Shamanic Yoga Institute is a founder-led school rooted in the Siyám Smánit Dharma Mesa Path and the Medicine Wheel. Its work is carried through practice, study, retreat, mentorship, relationship with land, and community.
Founder-Led School | Medicine Wheel Rooted | Practice, Leadership, and Transformation
Shamanic Yoga Institute is a school for shamanic training, yoga training, spiritual mentorship, transformational retreats, and leadership development. We bring together shamanic practice, yoga, expressive arts, the Medicine Wheel, and the Siyám Smánit Dharma Mesa Path in one integrated learning experience for students seeking spiritual growth, personal transformation, embodied leadership, and authentic healing.
Rooted in depth, integrity, and relationship, our programs support those who want more than surface-level wellness. Through immersive training, retreat experiences, mentorship, and community-based practice, Shamanic Yoga Institute offers a grounded path for healing, self-discovery, conscious leadership, and transformational education
Our Approach
Mountain Shamanism, Shakta/Shaiva Tantra, Bhakti Yoga, Hatha Yoga, and Expressive Arts are woven into one living methodology of practice
Mountain Shamanism is a nature-based spiritual path rooted in a direct, intimate relationship with the land, the mountains, and the sacred waters. It teaches us to listen to and commune with the wise energies and spirits of the mountains and the ñustas, so that we can live in a way that is deeply nature-informed, balanced, and aligned with the Earth.
Through pilgrimage to the mountains and the waters, we strengthen this living connection by walking ceke lines with our feet, making heartfelt offerings, and invoking the natural forces in healing and ceremony. In this reciprocal, loving exchange, Mountain Shamanism becomes both a spiritual practice and a way of life, guiding us into harmony, healing, and reverence for the more-than-human world.
Ayni in Action
We believe deeply in the mission and spiritual integrity of the following organizations and choose to support them through ongoing donations so their essential healing work can continue, evolve, and touch more lives. In recognizing the profound service they offer to individuals, communities, and the Earth, we see our financial contributions as a way of standing beside them in practice, not just in words, and participating in a wider field of prayerful, heart-centered action.
Our funding is directed to both local and international projects whose values, vision, and practices resonate with our own commitment to healing, awakening, and the well-being of all beings. We look for organizations that embody respect for the Earth, honor the sacredness of life, and cultivate pathways of remembrance, resilience, and reconnection. In supporting their work, we affirm a shared intention to bring more light, care, and conscious change into the world, one relationship and one act of generosity at a time.
Community / Ayllu
The wider field of practitioners, assistants, teachers, and ceremonial space holders formed through the work over time
Since 2005, Christine Selda has been sharing the teachings of the Medicine Wheel in Squamish, British Columbia, guiding students on a path of shamanic healing, spiritual growth, and earth-honouring ceremony. Over the years, this mystery school has become a dedicated home for shamanic training, shamanic yoga, and Medicine Wheel apprenticeship, rooted in lived experience and community.
Since the school’s inception, more than one hundred students have walked the four directions of the Medicine Wheel to become Full Mesa Carriers, deepening their relationship with Spirit, the land, and their own healing. Along this journey, students receive experiential teachings, ceremony, and mentorship that support authentic transformation rather than quick or superficial change.
Statement of Teaching Philosophy
Christine Selda, Ph.D., R.C.C., E-RYT Gold
I use an intermodal approach through the arts to teach. I believe the best way to learn is experiential. I work as a client-centered therapist and support worker. I believe in experiential education as the basis of integrated knowledge that can give all students practical tools.
The intermodal curriculum foundations are focused on addressing a multiplicity of learning styles through the different methods and techniques used in the experiences. I will metaphorically throw seeds in each different modality of teaching, the same seeds so that each student has a few different deliveries that may be the one that can flourish in their particular soil.
For example, I may start with some nature-based meditation experience, a brain mapping exercise, clay, free- writing, poetry, and a play and group discussion. There may be a lecture on a particular topic that each experience will enhance the depth of study of this concept.
I allow the understanding to come after the experience. This way, the experience can serve as phenomenological research for the student to further deepen their knowledge of who they are and the subject or concept.
Whether you are arriving through training, retreat, mentorship, or community, the About section offers a clear way into the school
FAQ
Shamanic Yoga Institute is a founder-led school offering shamanic training, yoga training, expressive arts, and transformational programs rooted in a place-based path on the West Coast of Canada. The school weaves together shamanic practice, yoga, healing arts, ceremony, and leadership development to support deep personal and spiritual transformation
Shamanic yoga is a practice that combines the physical postures and breathwork of yoga with shamanic principles such as sacred space, ceremony, and direct relationship with Spirit and the land. At Shamanic Yoga Institute, yoga is held within shamanic sacred space, inviting personal growth, healing, and non-ordinary states of awareness in a grounded and embodied way
Programs are designed for people who feel called to shamanic practice, yoga, and earth-based spirituality, whether they are beginning their journey or seeking to deepen an existing path. Students include yoga practitioners, healing arts professionals, community leaders, and those simply longing for meaningful spiritual practice, connection, and transformation.
Shamanic Yoga Institute offers a range of trainings including Medicine Wheel programs, shamanic yoga and movement practices, mentorship, retreats, and leadership pathways. Many programs unfold over time, guiding students through experiential teachings, ceremony, and integration so the work can be lived in everyday life and in service to community
Through a combination of shamanic practices, yoga, breath, ritual, and community, this work can support emotional healing, nervous system regulation, spiritual connection, and a deeper sense of purpose. Students often report feeling more grounded, resourced, and aligned, with practical tools for navigating change, processing old stories, and walking in closer relationship with the land and Spirit.
