all – in each given moment. You will practice fully feeling the moment, your body and your intuition while staying rooted inside your being – whatever happens around you.  In this way, you will learn to feel and respond to the intensity of any situation while simultaneously embodying the presence of the loving Witness.

From all this, ripples of positive transformation flow into your everyday life and into all your relations and creations. The inner and the outer will seamlessly merge more and more in your living and loving.

"A way to think of facilitation is as a type of dance, and the group as the dance floor. When I dance, how I feel on the dance floor is a reflection of how I’m feeling about myself and about life. If I’m feeling insecure, it will be apparent. If I’m feeling confident and excited, the results will show. The dance floor, or the group, are the mirror, and from the mirror, I learn not only how to show up in general but how I’m showing up in the unfolding. "

~ Claire Rumore, (Sex Educator, Erotic Blueprint Coach & Senior Faculty at Shakti Shiva Academy)

What students are saying...

about Shakti Shiva Academy

Facilitation Team

Marcia Baczynski, aka Marcia B, (she/her) is an internationally-recognized coach, writer and presenter on sexual communication, boundaries, consent and desire. She is the Lead Facilitator on this course.

Marcia Baczynski

LEAD FACILITATOR

Marcia Baczynski is a skilled facilitator, educator and coach with over 20 years of experience leading groups through transformative experiences. Her primary mission is to help adults who want more connection and intimacy to overcome shame and get in touch with what they truly want – romantically, sexually and relationally – even if it’s off the beaten path. Bringing wisdom, humor, and creativity to all aspects of her work, and a fresh perspective on love, sex and relationships, Marcia shares her expertise in boundaries, communication, consent, open relationships, LGBTQ+ experiences and sex positivity.

In 2004, Marcia co-created Cuddle Party, a non-sexual workshop and social event centered around boundaries, communication and touch, and in 2006 created its facilitator training program, which now has over 200 facilitators around the world. She is faculty at the School of Consent, teaching both Wheel of Consent workshops and the Like a Pro training for practitioners. Marcia is the co-author of Creating Consent Culture: A Handbook for Educators, which guides teachers and community builders on how to facilitate consent-based interactions in their classrooms and communities.

Over the course of her career, Marcia has facilitated and taught over 1000 in-person events and online experiences, and worked with tens of thousands of clients and students. 

Learn more about Marcia at www.askingforwhatyouwant.com

Claire Rumore is a certified Erotic Blueprint™ coach, an Urban Tantra™ trained sex educator, and a skilled facilitator & coach for the past 20 years. She is the support facilitator on this course

Claire Rumore

SUPPORT FACILITATOR

Claire Rumore is a certified Erotic Blueprint™ coach, an Urban Tantra™ trained sex educator, and a skilled facilitator & coach for the past 20 years.

She became a student of Shakti Malan, founder of the Shakti Shiva Academy, in 2010 and was one of her first North American students.  She worked alongside Shakti from 2011 until Shakti’s death in 2017, helping to produce events, trainings, and curriculum, including the original Totality Therapy training curriculum.

In addition to her work in sexuality, Claire has also worked in tech & innovation consulting since 2014 where she learned, amongst other things, how to facilitate ethnographic research and innovation design sprints at large companies globally. She also worked for an organisational development firm in San Francisco, Ca that specialised in facilitated participatory group work. She helped revise their ground-breaking book “Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision Making.” She also became a graphic facilitator in 2015.

Claire has been involved in facilitation work in large and small ways, ranging from groups, conferences, workshops, extended courses and online classes to couples work, private gatherings and 1:1 sessions. 

Claire brings ❤️HEART❤️and 🌈PLAY🌈 to her facilitation style as well as a wealth of experience, resources, and insight.

Learn more about Claire at www.ClaireRumore.com

What students are saying...

about Marcia & Claire

Modules

Semester 1

Fundamentals of Facilitation Module 1 ~ What is Facilitation? Facilitation is an art weaving together concrete skills with internal and external processes.

Module 1 ~ What is Facilitation?

Live Class: 16 + 30 May 2024

Facilitation is an art weaving together concrete skills with internal and external processes. In this module, you’ll learn:

  • What facilitation is (and how it is different from teaching, coaching or mentoring)
  • The core skills make for good facilitation 
  • What you are responsible for (and what you are not responsible for)
  • How to foster your participants’ inner experience.
Fundamentals of Facilitation Module 2 ~ Creating a Sense of Safety. Feeling safe is fundamental to learning from our experiences.

