Warren Shanti
When the artist and the teacher
are born from a journey of exploration
and personal development
My journey doesn’t begin with the handpan. It takes root much earlier, in a quest for meaning, self-understanding, and inner exploration that has accompanied me since the beginning.
Along this path, music and the handpan found their way into my life. Music gradually became a language, a tool for transformation, and a way to share what moves me deeply.
Today, this adventure expresses itself through my musical creations and live performances, my workshops and retreats, my handpan school—both physical and online—as well as through the many human connections that arise around music, sound frequencies, and practices of personal and spiritual exploration.
But to understand how all of this came to be, we must return to the beginning of the story.
The search for an
authentic language
When I look at my journey today, I realize that the handpan is ultimately just a natural step in a path that began long ago. From a very young age, I’ve always loved music and been drawn to questions related to creativity, the meaning of visible and invisible life, and understanding the human being. Long before music, there was already this deep desire to explore, understand, and share.
For many years, I searched for different ways to express what I felt deeply. Then music gradually emerged as a universal language capable of conveying what sometimes goes beyond words. The handpan came to reinforce this intuition by offering a space where emotion, creativity, and presence could finally meet naturally.
Our lives are often shaped by unexpected encounters. Certain people, certain books, certain journeys, or certain instruments arrive exactly when we need them.
My journey has been marked by these decisive encounters that gradually oriented my life toward music, transmission, and human accompaniment.
There is sometimes a small inner voice that pushes us toward directions we don’t immediately understand. My journey has often consisted of learning to listen to this intuition. To trust what resonated deeply, even when the path seemed unclear or uncertain. In hindsight, each step has found its place in a larger whole.
The music I share today is not separate from my personal story. It is nourished by my experiences, my relationships, my travels, my questioning, the trials and challenges I’ve gone through, and all the teachings received along the way.
Understanding my story often helps to better understand the intention behind each creation.
The stages
of an adventure
Childhood & creativity
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been driven by a deep curiosity about life, the human being, and the many ways to express oneself. Creativity, imagination, and sensitivity occupied an essential place in my daily life very early on. Long before music, it was above all a quest for understanding, meaning, and authenticity that guided my steps.
As a particularly sensitive child, I felt the world intensely. Emotions, atmospheres, and experiences touched me deeply. Very young already, two people in my family spoke to me of a particular sensitivity and perceived in me an energetic potential that I didn’t yet understand. At the time, these words mainly awakened my curiosity. It was only much later, through my personal and spiritual explorations, that I began to give them a deeper meaning.
I never considered this sensitivity a weakness. Over the years, I understood that it was, on the contrary, one of my greatest strengths: a gateway to empathy, listening, creativity, and a finer understanding of humanity and life.
Personal development & quest for meaning
For many years, I devoted myself to exploring personal development, spirituality, meditation, yoga, conscious breathing, and different approaches to inner transformation.
At a time when my professional life no longer made much sense to me, after twelve years as an electrician at ENEDIS, the technical subsidiary of EDF, I decided to question everything. In 2017, I left France to embark on a journey that would last more than two years between Australia and Indonesia. What was supposed to be a simple adventure quickly became a true initiatory journey of self-discovery.
Throughout this journey, I discovered new cultures, met inspiring teachers, and immersed myself in different wellness and self-knowledge practices. It was during this period that I trained in an ashram in Bali and became a yoga teacher, deepening my understanding of the body, breath, presence, and the connection between the physical, emotional, and inner dimensions of the human being.
At the same time, I discovered energetic practices more deeply and chose to train in Reiki in Australia. I had the chance to meet a teacher whose approach—both open, modern, and free of dogmatism—resonated particularly with me. This expanded vision of energetics nourished my reflection and enriched my understanding of the connection between body, mind, emotions, and energy.
Upon my return to France, with my heart and mind nourished by new understandings, experiences, and aspirations, this quest naturally continued through the exploration of other energetic practices, notably LaHoChi.
Over time, I enriched this approach with certain shamanic practices as well as different techniques from my own journey and personal experience, eventually developing a more complete and deeply personal method, which I then transmitted and taught for two years.
The discovery of shamanism profoundly marked my life and awakened something within me. I then began to follow, for several years, the teachings of different practitioners, energetic healers, and shamans from various traditions and cultures, exploring new ways of relating to oneself, to the living, and to the more subtle dimensions of human experience.
I became a Shamanic & Energetic Practitioner, Carrier of the Sacred Drum. It was during this period that my first practice was born, bringing together the power of sound and vibrations with that of accompaniment, well-being, and inner transformation.
