Get to know us
Kathrine left her job as manager in premium hotels to follow her intuition to start a place on a Greek island that would be a safe space of tranquility for others and Elias with BEng, MSc, MPhil, IMechE in Engineering left the high stakes sales manager role in a top renewable energy firm to follow his calling for a life of greater meaning and service. Together they run Kathy's Island Retreat on the Greek island of Karpathos, a small piece of heaven with very high vibration that acts as a healing and retreat centre. Running the centre for close to a decade and working on themselves has opened them up to amazing healing modalities and opportunities. They feel blessed to be able to serve at this level for the greater good of all beings.
Kathrine
Kathrine Brustad is the founder of Kathy’s Island Retreat and comes from Oslo, Norway. In 2010 she moved to Karpathos with her family and she currently lives in the capital town, Pigadia with her three children. She is an open-minded, spiritual person, always looking to learn new things about herself and personal growth is very important to her. As a yoga teacher she tries to practice yoga both on and off the mat on a daily basis as she knows from experience what an amazing impact the practice has on herself and for the people around her.
Kathrine has a Bachelor Degree from Holland, where she studied International Hospitality Management. Since then she has worked for several hotels and hotel chains around Europe.
She loves running Kathy’s Island Retreat, practicing yoga and offering Conscious Tuning sessions as these experiences gives her the chance to meet new people, serve and learn from others and hence grow as a human being. As a yoga teacher she is humble and open and loves the challenges teaching offers. She tries to practice yoga both on and off the mat, on a daily basis, as she knows from experience what an amazing impact the practice of yoga and meditation has on herself and for the people around her.
Elias
Elias Ananiadis is an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT 500), a founding member of the Registered Yoga School (RYS) of Conscious Yoga Teacher Training and the organisations Conscious Yoga Academy, Conscious Sound Healing Academy, Conscious Clothing and the Conscious Group.
Elias was raised at the south suburbs of Athens in an affluent environment close to the sea. He excelled in school, sports, especially swimming where he competed at national level and enjoyed a connection with the water element, plants and animals. From an early age he had a profound curiosity for the human experience and reasonated deeply with the values of truth, freedom and fairness. At the age of 18 he moved to England to study. There he achieved BEng, MSc, MPhil and IMechE status in engineering. That is also when he came in touch with yoga for the first time.
Although he knew there was a different path ahead of him he was guided to gain valuable life experience and pursued a career in engineering and management. During that time he was integral for the execution of significant investments in renewable energy exceeding €100mil. and personally invested in property, tourism and tech projects.
In 2009 his first awakening happened through a health issue. He was diagnosed with a type cancer and when faced with the possibility of transition, he understood that his life to have meaning he ought to be of contribution to others.
Once his health had improved, he went deeper into his practice of yoga and underwent significant personal growth trainings. Later he pursued a karma yoga project where others athletes together with him would cross a sea to inspire others involved with cancer using just windsurfing, kite surfing, kayaks and small sailing boats. This gave birth to a team called Surfers4Life that today includes more than 300 members that wish to grow through offering service to others that led to the Well Being Festivals that have spread the use of meditation and yoga to more than 10,000 people, the Spirit Film Festivals that raised the consciousness of more than 2,500 people and many other meaningful projects.
A full kundalini awakening happened in 2012 and the spiritual teacher Paramahansa Yogananda came to his life. In 2013 he visited India to receive initiation in Kriya yoga.
Since then he has received accreditations as an experienced Yoga Teacher E-RYT 500, a Life Coach, a Sound, Aroma and Energy Healer and also acts as the co-founder of Kathy’s Island Retreat, Kallipoli and Conscious Yoga Academy.
He works towards the completion of a number of books in relation to life, personal growth, conscious communities and what is possible on the spiritual path. He continues to practice Karma, Raja, Bhakti and Kriya Yoga and to inspire others to be of selfless contribution. He pursues ever-higher states of consciousness and has devoted his life to causes that have positive and meaningful impact to humanity.
Moments
Our strength lies in our respect for our unique talents, our practice and our love..
