Menopause Retreat 7-Days

Daniela de Girolamo specialises in Chi Kung and Yoga and is as enthusiastic about teaching a willing learner as she is to practise it herself. Having spent the last 18 years studying and working as a Shiatsu therapist, Ayurvedic massage therapist, Yoga teacher-trainer and Chi Kung and Yoga instructor, she firmly believes in the goodness of holistic healing. So, regardless of age, gender or concepts, all you need to do is enrol for Daniela’s class to embark on the process. What renders Daniela truly accomplished is her in-depth understanding about how the elements of nature manifest, and more importantly, how they are represented in the human body. Every human being experiences a different level of energetic vibration and these manifest through the body, emotions, mind, and spirit. It was while working as a Shiatsu therapist that Daniela was attracted to Chi Kung, and immediately developed a bond towards this ancient Chinese practice. Initially she would attend 4-5 sessions a day to remain healthy and energetic. But given its positive impact, she decided to continue, and went on to complete two years of training. Based on the concepts of Chinese Traditional Medicine, Chi Kung aims to stretch and streamline the body’s energy channels in a fluid and harmonious way. Regular Chi Kung practice makes you strong both internally and outwardly. Not only does it build muscles, but also strengthens the internal organs, improves digestion and enhances the quality of sleep. Menstruation/menopause, respiratory and cardiovascular rhythm and inherent immunity are other areas that benefit from Chi Kung. Because all movements and exercises work directly on the energy channels of the body, they are related to a specific organ/viscera which represent thoughts and emotions. For example, if you work on an exercise that targets the energy channel of the stomach, there will be an improvement in digestion and muscular strength and elasticity. You will also slip into a state of relaxation and would be better prepared to handle stress and anxiety. There are a series of exercises, and while some are meditative and static, others involve movement and provide a great physical workout. All exercises are associated with a breathing technique and aim to cultivate harmony in movement. Breathing consciously causes the body to re-align naturally and find its balance. Chi kung encourages self-healing and creates a feeling of well-being, thus prompting a feel-good factor. When Daniela sees the positive impact of her classes on different segments of the community, it brings her joy and contentment. A farmer once told her that after two months of Chi Kung he was able to harvest his olives again after years of his back not allowing him to do so. A person with depression told her about the feeling of vitality that floods him every time he practises Chi Kung. A woman weaver and entrepreneur told her that her creativity at work was awakened after a class. Another person with heart and circulation problems said that on days when she practised Chi Kung, she was able to relax and sleep much better at night. All this and much more is what motivates Daniela to share her knowledge and practice every day with passion and enthusiasm.

Inma Carmona is a Senior Dietetic Technician. Her interest in dietetics stemmed from the belief that nutrition can be independent of fad diets and obsessions. At Evolve, she strives to guide you towards eating a healthy and balanced diet and never skips a beat in emphasising its importance. Using nutritional education as an effective tool, she teaches you how to create personalized menus that prioritise foods rich in vitamins and minerals for boosting energy levels. It has been scientifically proven that creating good lifestyle habits is fundamental to achieving overall well-being and remaining protected from illness. Since these habits have a major impact on women’s hormonal health, particularly during menopause. It is important to be conscious towards them and make changes as and when required. To this effect, positive lifestyle habits can help alleviate typical menopausal symptoms by optimally regulating hormones. Despite having completed her education, Inma continued to acquire new knowledge, especially in context of women’s hormonal health. Her work and practice led to interactions with women who suffered from a variety of conditions, like polycystic ovary syndrome, endometriosis, lipoedema, or those who were at the brink of menopause. Given her vast experience, you can look forward to plenty of patience, affection and empathy from Inma, as she coaxes you to build a healthy bond with food. As she says, “My passion is to help you in your best project – YOURSELF!”

Pascale has always been passionate about life as a whole, its greatness, and how it provides a woven web of ecology that ties humans deeply to the rest of the living things on this planet, like plants and animals. Pascale practises yoga, mountaineering, pottery, and gardening, which she takes pleasure in. For more than 20 years, Pascale has studied and practised natural therapies, including foot reflexology, massage, lymphatic drainage, Reiki mastery, and Kinesiology (energy work). During our retreats, Pascale will be delivering on working with the clients in group workshops or on a one-to-one setting. In Menopause Retreats, she will use reflexology to work with the feet, focused on menopause and relieving its symptoms; this workshop provides women with a tool for self-care (improvement of discomfort related to this stage of life)—Pascale´s one-to-one treatments for this program, include reflexology and kinesiology. Pascale is also available to clients within other retreats for one-to-one therapy sessions, which you can book alongside a retreat. These include foot reflexology, kinesiology and chakra balancing. Pascale also delivers yoga and pottery classes, making her multi-faceted.

