BELD International trains and certifies practitioners in bio-electric lymph drainage and the lymphatic therapies around it. Small cohorts, supervised hands-on hours, and a credential anyone can check.
Next Level 1 intake — 16–18 October 2026 · Toronto
For clients
Looking for a session
Find a certified practitioner near you, see what a session involves, and read who the work is and is not suitable for.
Maximum students to one instructor for supervised hands-on work, assistant trainers included. Practical assessment is conducted by the lead instructor.
15 h
Supervised hands-on hours at Level 1 alone, in the room with an instructor.
Verifiable
Every certificate carries a number that resolves to a public page.
Revocable
A credential that can lapse or be withdrawn. That is what makes it a standard.
Faculty
Taught by Hannah Shalom
DCHM (HON) · FCHM · RSHOM · BELD-AP
Trained and certified in bio-electric lymph drainage under Frances Robert and Suzanne Childré at Gentle Wellness, Santa Monica, California. Practicum and advanced extended training completed in 2016, with ten years of clinical practice with the method since.
Registered Homeopath, College of Homeopaths of Ontario. Certified Colon Hydrotherapist. Applied Kinesiology, 2004. Graduate with top honours, Canadian College of Homeopathic Medicine, with postgraduate training at CCHM.
Originator of Glymphatic Drainage — the hands-on method and the practitioner course built on the glymphatic research that began in 2012 — and its first teacher. Her own research into the method is ongoing, and it is why BELD International keeps a de-identified outcome register from day one.
Member — NUPATH · CSOH · OHA · OHMA
Faculty
Who teaches
Hannah Shalom
DCHM (HON) · FCHM · RSHOM · BELD-AP
Lead instructor and founder
Hannah has spent more than two decades in clinical practice as a homeopath and functional medicine practitioner — herbology, nutraceuticals and integrative nutrition — and founded the clinic that became Homeopathic Family Practice in 2013. She graduated with top honours from the Canadian College of Homeopathic Medicine, completed postgraduate training there, and is a Registered Homeopath with the College of Homeopaths of Ontario.
She trained and certified in bio-electric lymph drainage under Frances Robert and Suzanne Childré at Gentle Wellness in Santa Monica, completing her practicum and advanced extended training in 2016, and has practised and taught the method ever since. Along the way she developed Glymphatic Drainage — a hands-on method and practitioner course built on the glymphatic research — and certified in face and body gua sha and cupping, so the whole lymphatic family is taught from one pair of hands.
A PhD candidate and Director of Public Relations for Homeopathy World Community, she founded BELD International to give this work what it never had: a standard, a register anyone can check, and a community under one roof. She sets the curriculum, leads every practicum, assesses every practical, and signs every certificate. Her rule for the training room is the same as for the treatment room: there is no rush here.
Member — NUPATH · CSOH · OHA · OHMA
Pooja Nair
BELD-CLP
Assistant Trainer · Homeopathic Family Practice, Toronto
A former ICU and emergency-room medical officer, with clinical background across cardiology, gynecology, trauma care, pulmonology and neurology, and particular depth in women's health and prenatal care.
She delivers bio-electric lymph drainage, cupping, gua sha and iMRS sessions in daily practice, and supports hands-on practicum under the lead instructor. Her emergency background makes her the right person to co-teach recognising red flags and knowing when to stop.
Certified BELD-CLP, October 2024. Assistant trainers count toward the 1:6 supervision ratio for hands-on work; practical assessment is always the lead instructor's.
There is no rush here. Healing moves at the speed of trust.
Healing the Body's Blueprint
The method
What is bio-electric lymph drainage?
Lymph doesn’t drain on its own. It’s pumped — by tiny muscular chambers in the vessels that contract in a slow, steady rhythm, and that respond to gentle, patient touch. Bio-electric lymph drainage, or BELD, works with that rhythm: light manual lymphatic technique combined with a hand-held light-beam wand moved over the skin along the lymph pathways. It is not massage, and it is not a medical treatment.
How the lymphatic system moves fluid
The lymphatic system has no central pump. Fluid moves through it by the contraction of the lymphangion — the small segmented vessels that squeeze in sequence — helped by breathing, skeletal muscle movement and the pressure difference in the tissue around it. That is why movement, breath and manual work all have a part in lymphatic care. The system returns fluid, proteins and cell debris from the tissues to the bloodstream just behind the collarbones; it houses and multiplies the immune cells that meet what the tissues send in; and it carries the fat you eat from the gut into the blood. When it slows — with inactivity, inflammation, surgery or plain exhaustion — people feel it as heaviness, puffiness and sluggishness.