Module 2 ~ Creating a Sense of Safety

Live Class: 13 + 27 June 2024

Feeling safe is fundamental to learning from our experiences. In this module, we’ll explore:

  • What safety is and isn’t and how you can foster this feeling in your participants.
  • Practical tools for building emotional safety within a group
  • Preparation for managing physical safety considerations
  • How to manage privacy and confidentiality concerns for in-person and online groups
Fundamentals of Facilitation Module 3 ~ Building a Container. “Container” is the term we use to describe both the physical space of your workshop and the shared emotional context for the work you will be doing with your participants.

Module 3 ~ Building a Container

Live Class: 11 + 25 July 2024

“Container” is the term we use to describe both the physical space of your workshop and the shared emotional context for the work you will be doing with your participants. In this module, we’ll discuss:

  • Practical considerations of how to work with the physical environment of your workshop
  • Rituals and practices to help your participants feel seen, safe and held
  • How to create powerful openings and clear closings 

Semester 2

Fundamentals of Facilitation Module 4 ~ Facilitation in Practice, Part One. Facilitation is a practice of the personal, interpersonal and contextual.

Module 4 ~ Facilitation in Practice

Live Class: 12 + 26 September 2024

Facilitation is a practice of the personal, interpersonal and contextual. In this module, we will practice skills that develop all three areas, including:

  • Tools for tracking what is happening in your room, within and between participants
  • How to bring heartfelt presence and clarity, even when you get activated by your students
  • Skills for group management and meaningful participant engagement
Fundamentals of Facilitation Module 5 ~ Facilitation in Practice, Part Two. This module will give even more opportunity for facilitation practice.

Module 5 ~ Facilitating through challenges

Live Class: 10 + 24 October 2024

This module will give even more opportunity for facilitation practice. We will explore:

  • How to facilitate through common obstacles and concerns
  • Balancing structure and flow as unexpected information enters the room
  • Tools for protecting your vulnerable students and understanding group dynamics
Fundamentals of Facilitation Module 6 ~ Integrity and Accountability. Working with groups, it is normal and expected that “stuff” will come up and sometimes we will not handle it well. Perfection cannot be our goal, but if that’s true, what will we replace it with?

Module 6 ~ Integrity and Accountability

Live Class: 7 + 21 November 2024

Working with groups, it is normal and expected that “stuff” will come up and sometimes we will not handle it well. Perfection cannot be our goal, but if that’s true, what will we replace it with? In this module, we’ll explore:

  • What integrity and accountability mean for a Shakti Shiva Academy  facilitator
  • How power plays out in a group dynamic, both as a facilitator and among your participants
  • The profound power of clear guardrails and meaningful apologies 

Semester 3

Fundamentals of Facilitation Module 7 ~ Self-Care as a Facilitator. As a facilitator, it’s important to be in good working order so you can show up for your participants, as well as to have tools to take off the “space-holder” hat afterward.

Module 7 ~ Self-Care as a Facilitator

Live Class: 16 + 30 January 2025

As a facilitator, it’s important to be in good working order so you can show up for your participants, as well as to have tools to take off the “space-holder” hat afterward. In this module, we will:

  • Dig deeper into your own boundaries and limits as a facilitator,
  • Get clear on how expectations and intentions can help or hinder you
  • Brainstorm ways to open yourself up and close yourself down before and after an event 
Fundamentals of Facilitation Module 8 ~ Planning Your Workshop. In this module, we will review crucial factors that will help you set up your workshops.

Module 8 ~ Planning Your Workshop

Live Class: 13 + 27 February 2025

In this module, we will review crucial factors that will help you set up your workshops. To set you up for success, we’ll guide you to:

  • Determine the scope of what you will do
  • Write compelling invitations that are extensions of your facilitation
  • Find excellent venues and awesome assistants
Fundamentals of Facilitation Module 9 ~ Integration and Celebration. In our last month together, it’s time to celebrate!

Module 9 ~ Integration and Celebration

Live Class: 13 + 27 March 2025

In our last month together, it’s time to celebrate! In this module, we will:

  • Review all that we have covered
  • Help you determine your next steps
  • Celebrate your completion of the  Fundamentals of Facilitation course!

