Angela Farmer & Victor van Kooten
Angela and Victor are world-renowned Yoga teachers, having influenced many of the leading Yoga teachers in the
West today. They inspire students to reflect inward and reconnect with deep springs of wisdom, energy and creativity
that lie within. They invite students to go beyond prescribed techniques of structural movement to allow the creative
and intuitive spirit to emerge. Their classes are an oasis for those seeking a more internal and meditative approach
and offer a wealth of poetic imager, playful exploration and creative movement... all geared to help students find
their way back to their own inner substance, guidance and wisdom.
Find out more at www.angela-victor.com
Melissa Spamer
Melissa Spamer has fifteen years of teaching experience, leading classes, workshops, retreats and teacher trainings
in the U.S. and S.E. Asia. Her love of yoga led her to become an ayurvedic practitioner and massage therapist to deepen
her understanding of the body-mind. Her approach to yoga weaves together teachings primarily from Angela Farmer,
Victor Van Kooten, as well as Rama Vernon, Shiva Rea, Kali Ray and her studies in the lineage of Sri Krishnamacharya.
Her classes flow with the rhythm of the breath, infusing music, poetry, energetic anatomy and yoga philosophy,
guiding each student on a journey into the art of living yoga.
Find out more at www.lotusintheflame.com
Rena Frangou
Born in Greece, Athens, I came to Germany, Heidelberg, to study and I still live there, for the last 13 years in Berlin.
2007 I discovered Nia and it changed my life. I am teaching Nia since 2010. Νia suits literally everybody. People of all ages, all fitness levels, shapes and sizes benefit and transform their lives through Nia. Classes are taken barefoot, allowing dancers to sense connection with the earth and be mindful of their foot placement.
Find out more at www.nianow.com or www.rena-nia.de
Teachers
Patricia Chalkley
Patricia has lived on the island of Lesvos for ten years periodically traveling to other countries and teaching seminars
and workshops in self development. She lives between the UK and Greece, and has a healing practice in Intuitive Body Psychotherapy, Holistic Massage and is a Reiki Energy Healing Master/teacher amongst other additional alternative therapy techniques. Her experience of body psychotherapy and the links between the mind/emotions and the outcomes of stress
and trauma in the body led her to develop a practice which brings about Total Wellbeing; rebalancing and releasing emotions from the whole self in a positive and uplifting way through the use of massage and movement therapy.
Irene Asbach & Ursula Hasenburg
Irene Asbach and Ursula Hasenburg, the founders and owners of “Milelja-Inselgarten”, first came to Lesvos at the invitation
of Greek dancer and choreographer, Vassilis Giakoummis who was born in the island’s east coast village of Mandamados. During the decades since, they have got to know the island’s culture, music and dance very well and are fascinated by the diversity of the island’s nature. After visiting other Greek islands with groups, they returned to the embrace of Lesvos and
it is now their second home.
In 1991 they bought a large piece of land on the outskirts of Molyvos with superb views of the medieval town and its castle. There they built “Milelja –Inselgarten” - a seminar house now attended by instructors and groups from all over the world. They live in a house nearby after giving up their apartment in Germany.
Guests enjoy the warm and enchanting atmosphere at “Milelja-Inselgarten” where they are offered energy healing treatments, aqua therapy, Greek, meditative and healing dance, and a healthy diet, as well as visits to special places on the island.
Every year, many other people also visit the seminar house at least once during their holiday to take advantage of the program of treatments offered.
Irene Asbach (top): Gestaltpsychotherapist, Dipl. geomantie-berator, reiki-master for more than 20 years, energy work,trained in aqua Therapy, author: Reiki, Heilende Kraft der Hände, mother & grandmother.
Ursula Hasenburg (bottom): Dipl. social worker, gestaltpsychotherapist, dance-voice- & bodywork for 40 years, energy work for 20 years, reiki-master, trained in aqua therapy, mother & grandmother.
