Who is Olive

Yoga · exercise · breathing · light food · sleep · meditation · touch

In short, Olive are people, at least two at the moment, who operate a health retreat focussed on producing the ultimate health results in whomever passes our way. We do this by fusing the ancient and the most modern, and the simple and the most complex.

We were founded in 2011 in Marbella, Spain by Cristina and a former client whose personal health transformation inspired her to become a founding partner for the venture that would become Olive Retreat. Their investment into sharing health began to pay off quickly, and within a few seasons the business began to show results. Ray joined somewhere near the end of the early experience, and remained after Cristina’s founding partner left to launch her own venture as a vegan chef, leaving the door open for Ray to become co-owner. Under the new partnership Olive began sprouting fruit, including an innovative Mind Detox Program, the first in the segment, the launch of Olive Thailand, a publishing company, and many other great adventures and healthy outcomes, including books, health guides, and a number of on-demand retreats in different parts of the world - including Germany, Morocco, USA, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, France, Portugal, Sweden and elsewhere.

We grew steadily and healthily until 2020, when we decided to cease operations in light of the world’s response to Covid, something we debated openly, and still do, which ultimately lead to our being heavily censured and blocked on social media, and ultimately requiring we cease operations for 5 years.. During that time we redefined ourselves and our methodology, and now we have an even better offering.

To read more about our retreats, please see Spain and Thailand, and check our older posts on social media.

At the end of the day, we were and are defined by our guests in as much as we are defined by ourselves.

Pre-Olive Foundations

Before either of us invested in the health business, holding retreats and workshops around the world, we had well-established careers in both the private and public sectors. We would have been called “successful” at various points in our lives, yet in spite of that (or because of it) we chose to invest in health due to our appreciation for life, and the lives of those we loved.

We are similar in that our quest for the ultimate health would steer us wide of conventional medical systems. In the process of drifting into alternative health avenues, we, like so many others, got ourselves into trouble more often than not, but more importantly we discovered the truth about the medical-industrial complex, leading us to a more inquisitive journey into the nature of life itself. Like all innovators, we realized that much of what we had learned growing up could and should be questioned. Many truths were debunked, especially concerning the modern alimentary and medical systems behind ill health, including big pharma, big agri, big finance, big tech, and big anything.

In any case, this is what was and is included in our Olive stay:

• Accommodation (different options for Spain or Thailand).

• In Thailand you get a "premium" jungle setting 5 minutes from the village and 3 from the sea. (at least the we, the monkeys, the peacocks, the deer, the butterflies and many other crazy creatures think it is the premium place.)

• In Spain you get one of a number of amazing Spanish Cortijos scattered around Andalusia, one of which has horses, and another of which has foxes, another sheep, and yet another, ghosts.

• Airport transfer/round trip (1 bag)*

• Body Detox Guide + O8 Mind Detox + Yoga Manual + Cookbook, etc,

• Pre-health Questionnaire & Personal assessment upon arrival (Dosha)*

• All detoxing food (3 meals), snacks, smoothie and drinks (vegan, whole, clean, gluten free, yeast free, sugar free, and individualized)

• Daily individualized yoga/stretching + meditation + breathe work (Pranayamas)

• Daily body health classes/dialogues + exercises (the best of the latest science + evidence based ancient stuff)

• Daily mind health classes/dialogues + meditation techniques + creative meditations + exercises to get the neurons to fire up

• Cooking/baking/smoothie classes

• Daily "natural" and sustainable anaerobic and aerobic exercise in pristine nature

• 1 massage (more can be provided and paid in cash)*

• A facial with all natural products that will make you sparkle (7 days stay on demand)

• 24h staff at venue and lots of time to talk and figure it out

• Personal recommendations upon departure

• “Back-home-support”, longer if you want (actually we usually end up becoming good friends :)

• Last but not least, the reason you come... you get much healthier

*Included at 7 nights stay, can be arranged for shorter or longer stays

Olive Present & Future

A lot has changed since our beginnings, though the research and dedication to health hasn’t. We still offer online meetings, retreats, courses, specialized events and workshops with the same goal to create healthy individuals and groups, and we still ask the same questions -

“What does healthy mean to you?”

“What does happy mean for you?”

“What does successful mean for you?”

The answer to those questions has changed with the addition of a more powerful tool to the took kit.

We call it “Grace” and nothing has been so powerful.

It looks like this I/U = (C x M) F(t) | G

And sounds like this -

“All I can say is a miracle has happened!!!”