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Meet The Team

Laura Zeigler

Laura has been teaching yoga and acro yoga to adults and kids in Boulder, CO for over a decade. She loves practicing in community and moves into embodied relationship with curiosity, open communication and creativity. Through acro yoga she discovered Thai massage and an ever deepening understanding of both physical and spiritual anatomy. Her practice of conscious, healing touch also includes luxurious therapeutic flights, in which the recipient can release deep holding patterns of stress and tension. She has been organizing and leading transformational retreats since 2017 and loves seeing how people can blossom in a conscious environment. When she is not on the mat teaching or practicing, you can find Laura spending quality time with her family, climbing, hiking and snowboarding in the mountains near her Colorado home, or upside down in the park - either on her hands or someone else’s feet!

John Holien

A life long dreamer, entrepreneur, and athlete John has always gone hard in life, but at 45 when his body started to give out he was introduced to yoga, which in turn deepened his meditation practice and he began to long for a more peaceful path. Upon a soul searching journey backpacking through Central America, he landed in Nosara, Costa Rica, one of the Blue Zones of the world, where health and wellness take precedence and he was finally able to slow down and just BE. Reborn to his own highest path and inspired to introduce the yogic lifestyle to others like himself, he is the visionary behind Grateful Retreats. He is dedicated to gathering the best possible team to actualize his vision of retreats with music as one of the medicines to celebrate wellness with his favorite group of people in this world, Dead-Heads.

Javier Trejo

Born in Monclova Coahuila Mexico, and raised in the Midwest’s Twin Cities Minnesota, Javier’s music is as diverse as his upbringing. Mom loved country, Dad loved Mexican bolleros and Tex-Mex, and everything in between. He calls his music “Mexican-Americana”.

“It’s Rock n Roll on the radio, but tortillas on the table.” ~ Javier Trejo

Diana Sabreen

Diana Sabreen is a Creative Life Consultant, a pro photographer, and the founder of The Big Dream. She helps people live the creative, playful and adventurous lives they actually want to be living, instead of the ones they think they "should" be living.

Join her at Grateful Retreats for a workshop about how to live your Big Dream, and keep an eye out for her as she creatively photographs the retreat!

Diana is available for private Big Dream consulting sessions as well as private photo shoots during your time at Grateful Retreats.

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Derek Ohl

Derek Dames Ohl has been taking the Front Range music scene by storm for the better half of a decade with rock n’ roll outfit Flash Mountain Flood. In his spare time from Flash, Derek keeps his roots close with a six string on his back, sharing songs at every bar or dive that will host with sounds ranging from Country to Blues, Derek takes pride in keeping the American roots music tradition alive, and is sure to keep every listener on their toes. playing solo shows all the way up to five piece, with a band of hippies at his back, Derek has been related to artists like John Prine with his quirky style one second, and woeful Guy Clark the next with his songwriting style. “There’s gotta be balance” Derek says, “or else all beers would be full of tears”.

Alessandra Montana

Alessandra Montana is a Sound Keeper, Yoga teacher and Reiki master, deeply
connected with the Energy of Mother Earth and with a soulful interest for indigenous
traditions, old times fairy tales and angels. Born in Italy but spent the past 27 years living between Paris, London, Los Angeles and Mexico. After 18 years in the fashion business, in 2008 she decided to quit her comfortable but yet very empty fashion director position to explore herself to a deeper level and follow her own dreams.


Yoga was the facilitator of the big shift in Alessandra's life. Alessandra is certified in Bhakti and Hatha Yoga ( Shiva Rea and Saul David Raye ). Yoga and Kirtan were her doorway into the magic Universe of Sound and Vibrations. After finishing her training in Bhakti and Hatha, Alessandra took on the studies with pioneers in sound experiences. Initiated to the magic of the Gong by Don Conreaux (Gong Grand Master ) who became her guidance, inspiration and her continuous point of reference. She continued her studies with Philippe Garnier and Richard Rubis to mention a few.


During her growth in the Gong field, she started assisting her teachers and as well
under the blessings of the Grand Gong Master Don Conreaux , she started offering
Sound Healing and Gong Training to share the wisdom & Gong legacy received by Baba
by training others in merging into the journey of sounds and vibrations with awareness
and heart power. She travels and works in Mexico, Los Angeles and Europe. Her work has been mentioned in Yoga Journal USA, 66 minutes (French television), New York Times, Vogue Uomo ( Italy) to mention a few and she was chosen as sound therapist for Grateful Dead, Dave Matthews Band,  and  Phish.

