"Kate makes me want to dance and dance"
BRIAN ENO, MUSICIAN, PRODUCER AND MUSIC THEORIST

"Kate Shela is a passionate force of nature. I am a devotee of her 5Rhythms class as well as being a recipient of her shamanic healing work. In both worlds she courageously leads her students into the language of their bodies to help unlock any emotional, psychological and spiritual barriers that prevent any of us from living from our powerful and creative Self. Her sense of humor and her unwavering commitment to dive into her own shadow translates as compassion and grace. She is a gifted and fearless healer who will go into any territory to create healing. However you can, find yourself in her presence."
CARRIE DINOW, PSYCHOTHERAPIST

"As a healer Kate has rescued me from a literal possession, freeing me from an entity that had almost consumed all of me and for that I am ever grateful... She is a Queen of dark jewels."
LEORA HONEYMAN, ARCHITECT

"Working with Kate Shela and Naomi Lewis in Arte Triptych has been the most extraordinary and transformative journey in my life. Their methods of imparting wisdom in a truly heartfelt way allows each and every woman to find herself in her own womanhood and share her creative gifts in her own unique way. These women are truly amazing. Their loving presence; along with gentleness, strength and sheer truth shine forth and encourage all in their presence to be the best person they can be at any given moment. They are immensely ordinary human beings who will guide and support all in their care and who refuse to put up with the nonsense that we all bring to group situations. In other words, they have the ability to see through your defences and ego driven games and deal with them as necessary, so that the group moves forward and progresses as a whole community without leaving anyone behind. I can only endorse all that has been so eloquently said and written about them and their work and am truly thankful to have the opportunity to work with them."
LISA TOLLAND, SOCIAL WORKER

"A woman of deep integrity and profound reflection, she enables her students to journey into the unchartered territory of their innermost soul. And as a woman of great fire, passion and theater, she calls out the dynamic self expression of each person she meets, drawing us out beyond the limited boundaries we’ve placed ourselves in. Working with Kate enables us to better show up to offer our unique creative selves in our work, families and partnerships."
LIZ TEMPLE, 5 RHYTHMS TEACHER AND CO-CREATOR OF WAVES STUDIO

I warmly invite you to work with Kate Shela, a shamanic healer and teacher of rare ability, whose roots are in the rich, dark soil of authentic spirituality and who walks in two worlds offering potent and challenging adventures in both. You are in good hands."
SIMON BUXTON, THE SACRED TRUST

"I came to Kate at a time in my life when I was “stuck” at many levels and needed closure of a few old stories and help in finding a few new directions. Kate is a superb healer of uncompromising truth and integrity. She has a facility for cutting through needless trivia and goes straight to the beating heart of the issues."
COLIN BREWER, CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT

"Kate Shela is the most wonderful, inspiring, fun, bullshit-detecting, provocative teacher. If you want a real experience of the transformational powers of the 5Rhythms, here she is."
TIM BOOTH, SINGER/SONGWRITER/DANCER IN THE BAND JAMES

"Kate’s practice of weaving shamanic healing with the 5 Rhythms dance creates a space where nothing short of revelation and inspiration is possible. In any of Kate’s workshops, she facilitates the sacred and the profane. I clear my schedule any time Kate is in Olympia. I would do the same wherever I lived in the world precisely so I could live better in this world."
SANDRA YANNONE, POET AND EDUCATOR

"Kate Shela knows something. I'm not certain what it is, but I know it's important. In her words and her movement, she shows us what it is to be alive in the body and how this embodiment is an essential part of being free."
Matthew Brensilver, PhD, Against The Stream Meditation Teacher

In my first ever weekend workshop in the 5Rhythms, Kate's teaching opened the door for me to discover vast inner depths of self and places of potent healing with others -- all through the spirit of the dance. Do you want to shed many layers in order to remember something very important you have forgotten? Do you want to be woven into deep pools of inter-relationship with your self and others? Do you want to dance, deeply, and know, intimately? With her humour, grace, compassion and inspiring ability to shake you out of your bullshit suit, Kate will give you the space to do all that and more. If you do not yet have an appointment to dance with Kate, please, make one."
NARELLE BOUTHILLIER, EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT AND SHAMANIC PRACTITIONER