Lymph travels in one direction, through watershed regions and node chains, toward the terminal ducts at the base of the neck. Knowing those territories is what separates a practitioner who is following a protocol from one who understands what they are doing.
Figure · Watershed territories and node chains
Dashed lines are the watersheds: a sagittal line down the midline, a clavicular line, and an umbilical line. Together they divide the surface into a head-and-neck territory and four quadrants. Each territory drains along its own node chain to its own regional nodes — cervical, axillary or inguinal — and from there to one of the two termini behind the collarbones. In a session the hands always work toward the regional nodes of the territory they are in, and a stroke never crosses a watershed.
How it compares
Bio-electric lymph drainage
Manual lymphatic drainage
Compression therapy
How it works
Hand-held light-beam wand plus light manual technique
Light rhythmic manual technique
Graduated garments or pumps
Typical session
90 minutes, front and back (45-minute half session, usually the front)
45 to 60 minutes
Worn or applied over hours
Usual setting
Wellness and integrative clinics
Clinical and post-surgical care
Prescribed medical care
Evidence base
Limited published research
Well studied in lymphoedema care
Well studied, standard of care
Each of these has its place, and they are often used alongside one another. Where a client needs lymphoedema care, a certified lymphoedema therapist is the right referral, and our practitioners are trained to make it.
Who it is not for
Published openly, because a client deserves to know before they book, and because a practitioner who screens properly is the point of the credential.
Not suitable
Pacemakers and implanted electronic devices
Active malignancy without oncologist clearance
Known clotting disorder or active DVT
Acute infection or fever
Uncontrolled cardiac or renal failure
Needs clearance first
Pregnancy
Recent surgery
Unexplained swelling
Open wounds or skin infection
What to expect
You’ll lie under a sheet in a warm, softly lit room. For 90 minutes — front and back of the body; a 45-minute half session usually covers the front — your practitioner combines light manual lymphatic technique, slow, subtle and sweeping in the direction the lymph naturally travels, with a hand-held light-beam wand moved lightly over the skin along the same pathways. There is no hurry at all. Most people find it deeply relaxing; many say they feel lighter and clearer afterward. Your practitioner will tell you what to do for the 24 to 48 hours after.
How often. Some people book a short series close together; others come when they feel heavy or tired, or simply to rest. Your practitioner will suggest a rhythm after your first session.
Before your first session. A short health screen, together. Some conditions mean we won’t treat; some mean we’ll ask for a note from your physician first — and if yours is one of them, we’ll tell you plainly and point you to the right care.
For practitioners
Programmes
Four programmes, one certifying body. Every one of them carries the same safety module and the same assessment standard — whichever you take first.
All tuition in Canadian dollars, exclusive of 13% HST. Instalment plans available on every programme.
The BELD ladderDevice-based · the only programmes that carry post-nominal letters
Complete a level and you may write BELD-CP, BELD-CLP or BELD-AP after your name.
The standalone certificates below are real credentials and are listed on the register — they simply do not carry post-nominals.
Standalone certificatesHands-only · no device to buy · no post-nominal letters
Clinical
Glymphatic Drainage
Certificate in Glymphatic Drainage ~14 contact hours · 2 days Developed and taught by the founder
Also taught inside Level 2
$1,200
Aesthetic
Face & Body Cupping
Standalone certificate Hands-only technique
No device required
$895
Aesthetic
Face & Body Gua Sha
Standalone certificate Hands-only technique
No device required
$895
Shared safety module
Contraindications, red flags, and when to refer. Required in every programme on this page — nobody is certified without it.
Entry requirement
Anatomy and physiology: a completed A&P component from any recognised health-professional programme — RMT, ND, homeopathy (DCHM/HOM), nursing, physiotherapy, kinesiology, aesthetics diploma with A&P, or similar — or a standalone A&P course of 90 hours or more, in person or online, with a certificate of completion — or pass our challenge exam at 80%.
Glymphatic Drainage — where it comes from
A method built on the research, by the person who teaches it
The brain has its own clearance system. Cerebrospinal fluid moves along the spaces around blood vessels, through brain tissue, and out into the lymphatics of the meninges and neck — the glymphatic pathway, first described in 2012 and mostly active during sleep. Hannah Shalom took that research and asked a practitioner's question: what does hands-on work at the outflow end — the head, face and neck — have to offer? Glymphatic Drainage is her answer: a defined sequence, a teaching method, and a course, developed at Homeopathic Family Practice and taught there since. She continues her own research into the method, and the course is revised as the science moves.