Masterclasses

with Guest Teachers

Fundamentals of Facilitation Masterclass with Betty Martin. Lessons from a Lifetime of Facilitation. 90 priceless minutes with Betty Martin.

Betty Martin

Lessons from a Lifetime of Facilitation
90 priceless minutes with Betty Martin

Live class: 6 June 2024

Dr Betty Martin has been facilitating and putting her hands on people for over 40 years, first as a chiropractor, and then as a certified surrogate partner, sacred intimate and somatic sex educator. Her explorations in somatic-based therapy and practices informed her creation of the framework The Wheel of Consent. 

She has traveled the world teaching touch practitioners, therapists and professionals how to create empowered agreements in their client sessions and group work. Betty’s knowledge of facilitating both group and individual experiences has been further informed by her passion for group consensus work, co-counseling, co-housing, movement based practices, meditation practices and much much more. Now semi-retired, Betty brings her wisdom of a lifetime to this lively interview and Q&A. 

Fundamentals of Facilitation masterclass with Joy Clarissa Taylor. Soul-Inspired Business Mastery. Empowering transformational entrepreneurs to succeed

Joy Clarissa Taylor

Soul-Inspired Business Mastery
Empowering transformational entrepreneurs to succeed

Live class: 5 September 2024

During this live, interactive workshop, you’ll be guided through a Business Soul Map process to vision quest your business, assess strengths and areas of growth, and strategize next steps. Bring paper and pen, and be prepared to take notes as you gain inspiration and direction. Business is an intuitive art, and this nuts and bolts event will awaken your creative brilliance while informing you on best practices for starting, growing, or scaling a business.

What we will cover in this masterclass:

  • Create the structures and systems (healthy masculine) that allow you and your business to flow (healthy feminine)
  • Identify and align all aspects of your business with your business soul
  • Get clarity on your professional milestones and prioritize tasks
  • Make effective and intuitive decisions in your marketing (including branding, mindsets, and strategies)
  • Design a customer journey that encourages steady and predictable participation and sales.


Joy Clarissa Taylor
is an intuitive business strategist and authenticity coach, she is the author of the #1 Amazon bestselling book INSPIRED: 7 Wisdoms of a Soul-Inspired Life and is passionate about empowering people to contribute to a better world through spiritual embodiment and inspired action.

She served as a college faculty developing and teaching leadership courses for entrepreneurs and is the past Director of The Women’s Business Center of Northern California. Creator of The Business Soul Map, a transformational process for progressive entrepreneurs, and facilitator of A Women’s Way of Awakening, Joy weaves her decades of experience as a licensed massage therapist, certified Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner, ordained priestess, and yoga instructor as she offers a spiritual approach to leadership development, empowering people to live and work aligned with their values.

Fundamentals of Facilitation masterclass with Moses Ma. Innovative Strategies To Enhance Your Facilitation Style. Exploring the principles of agility, design thinking and expanded innovation to expand and deepen facilitation skills.

Moses Ma

Innovative Strategies To Enhance Your Facilitation Style
Exploring the principles of agility, design thinking and expanded innovation to expand and deepen facilitation skills

 

Live class: 20 February 2025

Moses Ma brings over 30 years of experience as a public speaker and facilitator. His emphasis in facilitation as well as innovation consulting enables clients to achieve greater agility and deeper design thinking. Moses will explain what these are and how they can be used to strategically enhance your facilitation style. He will also answer questions candidly, sharing from his extensive background having facilitated hundreds of brainstorms, design sessions, and strategic inquiry sessions.

Moses is a technology visionary and the managing partner at FutureLab, a strategic consultancy, where he works with senior executives at global organizations as well as promising entrepreneurs in startups to develop and refine their innovation strategies. Moses has a track record as an innovative and compelling public speaker who has delivered evocative and thought provoking keynotes at many global conferences and has facilitated groups nationally and locally, both online and in person.

Fundamentals of Facilitation masterclass with Marcia B. Marketing That Works (and Feels Good!) Marcia B is the lead facilitator of this training

Marcia Baczynski

Marketing That Works
(and Feels Good!)