"Kate is the real thing: a goddess of the dance. Her class is a weekly
revelation, a soulful journey of surrender, self-discovery and awakening.
During the most difficult times of my life, I have found more healing on her
dance floor than any other place on Earth."
STEPHEN MILLS, ENVIRONMENTAL WRITER

"Kate Shela is a vivid, radiant and exhilarating teacher. The adventures she leads delving into the spirit of dance, open the way to uncovering the dark fertile places of the soul, body and heart and she navigates these explorations with an irresistible and artful grace."
NAOMI LEWIS, THE SACRED TRUST

"Kate offers a uniquely thoughtful teaching style that integrates wit and wisdom with humor and humility. The spirit and intention she brings to her work is deeply healing and wholly nourishing. When you are around Kate, you feel as if the truth is being told and allowed to be spoken. There can be no greater gift to offer others than the privilege to be themselves."
ALISA BARRY, CREATOR OF BELLA CUCINA

"Kate Shela is a rare and gifted teacher steeped in the transformative practice of the Five Rhythms. She creates a container of acceptance and love where all of who you are is welcome in the healing power of the dance."
SUSAN EMMET REID, ARTIST

"Kate brings an inexhaustable enthusiasm to her teaching; her passion, commitment, generosity and deep understanding of the work, make her classes living treasure. Through many years of experience she has created a culture within which real change and growth can take place for her students."
GINNY FARMAN, CHOREOGRAPHER and 5Rhythms teacher

"I met Kate at the age of 13, as an insecure and pretty angry teenager! She was the catalyst for inspiring me to dance, let go and move that anger. I started the 5Rhythms dance practice with her on the Maiden Voyage, an incredible rites of passage journey for teenage girls, and have not stopped dancing since. As a teenager, the practice helped me to let go and not be so hard on myself and others. Working with Kate over the years has helped me to connect to my body and stay true to myself and my passions. I consequently felt I had the tools and support to step out into the world with confidence and to train as a midwife. Every time I come back to the dance, I get out of my head and into the body and essentially remember who I am. Now at 25, Kate is still the most amazing friend, and an inspirational teacher of the 5Rhythms. She is a warm hearted, fun, and dynamic woman and I would recommend any teenager to work with her."
MIA HILL, MIDWIFE

"Dance is a physical and spiritual liberation. With Kate Shela, the practice of the 5Rhythms is elevated to the realm of the shamanic, and the feeling after each class is nothing less than profound transformation."
GAYA ROSHAN, DOCUMENTARY FILM-MAKER

"In the 5 Rhythms, I gain insight into what and who conditions my movement in the same way that in meditation I might see who's voices conditioned my critical mind...and Kate displays the fruit of her practice in her very being. She's for real. Dance here now!"
PABLO DAS, SINGER AND AGAINST THE STREAM MEDITATION TEACHER

"From the moment I met Kate, I knew I was in good hands. Her warmth and compassion put me completely at ease, making me feel that I’d come home to a dear friend. My healing session with her was deeply profound. I felt lucky to lie at the center of the rich world Kate occupies in addition to this one. I felt I’d journeyed with her as she gathered the tools and messages I needed to continue my journey toward body and soul healing. Months later, the experience continues to unfold for me, transforming my life."
JENNIFER WILSON, AUTHOR OF FOURSEEDS.COM

"God! working with Kate is what I've been looking for, what I'm scared to death of. heaven. I'm sure there's more to come."
SMITH HANES, DESIGNER AND 5RHYTHMS TEACHER

"It is no exaggeration to say that seeing Kate Shela for shamanic healing has changed my life. New vistas have opened up for me and I am doing things now which I would not have dreamed of before I came to see her."
PETER MCNAMEE, CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT

