start the journey within

Ayurveda is one of the oldest systems of medicine in the world, originating in India and closely linked with the philosophy of yoga. At its heart lies the belief that health is our natural state, achieved when we live in balance with our true nature.

What You’ll Experience

During your initial consultation, you’ll work with a certified Ayurvedic consultant to discover your prakruti
(your unique constitution) and explore how life’s pressures may have shifted you out of alignment. This session provides insight into your current state of health and offers practical, everyday adjustments to restore balance.

Why It Matters

Understanding your constitution allows you to make choices that align with your body and mind, whether in diet, daily rhythm, or personal practices. Ayurveda does not aim to “fix” you but to gently guide you back to vitality, energy, and joy.

Ayurveda recognizes the Meditation at Anasa Soma is offered as a gentle entry point, whether you are new to the practice or already have a daily rhythm. It is about creating space to pause, breathe, and notice.body’s natural ability to heal when given nourishment and rest. Through traditional therapies, the body is soothed, strengthened, and brought back into balance with its true nature.

What You’ll Experience

Each day includes guided and silent meditations, drawing from mindfulness, heart-based meditation, transcendental meditation, and mantra meditation. Sessions are accessible for beginners yet nourishing for experienced practitioners, providing tools that can be carried into daily life.

Why It Matters

Meditation invites clarity and calm into the present moment. Over time, it steadies the mind, softens tension, and opens a quiet space where insight and balance can naturally emerge.

Yoga at Anasa Soma is not about performance but presence. Each class is an invitation to move with awareness, reconnecting body, breath, and mind.

What You’ll Experience

Twice daily sessions are offered in the Hatha and Vinyasa traditions, with elements of Yin and Ashtanga. Classes are thoughtfully designed to welcome both those new to yoga and those with an established practice. Gentle postures, mindful sequences, and steady breathwork create space for strength, release, and renewal.

Why It Matters

Yoga becomes a rhythm that supports your entire retreat experience. Beyond physical movement, it cultivates calm, builds resilience, and helps you carry the stillness of the practice into the rest of your day.

At Soma, food is simple, fresh, and made to nourish every part of you.

What You’ll Experience

Meals are created from locally grown vegetables and seasonal produce, crafted by our on-site chef in alignment with Mediterranean and Ayurvedic principles. Expect vibrant, wholesome dishes that are both grounding and uplifting, shared in community or savored in stillness. Evenings often include dinners at local tavernas, offering a taste of authentic Greek life.

Why It Matters

Nourishing meals strengthen the body, support healing, and encourage gratitude for the land and those who tend it. Eating foods in alignment with our constitution brings the body back into balance.

Ayurveda is one of Manos Soultanakis, M.D. is a practicing gynecologic oncologist, sailor, and Julia’s husband.Manos specializes in minimally invasive surgical approaches on the Intuitive Surgical robotics platform, and has cared for thousands of women facing gynecologic cancer diagnosis and treatment over his 25 year career.

Manos completed medical school and residency at the University of Vermont. He completed fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology at Women and Infants Hospital in Rhode Island under Skip Grannai, M.D. who modeled a version of allopathic medicine which incorporated holistic and lifestyle modifications. He has practiced at the University of Vermont and Maine Medical Center. He was Division Director of Gynecologic Oncology at Maine Medical Center, and is a past president of New England Association of Gynecologic Oncologists. He is currently a traveling physician as he scales back his allopathic practice to assist with the launch of Anasa Soma Retreats.

As a practicing oncologist, Manos is known for his kind heart and extensive surgical skill. He is well-versed in the advanced and outstanding allopathic treatments available for patients with a cancer diagnosis. He is also aware that the healing process often involves more than allopathic medicine can offer, and is supportive of alternative modalities to help women recover both during and after treatment.Manos lived in Greece until moving to the U.S. to study at the age of 18. Annual travel to Greece has always been a source of renewal and strength for him personally, particularly in connection to the sea. He captained a Transatlantic crossing with his family in 2010, and frequently can be found on a boat either in Greece or in Maine. He is a strong proponent of Mediterranean lifestyle, and is enthusiastic about introducing others to his country, its culture, its food and the sea.Manos manages all behind the scenes operations of Anasa Soma, from ferry pick-ups to grocery runs, IT management and translation services. He probably will not be on a yoga mat at 8 am, but he is available for conversation and logistics.

None of this would be possible without his unwavering and steady support. He is our spinnaker on easy downwind sails, and our storm anchor when the seas are rough.the oldest systems of medicine in the world, originating in India and closely linked with the philosophy of yoga. At its heart lies the belief that health is our natural state, achieved when we live in balance with our true nature.

