FOOD ᐧ EXERCISE ᐧ YOGA & (WE ADD) BREATHING ᐧ TOUCH ᐧ REST ᐧ sleep

physical health

It’s never too late, it usually takes about 3 months for the physical part of us to clearly get better. With over 100,000 toxic chemicals floating around in our modern society, some as “food”, some as cosmetics, some as coatings on our walls and plastic on our floors, and yet some others as all the stuff we think we need but don’t - and all developed in the name of progress by the way - it’s good to know which ones to avoid. We are to some extent different but we will know what you need to avoid when we meet. Identifying and then eliminating the sources of ill health are the first steps to physical, mental, and spiritual health. AKA, Body, Mind and Soul. Actually, these three are all one, or none. We prefer to speak about Energy but acknowledge that words and thinking already exist that oppose this.

If staying healthy is a priority we first look at what health means to you. Then we find ways to avoid illness. It might sound hard, but it’s actually not. Here is where our O·method which basically teaches you to feel comes in handy. You’ll learn what the healthiest lifestyle options are, none of which are extreme, and how to creatively incorporate these into your life, and enjoy the accompanying happiness and peace of mind that ensures. Promise! Keep in mind that every chemical process that leads to a thought, an emotion, a cell division, and on, comes from the food you eat, the air you breath and how you treat your body in life.

It’s all basic, really, and yet most people don’t respect their bodies or minds. What intrigues us at O·live is why people knowingly harm themselves? That’s where the Mental and Spiritual questions come in. Click, and jump straight there if you know the body stuff already.

health assessment & individualized programs

Upon arrival Cristina gives individualized assessments based upon her 25+ years of work in mainly Ayurveda and Orthomolecular Medicine to understand what you need to thrive. We study your unique chemistry and how it affects the way you live, and vice versa. We teach you to read your own body and find reliable information to treat whatever comes your way in life. Your body is unique, and is ultimately the only expert you need to trust and reᐧtreat as the best friend it is.

Our unique program combines the best of modern science, (which we read up on daily) and ancient holistic theories to keep us from getting lost in the often un-natural and un-healthy world, and live more healthily and happily as a result.

nutrients and air make up your body

Few think of food as the components of their organs, but it is. As much as it is what we eat, it’s how we eat it. We’ll individualize and adapt your food to your needs, teach you all about why, and how to cook it, bake it, mix it and, if you wish, find the research to keep learning and updating your knowledge. Our delicious, nutrient-packed, vegan meals (no refined stuff, no sugar, no gluten, no yeast) heal!

We eat healthy vegan because it's simply the best human food. In class you will also learn about protein, carbs and fats and the micro-nutrients. Scroll for down the syllabus.

You won't be hungry, tired or sluggish. We don’t fight hunger, we love it. Our food will make you lose weight if you need to, gain it if you want, and give you energy and health rather than steal it. We don’t care what Big Meat or Big Sugar say, only your body’s voice matters.

Our prize winning food promises gut health and that’s where we always start. You'll get our cookbook and more to continue back home. We have hosted food critics for The Independent, Conde Nast Traveller, TV-reporters, bloggers, many retreat hoppers and other media visitors. One food reporter said that it was “the best food week of my life”, and not because the food was fancy and elaborate. It wasn’t, and isn’t. And as many before and after her, she healed and felt great in just a week. The O·food is honest, good, and respectful, and the spices and herbs work miracles. Enough said. For more read our testimonials and media.

exercise and sleep perfection

Our main O·live venues are located by national parks or protected areas nestled in rolling olive fields in Spain or by the jungle in Thailand. We look for places that offer pristine nature, tranquility, clean air. These are perfect settings for exercise and sleeping, both of which go hand in hand for healthy physiology and hormones.

It’s about finding your thing, the 30 to 40 minutes of cardio you enjoy and therefore will do. Walk and talk, run for fun, or play to stay, whatever exercise you prefer we get both anaerobic and aerobic classes in our daily program, and visits to markets, temples, sights, or villages. Most guests don’t even think about it as exercise, they just do it, and feel great.

Then comes the beauti(ful), calm, deep sleep, helped by the lullaby of nature. Buddhists call it the ultimate meditation. We call it detox sleep as we literally see how the lymph gets to do its job it. In Khao Tao we offer Prana-Pods, the ultimate sleeping experience in which you feel every nuance of breeze and go to bed with the stars and the moon shining down on you.