Lourdes Bueno is a Sports instructor and personal trainer, social health caregiver and lover of childhood and nature. She entered the world of yoga and this practice helped her open the door to her inner world. In order to consciously live the fullness of life in all its aspects and to feel more consistent with what she wants, what she feels and what she does in her day to day. Lourdes enjoys sharing and learning each step through body awareness to improve posture and understand body mechanics. From self-care and self-knowledge without demands and from the pleasure to gradually integrate the multiple benefits of this practice and at all levels (physical, energetic, emotional, mental, and spiritual) Her aims for the retreat programs that she will be supporting MENOPAUSE In this special stage, of greater serenity, heightened intuition and maturity, yoga can bring us closer to being more connected with ourselves in order to achieve a more conscious transition. We will practice fluid movement and body awareness to mobilise energy and establish a greater connection with our body and its physical, mental and emotional needs in addition to breathing exercises to reduce symptoms and increase energy and vitality. FITNESS The objectives of yoga transcend the integral well-being of the physical body. In this space we will combine sequences of dynamic asanas to gain flexibility, resistance and balance to strengthen the muscles and tone from a conscious practice supported by the breath to deepen in a more precise training adapted to all levels. Working the body, listening and caring to better integrate personal practices and thus regulate the intensity relieving tensions and resistance. WELLNESS Yoga Wellness is a practice with the intention of returning to our centre to act in coherence and harmony in our lives. During the practice we work with pleasure to free ourselves from stress and connect with our body, get to know its energy centres and shape them through the elements. In this practice we go into the depths of the conscious and the unconscious to put it at the service of our evolution.

Irene is a Gestalt and systemic psychotherapist and a Flamenco dancer. She studied social work at the UCM (Complutense University of Madrid); her university years gave her a social perspective and helped her to discover a vocation for psychotherapy. Irene’s passion for dance has driven her to become a Flamenco dancer. Irene trained in systemic family intervention at Seville’s Kaleidoscope relational training school in Sevilla. Irene became a Gestalt therapist at Granada’s Alejandría training and therapy school. She also works with individuals, family, couples therapy or with people in crises, emotional discomfort or with desires for personal growth. Irene also leads groups aimed at Movement and Personal Growth: These workshops encourage conscious experimentation, in which, through different proposals of movement and expression, we create new experiences that generate new patterns of thought and attitude. For this, we dedicate a space vital to integrating life experience.

Michaela Haesch was born in Germany/Bavaria and grew up to follow her heart, do whatever made her feel happy and alive and encouraged her to remain true to herself. At Evolve, she is a kinesiologist, sound and energy healer, yoga instructor and musician. Since her early childhood, Michaela loved to sing, dance and move freely like the wind. She always sensed a heartfelt connection with Mother Earth. Over the years, her love for the mountains and ability to connect with nature developed into a life philosophy. Having spent a few years in the US, she moved to Austria/Tirol and started a personal venture in 2017 as a kinesiologist, sound healer and yoga teacher. Around this time, Michaela regularly organized workshops involving sound-fused breathing, meditation and hypnosis. She also conducted many ‘cacao’ ceremonies, sweat lodges and the ‘shamanic healing boat’. Michaela received the kinesiology certificate from Ferdinand Gstrein and Willee Regensburger bestowed upon her the shamanic training certificate. Since then, she has continued to expand his knowledge and acquired training in ear acupuncture, mind healing and channelling from Claudia Fischhaber. Training in aqua gymnastics with Christine Teutsch added another feather to her cap. ​In Michaela’s opinion, the basic principle for all the activities is to grasp the true being of every person in depth, to empathize and to touch the other person’s heart. To this effect, she uses seminars, courses, or individual treatments as mediators and channels to connect people with the divine source and remind them of their true being and inherent potential. When you love yourself, a space of unlimited amplitude opens up in the heart. There is an intensity that makes everything that is impossible POSSIBLE which dissolves limitations and that is what Michaela regards as being the Power of Unconditional Love.