Julia’s career has been dedicated to science, to healing, and to the enduring human spirit. For decades she practiced as an OBGYN and robotic surgeon in Vermont and Maine. After her training at the University of Vermont, she founded Maitri Health Care for Women and Eastern View Integrative Medicine, practices born of a core belief: healing is most powerful when compassion and technology meet, when the whole person is seen and honored. Modern medicine alongside ancient traditions—chiropractic, naturopathic, ayurvedic, and traditional Chinese medicine—to treat disease, and to help others live full and vibrant lives.

n the last ten years of her medical career, Julia served as Director of the OBGYN Outpatient Clinic at Maine Medical Center, caring for women on MaineCare, as well as those uninsured, newly arrived, or seeking refuge. She has delivered thousands of babies, performed hundreds of surgeries, taught and mentored a generation of residents and students, and been honored with many awards for her teaching. Each moment, a privilege.

In 2023, Julia shifted away from full-time allopathic medicine. The change was born of curiosity and lifelong passion, but also deepened by her own breast cancer diagnosis in 2018, and her beloved younger sister Susan’s diagnosis soon after. Such moments arrive like threshold guardians posing a new question: what now? Carrying this question, Julia stepped off the well-worn and expected path and into a river—the deeper current of her lifelong quest.

This began an inward and outward journey. Julia trained in Vinyasa yoga with Katie O’Connell, studied Heart-based and Transcendental Meditation, and immersed herself in Buddhist practice. She explored the science of the Mediterranean lifestyle with teachers in Greece, traveled from New England to Guatemala, Bali, Japan, and India. In India, she experienced her first panchakarma under Dr. Sundara Raman—an experience so transformative she chose to study Ayurvedic medicine with Dr. Vasant Lad, carrying its wisdom forward to others.
Through this journey, Julia has learned what the ancients have always known: that true medicine is the meeting of daily practice with a deep understanding of our own unique constitution. This principle of constitutional medicine based on biocharacteristics—the foundations of Ayurveda, Greek medicine, Unani Tibb, and Traditional Chinese Medicine—is not new. It is the oldest medicine in the world.Anasa Soma is the culmination of Julia’s lifelong devotion to health and healing. She comes now not as a surgeon or physician, but as a fellow traveler on the path. She is honored to offer what she has gathered along the way—and equally honored to receive what you carry in return.

Kate, who hails from southern Ireland comes from a sporting background. She began hercareer as a National Hunt ( jump ) jockey. In her early twenties, after taking part in the TV show gladiators, she pursued a life in competitive sports. Starting with pole vault and triathlon she then fixed her career on road and track cycling over the following 10 years which saw her compete all over Europe

During this time period Kate always reverted to practicing Yoga as part of her strength and flexibility regime but it wasn’t until a career ending shoulder injury happened that she began to delve deeply into the true meaning of yoga and its profound implications for life.

In 2019, during a moment of intuition, Kate decided to travel to southern India to explore and train in the practice of Ayurvedic medicine with renowned Ayurvedic Doctor and teacher Dr. Sundara Raman, in Tamil Nadu. In that first month of training she learned more about herself and the meaning of life than in her previous 42 years. This was the moment when Kate decided to dedicate her life to sharing this knowledge with anybody willing to listen.

Kate is a qualified personal trainer, massage therapist, Ayurvedic practictioner, yoga teacherand sound therapist. She completed yoga teacher training in Hatha yoga at Green Yoga International in Mallorca, Spain.

She practices Kundalini Classic yoga and has trained with Ana Alves Smyth of Offaly, Ireland in the lineage of Dr. Yogrishi Vishvketu in Rishikeash, India. She trained in sound healing therapy at the Obus Academy in Dublin. She engages in daily practice of Asana, meditation, pranayama, chanting and tries to live her life according to the 8 limbs of yoga.

As part of her life changing journey she and her husband sold their house and belongings inIreland and have spent the last few years travelling the world in their campervan with theirtwo dogs.

Kate Randall studied visual art and comparative literature at Princeton University. She earned her MFA from California College of Arts, and has led the Visual Arts department at Urban School in San Francisco for 26 years.

As a bodyworker and healer, Kate is a Certified Massage Therapist specializing in a hybrid practice that integrates Swedish, deep tissue, myofascial release, Reiki, Chi Nei Tsang, and active stretching. She has trained extensively with masters Hully Fetico and Giles Marin, and is currently studying polarity therapy with Brian Jansen. Her meditation practices began with vipassana, and includes 17 years with Clairvision School and now with Instinctive Meditation teacher training with Bhhairava Tantra with Lorin Roche and Camille Maurine.

Her yoga practices includes over 500 hours of Her meditation practice began with vipassana at Spirit Rock in 2004, followed by 17 years with the Clairvision School. She is completing Instinctive Meditation teacher training in Bhairava Tantra with Lorin Roche and Camille Maurine. Her yoga journey, beginning with Kundalini in 1983, includes over 500 hours of teacher training in Anusara and Rasa Yoga. Kate has also trained in transformational and creativity coaching, Pilates, and Ayurvedic healing practices in India and San Francisco.

Kate's journey as an artist, yogi, bodyworker, and teacher continues to unfold and interweave in magical ways. She remains devoted to metamorphosis—both her own and the collective's—as a guide and catalyst for awakening and transformation.