 

Live class: 6 February 2025

“Marketing” and “selling” may seem like dirty words to facilitators who want to create heart-opening, transformative experiences. There’s so much sleazy and manipulative material out there, that seems like it’s designed to trick people into buying. 
 
But this is not what marketing or selling have to be. Good, long-term relationships with students and clients start with introducing people to the work you are doing in ways that are aligned with that work.
Effective marketing includes educating your students about your point of view and values, sharing with them. your hopes and dreams for them, and speaking to them as if you are on their side, rooting for them — because you are. The best marketing is that which is a natural extension of your work… and feels good (otherwise, you can’t sustain it.)
 
In this masterclass, you’ll learn how to create marketing and fill your workshops based on three principles: 
  • It must be effective. 
  • It must be consent-based.
  • And it must feel good (to you AND your students). 
You’ll learn how to find your ideal students, share your core message, and reach them through channels that you actually enjoy doing, all while building a long-term audience that attends your events again and again. 

Bonuses

Fundamentals of Facilitation Online Training - Study Hall Sessions for Accountability & Community

Study Hall Sessions

Accountability & Community

Live class: 3 Aug 2024, 30 Nov 2024 + 29 Mar 2025

We’ve built in 3 “Study hall” style sessions at the end of each semester for additional support.

The purpose of these sessions is to provide 90-minutes of unstructured time for questions, conversations, exploration & inquiry.

There’ll be an opportunity for you to share about how the course is going for you and breakout groups will give students a chance to get to know each other and share personal experiences and insights.

You can also simply use this time to focus on your assignments – you’ll have accountability built right in.

Fundamentals of Facilitation Bonus Class - Breathwork with Rhianne van der Linde, principal of Shakti Shiva Academy

Online Breathwork Classes

Drop-in classes with Rhianne van der Linde

3 live classes: 12 June 2024, 16 October 2024 + 12 February 2025

Your beautiful breathing body is a gateway to the Bliss that is your Birthright. And the breath is the key!

In these bonus breathwork sessions, you’ll discover the power of the breath and how to work with it very simply – as a conscious tool for healing and growth, personal awakening and transformation in body, mind and spirit – enabling you to flow effortlessly and easily with all of life’s movements…

Breathing is something that we are doing constantly and (mostly) unconsciously. The breath is life – it is our very connection to life itself.  Awareness, Relaxation, Breathing – when these three elements are blended harmoniously together, then we arrive at a proper rest into the ground of being – and from this place we can live in a state of perpetual trust.

Most of us have hardly begun to explore the power of the breath as a tool to deepen our intimacy with ourselves and with existence as such. There is so much more capacity for aliveness in us, right here in our bodies – if we open up more deeply to the breath.

Rhianne is principal and senior faculty at Shakti Shiva Academy and she delights in supporting others to explore the breath as a thread connecting us directly to source, as a tool for embodiment and as a force for waking up! 

Fundamentals of Facilitation Bonus Class - BlissDance online class with Kali Satyagraha Widd, custodian of BlissDance modality and senior faculty member at Shakti Shiva Academy

Online BlissDance Classes

Drop-in classes with Kali Satyagraha Widd

3 live classes: 3 July 2024, 27 November 2024 + 5 March 2025

BlissDance is a sublime facilitation tool because all life is energetic eros, and as such is constantly in motion, changing in every moment, and transforming and evolving.  When we as facilitators keep flowing with life, embodying our desires and following our bliss, we can powerfully transmit these satoris to others energetically.

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.

Kali is the co-founder of the BlissDance Certification Training and Senior  Faculty at Shakti Shiva Academy.  She is a lover of life and love, and is passionate about supporting humanity to transition into the Age of the Heart through Unity Consciousness.

Fundamentals of Facilitation Bonus Offering - Office Hours with Lisa Grace, senior faculty at Shakti Shiva Academy

Office Hours with Lisa Grace

A regular ongoing opportunity for connection, inquiry & sharing

Most Mondays on Zoom – event listings in our Circle of Fire on Mighty Network

Receive additional support from Shakti Shiva Academy Faculty Lisa Grace as you move through the Fundamentals of Facilitation course materials.

Please use this space to check-in, ask questions, start conversations, initiate inquiry, request support on your path or simply share what’s moving for you in your messy living loving human life. The hour together will be led by the desires of the emergent group and Lisa Grace may offer a meditation or other practice…

Think of this intimate hour as a free coaching session with Lisa!

