Kezia Jacobsen

Kezia is originally from India and has over 25 years experience in health, beauty and holistic therapies. Her experience also includes many years of serving in natural and alternative therapies such as aromatherapy, reflexology, Reiki, Indian head massage, meditation, healing and life skills counselling, which have proved very helpful when assessing a clients individual needs and requirements.

For the past 25 years, Kezia has focused on providing traditional Asian treatments, together with their respective philosophies.  Although raised in Europe, her passion has always been to follow the ancient wisdom of Eastern living. 

Her travels throughout Asia, which includes visiting the world’s top spas and health retreats, has given her not only the inspiration to bring this to Europe, but has also taught her many important lessons and concepts for providing the ultimate spa and retreat experience.

“There is a peaceful grace and calm energy in the spas of the Far East. In these tranquil surroundings, I have learnt patience, expression and respect for time-honoured traditions, which are part of daily life.  I hope to bring this essence into every minute detail of my service to everyone who walks through my door.”

In addition, Kezia has completed the Raja Yoga Teacher Training Course with Nalanie Chellaram of the Integral Yoga Centre in Gibraltar.  With this qualification, Kezia is able to provide clients with life skills based on the 5000 year-old wisdom of Yoga and the science of understanding the mind – a form of holistic psychology.

“Taking the course has been a transformational experience personally.  The tools provided enable everyone to handle life’s challenges with ease and self-belief.  It has been one of the biggest gifts of my life and my passion is to share these teachings with each and every person that I can.”

All these experiences have led Kezia to this point of creating a retreat where clients can experience the benefits of a variety of holistic treatments under one roof. 

“The Shanti Som Health Retreat provides a blend of: Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, meditation, nature walks, silence, healthy eating, nutrition, life coaching and detoxifying the mind and body.  My goal is for people to realise their potential and live their best life

Carmel Carey

Carmel has spent most of her life living in London. For the past 18 Years she has worked in the role of Business Development Director in the Health & Fitness Industry, working with companies managing their corporate Health & Fitness benefit packages.

For the past year Carmel has been travelling through Asia and Africa, I was inspired by the humility and generosity of people lacking in material wealth but rich in the abundance of calm and peace in life”.

Carmel is now living in Spain and will bring her management experience to ensure guests are fully satisfied at Shanti-Som.

She also manages the Retreats corporate programme that incorporates yoga teachings into business strategy.

Ioanan Craciun

Ioana started to practice yoga 17 years ago. Very soon after starting she discovered that deepening her practice and understanding of yoga was her life path. For many years she trained in the Iyengar Method and Meditation with many teachers in a Buddhist Centre in Germany, where she lived for 20 years.

She travelled to India where she met her Indian Iyengar yoga teacher, Sharat, who developed his own teaching method. During the retreats with him she deepened her knowledge of Iyengar yoga and learned restorative yoga with props and guided relaxation.

Ioana is a certified yoga teacher by the International Organization Yoga Alliance. During her training she deepened her experience of Dynamic and Ashtanga Yoga, Yoga Nidra, Pranayama, Meditation, Silence, Philosophy and Self-Understanding.

Ioana developed her own Hatha yoga teaching technique, her classes are based on detailed instructions; focus on alignment and use of props, breathing awareness and meditation. She speaks fluent English, Spanish and German.

Ioana writes a weekly well being column on Yoga and all its applications in daily life for the Plus Magazine, Costa del Sol, Nachrichten, Spain.

She considers that the ultimate goal of yoga is to connect with our inner space and investigate the functioning of our mind and our personality, in order to reduce suffering and be able to feel love and compassion for ourselves and others.

Lori Sjollema

Born and raised in America, Lori Sjollema began her career 28 years ago in the fitness and dance industry in Chicago U.S.A. Her talent and adventurous spirit led her to Europe where she travelled extensively as a professional dancer and taught fitness side by side. Tired of the rat race, she knew when she walked into her first Dynamic Yoga class several years ago that her search was over.

Her style of teaching is perhaps that of a ‘rebel’, integrating elements from various Yoga traditions. Certified as a Jivamukti Yoga Instructor, she is also trained in the methods of Ashtanga, Iyengar Yoga and Raja Yoga especially in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Foremost Lori teaches from her own experience and intuition as a practitioner of Yoga in its entirety. “My influences are from working with renowned teachers such as David Life and Sharon Gannon, David Swenson, Rodney Yee, Shiva Rea, Sean Corn and Maria Vigar.

