Abigail comes to us all the way from London, born to a Ghanaian dad and a British mum. She is a physical therapist with a background in health and fitness, a yoga teacher and a masseuse. After qualifying from university with a degree in sports science she worked for a while as a personal trainer, and then returned to university to follow her dream of becoming a physical therapist. She worked the British bealthcare system dabbling in various areas of therapy including medical, elderly, respiratory, neurological, musculo-skeletal and womens health. After 7 years of dedicating herself to the British public, although she was still passionate about rehabilitation, she became frustrated working within the constraints of a healthcare system. She felt that she wasn’t able to give her patients the best possible care due to time constraints and the often rigid way in which rehabilitation can be approached in the medical world. So she packed her bags and went to India to complete a 200hr teacher training in Ashtanga Vinyassa Yoga and is now travelling the world teaching yoga and on a mission to bring all of her skills together to create a more complete and holistic method of rehabilitation.

Services offered by Abigail:
Physical Therapy assessment/follow-up 60mins, Deep tissue Massage 60/90/120 mins, Therapeutic Massage 60/90/120 mins, Relaxation Massage 60/90/120 mins, Rehab Combo 120 mins. Ashtanga Vinyassa & Vinyassa Flow 90 mins, Gentle Yoga 90mins, Pilates Mix Up Community Class 60mins

Chad has joined the team from his home country of Antigua in the Caribbean. His passion to serve others is what led him to become a yoga teacher. After having developed a self-directed practice in prior to beginning his studies, Chad received his 200-hour yoga certification at the School of Yoga Institute in Guatemala in 2018, and shortly after that completed a Yin Yoga certification at Kranti Yoga school in India. He was then inspired to travel to Bali where he completed a 300-hour yoga certification at School of Yoga Institute in 2019.                

Studying on Lake Atilian, Guatemala and the sacred beaches in Bali has instilled a spiritual awareness that motivates him to teach from his heart and express from his soul. Chad knows that asana is only the beginning when it comes to yoga and that true yoga is immensely spiritual. Practice led by him is intertwined with mediation, asana, and the sound healing from some of his many favorite sacred songs.

Ryan Michele is joining for her first season at Present Moment. Hailing from sunny St. Petersburg, Florida, she left behind the 9-5 corporate life to focus on a career in wellness. Ryan is passionate about helping others to reconnect with their true nature by living more balanced lives. She arrived in Troncones to help host the Kula Collective’s 200 Hour Yoga Teacher training in October 2017 and never left! Having graduated from the Denver School Of Massage Therapy (in Colorado), Ryan is excited to offer therapeutic and relaxation massages in our beachfront spa. An experienced yoga teacher, you can also find her leading various classes designed to empower guests to build their own personal practice.

Services offered by Ryan:
Meditation 30min, Vinyasa Flow Yoga 90min, Gentle Yoga 90min, Candlelight Yoga 90min, WAW Yoga (Weekly Asana Workshop) Community Class 60min, Private Yoga Classes 60/90/120min, Relaxation and therapeutic massages 60/90/120min

Ryan’s Social Media:
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Jiya is a deeply connected leader who roots her teaching in the healing energy of nature. Her teaching invites students to explore their own, unique unfolding, through profound awareness and trust in the wisdom of the Self. Through her studies with teachers and shamans across the world, Jiya has developed a powerful sense of energetic connection and a strong set of philosophical and intuitive teachings, which she shares through creative hatha and yin yoga, sacred fire and medicine ceremonies, and healing therapies. Jiya is also a talented musician and sound healer, who seeks out native chants and medicine songs from around the world to complement her work.

Jiya is YA-certified at the ERYT-300 level and has facilitated both intensive and module-format teacher trainings at RYT-200 and RYT-300 levels for several years, through Kula Collective, Holistic Yoga School, International and SchoolYoga Institute. Following her degree in Physics at Imperial College, London, Julia worked as an Energy Consultant and part time writer in London, UK, before moving to Central America in 2009 to pursue a life centered on yoga and holistic health. British by birth, Jiya is now based in Guatemala and teaches in Thailand, Australia, Mexico, Greece, USA, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Peru.

Julia’s powerful connection to nature, passion for music, writing and creative expression, deep connection to the natural healing arts and scientific background have given her a thoroughly holistic understanding of yoga and its philosophy. Her colorful experience of the world comes through in her unique metaphors, powerful visual meditations and shamanic journeys. Her passion for sound is felt as she shares medicine songs in sivasana, heals with sound tools in the deepest poses, and enlivens hearts through vibrant Kirtan circles. Her compassionate teaching style invites students to explore their own experience and understand the process of healing from a personal, unique standpoint, calling on many rich and varied techniques to bring the entire Being back into balance. In all her offerings, alongside yoga, Julia specializes in holistic health, bringing in a range of practices including energy healing; shiatzu, massage and aromatherapy; sound healing; shamanic healing, fire and cacao ceremony; pre- and post-natal care; nutrition and herbalism; and personal coaching.

