The Masters
Hyon Gak Sunim
Zen Meditation & Psychedelics
Hyon Gak Sunim, a Zen monk, was born Paul Muenzen in Rahway, New Jersey.
Educated at Yale College and Harvard University, he was ordained a monk under Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1992. He has completed more than twenty intensive ninety-day meditation retreats and three arduous hundred-day solo meditation retreats in the mountains of Korea. He has compiled and edited a number of Zen Master Seung Sahn’s texts, including The Compass of Zen, Only Don’t Know, and Wanting Enlightenment Is a Big Mistake. He received inga from Zen Master Seung Sahn in 2001, and is currently guiding teacher of the Zen Center in Regensburg.
As the former Buddhist co-Chaplain at Harvard University (1996-97), Sunim has given public talks at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, UC-Berkeley, Oxford, Columbia, NYU, Union Theological Seminary, Brown, SUNY, Université de Paris, University of London, Charles University (Prague), University of Latvia, Vilnius University, University of Salzburg, and University of Oslo, among many others, in addition to colleges, divinity schools, and countless temples throughout Korea, and other temples in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan. He was invited to teach meditation to executives at Facebook HQ in Silicon Valley in 2012. In June 2018, he was invited to teach Zen meditation in the Vatican: it was the first time that Zen was ever known to have been taught inside the Vatican.
Joel & Michelle Levey
Neuroscience & Mind-Fitness
Dr. Joel & Michelle Levey are founders of Wisdom at Work and The International Center for Corporate Culture and Organizational Health at InnerWork Technologies, Inc., a Seattle-based firm dedicated to developing and renewing organizational cultures and communities in which extra-ordinary levels of inspired leadership, cooperation, synergy, collective intelligence, and change resilience can thrive. They also serve as Adjunct Faculty at the University of Minnesota Medical School, USA. The Leveys work with organizations and communities around the globe to inspire people to deepen the wisdom, wonder, compassion, resilience, and creativity they bring to life, work, and relationships amidst the myriad changes, challenges, and opportunities of these turbulent and rapidly shifting times.
Nobel Laureate the Dalai Lama is advisor and supporter on a number of the Leveys’ projects. The Leveys are also authors of numerous articles and books such as: |
Living in Balance: A Mindful Guide for Thriving in a Complex World
Mindfulness, Meditation, and Mind Fitness
Prof. Dr. Ferdinand von Meyenn
Nutrition and Metabolic Epigenetics
Professor for Nutrition and Metabolic Epigenetics at ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
Prof. Ferdinand von Meyenn is a professor in the Department of Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST) at ETH Zurich. His group aims to gain insights into the complex relationship between nutrition, metabolism and the epigenome.
Field of research:
Healthy Aging
Stem cell research
Chronic metabolic diseases, obesity
Genetic predisposition of diet-related diseases
Novel regenerative medicine applications
Early detection of cancer
Louka Leppard / Master
Meditation in Touch & Body Work
Louka Leppard is the founder of Meditation In Touch (Tula massage) & Tulayoga.
His primary interests are in:
Proportion, line, space and form.
Timing, rhythm, melody and movement.
The connection between emotion, sensation and posture.
Interpersonal dynamics and communication.
The devotional, ceremonial and meditative aspects of conscious touch.
The release of held emotion and trauma through the release of tension in the body,
and the healing power of tenderness.
Louka is currently the resident specialist at
The Can Bordoy Grand House & Garden in Palma de Mallorca
and the visiting specialist at
Akasha the spa of The Cafe Royal in London.
Les Bergues the Four Seasons hotel in Geneva.
Insens a quiet and elegant healing centre in the heart of Geneva.
Dr. Anna Eckardt / Coach
Leadership Effectiveness & Learning Transfer
Dr Anna Eckardt is one of the Managing Partners of MyLearningBoutique – an internationally active consulting, training and coaching company.
She has been working with senior leaders in multinational corporations & international organisations since over 15 years. Anna consults in the area of integration of CSR into organisational design and strategy execution, focusing on transforming decision making processes and behaviours of leaders.
