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Meet the Team

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Luxury farmhouse quinta

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Nordic retreat

The Art of Unwinding
Meet the Team

Every person who joins The Art of Unwinding Retreats is placing real trust in the experience and Aoife takes that trust seriously. Over many years working at the heart of the retreat industry, she has come to understand that the quality of a retreat is only ever as good as the people who hold it. With this in mind, she has carefully and deliberately gathered a team of therapists, facilitators, and culinary creators who share not only her professional standards, but a genuine commitment to care, quality and expertise to create an unforgettable, life changing experience.

Each member of the team has been chosen not just for their expertise, but for the quality of their attention. These are people who bring their whole selves to their work, and who understand that healing happens in the spaces between the sessions as much as within them, and who know how to hold space with both skill and warmth. Together, they create the conditions in which real unwinding can happen.

Movement & Fitness

Alison is an experienced Yoga Alliance E-500 RYT teacher who has trained in the UK, US and Netherlands. Alison moved to Portugal in 2020 with her partner and has spent the last six years restoring the farm house . Having been fortunate to travel and experience some of the world's best retreat centres, Alison's intention has always been to create a sanctuary for people to rest and recharge in rural Portugal. Alison has been practising meditation for more than 20 years and trained at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in their Mindfulness Meditation & Yoga programme (2012). She is an accredited teacher with the Insight Yoga Institute that combines teachings in yoga, meditation and psychology.

With over 30 years of experience as a holistic therapist, Susan has a deep understanding of wellbeing and a passion for helping people come back into balance.

Although now retired from active practice, Susan continues to live and breathe the wellness values she has championed throughout her career.

Susan is delighted to be joining The Art of Unwinding as Retreat Support & Guest Experience Coordinator, assisting with the smooth running of the retreat and helping to create a warm, welcoming and nurturing experience for every guest.

Breathwork & Sound

Originally from the Netherlands, Annika and Dennis now make their home in Central Portugal with their daughter, Ava-Lavie. Their path into breath work came through lived experience, the profound shifts that conscious connected breathing brought to their own lives.This inspired them to share this practice with others.

Through guided breath work and supportive bodywork techniques, they help participants shed accumulated stress, tension, and stored emotion, creating space for genuine relaxation, self-discovery, and emotional release. Their sessions are held with great attentiveness and care, unhurried, responsive, and sensitive to wherever each person finds themselves in that moment.

With warmth, compassion, and hard-won experience, Annika and Dennis guide guests towards greater clarity, a quieter nervous system, and a renewed sense of aliveness through the simple, profound power of the breath.

Mark is a trauma-informed breathwork practitioner and facilitator, specialising in Conscious Connected and Intuitive Breathwork. His own journey through illness, burnout and personal healing led him to explore breathwork, trauma and the nervous system.

Before moving into breathwork, Mark spent 15 years working as a stunt performer and stunt double in TV and film, including as Tarzan’s stunt double. His experience using breathwork for fear management, breath control and breath-hold work, including underwater and fire stunts, gives him a unique understanding of breath, the body and working through challenge.

Mark now works independently, combining breathwork with nature-based practices, creativity, connection and joy.

Sibylle Koelbl is a holistic wellness facilitator who creates spacious, nurturing environments where healing, connection, and personal transformation can unfold in their own time.

Sound is at the heart of her practice. Through gongs, singing bowls, and other vibrational instruments, she guides participants into states of deep rest and inner attentiveness, experiences that are both physically soothing and quietly profound. Alongside her sound work, Sibylle draws on ceremonial practice, yoga, and the quality of her own mindful presence to offer something truly layered and nourishing.

Her sessions are an open invitation: to arrive fully, set down what no longer serves, and rediscover the still, knowing place that lives beneath the noise of ordinary life.

Kerry Herbert is a physiotherapist with over 22 years of specialist experience spanning musculoskeletal, orthopaedic, and sports physiotherapy. Originally qualifying through the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, she also holds a postgraduate qualification in Sports Physiotherapy and has continued building on her clinical knowledge throughout her career.

Kerry is also a qualified Clinical Pilates Instructor, trained through the Australian Physiotherapy and Pilates Institute (APPI). For the past nine years she has helped clients rebuild strength, restore mobility, improve posture, and move through the world with greater ease and confidence. She works to bridge the space between clinical rehabilitation and the kind of mindful, embodied movement that keeps people thriving long after treatment ends.

Her precision, warmth, and genuine investment in each person's progress make her an invaluable presence within the retreat team.

Yoga

Natacha Rodrigues is a Yoga Alliance RYT 200 certified yoga teacher and founder of Nadi Yoga Studio in Ansião, Portugal.

Her journey into teaching began in an unexpected place, originally qualifying as an Environmental Engineer, it was her deepening personal practice that eventually drew her fully into the world of yoga. She completed her 200-hour teacher training in Birmingham, United Kingdom in 2020, and brings together a decade of personal practice, over five years of teaching experience, and a genuine love of yogic philosophy.