O·yoga, breathing and O·m meditation

O·yoga is a careful and mindful stretching using the oldest form of Yoga (Raja, later Ashtanga) poses and “rocking” with acupressure points to enhance 5 important healing processes for body, mind and soul, involving the blood, lymph and endocrine systems. With the O·method you will Feel for Real and it will enhance every movement, from toes to hair, connect it all and beyond until it all makes perfect sense. Peace-full.

Our O classes are tailored just for you, t-b-p back home. Practice is everything, in silence, with your Body, (in the Yoga Sutras it’s called the Temple) not against it. All levels of experience are welcome, from beginners to intermediate and advanced. There is no competition, nothing to show, just feel and the O will come. Full-circle.

A second, more physical session is offered in the afternoon. All classes are followed by breathing and Om meditation just as in the ancient series. Why invent something new that has been perfect for thousands of years? Cristina is schooled the old way, less talk, less perfection, less gear, more feeling, more auto-corrections and practice, practice, practice until it blows you mind and it becomes you.

She shares her practice with her students outdoors every day. For her it’s a way of living, her “religion” and diagnose. That’s when she “speaks to” the bodies. Practice is her prayer, the body is Nature and the “Bible” which she reads very well by now.

We include key acupressure points, deep tissue vibration and energy healing for your self-practice. A perfect routine for home practice. The breathing exercises (Pranayamas), are simple but very potent breath work. Apart from the massages by our therapists you also learn how important the self touch is for your Oxycontin and other happy hormones. All very forgotten parts of a modern culture.

Yoga Teacher? We offer Teachers training in Thailand and Yoga groups in both countries.

main theories we go through in the yoga & body health class:

All we teach has been taught to us. Nothing is new, yet we have combined it into a very successful program.Our goal is to share our knowledge of how the body and mind work, how they are connected, and how, when aligned, can lead you to better health.

• Yoga and its physiology

• Breathing correctly, Bhandas and Dristi

• Acupressure points that stop stress

• Kundalini and sexual energy

• Chakra detox to dissolve family karma

• Creativity and it’s importance in the body

• Meditation techniques and Pranayamas

We base our knowledge on the latest science and ancient wisdom. We read and study, and try new ideas all the time so that you can get it from us as it has been so often given to us. You’ll try very cool things that can fit into your lives back home.

Returning Home is Critical

At an O·live retreat we give you the opportunity to try it all and the freedom to pick the parts you believe will fit into your life. This is not a quick fix or a normal vacation. Please come here to learn. That's why an O·live Retreat offers a voluntary follow-up program included in the cost, through which we keep in touch and work with you after your departure. We’ve been gratefully communicating with some guests from years ago!

why is a detox a good idea.

At Olive Retreat we put our previous careers full of statistics and research to good use. We continuously study, read the latest in research on science, nutrition and the environment. Did you know that since 1940, over 120,000 synthetic chemicals have been added to our environment — and only a small percentage of these have been tested for their health impacts on us and other living creatures? Many are dangerous, carcinogenic, mutagenic, and endocrine disrupters in and of themselves, but who knows what happens when they are combined. They are in food, cosmetics, household chemicals, clothes, and more. These chemicals affect us when interacting with the environment, they affect our nature, our bodies, our organs — even our brains.

Olive Retreat has strategies to deal with the toxicity of the modern world. When we become healthier, our imbalances dissipate. Many diseases, allergies, worries, pain, sleep problems, general low energy, obesity, anxiety, depression (all inflammation based issues) are symptomatic of an unhealthy environment, diet, and habits. The best detox is the daily one (some need greater cleanses). As we come into greater contact with our bodies, we learn that our bodies and minds are the best experts and pharmacies we have and how to “communicate” with them, to understand their needs and messages to us. You will learn that too.

Everything we do is designed specifically to enable your body and mind to cleanse naturally and gently, in the best way for you. For example, not everyone is suited to an all-liquid juice detox, intense meditation or exercise, or complicated yoga postures, or extended periods of stillness. Through Ayurvedic diagnoses of your body type, we find the most efficient and gentle process to produce the best results for you. We love that each of us are different. Imagine if there were only one song, or one painting in the world? Imagine if there were only one kind of flower, or tree, or bird, or yes, you guessed it, be!