ISTA Practitioner Training / Briana Cribeyer, Michal Maayan Don & Blake Zealear

In 2026, The International School of Temple Arts will be hosting its Practitioner Training graduates-only program at one of the world’s most majestic destinations: Lake Atitlán, Guatemala.

From April 4-11, the PT will take place at our luxurious and eco-friendly resort, located on the shores of the lake, surrounded by three breathtaking volcanoes. The 8-day residential retreat will be supported by two 4-hour online class sessions on March 21 & 22.

The potent location of Lake Atitlan, combined with a dynamic team of facilitators: Michal Maayan Don, Briana Cribeyer, and Blake Zealear, promise to deliver a powerful and life-changing experience for those ready to step into the sacred path of Daka/Dakini work – in their personal or professional life.

The ISTA Practitioner Training is a holistic, in-depth system for transformation which emphasizes the power of sexual energy. The PT program aims to hone and support the natural flow of sexual life force energy to provide practitioners and clients a valuable framework for sexual wholeness.

The ISTA PT is an essential guide for the modern day Daka/Dakini and Sexual Priest/Priestess.
In this training, you will learn how to empower your client to understand, communicate and maintain healthy boundaries, needs and desires. Moreover, you will acquire the necessary skills to support your clients to activate and release their emotional body, using shamanic tools for transformation.

During the PT, you will practice tuning into your own body wisdom which not only informs the work you do with your client, but also shows you how to meet them on a physical level, from a space of heart-centred connection. An essential aspect of this work is activating energy and awakening through the heart. Through the Heart, you can empower your client to experience the presence of Love itself inside of his or her body rather than recycling past stories of shame, limitation, inadequacy, fear and guilt.

About the Venue

Guatemala is a jewel in Central America – unknown to most – and we welcome the chance to support your exploration of this beautiful land and its rich culture while journeying deeply on the spiritual, sexual, shamanic path. ISTA has been holding trainings annually in Guatemala since 2012, honored to be partnering with our world-class eco-retreat on the shores of stunning Lake Atitlán. Our venue is one of the most luxurious and breath taking retreat centers ISTA hosts trainings at, and the longest-standing ISTA venue. We’re honored to be welcomed in this ancestral Mayan place of power. Lake Atitlán is surrounded by three striking volcanoes and over 1,000 feet deep; this magnificent lake’s beauty is encapsulated in the meaning of the Mayan word Atitlán: “the place where the rainbow gets its colors.”

Our exclusive venue offers one of the most luxurious hospitality experiences available in Guatemala, and is the perfect spot for engaging in this life-changing work in a comfortable, magical and natural setting. There is a solar hot tub permanently available for you to soak and relax, as well as a fire-lit hot tub and sauna that are open some nights of the week. The restaurant offers a splendid view of the lake, and a blend of local and international vegetarian cuisine. Optional fish and meat supplements are available too. All food is carefully prepared and almost entirely locally sourced. The center operates in a sustainable, ecologically and socially engaged way.Sign Up Today for a life-changing journey on the shores of majestic Lake Atitlan, led by world-class facilitators in the fields of transformational work, embodied ritual, emotional processing, sacred sexuality and healing from trauma.

Briana Cribeyer

Briana was born under the full moon in the Midwest of the United States as the youngest daughter of a high priestess. She grew up eavesdropping on the creation of rituals and ceremonies of the sacred. She talked to plants and animals and listened deeply to their messages. Years later, fleeing the Midwest, she found wisdom in the mountains and forests of Colorado, New Hampshire, Washington– and living abroad in Japan and throughout South America. In that time, she absorbed the ways of the elders, and began to craft her connection back to the mother (earth) and womb medicine through movement, prayer, and shamanic practice.

Beginning her career in social services and education, leading to non-profit management, Briana wove the thread of a desire to serve throughout each step along her path. She sees all of her past career as energy work, supporting individuals and groups to find their own power to heal. With degrees in Sociology, a focus on ‘Race, Culture, Power,’ and Sexual Behavior, as well as a Natural Resources, focusing on sustainability, Briana brings humility of leadership and objectivity to board rooms, corporate offices, private sessions with couples, and family mediating alike.

Briana can most often be felt in her ecstatic joy, grinning ear to ear, channeling her maiden that loves to jump in puddles, and her priestess who gathers the energy and sends it whirling to create alchemy in all around. Her happy place is in facilitation, and workshop creation has been a constant for the past 15 years.

She is the founder of Sacred Sexuality Rising, an online community of over 9,000 participants, a lead trainer for Intuitive Tantra, speaker and facilitator for The Ohio State University on the topic of sacred sexuality, and Executive Director of the Columbus’s Coalition for Sexuality.

She believes that deep and radical love, coupled with ownership and self-responsibility will shift the trajectory of humans on the planet.

Michal Maayan Don

Michal is a “Sacred Activist” and a facilitator of sexual shamanism sacred spaces. She holds a MA in Gender studies. Michal holds training for group facilitators of conscious sexuality and women’s circles, nurtures and leads a tribe of women who bring the wisdom of the circles in Israel.

Initiated and guided by the ancient knowledge of the land of Canaan, by Hebrew ancestors and my living teachers. Proud to be a teacher of ISTA’s international teaching staff – the Temple Arts School, and proud to be a founding member of Ishtar – the Center for the Arts of Love and the Development of Consciousness.

Behind me are many years as a group and ceremonies facilitator and producer at festivals and conferences, my journey of life led me to a deep healing of sexuality and my sacred mission in this life is to pass it on. Ahead of me is the intention to connect the world of sacred sexuality to the academic world, the education and health system, and politics. I have completed my master’s degree in gender and am building myself as a bridge enabling dialogue between worlds. Dreaming and realizing peace on earth. I am 51. A woman, priestess, friend, and mother.

Blake Zealear

Blake is an evolutionary guide working at the intersection of men’s work, feminism, sacred sexuality, and new-paradigm relating. He identifies as two-spirit, queer, pansexual, an erotic shapeshifter, and a multitude of other human expressions – and this faceted perspective illuminates his teaching. His multi-disciplinary approach provides the empowerment, permission, and playfulness that enable a liberated reclaiming of his students’ lives.

Blake has studied embodiment, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Radical Honesty, Landmark technology, Tantric and Yogic practice, breathwork, shamanic sexuality, esoterics, polarity, non-traditional relationship design, shadow-work, and Spiral Dynamics, among other modalities. He is devoted to the emergence of a new culture of love in our lifetimes, the transmutation of suffering into power, and the ascension of humanity through healing our relationships to ourselves and the Earth.