Lori teaches a challenging Vinyasa-style Yoga integrating a deep understanding of alignment and the benefits of restorative postures. She holds regular classes in Marbella, Spain where she combines intuition, strength, flexibility, breath and meditation. Her training as Thai Massage therapist enables her to assist her students to overcome fears and to create more flexibility and movement within their bodies.

Her challenge and desire is to be a dedicated teacher to serve Yoga and to share it with everyone.

Ma Prem Kali

Kali is the founder and creator of Yossum: a powerful and transformative process of personal growth consisting of four pillars — Yoga, Silence, Self-Understanding and Meditation. She has been teaching Yossum for eight years.

Kali was born in Brazil in 1963 and has been practicing yoga since the age of 15.

After a prominent career in the fashion business in São Paulo, she immigrated to Australia, where she became interested in spiritual development, embracing meditation as a natural complement to her practice of yoga.

In 1989, she moved to India and became a disciple of Osho, the enlightened mystic, participating and assisting in many workshops and meditation programs at his international center in Pune.

Her inner exploration then took her to the Himalayas, where for seven years she experienced long periods of silence in meditation retreats under the guidance of her teacher Swami Prem Samdarshi.
She was then fortunate to meet Ramesh Balsekar in Mumbai, the great Advaita sage, and received his teachings for four years.

After 13 years in India, Kali returned to the West. She trained in the Enneagram, a practical and powerful psychological system of self-understanding.

The powerful synthesis of all that she integrated from her spiritual teachers and the Enneagram wisdom, ultimately led her to create Yossum. This unique process is her own approach to self-development. It integrates yogic philosophy with the ordinary challenges of day-to-day life. Through her work, Kali offers her clients and students the opportunity to experience a deep-rooted sense of harmony, and acceptance of self and others, which she believes to be the foundation of a fulfilling life.

Kali has personally designed the structured programs presented in the Yossum Retreats. She also develops modules of meditation, philosophy and self-understanding for Yoga Teacher Training Schools, including schools that provide certification with the Yoga Alliance of the United States.

Nalanie Challeram

Audrey Spearing

I have lived in Dublin most my life where I studied Business Management for 3 years. I have managed a number of Sports Centres, Fitness Clubs and Leisure Centres for a few years. My love of sport and my passion for people and their well being guided me to train as an Exercise and Fitness Consultant, Personal Trainer, Massage therapist, Lifestyle and Weight Management Consultant. I have qualifications to teach children in Physical Education and Sports and have 5 years experience teaching children a variety of sports programme at inner city Dublin schools.
 
After working in Business Management I realized that my strengths lay in the latter field so I left my full time position as General Manager of a muti purpose Sports Centre and have worked as a  self employed freelance Fitness and Health professional ever since.
 

I moved to Spain 6 years ago and completed a Diploma in Diet and Nutrition. I found myself getting into yoga, meditation,spirituality, reiki and other similar fields. I am actively part of the Anthony Robbins Life Coaching foundation having completed Unleash the Power within and Wealth Mastery Courses and extremely interested in self development for myself and my clients.  

 
I presently run Fitkidz classes in Nueva Andalucia, I work in Old folks homes and help them to become more active through music. Its fantastic fun and so rewarding. I personal train, massage and give expert nutrition advice to clients along the coast in gyms, at their homes and run outdoor group exercise classes.     
  
My areas of knowledge are obiviously fitness, exercise, nutrition and personal wellbeing. I am a real people person, a fantastic motivatior and love to encourage people to succeed with their goals. I believe that we  can create whater reality that we want if we believe in ourselves.  I successfully trained as a Raja Yoga teacher last year ie. Science of the mind.  I believe in the mind, body spirit connection and incorporate this into my work. Im willing to help anybody holistically to achieve what they want.

Jeni Cook

Jeni Cook is a Health Educator, Raw Food Chef & Lifestyle Coach. Jeni is a graduate of The Living Light Culinary Arts Institute, a world premier in raw food culinary schools. She is also a certified Alissa Cohen Living on Live Food Chef/Instructor.