We say plainly what is and isn't established. The pathway is well described in animals and increasingly in humans; whether manual work changes brain clearance in a living person has not yet been shown, and no BELD International course claims that it has. Students learn the science accurately, the cervical anatomy precisely, and the technique carefully — and how to describe it without a word they can't stand behind.
Certification standard
What the credential does and does not do
It says you have completed the hours, passed a written and practical assessment, logged supervised sessions, and agreed to a scope of practice and a code of conduct. It is renewable every three years with continuing education, and it can be revoked.
It does not grant a scope of practice. You practise within the scope of your own profession and jurisdiction. It is not a licence, a diploma, or a regulated credential, and we will never describe it as one.
The letters
What you put after your name
Each credential carries its own post-nominal letters. Use them in your signature, on your website, on your treatment-room wall — and link them back to your verification page so anyone can check them.
BELD-CP
Certified Practitioner Level 1
BELD-CLP
Clinical Practitioner Level 2
BELD-AP
Advanced Practitioner Level 3
How the 1:6 ratio works
No more than six students to one trainer for supervised hands-on work — assistant trainers count toward that ratio, so larger cohorts are supported by more trainers rather than thinner supervision. Practical assessment is conducted by the lead instructor.
Written as a suffix after your own professional designations, never in place of them — Jane Doe, RMT, BELD-CP. The letters state what you trained in; your registration states what you may practise.
Trained in BELD elsewhere?
One roof for everyone who does this work
If you trained in bio-electric lymph drainage with another school or instrument maker, you belong here too. Associate membership brings BELD-trained practitioners into one community — and gives you a clear route to the BELD International credential if you want it.
Associate member
Join the community
Members' forum, case discussions, quarterly online meet-ups
The evidence summary, the claims guide, contraindications quick card
Continuing-education sessions and the annual Master Class
Listed in the directory as Associate — trained elsewhere
To join: your training certificate, your professional registration if you hold one, the code of conduct signed, and the contraindications gate passed online at 100%.
Submit your certificate and a log of sessions delivered
Sit the Level 1 written exam and the contraindications gate
One assessed practical session, in person, with a BELD International assessor
Five documented case notes
Pass, and you hold BELD-CP on the same terms as a Level 1 graduate — same register, same letters, same renewal. No repeat of training you already have.
$720 assessment
Why two doors
The register's value is that every credential on it was assessed by us. Associate membership is open to anyone BELD-trained; the letters are earned. Keeping the two distinct is what lets the community grow without the credential thinning.
Both share the same code of conduct, the same claims discipline, and the same contraindications gate — because a client can't tell who trained you, and shouldn't have to.
Clinical track
BELD Level 1 — Foundation
Three days in the room, plus live online theory in the fortnight before. You leave able to deliver a complete full-body BELD session on a healthy adult, unsupervised, and to know when not to.
Credential
BELD Certified Practitioner
Hours
24 contact · 15 supervised
Cohort
Small by design · 1:6 supervision
Next intake
16–18 October 2026 · Toronto
What you will be able to do
Justify every placement you make from lymphatic anatomy
Explain what the device does, in language a client understands
Screen for contraindications and document that screening
Set up, operate, clean and maintain the device safely
Deliver a full-body session unsupervised
Recognise an adverse response and act on it
Take consent, chart a session, and refer when it is not yours to treat
The eight modules
2 h
Orientation and scope
4 h
Lymphatic anatomy, applied to the hands
3 h
Mechanism and the device
3 h
Screening, contraindications, red flags
2 h
Hygiene, set-up, treatment environment
6 h
The standard full-body sequence
2 h
Response, aftercare, the treatment series
2 h
Consent, charting, communication
How you are assessed
Written
50 questions, 70% to pass. Contraindication items are must-pass — miss two and you resit regardless of your total.
Practical
A full session on an assessor, scored against a rubric: set-up, screening, sequence accuracy, hygiene, communication, aftercare.
Case notes
Five documented sessions on five different people, submitted with signed consent forms.
Enrolment
16–18 October 2026
Toronto. Live online theory on three evenings between 5 and 14 October. Places are limited by the 1:6 rule, not by choice.
$1,800
Plus 13% HST — $2,034 total. Or two payments of $920.
Request a place
We verify your anatomy and physiology evidence before confirming a place — not on the morning of the course.
Clinical track
BELD Level 2 — Clinical Application
Where a practitioner stops following the sequence and starts planning treatment. You leave able to build a multi-session plan for a presenting complaint, adapt the standard sequence to it, bring glymphatic work into the plan, and work safely alongside medical care.