Alongside trainings, Julia holds space at her own international workshops, ceremonies and transformational retreats through her project CreateSpace, which focuses on guiding participants to find their own sacred creative expression and unique essence, whether in yoga teaching or in other forms such as art, music or writing. Jiya is a DONA-certified doula (birthing assistant) and offers private coaching for holistic wellness, yoga teaching and personal career/life planning (please contact Jiya directly for more information). Away from her teaching life she is also a writer and is currently creating a novel based on her own spiritual journey.

The pursuit of wellness is ultimately the work of finding harmony and balance with all the components of What Is. A strong element of Jiya Julia’s intention is to empower her students to understand healing as a personal creative process, intertwined with self-development and opportunity. Yoga not only develops bodily awareness but also reaches into the mental and deeply into the energetic, helping people to delve inside and explore their own, unique unfolding.

“Yoga is so much about awareness – from the pressure of your baby toes on the ground, to the last few molecules of air leaving your nostrils, to the sensation of openness as the deepest emotions release. Extending this type of awareness to the world around me has given me an intimate relationship with my surroundings, which I seek to share as I step along my path as seeker and guide of holistic health. When learning to teach yoga, awareness of energetic space and the subtleties of healing are essential to offering a class with depth, and this forms the center of my intention in all my offerings.”

Services provided by Jiya:
Vinyasa Flow Yoga 90min, Restorative Yoga 90min, Private Yoga Classes 60/90/120min

Jiya’s website:
www.createspaceyoga.com

Sanni shares her lifework through holistic movement, meditation and energy work. Born and raised in Finland, she has a deep connection with nature and a heartfelt passion to function in a greater harmony with the web of life. As a world traveler and devoted yogini, her work with holistic health is inspired by many colorful indigenous cultures and traditions she has experienced. Having reflected the teachings of different traditions, schools, tribes and rituals, and at the same time witnessing the idea of separation in the world between people and nature, she dedicates her whole life to serve a greater unity and wholeness both individually and collectively.

With her dharma, Sanni encourages people to dive deep into the secrets of their beings, experience their True Self and step into their purest power as creators of life. She has a university degree on Sport and Health Sciences concentrated on holistic health aspect of yoga and dance. Over the years, she has been guided to study holistic healing arts through yoga (530 RYT), shamanic and spiritual practices, intuitive dance, metaphysical studies, breathwork and meditation training, Reiki energy work (levels I-III), Tibetan regression therapy, Permaculture, Nutritional Herbalism as well as Neuro-Lymphatic and Abdominal Massage touching all physical, emotional, mental and energetic layers of body. However, after becoming aware of the illusionary complexity of our beings, she witnessed herself coming the full circle and embodying the simple and ultimate truth of being one with all within and without. “Mind creates so many stories about our existence that we forget the simplicity of life. It tries to rationalize, spiritualize and politically correct our most natural life force dwelling in our heart centers. This is the force beyond the limitations of body and mind, a vital force of living unconditional love itself. It is important to remember own life purpose and face the challenges of life with honesty, acceptance and love trusting the life unfolding in perfect order. I believe that everyone can bring more love into their creation and enter into personal transformation to align with the true self – their pure being.”

With her dharma, Sanni has been holding space for people to release and clear stagnant energy, suppressed emotions and karmic imprints in cellular level helping them to cease the illusion of forgetting who they truly are. She also organizes international transformational retreats, encouraging people to experience the life in deeper and more responsible way, and embody loving kindness in daily life through unconditional giving and receiving. “Unconditional love sees all the aspects of life being part of it – the beautiful, pure and exciting but also the ugly, filthy and sad ones. While light and shadow rises and passes, an unchanging inner peace, compassion and unconditional love is always there to be felt if only aware. I invite you to live the love that you are and surrender for the natural current of life facing the challenges with courage and trust.“

Sanni is passionate about holding space for different ceremonies, such as lunar cycle and elemental ceremonies, to deepen the relationship with oneself and the Earth. “I think that understanding and working with the cycles of life, Nature and its elements through silence, gratitude, ceremonies and offerings, chanting and dancing as well as recognizing the miracles of daily life by raising consciousness is a powerful way to bring oneself into the state of balance. We are all powerful beings, creators of life.”

