The Team
Katie Manekshaw - Founder / Director of Rebalance Retreats
Katie Manekshaw, artist and entrepreneur has been running wellness business's for 20 years. She is passionate about helping people find more balance. She founded I Love Chakra in 2005 a popular brand of crystal wellness products. And in 2017 she moved to Byron Bay where she founded Rebalance Retreats.
" I created Rebalance Retreats to give people the opportunity to press the pause button on busy. Just for long enough to reconnect with what makes them truly happy. To discover a place outside of routines and obligations and reconsider how to create more balance. Somewhere to try a few new things and get some real perspective on where they are at. I wanted to create a retreat that feel inclusive, light hearted and fun, so everyone will feel welcome."
- Katie Manekshaw
Contact: katie@rebalanceretreats.com
Taryn Pallister - Nia Dance & Yoga Facilitator / Co-Director
Taryn’s passion is creating space for self-liberation through conscious embodiment and authentic expression. Her own spirited journey to find freedom inspired her to travel around the world training in many modalities including: Nia Dance. Yoga. Kahuna Bodywork & Remedial massage.
She is an experienced retreat facilitator running annual retreats locally and internationally, as well presenting Nia at festivals, Being Woman Retreats, and offering a range of classes on a weekly basis to Australia’s largest and most awarded spa location “Gwinganna”.
Taryn loves sharing movement as medicine. She is gifted at guiding participants into a place of powerful connection between body, mind, emotions and spirit.
BelindaGrace Clairvoyant, Chakra Healer & Retreat Facilitator
BelindaGrace is a Clairvoyant Healer with 20 years of experience in her field. She is passionate about helping her clients and students to lead happier and healthier lives that inspire them and have meaning and purpose.
She is also a published author and recording artist, with popular books and CD’s to her name. BelindaGrace has appeared on radio talk-back shows in Australia and the USA, conducted television interviews and been a presenter and keynote speaker at many events around Australia.
Olatundji Akpo-Sani - Writing Workshops
Olatundji Akpo-Sani is a story teller, MC and internationally acclaimed poet with a unique voice and talent. His words capture the essence of what it is to be human. They evoke emotion and enthral the imagination. He has been published in numerous journals and magazines and writes the popular Monday Morning Mantra blog for ILC. http://baobabtreewriter.com
Avishai Barnatan - Sound Healer
Vibration is at the core of all life. The miraculous phenomenon of sound and music has played a key role in our human experience throughout the ages.
I am fascinated by how music can inspire us, give us strength and courage and dispel the illusion of being separate from nature and one another. Sound has the power to alleviate physical pain, shift emotional and psychological states and re-align us with our natural frequency, bringing about healing, harmony and connection.
My work and service is to help you ‘tune in’ and support you on your journey. Whether facilitating a sound healing session, composing, recording, producing or performing on stage.
Jenni Cargill - Writer & Story Teller
Jenni Cargill-Strong is a professional award-winning storyteller and singer with 25 years experience and five award-winning story albums. Her passions and expertise are focused on using story to reconnect humans to place, to the ancient wisdom of our earth-loving ancestors and the awareness that we humans are nature.
Jenni is a trained facilitator in Joyality: a program for personal and planetary transformation, a part-time academic and guest lecturer in storytelling and an avid labyrinth maker. She is a passionate advocate of her region and has been offering ‘Stories on Foot’ storytelling tours along the Byron foreshore since early 2016. The feedback has been enthusiastic and heartwarming.
Michelle Winrow - The Authentic Wellness Coach
Michelle Winrow is a degree qualified allied health professional, with over 20 years’ experience in the healthcare sector. She brings the latest in Wellness Coaching, addressing her clients wholistic wellness concerns by taking a whole person approach and providing realistic solutions.
She specialises in The Wellness Coaching Model providing help and support, as it successfully transforms people’s lives, creating the changes they want. From a scientific perspective, The Wellness Coaching Model is based on elements of Coaching Psychology, Neuroscience, The Behaviour Change Model, Mindfulness, NLP, Positive Psychology, Self Determination Theory and the Strengths-Based Approach.
Her service approach is a range of programs, consultations workshops and experiences for individuals, groups and workplaces. Being coffee lover, she composed, “Remember you can’t pour from an empty coffee pot, take care of yourself first”- as she is all about helping people to live a better life.
Gabriel Otu from Happy Africa Art
Gabriel Otu has been performing traditional Ghanaian and West African drum and dance since the age of 15. A dynamic master dance and drum performer , he presents a powerful & traditional West African music, dance, storytelling & cultural package.
Gabriel has performed numerous venues across Australia, including Woodford Folk Festival, Womadalaide and many more. His workshops are incredible.
Maja Liwszyc
Hailing from the wild wild West (of Australia), Maja is an actor, theatre maker, poet and teaching artist with a decade of performance experience under her belt. She has worked with an array of theatre companies on both coastlines and teaches physical theatre under Zen Zen Zo. She believes fervently in playful art and artful play.
Stuart Cooke from 180 Nutrition
In early 2009 Stuart Co-founded 180 Nutrition, an online health & wellness website. It was conceived out of frustration with an unhealthy and confused nation. Confused with mainstream nutritional advice that didn’t seem work, and unhealthy from the highly processed ‘healthy foods’ that were part of the problem.
Today 180 Nutrition empowers hundreds of thousands of individuals with their natural whole food products, free online resources and top 10 iTunes podcast. Stu is a wealth of knowledge about all things nutrition & health.
Ahna de Vena - The Sleep Muse
Ahna de Vena is an expert on sleep, specialising in coaching individuals and teams of business leaders. She is the founder of Holistic Sleep Therapy and Comfort for Kids – an organisation that helps children who’ve experienced trauma to sleep well so they can heal and thrive.
Ahna reconnects us with our innate ability to sleep well and enjoy a life overflowing with energy and joy.
Zimmi from Weaving Nature
Zimmi's work has been in many nationally recognised exhibitions including; Sculpture by the Sea, Conrad Jupiters, The Blake Prize and Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award. I have had 10 solo shows at both commercial and regional galleries. I have been commissioned to created over 100 artworks for public galleries, private clients, hospitals and resorts.