Credential
BELD Clinical Practitioner · BELD-CLP
Hours
24 contact · 20 supervised
Prerequisite
Level 1 + 3 months + 10 logged sessions
Cohort
Small by design · 1:6 supervision
What you will be able to do
Build and justify a multi-session treatment plan for a presenting complaint
Modify the standard sequence for specific presentations, and say why
Integrate glymphatic drainage with BELD in a single plan
Recognise non-response and change approach rather than repeat
Identify what is outside your scope and refer with a written handover
Work alongside medical treatment without interfering with it
The six modules
4 h
Assessment and treatment planning
6 h
Glymphatic drainage foundations
8 h
Presentation-specific adaptation
2 h
Working alongside medicine
2 h
Non-response, adverse events, difficult sessions
2 h
Practice, ethics and record-keeping
How you are assessed
Written
60 questions, 75% to pass. The contraindications gate is sat again at every level and must be passed at 100%.
Practical and viva
An adapted session for an assigned presentation, then a viva on your reasoning — what you changed, and why.
Case studies
Ten case studies of three sessions or more, each with plan, notes, outcome and reflection, plus one referral letter written to standard.
Enrolment
Dates announced after the October cohort
Toronto. Live online theory, in-person practicum. Open to BELD-CP holders three months after certification with ten logged sessions on file.
$2,400
Plus 13% HST — $2,712 total. Or two payments of $1,225. Continuing-student rate available to certified BELD practitioners.
Register interest
We check your Level 1 certification and session log before offering a place.
Clinical track
BELD Level 3 — Advanced Practitioner
The level where the credential earns its name. Complex and medically co-managed cases, advanced glymphatic protocols, reasoning when no protocol fits, and the teaching and mentoring skills that make you part of the instructor pipeline. It is meant to be hard to pass.
Manage complex and medically co-managed cases with the right clearance and communication
Deliver advanced glymphatic and combined protocols
Reason from anatomy and physiology when no protocol fits
Mentor and assess a Level 1 student
Defend your clinical decisions to a panel
Contribute to the modality's evidence base through structured case documentation
The seven modules
8 h
Complex case management
8 h
Advanced glymphatic protocols
6 h
Integration with other modalities
6 h
Reasoning without a protocol
4 h
Documentation, outcomes and the evidence question
6 h
Teaching and mentoring
2 h
Case defence
How you are assessed
Case defence
Two cases presented to a panel, and a viva in which you answer for every decision.
Practical and teaching
A supervised practical on a complex presentation, and a 30-minute teaching demonstration, assessed.
Log and report
A 50-session log, audited, and one written case report to publication-ready standard.
Enrolment
By application
In-person weighted, with remote mentorship. Open to BELD-CLP holders six months after certification with twenty-five logged sessions on file.
$3,900
Plus 13% HST — $4,407 total. Or three payments of $1,325. Continuing-student rate available to certified BELD practitioners.
Apply
We check your Level 2 certification and audited session log before offering a place.
The BELD International Register of Lymphatic Therapists
Find a certified practitioner
Certified practitioners hold a current BELD International credential — BELD-CP, BELD-CLP or BELD-AP — assessed by us. Associate members trained in BELD elsewhere are listed too, marked as such. Each practitioner works within the scope of their own profession.
3 practitioners · Ontario, Canada
Hannah Shalom, BELD-AP
DCHM (HON) · FCHM · RSHOM · Registered Homeopath, CHO
Founder of BELD International and lead instructor; originator of the Glymphatic Drainage method and course. Practising BELD since 2016 at Homeopathic Family Practice, Toronto. Also certified in Glymphatic Drainage, Face & Body Gua Sha and Face & Body Cupping.
Enter the number from a practitioner’s certificate and we confirm the level it was issued at, the date, and whether it is current — by return email while the online lookup is being built. The founding register below is public.
Example result
Hannah Shalom, BELD-AP
Certificate BELD-2026-0028
Current
Credential
BELD Advanced Practitioner — entitled to use BELD-AP
Contact hours completed
40, of which 30 supervised
Issued
2016 · founding entry, BELD International register 2026
Renews
2029
Also certified in
Glymphatic Drainage · Face & Body Gua Sha · Face & Body Cupping
Status
Current — in good standing
This credential confers no scope of practice. It confirms training and assessment completed with BELD International.
The founding register
Certified practitioners, in order of entry
Numbers are issued once the original certificate is on file. The register lists everyone certified, practising or not; the Find a practitioner page lists only those currently taking clients.