"The Way of the Melissae workshop and the training Arte Triptych Melissae have introduced me to spiritual practices that are staggering in their beauty, power and scope. Their effects reverberate throughout my spirit, psyche and body, rippling out through my life. I am changed as a result, peeling off the layers of myself and in turn, opening to layers of the Universe hitherto unknown. As important as the impact of these teachings has been on me as an individual, the group undergoing the training together also has developed into a true sisterhood; a cradle of support and nourishment upon which we can, and do, rely heavily. We have been held, and deftly led through these exquisite teachings by two beautiful and loving women - Kate Shela and Naomi Lewis - whose ability to teach a diverse group of individuals never fails to inspire us all. They in turn are supported by an ancient lineage that feeds, sustains and directs the instruction. I can barely measure, much less describe, the value I place on this experience, which I know will continue to unfold throughout my life. I would not have missed a single moment of it for the world. And throughout all, the humming of the mighty honeybee leads us through her infinitesimal dance, a celebration of life and death."
DR PATRICIA COATES, MICROBIOLOGIST

"In a world where we relate on the surface, Kate's 5Rhythms teaching takes you deeper. Her whole real human self is present: laughter, mistakes, joys & vulnerabilities. Kate's bravery entices you to open up, connect, be real & vulnerable. Before you realize it, you are in deep waters, awakened, aware & gifts of huge learning come. Take the dive, enjoy the swim in the deep ocean with Kate."
TRACEY UPTON, 5RHYTHMS TEACHER

"In Kate's classes one feels her heart, her passion, her faith, and total commitment to the 5 Rhythms practice and to her students. It has allowed me to drop into expressive states that I'd never dreamt were possible."
KORINA BIGGS BSCECON, MSTAT, ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE TEACHER

"Kate's teaching is all about energy. Not just the sheer amount of
energy she brings to the sessions, but the quality of her attentiveness and responsiveness to other peoples."
VICTOR ANDERSON, ECONOMIST

"Kate holds a group with integrity and strength. She is real, clear and direct. She is dynamic and gentle, wild and controlled, fierce and soft, nurturing and daring, scary and uplifting. She pushes you further than you thought you could go and yet holds onto you if you start to fly out of your boots. Kate is a truly inspirational teacher!"
MARY SPINK, DRAMA SCHOOL TEACHER

"Kate acknowledges fear, but never runs from it. This to me is key in a good teacher; with a fearless leader encouraging you, you are unafraid to lead yourself."
LEE HARRIS, CHANNELER, SPIRITUAL AUTHOR AND SPEAKER

"This year my life was changed in the following ways by the teaching of Kate Shela and Naomi Lewis on The Way of the Melissae workshop and the Arte Triptych Melissae training: I feel restored to wholeness as a woman. I am much more authentic. I no longer wear a mask. I am my own authority. I am connected to my body more deeply than I thought you could be. I have access to its knowledge. I sense myself connected to the Cosmos, having felt expelled for as long as I can remember. I am part of a treasured sisterhood. I have more energy and my internal engine is running. I have recovered my dignity. And I have the tools to maintain these changes. After the training was over I wondered deeply, how had Kate and Naomi facilitated such ruthless life transformation in such a gentle and nurturing way? In the body of the hive I encountered dark and life-obstructing aspects of myself. I was truly seen. There was no escape. There was instead a warm invitation to take my first steps towards the expansion of my life with the powerful teachers, practices and tools of the Melissae. It felt like giving birth to the truth of myself and my connections, within a greater womb. “This work is the truest manifestation of love that I know,” Naomi once told us. We worked hard, but at the same time I experienced profound rest in the sacred, loving space she and Kate held for us. They guided us to bring the same quality to our sisterhood. I felt them very alive to our needs as individuals, and as a group; they never asked us to do more than we were able, and would change their plans if they sensed we needed it. This helped us trust them and reveal ourselves, with joyful results. Kate and Naomi have innate authority because they embody so fully what they teach. I felt completely safe in the knowledge of their experience as I dropped into the work. They taught us impeccably, and with an exquisite economy of words - those words spoken with “the silver tongue of poetry”. The depth of their knowledge was clear when they would answer our questions, and their generosity in making themselves available for questions by e-mail. And they are very patient and eloquent with their linear students. Thank you Kate and Naomi - I am now entering fully, and with excitement and joy, the third part of my life!"
HELENA PARTRIDGE, INTUITIVE PAINTING FACILITATOR