Jorge Damski takes immense pride in being a personal trainer. His role as a personal trainer is to facilitate, motivate and enable people to view physical activity as a daily habit, given the increasing evidence that indulging in regular physical exercise boosts morale. It also enables you to feel better, both physically and mentally. Strength training has many proven health benefits, such as increasing bone density, improved joint health, flexibility and balance and reducing body fat and BMI, not to mention improving cardio function and facilitating better digestion. As a trainer, Jorge has had the opportunity to witness the impact of physical exercise on healthy people as also on people with pathologies. These interactions have stoked his passion and admiration for this profession and continue to serve as an unending source of inspiration. Meet Jorge at Evolve, brimming with energy, and brace yourself for a fun workout.

Natalia was born in Alcalá la Real (Jaén) in 1988. Natalia cannot remember a time when she stopped drawing, believing It has always accompanied her. When Natalia was 10 years old, she won a poetry prize at school which brought her immense joy and great surprise: it was the affirmation that it was valid, that she could feel safe placing attention and faith in her own creative world. This encounter equipped her with creative sovereignty, followed by many contests of drawing, more battles lost than won and at a very early age she painted her first mural in high school. Shortly after, during adolescence, Natalia decided to process her own anxieties by painting the walls of her bedroom with large figures that captured on their skin the traces of her rabid tears from that time. It was then that she decided without hesitation to study to be an art therapist. During her studies to become a Graduate in Fine Arts (University of Granada 2012) Natalia forgot her “therapeutic purpose” with art, and dove into the study of drawing and painting techniques at a time when the digitalization of life was opened voraciously. When she finished her studies, Natalia made some editorial publications and decided to go on a trip to Latin America. There she stayed for five years. She got to know the jungle and it captured her deeply. She (the forest) took her between her vine, her leaf and her river and did not let her go until she changed her skin. Absolutely. From this moment her creativity returned to its original therapeutic direction and since then Natalia has been dedicated to her own artistic expression studies and knowledge. The drawing and the word have been guides for her, a kind of oracle in which she, consciously and unconsciously, can give birth to pieces of a puzzle that make sense within herself in time. The artistic studio itself becomes a quality space in which she can build upon her internal world with absolute freedom, as much as she lets it emerge. Natalia works with children in schools addressing artistic works with a therapeutic approach and it is her wish to continue investigating and studying this field, the spirit and the psyche, and how artistic creation is, for human beings, an immense source of self-knowledge and healing.

Born in Utrecht, The Netherlands, Ron describes himself as an optimist, adventurer, epicurean, connector and entrepreneur. His list of successful climbs includes Mont Blanc (4.807 metres), the highest mountain in Europe, Kilimanjaro (5.895 metres), the highest mountain in Africa, and Aconcagua (6.962 metres), the highest mountain in South America. In addition, he has also conquered the highest peaks in Russia and Antarctica. Ron’s proclivity towards walking/hiking stems from scientific evidence that points towards the various benefits that this form of physical exercise. Because walking outdoor triggers the production of the happy hormone, serotonin, not only does it boost health but also enhances overall well-being. A study involving 20,000 people in England showed that people who spent at least two hours a week in natural surroundings seemed to be more content and at peace. This positive impact is evident even if you just sit outside in a park, the beach or the woods. Walking is a proven antidote for overcoming mental stress and its related problems, like anxiety and depression. During the hiking sessions at Evolve, Ron often asks his clients to evaluate their mood before and after the nature walk. Most people admit to feeling calm and balanced following an outdoor walking session. Various ways in which walking improves health are – Strengthening heart muscles and bones, burning calories, reducing excess body fat, and boosting muscle power and endurance; Reducing your risk of developing conditions such as heart disease, type 2-diabetes, osteoporosis and some cancers; Replenishing vitamin D in the body; Building the immune system by triggering production of white blood cells; Having a positive impact on gut health by encouraging growth of good bacteria; Healing the trauma of pain; While Ron likes to hike on his own, he lets others follow their own preference. You can choose to walk with your family members or friends, or pair up with a walking buddy in case you lack the motivation to venture out on your own. So, all you need to do is put on a pair of walking shoes and step outside for at least 20 minutes every day to appreciate the goodness of nature. In addition to the multiple physical, mental and emotional benefits, an outdoor hike could provide lasting memories, like a beautiful sunset, frolicking squirrels, chirping birds, wild flowers in full bloom, and so on.