| Welcome to My Ocean of Wonder The wonder of creativity, growth, inspiration, and transformation. This space is a celebration of what it means to be alive, awake, and ever-becoming. Here, I share the journey of crafting a life with the power of thought, intention, and embodied creativity — practices that stretch your world from the inside out. I’m Shelani — a professionally trained actor, dancer, speech and drama teacher, and performance artist with a deep reverence for the transformative power of story, movement, and artistic expression. I blend these disciplines into immersive experiences that awaken confidence, insight, and inner freedom. In 2013, I stepped far out of my comfort zone and travelled to China to train in Kung Fu. Though it was only for a month, the impact was lasting — I discovered new edges of my own strength and was introduced to meditation for the first time. This was one of my first initiations into how physical discipline and inner stillness can work together to shape character. I later taught at Stellenbosch Waldorf High School, where the principles of anthroposophy came alive in daily life. Over time, anthroposophy has become the spiritual map that guides me — a framework that reconnected me with the unseen rhythms of nature, the human journey, and the wisdom embedded in the world around us. I’m also deeply shaped by process art — an approach that values the unfolding experience over the end result, allowing the creative act to reveal what’s alive and true in the moment. These influences help me honour art as soul work, not just spectacle. Beyond the classroom and the stage, I’ve found profound joy and grounding through nature. My time volunteering at both Cheetah Outreach and Cheetah Experience gifted me countless hours in the company of wildlife — an experience that deepened my respect for life and brought me closer to its raw, wild essence. In 2015, I discovered poi and the world of flow arts — and something in me lit up. Since 2019, I’ve trained and performed with the Psychedelic Theatre and Fire Tribe, captivating audiences across South Africa with fire dancing, stilt walking, juggling, and expressive movement. These performances merge storytelling and elemental wonder — and continue to be an evolving canvas for personal and collective transformation. I was also honoured to be a Miss Earth South Africa national finalist in 2016, where I learned how presence, voice, and environmental responsibility can come together in acts of conscious leadership. The Art of Becoming I believe life is an ongoing act of creation — a dance between intention and surrender. Like nourishing food nurtures the body, soul food nurtures the emotions, the mind, and the spirit. I believe in writing and speaking your story the way it’s meant to be told — through courage, ownership, compassion, and flow. Like a seed that already carries all its potential, so do we. And that seed, once planted in the right soil, grows into something uniquely powerful. This is what I sow wherever I go — seeds of story, art, imagination, and what Clarissa Pinkola Estés calls wise innocence — that pure place within us that is both ancient and new, instinctual and open-hearted. These seeds are also maps. Maps that guide us into the deep blue ocean of self-reflection, where great treasures await — not because we conquer them, but because we are willing to integrate them. Over the years, I’ve become passionate about exploring how coaching and communication intersect with creativity and presence. I’m not a qualified coach — yet — but I bring all my embodied experience, artistic lens, and soul-deep curiosity into this field as a passionate learner, listening for what the world of coaching is asking of me, and how I can contribute through the language of movement, expression, and heart-centered guidance. Through talks, MC work, and embodied workshops, I take people on creative journeys that bring their stories to life — from mirror work and butterfly dances, to mythic explorations like Persephone’s descent and return. In these spaces, we meet the parts of ourselves we often silence — and invite them into wholeness. Through Heartspeakers, my coaching and creative expression space, I help people ignite their inner artist and reclaim their voice as a powerful instrument of connection and transformation. I am not modest about my calling. I am a woman committed to becoming the most powerful version of who I can be — not through dominance, but through creative devotion, spiritual curiosity, and an ever-deepening trust in life’s unfolding. As Rumi wrote: “Inside you there is an artist you don’t know about.” Welcome to Act of the Heart — where soul meets stage, and where courage is crafted. |
Act of the Heart 