Anna is a visiting lecturer for Sustainability & Strategy at the Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden) and affiliated researcher with IMD (Switzerland). Her research on strategy, sustainability & compliance has been published in books and in peer-reviewed journals and she was awarded several internationally recognised awards. Anna also serves as a coach, specialised in Group and Systems Dynamics and certified by Tavistock Institute of Human Relations in London, UK.
Anna is Co-Founder and CEO of Solaris and serves as personal coach to every participant, supporting them in individual goal setting and securing learning transfer into “real life” after the retreat.
Lulwa Al Khalifa
Holistic Nutrition & Health Design
Lulwa Khalifa Al Khalifa has been actively engaged in sports since her childhood, persistently searching for what fuels her passion. She was part of Bahrain's first-ever women's national football team in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, in addition to participating in the Bahraini Sailing team for over 15 years, competing in national and regional contests. However, she had to stop practicing all activities due to an injury, which led her to explore nutrition's significant role in preventing injuries and fostering proper healing during her physiotherapy sessions.
As a result, Lulwa became interested in the world of nutrition and enrolled in the International Sports and Science Association to assist her fellow athletes and colleagues. With her ample athletic experience, Lulwa discovered how to steer her friends and clients towards a balanced lifestyle by combining the appropriate nutrition with exercise. This inspired her to establish HealthDesign, aimed at guiding individuals seeking a wellness advisor to develop the appropriate diet and exercise routine and design an adequate supplement package for effective outcomes. Following an analysis of her clients' test results, Lulwa developed a hypothesis outlining the discrepancies in society and how to apply scientific data to cater to a broad population.
Dr. Jessica Cho
Longevity & Regenerative Medicine
Dr. Jessica Cho, MD., is a highly regarded Internal Medicine Physician whose clinical approach is focused on integrative wellness. She joins Solaris to discuss how to have total body wellness at a microscopic level, how to test how fast you are aging, how to control how genes are expressed and how to intervene when your body has gone awry, specifics about cellular health, DNA and telomeres; how to change your genetic destiny; medical and lifestyle interventions for longevity; calorie restriction; peptide therapy; exosome therapy; semaglutide; the importance of gut health; autoimmune diseases and so much more.
“To me, wellness is not the absence of disease, but rather a life of happiness, health and vitality. My medical wisdom is rooted in integrative treatments and a command of Western and Eastern medicines. My interdisciplinary background provides a variety of tools that help patients achieve success. I welcome the challenge of complex medical issues spanning from low energy, poor sleep, brain fog, weight issues, and hormonal and immunological imbalances.”
Dr. Berit Hippe
Longevity & Epigenetics
Austrian. Managing director of HealthBioCare in Vienna, Austria.
Adjunct faculty at the University in Vienna, Austria.
PhD in nutrition science with a focus on molecular microbiology, epigenetics and personalised nutrition. Featured in Austrian and Swiss television.
Field of research:
Healthy Aging
Early detection of stress and prevention of burnout
Genetic predisposition of diet-related diseases
Fasting and fasting mimetics
Epigenetically active plant ingredients
Sport, performance monitoring and optimization
Healthy immune system
Early detection of cancer
Petri Räisänen
Ashtanga Yoga & Pranayama (Breath Work)
Petri Räisänen (born August 13, 1967) is an internationally known and respected Ashtanga Yoga teacher. Petri started practicing Ashtanga yoga in 1989 and teaching in 1991. He is co-owner and director of Ashtanga Yoga Helsinki, Finland, which he founded in 1997. Since 2000 Petri has been teaching Ashtanga yoga internationally around the world. He got his teaching authorization from K. Pattabhi Jois and Sharath Jois in 2001. For the last 10 years, he has been teaching with his wife Wambui Njuguna-Räisänen.
Petri focuses on integrating healing and therapy with yoga, meeting students’ individual needs, and guiding their progress. A yoga teacher, punk rocker, folk healer, spiritual anarchist, mystic, free thinker, traveler, dad, and co-owner of several businesses. He believes in freedom in any positive life-developing field. Freedom with a bit of sense-control, not as uncontrolled chaos. Freedom in education, religion, race, sex, spiritual development, thought, and our individual acts. He calls himself a spiritual atheist.