Through these learnings, as well as those received previously in Australia and Indonesia, I gradually developed my professional activity of accompaniment through energetic healing, practices inspired by shamanism, ceremonies, individual accompaniment, workshops, training, and personal and spiritual development retreats. For several years, I had the chance to accompany hundreds of people in their own processes of transformation, reconnection to themselves, and inner exploration.
Quite naturally, I also began to transmit the practices I had received myself. My intention was then to allow those who felt the call to acquire tools for accompaniment, personal development, and well-being, so that they could then put them at the service of others.
This period profoundly marked my journey. It taught me that the greatest transformations are not born from what we receive and understand with the mind, but clearly from what we experience, feel, express, and integrate deeply through practice and experiences. An understanding that continues today to influence my way of living, creating, teaching, and accompanying the people I meet on my path, even if the forms this transmission takes have since evolved.
The encounter with the handpan
My first encounter with the handpan was in 2012, thanks to YouTube and the video “Once Again” by the duo Hang Massive. At that time, it was impossible for me to acquire an instrument. For nearly ten years, I listened to handpan music tirelessly, discovered many artists, and dreamed, day after day, of owning one.
At the end of 2020, thanks to an encounter unrelated to music, I finally had a handpan in my hands. In January 2021, I acquired my first instrument.
This encounter was immediate and overwhelming. Without any musical training or knowledge of music theory, nor any experience with any musical instrument, I discovered an instrument capable of expressing what words often fail to convey.
The handpan very quickly became much more than a simple musical instrument. It became a traveling companion, a means of expression, a tool for presence, and a bridge between emotions, feeling, and creativity. Like the shamanic drum.
For several years, I devoted myself to learning it with passion, exploring new musical possibilities every day and gradually developing an intuitive approach centered on expression, feeling, sensitivity, and authenticity.
First creations
Naturally, the handpan quickly found its place at the heart of my accompaniments, my ceremonies, and the wellness retreats I was already leading at that time. This instrument then became a formidable bridge between music, emotion, presence, and the inner transformation practices I had been transmitting for several years.
Little by little, my first melodies emerged, followed by my first compositions. I then began to record videos and share more widely what music allows me to express when words are no longer enough.
Through my albums, my singles, and my different artistic projects, I seek above all to create spaces for listening, sensitivity, and emotion. Music that invites us to slow down, to fully feel the present moment, and to reconnect with ourselves.
Over time, my creations have been received far beyond anything I could have imagined. Listened to and heard by millions of people around the world, they offer me the opportunity to share my music on stage during concerts, festivals, and events dedicated to well-being, meditation, and personal development.
In parallel, I continue to share through inspiring videos, which I regularly publish on my various social networks, allowing this musical and human adventure to reach an ever-wider audience.
Concerts, workshops & transmission
Very quickly, transmitting became as important as playing.
I started by accompanying a few students in individual lessons before gradually creating small workshops of a few hours for small groups, then larger workshops and multi-day immersions for all levels, for groups of up to 20 or 22 people.
Since then, I’ve had the joy of accompanying several thousand people in their discovery of the handpan through workshops organized in France and Germany.
My teaching approach is based on a balance between technique, musical understanding, and personal expression. Beyond notes and rhythms, I give an essential place to listening, feeling, presence, and each person’s ability to develop their own musical voice, to improvise freely with minimal music theory, without any prerequisites and accessible to everyone.
The Handpan Paradise: the physical school
Driven by the desire to create a true meeting place around the handpan, I founded with my partner Isabelle “The Handpan Paradise” in Witten, Germany, where I’ve been living since 2025.
This space is at once a school, a showroom, and a place for exchange and sharing dedicated to handpan enthusiasts. Visitors can discover different instruments, receive personalized advice to purchase the instrument best suited to their needs, participate in group classes, or simply share a moment around this common passion.
The goal is simple: make the handpan accessible to as many people as possible, regardless of age, level, musical background, or budget.
The Handpan Paradise: the online school
In June 2026, one of the projects closest to my heart was born:
“The Handpan Paradise — The Online School.”
After several years of teaching and meeting students from around the world, one thing became clear: many people want to learn the handpan but don’t always have access to a teacher or school near them.
So I created, in collaboration with Isabelle (Hangala), a complete school allowing people to learn the handpan from home, at their own pace and in their own language.
The school now offers more than 150 lessons across several handpan scales, with content adapted both for beginners with no musical experience and for more advanced players wishing to deepen their practice.
All courses are recorded natively in French, English, and German to offer a natural learning experience accessible to as many people as possible.