For Sanni, yoga translates into all- inclusive holistic lifestyle and the way of facing the challenges and gifts of life with inner peace. On her classes one can work with asanas, alignments and breathwork but also the philosophy of yoga as well as natural elemental movement and deeper meditative reflections on daily life. “Yoga is about serving the highest good in daily life and acting out own values with humble heart… it is simply the way of being. If you feel the calling, I am happy to see you on classes, meditations, trainings, workshops and also treatments. I warmly welcome you to step on a magic carpet with me to fly into the abundance of your very source. We create all this together!”

Services offered by Sanni:

• Yoga & Meditation & Dance: Restorative Yoga, Gentle Yoga and Morning Vinyasa 90 min, Private Yoga Class 60/90/120 min, Guided Meditation 30 min, Private Meditation 30/60 min, Intuitive Dance & Movement Meditation classes 60/90/120 min
• Treatments & Counseling: Reiki Energetic Healing Infused By Shamanic Practices 60/90/120 min, Chinese Chi Nei Tzang Abdominal Massage 60 min, Full-Body Neuro-Lymphatic Massage w/ Oil 90 min, Drum Journeys 60/90 min, Private Chakra Balancing/ Meditation & Breathwork/ Holistic Nutritional Counseling 60/90 min
• Trainings: Certified Reiki I-III level Trainings & Attunements, 8-21h depending on level and number of students (divided over two days with levels I and II, and multiple days with Master level III)
• Ceremonies: Cacao & Lunar Cycle Ceremonies 90/120 min

Sanni’s Mindful Living & Yoga blog:
www.livingoflove.fi

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Ben is a massage therapist and an internationally touring musician, DJ and ceremonial space holder. He was trained in the 10-series of Structural Integration, a method pioneered by Ida Rolf which seeks to align and rebalance the body’s structures through targeting the fascia or connective tissue surrounding muscles and joints.  He compliments this deep work with the dynamic stretching of Thai Yoga Massage and his unique approach to Lomi-Lomi, the Hawaiian full-body relaxation massage which he combines with his vast repertoire of healing songs and musical instruments.

Ben came to massage by way of a career in acting and music.  While living in New York City he began offering massage at transformational festivals and conscious dance events and realized he had both an intuitive feel for the body and an instinctive love for exploring the connections between healing touch, sound and the psyche.  This inquiry led him to study for his certification at Pacific College of Awareness and Bodywork in Kauai, Hawaii where he learned the ancient art of Lomi-Lomi, the 10-session Structural Integration series as well as various somatic psychotherapy techniques which can be applied during bodywork sessions.

Ben grew up in the cultural melting pot of California’s Bay Area but has traveled extensively throughout Latin America for the last 10 years, learning fluent Spanish and Portuguese. In 2014, he launched his current musical project “Yemanjo”, writing two albums worth of music and performing at numerous international festivals in the last three years.  He discovered the healing power of sacred cacao while living in Lake Atitlan, Guatemala in 2015, and has since added Cacao Ceremony to his repertoire of offerings.  Ben is very excited to begin his first season at Present Moment thanks to his friend and Present Moment’s Co-Founder CJ Ananda Page, with whom he has collaborated on yoga retreats in Guatemala.

Services provided by Ben:

• Connective Tissue Therapy (Structural Integration) 60min/90min – Deep, slow myofascial massage aimed at releasing stuck areas and bringing greater freedom of movement to joints
• Thai Yoga Massage 60min/90min/120min – Invigorating massage involving work along energetic meridians and yoga-style assisted stretching
• Lomi-Lomi 60min/90min/120min – Hawaiian-style full body relaxation massage with singing and shamanic sound healing
• Integrative Sessions (Lomi/Deep tissue) 60min/90min/120min – A Lomi-Lomi session with deeper work in problem areas
• Sound Healing (60 min) – A one-on-one sound healing session with Ben’s vast repertoire of healing chants, mantras and instruments
• Cacao Ceremony (10 people minimum, 2 hrs+) – An inward journey of healing sound, movement, and chocolate…Yemanjo’s cacao ceremony takes us through guided meditation, voice activation, partner exercises, conscious movement, and ecstatic dance to connect with self, other and divine source
• Ecstatic Dance (2hrs) – As a DJ, Yemanjo creates a sonic alchemy spanning the globe and takes the dancer on a rhythmic journey through multiple emotions, cultures and time periods.  Ecstatic Dance is a sacred space for movement expression free of talking, alcohol/drugs and shoes.

Ben’s Website:
www.bencliftonharris.com

Follow Ben on Social Media:
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