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Lila Simoncini

Lila was born and raised in New York City but has spent the last 14 years living all over the world. She has been teaching yoga and other mindfulness techniques for over nine years and practicing for more than 12. She completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training with School Yoga Institute in Guatemala. Her training focused on a Hatha/Vinyasa flow, alignment, spirituality, chanting, meditation, and Ayurveda. She also completed various other trainings including a 50-hour hands-on adjustments training at Laughing Lotus, NYC, and a 50-hour trauma-informed yoga training with Connection Coalition. She is also a certified Ayurvedic therapist and writer.  Her teaching style now includes Vinyasa as well as yin, restorative, yoga wall, and even laughter yoga. For the past 8 years, she has been traveling and leading retreats, classes, and workshops all around the globe, including places like New York, California, Colorado, the UK, Europe, India, South and Central America. Her passion for teaching comes from a deep strive for facilitating inner growth, acceptance, and radical self-love. As of this year, Lila has started studying for her master’s degree in holistic mental health therapy and hopes to combine yoga and movement, meditation, plant medicine, diet, and lifestyle to contribute to people’s mental and physical well-being.

Grateful Retreats in Chemuyil, Mexico, features yoga, wellness and live music focusing on the music of the Grateful Dead. The village of Chemuyil is outside of Tulum and is the home to a tropical jungle, cenotes, and close-by beaches.

Zea Stallings

Born and raised in Denver's own Park Hill neighborhood, Zea’s music is deeply influenced by the rich musical history of East Denver. His first instrument was the violin, and he started his first band as a fifth grader with his friend Caleb on bass. When Zea picked up the guitar as a junior in highschool and started playing at open mics, he realized he wanted to make a life as a musician, sharing his songs, and mastering his craft. He and Caleb spent a year in LA after high school, but he decided to return to his roots in Denver to start his own solo career, where he met local musician Joel Ashmore. They would proceed to record Zea's first record 'Copper Child' now with millions if streams on Spotify. True to character, Zea went his own way once more to form what is today called The Copper Children, a national touring act releasing its fourth studio album, with over 6 years together. Zea has over a decade of live performance experience, and this is just the beginning for this 27 year old musician.

Pitz Quattrone

There is only one Pitz Quattrone. Maverick player, builder, and teacher of the ancient native Australian instrument, the didgeridoo. A writer of songs, from tragic to comic, and everything in between. Dynamic frontman, able to bring an audience to its feet, with his singing, playing, and wild rock-funk testifying. Whether manic and hilarious, or serious as a heart attack, Pitz Quattrone is truly one-of-a-kind.

Since the early-1990s, Pitz has been honing his chops and credentials, he has become the 'go-to-guy' for the didgeridoo. In recent years, he has toured from Greenland to Africa and throughout the U.S., performing with top artists such as Ronstadt Brothers, Dark Star Orchestra, Kind Bud, and Senegalese superstar Baaba Maal’s band. Pitz also performs solo with beat machine Erving, his 5-piece band The Freelancers, the 2-man band DidgeriGroove, and his humorous solo act: Harv Darvis - Inferior Lounge Singer.

All the while, Pitz has built a reputation as a learned and inspiring teacher. Able to bridge cultural divides with his quirky enthusiastic energy, Pitz has brought the pleasures of didge playing and building to thousands of kids and adults around the world. By turns hilarious and serious, funky and intense, there is only one Pitz Quattrone.

Kitty

Kitty

Kitty comes to us from Vermont with her love of dance and people.  She has danced since the age of 3, classically trained in jazz, tap, and ballet by “first generation” vaudevillians.  She also competed in gymnastics and went on to become an all-American diver In college, where she also found the Grateful Dead.   Kitty jokes, she danced classically for 17 years, and then spent the next 15 years dancing at Grateful Dead shows. She opened her own dance studio that she ran for 17 years, teaching students of all ages.   Her adult dance classes are filled with techniques to relax the atoms in your body - a little yoga, breathing, stretching, and ballet that leads into some jazz and Grateful Dead twirling (if you want).  

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Kind Bud

Kind Bud is an accomplished guitarist, singer, and songwriter from Vermont, with over 30 years in the music industry.  Bud has performed on stages across the United States with bands and duos, most notably, The Kind Buds (2004-2016), a “Garcia inspired acoustic jam duo” who routinely played the jam band festival circuit, and performed at music venues, from Garcia’s in NY to Sweetwater Music Hall in CA. The Kind Buds did shows with The Rex Foundation at  Boston Red Sox “Grateful Dead Night” and performed each afternoon at the Chicago Hyatt before the Grateful Dead’s “Fare Thee Well” shows.

 

Bud currently performs solo as Kind Bud, playing original songs and a variety of covers, with a repertoire of over 750 songs.  He has recorded and produced 11 albums since 1994, including a brand new release of 14 original songs entitled, “Jenuine Kind Bud” - Songs to uplift humanity, inspired by the poetry of Jen Ward.  “Jenuine Kind Bud” takes the listener on a spiritual journey, exploring themes of Universal Consciousness, Self-Awareness, Healing, Nature, Inspiration, Love, and Compassion, encouraging the human race to become the best version of themselves. These songs are a pathway to raising human consciousness with beautiful intentions for the world to sing.

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