Beyond the videos, the school is designed as a true living community. Members can exchange, participate in challenges, attend live sessions, ask questions, and evolve together in a supportive and inspiring environment.
My wish is not only to teach pieces or techniques, but to help each person develop their autonomy, creativity, and ability to transform their emotions into music.
Today
Today, I continue this adventure through musical creations, concerts, workshops, retreats, inner exploration programs, as well as my physical and online schools.
Through each of these projects, the same intention remains: to create spaces where music becomes a path of connection to oneself, to others, and to the present moment.
Because deep down, I deeply believe that music is not only about playing notes. It is above all a way of feeling, sharing, expressing, sometimes even releasing what lives within us.
What music
has taught me:
Making room
for the unexpected
When improvisation becomes a way of life.
When I started playing, I thought I was learning an instrument. Over time, I understood that music was teaching me much more. It taught me listening, patience, trust, and acceptance of imperfection.
It taught me to slow down when everything is moving too fast, and that some of the most beautiful melodies are born when we accept not knowing where we’re going.
It confirmed that sensitivity is far from being a weakness but a great strength, and that the most authentic moments often arise when we stop trying to control what’s happening.
Because certain things
feel so good that they
must be shared
and continues to do so
After having received so much from the practice of the handpan and other practices and techniques, it seemed natural to want to transmit in turn. Not to teach a truth or impose a method, but to offer tools, experiences, and spaces that can help each person discover their own voice & path. Transmission has become on my journey a way to extend what all these approaches have offered me throughout my path.
What touches me most today is not only playing. It’s seeing what happens when other people discover their own capacity to create, feel, and express themselves. Transmission has become a way to participate in these transformations. A space where each person can move forward at their own pace and develop a freer relationship with music and with themselves.
I don’t consider myself only a teacher.
My intention is more to create favorable conditions for learning and exploration. Each person already possesses within themselves the resources necessary to progress. My role is simply to accompany this process, to share my experience, and to open doors that each person is free to cross in their own way.
When something profoundly transforms our life, it becomes difficult to keep it to ourselves. The handpan and music have opened many spaces for growth, creativity, and connection in my existence.
Today, transmitting this richness has become obvious. A way to give thanks for what I’ve received by putting it at the service of others.
The universe of Warren Shanti
Between music, emotion, and inner exploration.
What I share today goes far beyond the framework of music. My albums, my concerts & sound journeys, my workshops, and all my educational content all participate in the same vision: creating experiences that allow reconnection to oneself, to others, and to something greater. An adventure that continues to evolve with each encounter and each new project.
I consider music a territory of endless exploration.
Each new project, each encounter, and each creation opens new perspectives.
My artistic universe is nourished by different influences: music, personal development, spirituality, ancestral traditions from around the world, and the human experiences that mark life. These elements meet naturally in my creations to form a space where artistic expression is also an invitation to introspection and presence.
“The handpan has transformed my life.
Today, I explore how it can also
transform the lives of others.”
Warren Shanti
Music born from the moment, from listening and emotion.
When I take the stage or compose, my intention is never limited to playing music. I seek above all to tell a story, to create a suspended moment where each person can reconnect with their emotions, their imagination, and their own sensitivity.
Words sometimes reach their limits. Music, on the other hand, possesses this unique capacity to express what escapes rational explanations. Through the handpan, I explore this subtle language, at the meeting point of emotion, silence, and presence. An artistic search that always places authenticity above technical demonstration.
For me, music is above all an encounter.
An encounter with oneself, with others, but also with something vaster, a dimension that sometimes surpasses us and connects us. My artistic work seeks to give birth to and nourish these spaces of connection.
My musical universe was built at the crossroads of several influences: improvisation, meditation, harmony, and inner exploration. Today, all these dimensions come together in a deeply intuitive approach, where I invite in each of my creations to slow down, to listen, to feel, and to marvel.
Through my concerts, my albums, and my sound journeys, I impose no story. I open a space in which each person is free to live their own inner experience, to let their images, emotions, and their own way of traveling emerge.
What inspires me deeply
Inspiration is everywhere
Transforming experiences and emotions into music.
My music is deeply nourished by nature, travels, human encounters, and the different trials and challenges met along my path. From France to Australia, through Bali and the many places I’ve had the chance to visit, or those where I’ve been able to play, teach, or simply create, each experience has expanded my way of listening to the world and feeling music.
