Dr Nicola Whiteman: MBChB (UCT), DCH (SA), Dip HIV Man (SA), Practice No. 0604399

Dr Nicky Whiteman is a general medical doctor with a special interest in integrative medicine. Her main focus is trying to identify the causes of illness and optimising health through lifestyle change, thereby reducing the need for chronic medication. Through her experience, she has found that optimising gut health is fundamental to managing any patient. Her motivation for starting The Oppidum Health Retreat is to provide a place where information on gut health can be imparted and integrated in a stress-free environment. Our lives are very busy and it is very difficult to change behaviour and find the motivation to optimise our health when we are sitting in traffic for several hours a week, looking after and cooking for several family members, worrying about our security and our finances, and sticking to deadlines.

Inge van Rooyen: Intuitive Massage Therapist

Inge has done various training in massage therapy. She has also completed her training in TRE® Level 1, Usui Reiki Level 1, 2 and Advanced, Fascia Response and Integration and AlphaMind meditation. Inge incorporates all of these modalities in her treatment sessions, but it is her intuition and ability to listen to her clients’ bodies, that has been her greatest asset. She believes that through holding an intentional space and the power of touch, that the body is able to release tension, trauma, stuck emotions and other blockages. Therefore tapping into the intrinsic ability of the body to heal. 

Philippa Oldfield: Chef (South African Chef’s academy)

Philippa is a highly qualified chef and restaurant owner from Cape Town. She is passionate about nutrition and gut health. She is a strong advocate of the gut repair programme as it helped to control her severe asthma and allergies. Philippa is dedicated to sourcing the freshest local ingredients and her menu is extremely practical which will ensure that you are easily able to replicate what you are fed over the retreat. She will do some cooking demonstrations during the retreat as well as a fermenting workshop where you will learn how to make kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir and kombucha. Fermented foods provide us with beneficial microbes thereby promoting gut health. Philippa has compiled a recipe book with the recipes used during the retreat for clients to take home.

Anastasia Jamieson: BSc Nutrition and Food Science (Oxford Brooke University, UK), Check Holistic Lifestyle Coach (Check Institute, USA), Body Stress Release Practitioner (Body Stress Release Academy, SA)

Anastasia specialises in Gut Health after many years of suffering from gut-related issues. She is passionate and dedicated to creating delicious food for special dietary needs with a prime focus on gut health. She demonstrates how to prepare nutritionally dense meals for families, babies and children which are seasonal and sustainable. For many years she has run workshops on bone broth making, fermentation, grain preparation, nut activation, seasonal eating and does whole food cooking classes. She is the owner of Foodology.

Rosalind Dockendorff: Yoga instructor

Rosalind has explored many holistic modalities and deepened training experiences with her own personal work. Her qualifications include her passion for working with the emotional body and how and why we function as we do in every day life. Rosalind invites a curiosity in us to look through what we perceive about ourselves and others.
Rosalind will speak of the nervous system, our emotions, behavioural patterns, amongst other topics to help us understand how all of this affects how we digest life - on a physical, emotional, mental and spiritual level. She has a special interest in why and how our digestive system is affected by the experiences we hold in our body - experiences of trauma and enjoyment.
Physically, Rosalind uses the transformative essence of yoga asana, pranayama, meditation and neurogenic sensation to guide others to feel (physically, emotionally, mentally) what they may not be aware of yet. A session with Rosalind is a journey through one’s somatic perception of Self, integrating the fragmented parts of the nervous system into eventual wholeness. In this way we develop our intuition. A strong connection to our intuition guides us in making better life choices for ourselves - healthier eating, the right physical needs, relationships that nourish and enhancing mental activities.
Rosalind has been facilitating a combination of holistic modalities for over twelve years. Supporting her work is the following training and interests - Forrest Yoga and Indieyoga Teacher training, TRE Provider (Level 1 and 2) and Fascia massage, Energy Kinesiology, Craniosacral Training (Level 1), Reiki, Addiction Recovery coaching and Somatic Integration work.

Joy Truscott: Integrative Healing Therapy Practitioner (USA), Masters in Social Work Clinical Counselling (USA)

Joy studied integrative healing therapy in Colorado before returning to South Africa. She uses a form of therapy that manipulates energy so that it moves better through the body, promoting balance and healing. It uses light or proximity-only touch to interact with the biofield energy of the body. Biofield is the term used to describe the field of electromagnetic energy surrounding the human body. Biofield therapies have been shown to help reduce pain, improve immune cell function, improve emotional well-being and reduce stress. Joy will also be facilitating a daily meditation during the retreat. By restoring balance and quietening the mind the body will be primed to heal thereby complimenting gut repair.

Kelly De Rosner: Registered Psychological Counsellor (BPsych Cornerstone) TRE practitioner (TRE®Africa ). BA (UNISA), BAHons (UNISA), , Practice no. 0921343

Kelly is an HPCSA, BHF and BAPSA Registered Psychological Counsellor specialising in stress, trauma, anxiety and addiction.  In her talk based work with individuals and families, she began to notice that many of her patients were stuck in a negative narrative loop that was hindering their ability to move forward and heal. She realised that trauma is not what happens to us but rather what happens inside us and the power of healing lies in the ability to step out of the semantics of the story and into the feeling. TRE® is an innovative series of exercises that assists the body in releasing deep muscular patterns of stress, tension and trauma. These exercises safely activate neurogenic tremors, which is a natural reflex mechanism of shaking or vibrating that releases muscular tension, calming down the nervous system and organically restoring the body to balance. TRE® offers a soft space to feel oneself without the narration of the thinking mind.