Formerly a Fitness Instructor and Personal Trainer, Jeni has over 20 years experience in the nutrition and fitness industry and combines her nutrition, teaching and chef skills to transform raw food into a gastronomic experience in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere and is passionate about sharing her knowledge and personal experiences about the wonderful health benefits of raw and living food. She hopes to excite and enthuse others into making the transition to a healthier lifestyle and experience the health benefits for themselves.

Jeni has Diplomas in Natural Nutrition and studied at the College of Natural Nutrition and The School of Natural Health Sciences. Jeni also holds certificates in Health & Fitness, Indian Head Massage, and Thai Foot Massage.

Jeni travels between the UK and Southern Spain and offers the following:

• Monthly raw food preparation classes that can be incorporated into everyday lifestyles.
• Food preparation for private functions.
• Personal raw food coaching in the comfort of your own home.
• Nutrition/wellness consultations.
• Informative talks at health forums, retreats, health stores and book stores.
• Weekend Raw Food and Yoga Retreats in the UK & Spain (coming soon!)

Jill Swyers

For 30 years, Jill Swyers has worked in the catering industry, managed restaurants and was professionally involved in food and beverage for the hotel industry. She has worked in Greece, South Africa, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland and France. For several years, Jill had her own London based catering company, "Hungry Hampers", providing typical cuisine for corporate events, weddings and formal picnics such as Ascot, Glyndebourne and Henley.

For several years, Jill suffered a low energy level and she felt debilitated. She was diagnosed as suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalga, Hypoglycaemia, Candida and Reynauds disease. She believed her condition could be directly linked to her diet, which is when she started looking seriously at the impact of diet on health. To lose weight, she tried food combining and lost 20Kg (44lb) over a period of six months. Reading about Aloe Vera juice and its energising properties, she started to drink the juice and noticed an increase in vitality. To increase her chlorophyll and oxygen uptake, she included wheatgrass in her regime.

Having cured herself through a combination of diet, exercise and alternative therapies, she began to study nutrition, with particular emphasis on the science of living and organic foods. Jill is now a qualified Hippocrates Health Educator and devotes her time to teaching and demonstrating the preparation of living foods as a way to achieve optimum health.

Gabriella Kortsch

Gabriella Kortsch received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida, where she also lectured for four years on a diversity of subjects in the psychology department. In 2003 she presented a symposium on human development at Harvard University in Boston. She is also certified as a clinical hypnotherapist and has worked with abused children for the Guardian ad Litem program with the State of Florida, as well as with at risk adolescents (substance abuse, anger management, children of alcoholics, abused children, alternative life styles, dysfunctional families, etc.) through the Changing Lives Program with FIU. She has also worked extensively with terminal AIDS and cancer patients in hospice care in Mexico, USA, and Spain, and has been effective in bereavement counselling. Here in Marbella she has also taught Introductory Psychology to undergraduates at CIE (American University).

In her private practice in Marbella she works with an international clientele from over 25 countries focusing on the resolution of many problems related to the stresses of modern life in careers, relationships, sexuality, parents, children, spirituality, health, goals, acculturation, and life in general.

For the past 32 years she has studied a variety of clinical therapies and alternative healing modalities. She also studied Liberal Arts at the University of Waterloo in Canada, and Sociology & Political Science at the Complutense University in Madrid. Born in Germany, raised in Canada and Switzerland, she has also lived extensively in Mexico, Spain and the USA. She has three sons.

Long interested in Jungian analytic psychology, integral psychology, and dream interpretation, she has studied these together with mythology, compared religions, symbolism and related fields since 1969. In her private practice in Mexico, her clinical work in the USA, and her practice here in Marbella, both with individuals and groups, in her work with adults, adolescents and children, Dr. Kortsch strongly emphasizes the holistic or integral (physical, psychoemotional, and spiritual) human being.

Dr. Kortsch offers workshops in the personal development field. Her current “The Conscious Journey Within” Workshop Series offers twelve workshops tha successively build on each other.

Her weekly radio shows broadcast live for five years from 2003 - 2008 in English, Spanish, and German, and she has published a monthly newsletter in English and Spanish since 2004.