Ilona Selke: A Retreat Center Owner in Bali on Working with Maya Mandala Since 2013
Maya's groups always radiate. That's why I highly recommend her. I have very much loved working with her, and her deep, centered, professional wisdom has a serenity about it that she imparts to all of her students.Ilona Selke — psychotherapist, author, and co-owner of the Shambala Oceanside Retreat in Bali
- Who's speaking
- Ilona Selke — the host of the retreat venue, not a participant in a single program
- Location
- Shambala Oceanside Retreat, North Bali
- Working together
- Since 2013 — Maya regularly holds her programs here
- Themes
- Tantra, meditation, sacred priestess and priest training, sacred femininity and masculinity
Ilona Selke's video message — a walk around Shambala with her thoughts on working with Maya · Watch on YouTube ↗
In Short
Ilona Selke is a psychotherapist and author who, together with her husband, has run the Shambala retreat center in North Bali for more than 10 years. Since 2013, Maya Mandala has regularly come there to lead programs in tantra, meditation, and sacred priestess and priest training. This testimonial is the view of someone who hosts Maya's groups year after year and watches them from the outside — who arrives, and in what state they leave. Ilona puts it plainly: Maya's groups always radiate, and her students visibly transform by the end of the practice — which is why she recommends getting to know Maya without reservation.
What Maya Brings to Shambhala
Maya has "always brought incredible, beautiful groups — sophisticated people, very deeply and serenely connected to their feminine or masculine, bringing the divine into their lives." Ilona describes her work as creating a space "for sacred sensuality, for the sacred femininity and masculinity" — not a theoretical class, but a living practice of presence and self-contact that participants experience physically, on the retreat grounds, here and now.
A Colleague's View, Not a Promotional Review
Ilona Selke is herself a psychotherapist and internationally published author — her words about Maya are the assessment of a professional peer, not the gratitude of a passing guest. "I know of her through the work here at Shambhala," Ilona says, underscoring that the recommendation rests on years of direct observation of how Maya works with groups, not a single program.
"...seeing her students glow after they leave is incredibly convincing of her work. I love her."
About Maya Mandala
Maya Mandala is a practitioner and teacher, the creator of the Mandala Dance method, and the leader of programs on working with the body, femininity and masculinity, and tantric and contemplative practice. Her seminars and retreats take place both in Russia and abroad — including in Bali, where she has worked with the Shambala retreat center for years.
Related Topics
Questions About This Testimonial
Who is Ilona Selke?
A psychotherapist and internationally published author, co-owner (together with her husband) of the Shambala Oceanside Retreat in Bali. She has known Maya through their work together since 2013 — Maya regularly runs her programs at her retreat.
Is this a review of attending one specific seminar?
No. This is the perspective of someone who hosts Maya's groups year after year at her own venue and recommends her as a teacher overall — based on years of observation, not a single visit.
Where do the programs mentioned take place?
At the Shambala Oceanside Retreat in North Bali, in Pantai Bondalem — Maya has regularly held her programs there since 2013.
Programs on Related Themes
Tantra, meditation, unfolding one's abilities — the themes Ilona touches on in her testimonial.
Sacred Sensuality — Tantric Retreat
A tantric retreat exploring sacred sensuality and the sacred feminine and masculine.
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Unfolding of Higher Abilities
Advanced-level online course developing awareness, intuition, and a more whole way of perceiving.
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Basics of Life — Level 1
Working with life scripts, limiting beliefs, and inner conflict.
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