Natacha's classes weave together strength, flexibility, balance, and mindfulness, inviting students to develop a more attentive, nourishing relationship with themselves, both on the mat and in the textures of everyday life.

Therapies & Bodywork

Aoife has been a professional bodywork practitioner since 1999, training at the City College and Jing Institute of Advanced Massage Training in Brighton, UK, and holding qualifications in Advanced Clinical Massage with specialisation in myofascial release, advanced reflexology, IHM, Scar tissue release, aromatherapy, anatomy, physiology and pathology, and energy work. She holds a certificate of achievement in Thai massage from Wat Pho in Bangkok, and is registered with the Federation of Holistic Therapists in the UK. All her soft tissue training meets the most current UK, Ireland and Portuguese professional standards and she continues to study and develop, understanding that working with the body is a lifelong practice.

All treatments are individually tailored to each person, drawing on her extensive range of techniques, her gifted intuition, and a deep belief in the power of informed, intentional touch. She works holistically, addressing mind, body, and spirit and also offers outcome-based clinical sessions for those dealing with chronic pain or limited mobility, with a focus on reducing musculoskeletal pain, increasing range of motion, and moving clients toward a more functional, pain-free body.

Annika Roos is a Dutch skincare specialist with more than 20 years of professional experience in facial treatments and advanced skincare therapy.

Passionate about nurturing skin health through attentive, personalised care, she works with Dr. Baumann products to deliver treatments that are both deeply restorative and genuinely results-driven. Each session is tailored to the individual , addressing specific skin concerns while offering an experience that feels as much like a sanctuary as a treatment.

Known for her calm and unhurried presence, Annika creates a space where guests can completely surrender to being looked after, emerging refreshed, hydrated, and restored from the outside in.

Michelle is a holistic therapist with over 30 years of experience in massage therapy, specialising in relaxation, pain relief and therapeutic bodywork.

Qualified in Massage, Reflexology and Aromatherapy since 1996, Michelle has continued to develop her skills and knowledge throughout her career. Her additional training includes Hot Stone Therapy. In 2015, she completed further training at the Jing Institute in Brighton, gaining her qualification in Advanced Clinical Massage to better support clients experiencing pain and physical discomfort.

Michelle takes an individual approach to each treatment, drawing on a combination of therapies and techniques suited to her clients' needs. Her aim is to ease tension, support the body and encourage a greater sense of balance, relaxation and wellbeing.

Michelle moved from Britain to the Açor mountain of Central Portugal to live a more simpler life closer to nature. After exploring and working in different countries and volunteering at wildlife rehabilitation centres in places such as Ecuador, Bolivia, South Africa and Thailand . She decided that Portugal was the place she would like to stay and help restore a small piece of nature. 

She is an Holistic Therapist specialising in Massage with over 30 years experience of working in pain relief and relaxation. Since 1996 she has been qualified in Massage, Reflexology & Aromatherapy and has learnt many new skills along the way, such as Hot Stone Therapy, Head Massage, Access Bars and  then in 2015 upgraded her massage skills at Jing Institute in Brighton gaining a qualification in Advanced Clinical Massage, so that she could more effectively help people in pain.

Working with a combination of therapies best suited to her clients , Michelle aims to restore calm in the body and mind.

Andrea Mattivi is an Austrian-born alternative therapist who has made her home in Portugal since 2009, bringing with her a richly varied set of skills and a deep conviction that true healing begins from within.

Trained across a range of complementary disciplines, including multiple massage techniques, osteobalance, and creative therapeutic training, Andrea takes a genuinely integrative approach, weaving modalities together in response to what each individual needs rather than following a fixed formula. No two sessions are quite the same.

Alongside her bodywork practice, Andrea holds a deep passion for medical herbalism and loves sharing her extensive knowledge of how plants can support the body's natural capacity to heal and re-balance. Her sessions are thoughtful, unhurried, and deeply attuned, offering guests not just physical relief, but a real invitation to slow down, listen inward, and trust in the body's own wisdom.

Carolina is a qualified fitness instructor with six years of experience in the fitness industry. Passionate about strength training, she enjoys helping people build strength, improve fitness and feel more confident in their bodies. She believes exercise goes beyond physical fitness, supporting mental wellbeing, resilience and mobility. Her approach is encouraging and adaptable, helping everyone work at their own pace and enjoy the benefits of movement.

Emma Stephenson is a Level 3 Qualified Personal Trainer from the UK with over 10 years of experience helping people discover that movement can be both effective and genuinely enjoyable.

Known for her warmth and infectious enthusiasm, Emma creates sessions that are uplifting and accessible. Her guests leave feeling stronger, more capable, and proud of themselves. Whether working with complete beginners or seasoned exercisers, Emma shapes each session around individual abilities, goals, and any physical considerations, ensuring nobody feels out of their depth.

A particular passion of Emma's is teaching correct form and technique, especially when it comes to working with weights, helping guests build strength safely and confidently. Her encouraging style means that even the most reluctant mover tends to leave with a smile.