It’s our weekly gift to you 🎁

What students are saying...

about Shakti Shiva Academy

How is this course constructed?

  • 1 Year of lessons in both written and audio formats to suit your learning style
  • 18 Live teaching sessions (2 per month) + group Q & A
  • 3 “Study hall” sessions for accountability and community
  • 3 Masterclasses with skilled experts in the field
  • Additional bonuses to practically support your facilitation journey
  • 7 day (optional) in-person retreat immersion in South Africa*

* Additional to course investment

All of our course materials are presented within a private course cohort in Mighty Network, a safe, private learning platform. Our LIVE teaching calls take place on Zoom. In these two places we can have lively conversations, explore & discover together, learn from each other, and ask questions in total privacy.

Live Teaching Classes will be on Thursdays. Study Halls will be Saturdays

Class times: 7pm SAST – 10am PT – 1pm ET – 6pm UK

Please take note of Daylight Savings, class time will always remain 7pm SAST, and all other time zones will shift by an hour accordingly.

Intensive Retreat

7-night / 8-Day in-person Intensive in South Africa

There is one in-person intensive for Fundamentals of Embodied Facilitation.

Attendance is optional if you’re taking the course for personal or professional development only.  

The retreat is a compulsory requirement for students in our 3-year certification track in any one of Shakti Shiva Academy’s three learning paths: Sexual Shadow Work Certified Facilitator, Sexual Awakening for Women Certified Facilitator and BlissDance Certified Facilitator

Where: Bodhi Khaya Nature Retreat, South Africa

When: Friday 11 April – Friday 18 April 2025

Investment: from $1400 – $2000*

* depending on type of accommodation selected
*
travel expenses excluded

Registration Process

1. Complete the Application Form

2. Book your Discovery Call (Optional)

From: R4,695 / month for 12 months

Financial aid will be available to a limited number of students in the form of partial bursaries. Please note that bursary awards are based on several factors, including the size of our award fund and the approximate number of students enrolling at the full tuition rate.

All students requiring assistance are welcome to apply for financial aid. We welcome applications from serious seekers of all races, sexual orientations, and beyond.

The Roots of Fundamentals of Embodied Facilitation

The late Shakti Malan, whose legacy and teachings are the structure of our work, always held space with such vulnerability and pure presence. She continuously bowed to the great wisdom of each arising moment felt inside her body. This is the ground on which this course stands.

Marcia Baczynski and the Shakti Shiva Academy co-created the curriculum for this course. Marcia is the co-founder of Cuddle Party™ (events that are about consent, boundaries and touch) and was instrumental in creating their very successful international facilitation program.

What we (SSA) wove into the tapestry of this program are the unique flavours and stories of the Academy – stories, practices, experiences, tools, etc., which anchor the Embodied Facilitation into the landscape of practice and real-life experience. By developing this new course, the SSA lays the foundation for the three pillars anchoring the largest contributions of Shakti Malan’s legacy.

F.A.Q

Who is this 1-year training for?

This training is designed for facilitators, educators, practitioners, bodyworkers, therapists, and individuals seeking personal and professional growth. The course focuses on embodied facilitation training, and aims to empower participants in their personal and professional lives.

No. Actually, sometimes the less you know, the better it is as this can open you to beginner’s mind and enable you to meet the materials in a fresh way. What is important, however, is that you are totally committed to doing the work of becoming more of you who really are. This course is specifically designed for those individuals who are willing to take responsibility for and participate in their own evolution while at the same time having a deep desire to play a role and be of service in bringing a new world into being.

No. It’s not a requirement that you’ve completed any previous courses with Shakti Shiva Academy. This course both stands alone and also forms Year-2 of all three of our learning paths.  If you’ve previously participated in Sexual Shadow Integration Work, Sexual Awakening for Women or BlissDance Foundation Training, then this course is the next step on your journey to certification.

You can however also start your learning path with us on this Year-2 course and continue to participate in the Year-1 course of your chosen specialty / focus area in the following calendar year. It really depends on whether we’re offering Year-1 or Year-2 courses in any particular calendar year. In other words you can start your learning path in Year-1 or Year-2 – they are interchangeable.