Number
Name
Credential
Certified
Status
BELD-2026-0028
Hannah Shalom
BELD-AP · Founder, lead instructor · also Glymphatic Drainage, Face & Body Gua Sha, Face & Body Cupping
2016
Current · renews 2029
BELD-2026-0029
Pooja Nair
BELD-CLP · Assistant Trainer
October 2024
Current · practising
BELD-2026-0030
Cristina Enriquez-Rivero, RMT
BELD-CP
June 2023
Current · practising
Founding register, compiled in 2026 from the Founder’s training records. Further graduates are added as each confirms their listing. Students who completed Level 1 training without the practicum are not certified and do not appear here.
Certified practitioners receive a badge for their own website that links to this verification page, so any client can check a credential in one click.
Membership
One roof. Three ways to stand under it.
Whether you trained with us or elsewhere, there is a place for you here. Every tier passes the same contraindications gate and signs the same code of conduct — because a client can't tell who trained you, and shouldn't have to.
Choose your tier
Listed
Free
A verified line in the directory: your name, where and when you trained in BELD, and your city. Nothing more — no link, no profile, no members' area.
Training certificate on file
Contraindications gate passed at 100% (online, free)
Code of conduct signed
Associate member
$180 / year
For practitioners trained in BELD elsewhere who want the community and the materials. Listed as Associate — trained elsewhere.
Everything in Listed, plus a profile, photo and clinic link
Members' forum and case discussions
Quarterly meet-ups · annual Master Class · CE sessions
Eligible to apply for recognition of prior learning → BELD-CP
Certified
$195 / year register fee
Holders of BELD-CP, BELD-CLP or BELD-AP. Membership is included in the register fee — nobody pays twice.
Everything in Associate
Certificate number, public verification page, badge for your site
Post-nominal letters
Priority on Level 2 and 3 intakes
All fees plus 13% HST in Ontario. Online payment opens with the student portal; until then membership is invoiced by email and paid by e-transfer or card. Membership runs for twelve months from payment.
How joining works
1 · Account
Create a free account — email, password, two-factor. Same account for courses, membership and the register.
2 · Evidence
Upload your BELD training certificate and, if you hold one, your professional registration. We check it before anything publishes.
3 · The gate
Pass the contraindications quiz at 100%, online. Unlimited attempts. Then sign the code of conduct.
4 · Tier and payment
Choose Listed or Associate, pay by card if Associate, and your listing goes live once approved — usually within two working days.
Member dashboard
What an Associate sees after signing in
Membership
Associate — active
Joined 12 Nov 2026 · Renews 12 Nov 2027 · Card ending 4412
Gate: passed 100%, 10 Nov 2026 · Code of conduct: signed
Free to create once the portal opens. An account gets you the prospectus, the contraindications primer and course announcements. Enrol on a programme and the same account unlocks your materials, your case log and your assessments.
Accounts open with the student portal
Leave your email and we will tell you the day accounts open. Until then, enrolment and all enquiries are handled by email — nothing is stored on this site.
You can unsubscribe from any email. Two-factor authentication will be set up on first sign-in.
What each account gets
Free
Enrolled
Prospectus and syllabus
✓
✓
Contraindications primer
✓
✓
Intake announcements
✓
✓
Course materials and video
—
✓
Case log and practice hours
—
✓
Assessments
—
✓
Certificate and register listing
—
On certification
Two-factor authentication is required for any account that holds a case log, because case logs touch client information.
Step two
Set up two-factor authentication
Scan the code with any authenticator app — Google Authenticator, Authy, 1Password. Then save your recovery codes somewhere that is not your phone.
[QR CODE]
Or enter this key manually:
K7QF · 2M9X · PL4A · 8ZTR
Save these now
Your recovery codes
Shown once. Each works a single time. They are how you get back in if you lose your phone — without them, nobody can restore your access, including us.
Three steps, and you need two of them. This is the part worth reading, because a reset that depends on one thing only is a reset that eventually locks someone out.
1
Reset link by email
Proves you hold the address the account was opened with. Link expires in one hour.
2
Two-factor challenge
A code from your authenticator, so someone with access to your inbox alone cannot take the account.
3
Or a recovery code
Replaces step 2 if your phone is lost or replaced. This is the door that stops a lost phone becoming a lost credential.
Last resort: a student with no phone and no recovery codes contacts us and we verify them against their enrolment record before restoring access by hand. Rare, deliberate, and logged — but it has to exist, or a certified practitioner can permanently lose the record of their own training.
BELD InternationalTraining in lymphatic therapies
BELD International is a training body. Certification confers no scope of practice — graduates practise within the scope of their own profession and jurisdiction. Sessions support the body's own lymphatic movement; nothing here is offered as treatment for any disease or condition. Practitioners in the register set their own fees.