Find out more at www.milelja-inselgarten.com
Isabelle
Isabelle was drawn to the martial arts from an early age but was unable to find a suitable teacher, so her life
took a different path. Some fifteen years ago though, while attending a reike seminar in Munich, she was attracted
by a video in a shop window showing a Chinese Tai Ji practitioner teaching Tai Ji. On viewing the video back home
she declared - he's the teacher I've been looking for, but he lives and teaches in America - how do I find him?
It so happened that he was teaching a Tai Ji seminar in Munich later in that year which she attended, and she was
hooked both on the teacher and the form he taught. Isabelle and her partner, Michael, opened a school in Exeter,
England where she taught an advanced level of the tai Ji form. Now she lives on Lesvos and farms an organic vegetable garden and orchard.
Michael
Michael's search for an alternative, natural method to regain his health was prompted by a doctor prescribing
a drug for a severe health challenge he had diagnosed. When Michael asked for how long he should take the drug
the doctor replied "for life." At this startling news Michael commenced his search which resulted in him starting
on the road to full health using the practice of Qi Gong and Tai ji as his main activity.
After only a few months of daily practice he was able to stop taking the drug and has been prescription free
for the last twelve years. In partnership with his wife. Isabelle, they established a Tai Ji school in Exeter, England,
where he taught the beginning sequences and movements of both Tai Ji and Qi Gong.
A desire to move to warmer climes, prompted a move to Lesvos where he helps Isabelle to run her organic garden.
He continues to practice regularly and teaches occasionally.
Stratis Kabanas
Stratis Kabanas was born in Mytiline and has lived for the past 30 years in Molyvos. He has deep feelings for nature
and the sea, and he shares his experiences on boat trips, special car journeys, and walking tours.
http://www.facebook.com/stratis.kabanas
Theofilos Petris
Theophilos Petris was lives in Molyvos, where he was born. Nature is a part of his life, and he has a deep knowledge
of herbs and wild plants that grow in Lesbos.
Jan van Lent
Jan van Lent (20-06-1951) studied photography and graphic design at the Art Academies of Den Bosch and Enschede
(the Netherlands), following which he worked as a fashion and commercial photographer in Den Bosch and Antwerp
and as a photographic artist in Amsterdam. After a career as a video and film director, he moved to Eftalou on the Greek island of Lesvos, where he now specializes in nature photography (Orchids as specialism) and nature walks (herbs and chorta – wild vegetables) as specialism.
For more information on Orchids: see ORCHID BLOG on www.janvanlent.com
Rena Grigoriou
A teacher of Greek traditional folk dances since 1994. She studied at the Musical Academy of Lamia in the Department of Traditional Dances. She worked as a teacher of traditional dance at the Youth Center of the Municipality of Mithimna, and she continues to teach and demonstrate the dances of Lesbos and other areas of Greece at conferences and festivals.
Yiota Thiveou (An informative lecture)
Yiota Thiveou comes from Methymna (Molivos) and she is the President of the Council of the Th Public Historical Library of Methymna “Argyris Eftaliotis”. She is a graduate in “English and Greek Philology” (University of Athens) and a postgraduate in “Linguistics and Modern English Language” (University of Nottingham). She works as an English teacher in Secondary Education.
Aphrodite Vati (Greek Language Lessons)
was born in the USA and moved to Molyvos, Lesvos at the age of 11. Having completed Secondary School in Greece, she returned to the United States to study at University, whereshe received her B.Sc. in Mathematics from The University of Texas at Dallas and her MBA from Thunderbird (The American Graduate School of International Management). She spent 6 months at the overseas campus of Thunderbird, which is located in Archamps, France and completed a 6-month Practicum in Duesseldorf Germany, where she workded for Delphi Automotive Systems, a subsidiary of General Motors. She worked for 5 years in Athens, Greece for various companies in their marketing and sales divisions (Henkel Hellas, P.Krideras-Plagos) and finally returned to Molyvos, Lesvos in 2004 to work at her family's hotel (Aphrodite Hotel) in the summer time, and also to work alongside her mother at their English School (www.vati-school.com), which has been operating since 1986. Aphrodite has been teaching English since 2004 to the children of Molyvos.