Shakti Shiva Academy is known for the depth of content it offers. We have three learning paths in which you can train to become a certified facilitator. This Fundamentals of Embodied Facilitation course forms Year-2 of all three of our learning paths. This 1-year course can also be taken as a stand alone embodied facilitation training to support the work you’re already doing in the world. We encourage you to participate in at any one of our three Year-1 Personal & Practitioner Mastery Courses: Sexual Shadow Integration Work, Sexual Awakening for Women or BlissDance Foundation Training.

We’ve built in 3 “Study hall”- style sessions at the end of each semester for accountability, community and additional support. 

Shakti Shiva Academy’s skilled faculty team will be traveling alongside you and supporting your journey throughout the course. You’ll have direct access to them in our private course cohort on Mighty Network. 

“Office Hours” is a weekly online gathering space hosted by faculty member Lisa Grace. You’re welcome to use this space to check-in, ask questions, start conversations, initiate inquiry, request support on your path or simply share what’s moving for you in your messy living loving human life. 

If you find you require additional support aside from the LIVE calls and 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.

You’re also able to book 1:1 coaching and transformational mentorship sessions with Shakti Shiva Academy’s highly skilled team of faculty. 

Nope! All the course materials are downloadable, so you can work through them at your own pace. This is not yet another to-do. There is a carefully curated structure in place to support you to get the most out of the materials. We do however encourage you to keep current with reading or listening to the modules and attending the live calls each month.  You can always return to assignments and complete them in your own time. 

IMPORTANT: If you’re taking this course as part of your certification training qualification, then you’ll need to have completed all of your assignments no later than 6 months after the completion of the course.

You’ll find a summary of the minimum requirements for certification outlined in the full prospectus here

You will need to have:

  • Attended 80% of the LIVE classes. (If you’re in an awkward time-zone and are committed to watching the class recordings and doing the ‘work’, then please send an email to info@shaktishiva.academy and we’ll connect with you to discuss what your participation in the course could look like)
  • Watched the recordings of any LIVE classes you may have missed
  • Completed all assignments
  • Attended the 7-day in-person retreat in South Africa  (Ideally, you will participate in the retreat offered during the year you’re taking the course, however if this is not possible, you may attend the in-person retreat when we next offer the Fundamentals of Embodied Facilitation course)

Please refer to the full summary of requirements to graduate as a certified Sexual Shadow Integration, Sexual Awakening for Women or BlissDance Facilitator

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

You’ll need reliable internet access, a computer, speakers and/or headphones.

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.

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 2024, 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 2024, you can no longer de-register from the course.

You can read our full terms & conditions here.

If you’re interested in participating in this 1-year Fundamentals of Embodied Facilitation Training Course and still have questions that need answers, please schedule a free 20 minute discovery call with Principal & Senior faculty Rhianne van der Linde here.

Certification

Shakti Shiva Academy is known for the depth of content it offers. What qualifies us to work with others is the wisdom and maturity that we develop through immersing ourselves in life’s rich experience with clarity, awareness and an ever expanding heart. It is our intention that after completing all three years of your chosen learning path, you will not only have a vastly expanded relationship with your own inner landscape, your sexuality and the world you live in, but that you will be richly equipped to facilitate this work for clients and students who come your way.

We have three learning paths in which you can study to become a certified facilitator.

Year-1 Courses for Personal & Practitioner Mastery - Choose your Certification track:
Year-2: Fundamentals of Embodied Facilitation for Professional Mastery

This course can be taken as a stand alone embodied facilitation training to support the work you’re already doing in the world or it can be taken as Year-2 of your certification training.

Year-3: Focused Facilitation Training for Specialist Mastery

Small cohorts, high touch & personal engagement with your facilitators, completion of your dissertation summarizing your 3-years of experiential & theoretical learning.

On completion of your chosen 3-Year learning path, you will be prepared to comfortably and confidently facilitate private clients and you’ll have all the skills required to guide and facilitate both small and medium sized groups.

Selected students may continue to Year-4 and qualify as a Totality Therapy Facilitator. Depending on your chosen learning path, your 4th year will require a minimum of two additional Short 7-week courses.  Totality Therapy is an experiential rather than a theoretical curriculum – and includes a series of 1:1 high touch mentorship & supervision sessions with a Shakti Shiva Academy Faculty member. More details coming soon.

Certification Map
Scroll to Top