Malaika offers Elemental ISHTA Yoga, a flowing practice rooted in Hatha, Tantra, and Ayurveda. The first week explores yoga through the five elements, while the second focuses on chakras.
Every other afternoon, you will join her 5Elements Dance Activation, free, ecstatic dance sessions that embody yoga philosophy in movement. Classes also include pranayama, meditation, and visualisation, creating a balance between strength, alignment, and spiritual connection. This retreat is joyful, grounding, and suitable for all levels.
Originally from Canada and now based in Bali, Malaika teaches and dances worldwide. She brings long experience on and off the mat to support real self-transformation.
A qualified ISHTA teacher, Water Dance practitioner and African dance performer, she is the creatrix of 5Elements Dance Activation, a dynamic, shamanic-inspired movement journey that works with earth, water, fire, air and spirit. With more than 12 years as a bodyworker and many years as a spiritual healer, Malaika helps you find flow, grace and ease around old injuries. Her teaching lives in nature as much as in the shala, and holds yoga as a marriage of mind, body and spirit.
You will practise Elemental ISHTA Yoga, blending classical teachings with a modern, personal approach. Expect clear attention to flow, alignment and body awareness so you can move with respect for your own needs. On alternate afternoons, you will explore free ecstatic dance, using great world music to let go, reconnect and discover how movement can deepen meditation.
What you will experience with Malaika
- Pranayama and simple visualisation to settle and clarify the mind
- Daily asana to stretch, strengthen and balance the body
- Week one: Hatha flow based on the elements
- Week two: practices that connect yoga with the chakra system
- Daily dance with 5Elements Dance Activation and Ecstatic Dance
- Meditation to nurture compassion for yourself and others
In this special retreat, you will practice daily yoga moving with the Elements and, on every other afternoon, use free ecstatic dance practices to embody the philosophy of yoga in a dynamic way. Using great world music to support you to let go and find your own groove. You will be amazed by how much this supports your yoga practice and deepens your ability to meditate.
Malaika incorporates her work as a dancer, Spiritual Healer, and more than 12 years as a bodyworker to help her students find flow, grace and healing to injuries. She fully embodies the deeper philosophy of yoga as a marriage of mind, body, and spirit, and teaches both in the yoga shala and in natural environments.
She brings a wealth of earth wisdom for personal and planetary awakening having walked the shamanic path for a lifetime. She is dedicated to creating sacred space in ritual and ceremony to help restore balance to our distorted civilised culture. A qualified ISHTA yoga teacher, Water Dance practitioner, African dance performer and teacher, and creatrix of 5Elements Dance Activation™, a shamanic dynamic meditation dance journey embodying the five cardinal elements: earth, water, fire, air and spirit. She is also the founder of Journey to the Heart and Elemental Embodiment™, 5-day transformational retreats for men and women. She has facilitated groups for more than 25 years in India, Australia, Africa, China, USA, Costa Rica, Europe, and Egypt. She offers a spirituality that is rooted in the body to access higher realms of consciousness.
At Ulpotha, Malaika will be offering her Elemental ISHTA (Integrated Science of Hatha, Tantra, and Ayurveda) Yoga classes which provide a blend of ancient and contemporary teachings to cater to your individual needs. Focusing on flow, alignment, body awareness, and expansion to cultivate grace, she will encourage you to respect and listen to your body, using a holistic approach to yoga as a way of being.
What to expect:
- Pranayama and visualisation to purify and quiet the mind
- Daily yoga and asana to stretch, strengthen and balance the body (firstly Hatha flow yoga based on the elements and, in the second week, focussing on the connection of Yoga to the Chakra system)
- Daily dance to reconnect mind, body and spirit and celebrate the gift of life using 5Elements Dance Activation™ and Ecstatic Dance
- Meditation to expand your awareness and cultivate loving compassion for yourself and others
Her teachings are suitable for beginners and intermediate levels, and dance is a crucial part of this workshop.
In pictures
5 photos
Resident therapist
Dilani Kandegama
Dilani brings 24 years of massage therapy experience to Ulpotha, with professional qualifications in deep-tissue and relaxation massage, as well as foot reflexology. She works at a physiotherapy clinic in Colombo, where she delivers therapeutic massage and supports patient rehabilitation programmes.
Before that, she spent nine years as a sports centre therapist at Hilton Colombo Residencies, working with guests from across the world. She currently also provides prenatal and postnatal massage support and works as a personal therapist for diplomats based in Sri Lanka.
Dilani believes every body tells its own story. She takes time to understand what each guest needs before they get onto the table, and shapes every session around that.
Who is here
Who you’ll practise with
Practicalities
What a stay includes
- Two weeks, Sunday to Sunday.
- One week is possible: pick your dates on the booking page.
- Your hut, daily yoga (usually two classes) and all meals are covered.
- Ayurveda and transfers are the only extras.