But my inspiration is also born from what makes no sound: silence, meditation, contemplation, and those moments of presence where time seems to slow down. It’s often in these spaces that emotions become clearer and the first notes appear. All these influences meet naturally to give birth to an intimate sound universe, deeply personal, but in which each person can find a part of their own story.
The greatest inspirations don’t always come from music. They hide in a landscape that takes our breath away, an unexpected conversation, an encounter that transforms our perspective, a departure, a return, a trial, or simply a moment of ordinary beauty. I try to remain attentive to these fragments of life and let them permeate my creations, so that my music remains sincere, alive, and deeply connected to reality.
I’ve always been fascinated by music capable of crossing borders, languages, and cultures. World instruments, organic rhythms, sacred songs, ancestral sounds, and meditative and shamanic practices nourish my imagination. I don’t seek to reproduce these traditions, but to let their essence resonate within me, then transform naturally through my own sensitivity.
My journey in yoga, meditation, shamanism, and inner exploration has also profoundly influenced my relationship to creation. It taught me not to fill every space, to listen to the silence between notes, and to let music breathe. In my playing, presence, emotion, and intention matter more than technical demonstration. A melody doesn’t need to be complex to touch deeply. It must above all be true.
A conversation, a book, a landscape, a memory, a silence, or a journey can thus become the starting point of a new composition. I don’t believe that inspiration is something we can force or pursue. It’s already present everywhere around us, but also within us. Sometimes we just need to slow down enough to hear it and remain available when it comes knocking gently at the door.
Each lived experience leaves an imprint. Some become memories, others transform into melodies. My music is born from this alchemy between life events, the emotions they awaken, and the desire to offer them a form of expression.
Through the handpan, other instruments, the voice, and the different sound textures that accompany my creations, I seek to transform these experiences into stories without words. Stories that each person can feel and interpret freely, according to their own experience.
In my music, I seek to create a space where we can slow down, listen differently, and rediscover that sensitivity that daily life sometimes ends up stifling.
The handpan is much more than an instrument,
why does it still fascinate me?
A gateway to listening and expression.
It connects emotion, body, and creativity.
What struck me from the beginning with the handpan was its accessibility. When I started playing in January 2021, I had no knowledge of music theory. Yet, in just a few minutes, it was already possible to create something harmonious, sensitive, and vibrant.
The handpan allows you to feel the pleasure of playing very quickly, without having to go through months of learning before being able to express yourself. But this simplicity is only a gateway. Behind it lies an immense universe that I’m still exploring today.
For me, the handpan is not only an instrument. It accompanies me in my emotions, my travels, my encounters, and the different stages of my life. It allows me to express myself when words are no longer enough and to give musical form to what’s happening inside.
With it, I discovered another way of learning music. You can start by listening, feeling, improvising, and creating. Technique remains important, but it’s not there to impress. It serves to gain freedom and to express more accurately what we carry within us.
This is what I seek to transmit in my courses and workshops. I don’t just want to teach people to reproduce rhythms. I want to give them the tools to understand their instrument, develop their own language, and transform their emotions into music.
The handpan also possesses this rare capacity to create connection. It brings together people who sometimes don’t speak the same language and touches both experienced musicians and those who have never dared to play before.
It’s simple to approach, but impossible to exhaust. The further I go, the more I discover new ways to play, to let a melody breathe, to use silence, and to tell a story.
It’s this richness that still nourishes my passion and my desire to transmit. The handpan taught me that music doesn’t always ask us to understand everything. It mainly asks us to be present, to listen sincerely, and to dare to let something of ourselves come out.
And now?
Somewhere between a note and a silence,
each encounter writes a new chapter.
So the adventure continues through music,
it’s time to choose the path that calls to you.
Every encounter begins somewhere. Perhaps through listening to one of my compositions, an album, a video, a concert, a retreat, or a workshop. If something in my story, my music, or my way of transmitting resonates with you, then this first contact already has meaning.
You can continue this discovery in different ways: listen to my albums, come meet me at a concert, participate in a workshop, or join The Handpan Paradise, my online school and community. Each person moves forward in their own way, according to what speaks to them and what they need at that moment in their life.
Music sometimes creates surprising connections between people who don’t yet know each other. It’s actually one of the most beautiful things it has brought me.
I hope to have the opportunity to meet you one day, to share a moment of music together, or simply to cross paths around the handpan.
This page tells part of my story, but it continues to be written every day. New projects, new creations, new journeys, and above all new encounters constantly nourish this path.
Behind everything I create, there is a simple intention: to share something true, sensitive, and deeply human. If these few lines have allowed you to better understand my universe, then the rest will perhaps be discovered simply by listening to my music.
