FOUNDER & RETREAT CURATOR
Alice Martin
With over 15 years’ experience creating and curating experiences around the world, Alice has worked across the UK, Europe, USA, North Africa, the UAE and GCC, bringing people together through memorable moments, meaningful experiences and a shared sense of connection.
Holding a BA (Hons) in Events Management with Tourism, Alice’s career has always centred around creating experiences that make people feel something. Alongside this, her passion for coaching and personal development has shaped a deeper belief: that sometimes, stepping away from everyday life gives us the space to see it differently.
This is the inspiration behind Ryde Wellness.
Alice’s retreats are designed as a journey of discovery, a chance to explore beautiful places, experience new cultures, reconnect with nature and, most importantly, reconnect with yourself. Through movement, mindful experiences, nourishing food, creativity, conversation and time to simply be, each retreat creates space to pause, reflect and consider what you want more of in your life.
Her greatest joy is bringing people together and creating the conditions for genuine connection, with ourselves, with others and with the world around us.
Ultimately, Alice wants every guest to leave with more than wonderful memories. She hopes they return home feeling inspired, re-energised and a little more connected to the life they want to create, building a life they feel excited to wake up to.
Ryde is a celebration of living well, travelling meaningfully and making space for the things that matter.
RETREAT CURATOR & COACH
Lisa Durante
Lisa spent thirty years polishing other people's words in Dubai's magazine and book publishing world, editing titles including Aquarius, Jumeirah Beach Magazine, Property World Middle East and NewYou, before turning that same eye for story toward a fresh narrative beyond the medium of media and into the world of wellness experiences.
Trained in sociology at Rome's Gregorian University and international journalism at London University, she began her career as a development writer on a UN project in India: an early education in what actually makes a place, and its heritage, resonate.
Today Lisa splits her time between Dubai, Riyadh and Gloria del Sole, her eco-farmhouse-in-progress in Tuscany's Maremma, the very olive grove where Harvest & Harmony's guests spend Day Two's harvest picnic.
As the retreat's Curator and Co-Founder of Wellness Culture Connect, she co-facilitates the daily Lifestyle Integration sessions that carry the group through the retreat's Root–Explore–Receive–Release arc, setting its energetic tone from arrival to farewell.
Lisa's gift is finding the real story in a place, a practice, a season and a table, then making sure everyone gathered gets to taste it.
Yoga Guide
Rachel Rowling
Rachel spent her early career in banking before choosing a different path and stepping away from the corporate world toward something that felt more aligned with who she was becoming. With over a decade of personal practice behind her, she trained as a yoga teacher in the Sacred Valley of Peru in 2025, studying Hatha and Vinyasa, and went on to complete 300 hours of advanced training in Vinyasa, Yin, and Meditation.
Rachel teaches across studios throughout the UK and leads community-focused, immersive workshops, alongside her training as a sound practitioner, which she often weaves into her sessions. Her style is grounding and accessible, leaving you feeling both energised and at ease after a morning of movement.
"Yoga is so much more than just the asanas, and I hope to bring an element of this insight to our sessions, to help you feel connected and grounded, on and off the mat."