Origins

Two years ago, a small group of friends traveled to Costa Rica with a shared curiosity for growth and a desire to live more intentionally. Surrounded by rich wildlife, traditional ways of living, and abundant food and herbs, they found themselves reconnecting to values many people seek when they come to this place. Community, simplicity, and a deeper trust in nature’s ability to support and heal.

During that time, a shared understanding took shape. When people come together with care and openness, they are better able to face challenges and grow. Mind, body, and spirit are not separate, but parts of the same human experience that can be developed through presence, learning, and connection.

From this came the idea for Revida Retreat. A space where people gather to create, play, share ideas, support one another, and live more authentically. A place where learning is part of daily life, blending modern understanding with ancestral knowledge. Revida Retreat is an early expression of that vision and an invitation to remember what matters most.

The Team

Valeries journey began quietly at sixteen in a dark community center room, where a kind teacher introduced her not only to movement but to her first experience of meditation. In that stillness, her mind opened beyond its familiar confines into color, space, and freedom, offering a sense of nourishment and relief she didn’t yet have language for. That moment ignited a deep search for healing and self-understanding, leading her through philosophy classes, wellness books, and early home practices that revealed fleeting awakenings—moments when the world felt open, connected, and whole, shifting her understanding from “me” to “we.”

 

Years later, after studying holistic nutrition and traveling through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, yoga fully took hold in Ubud, Bali. There, in a sanctuary that felt like home, she found a teacher who reflected a light she recognized within herself but had long felt disconnected from. Through devoted practice, she relearned how to listen to her body, meet discomfort with presence, and hear her own inner voice again. Now teaching in Portland, Oregon, Valerie is dedicated to creating sacred containers—spaces of intention, movement, and breath—where others can reconnect with themselves and move toward healing, truth, and liberation.

 

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Simone (aka Thyme/Space) is a chef, space-holder, musician, dancer, and earth-tender devoted to creating experiences that reconnect people to the intelligence of nature, sound, and the wisdom of the body. Her work lives at the intersection of ritual, nourishment, and healing, blending sacred plant teachings, herbalism, music, and nervous system awareness to help people move through emotion and return to a felt sense of presence, truth, and inner power. She approaches every gathering as a ceremony, believing food, sound, and shared space are portals for remembrance and connection.

 

Her path includes years of study in herbal medicine and ethnobotany through the Gaia School of Healing & Earth Education, along with an apprenticeship in plant medicine ceremony and esoteric studies at the Plant Medicine Mystery School. She walks an ongoing devotional relationship with medicine elders, learning altar traditions, prayer, and song rooted in Shipibo-Conibo, Yawanawa, and Andean lineages, including guidance from teachers of Incan ancestry in present-day Ecuador. Her cacao practice is held in reverence for the Bribri people of Costa Rica and the Tz’utujil Mayan tradition of Guatemala. Alongside this lineage work, Simone brings over a decade of experience in the service industry and creative event production through Thyme/Space, hosting immersive pop-up dinners, sound meditations, and community rituals. As a musician and movement guide, she weaves ambient soundscapes and rhythm-driven dance practices that support integration, embodiment, and healing. She walks this path as both student and guide, continually listening, learning, and honoring the lands, lineages, and teachers who shape her work.

 

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Michael has been interested in community, housing, and healthy living for as long as he can remember, guided by a curiosity about how people live, eat, and support one another. While living in Los Angeles, he helped facilitate the local Habitat for Humanity University Chapter, an experience that shaped his understanding of housing as both shelter and social infrastructure. That work later took him to Cape Town, South Africa, where he helped build homes and witnessed the power of community-led development. After moving to New York City, he began working with community gardens and urban farming projects, driven by a simple realization that access to healthy food is uneven. This included helping establish the city’s first commercial rooftop farm.


His focus gradually expanded from hands-on projects to systems-level change. He served on NYU’s Sustainability Task Force, helping lead waste reduction and composting initiatives, and after graduating completed a research residency in Singapore focused on food security. This work led to collaborations with community agriculture groups in Vietnam and continued to shape his interest in resilient, local systems. A first visit to Costa Rica in 2024 marked a natural next chapter, where the country’s abundance, pace, and climate aligned with his values. He now splits his time between Costa Rica and Portland, Oregon, developing community-centered housing initiatives and supporting circular-economy and wellness-focused businesses. In Costa Rica, he is partnering with a local bamboo company to develop prefabricated, affordable bamboo housing, while continuing to explore ways to reclaim privacy and security in an increasingly tech-driven world.

Born and raised in Indonesia, Matthew grew up with a global perspective and a natural curiosity about people, culture, and the ways we heal. That sense of openness and groundedness continues to shape how he shows up today—warm, present, and deeply human. Outside of his professional work, he believes joy and play are essential parts of a meaningful life, which is why he celebrated his 40th birthday by biking across the Moab desert dressed as a banana to raise money for pancreatic cancer research with PanCAN.

For the past 10 years, Matthew has worked in the healing retreat space, supporting people through transformative, well-held experiences. He previously worked with Spinoza, the Netherlands–based leader in psilocybin-assisted retreats, where he deepened his understanding of intentional care and integration. He is also a cofounder of Guides Collective, an organization focused on connecting people with psychedelic therapists while prioritizing education and harm reduction. Alongside this work, Matthew specializes in breathwork and body movement, helping people reconnect with their bodies and release long-held tension.

Matthew’s approach to healing is grounded, embodied, and refreshingly down-to-earth. He believes transformation happens when people feel safe, supported, and free to be themselves—and that the body is often the most honest place to start. His work weaves together presence, curiosity, and compassion, creating spaces where growth can unfold naturally, without pressure or pretense.

Kate Doherty moves through the world as a gardener, chef, healer, and keeper of sacred spaces. She is devoted to cultivating connection—to the earth, to our bodies, and to each other. She moves between gardens, kitchens, classrooms, and ceremonial spaces, weaving together nourishment, plant wisdom, and the rhythms of the natural world. Her work invites others to reconnect with the land, their bodies, and each other through hands-on experience, song, movement, and the simple magic of shared meals.

 

As a California native, Kate has long been drawn to nature, a pull that led her to live on a permaculture farm—a turning point that shaped her path toward regenerative agriculture and sustainable living. Over the years, she has managed organic farms and farmer’s markets, installed backyard gardens, taught horticulture, and become a certified Master Gardener and Permaculturist. Alongside this, she trained as an Integrative Nutritionist, merging her knowledge of plants with the wisdom of the body, teaching how nutrition and agriculture are inseparable. Her experience also includes restaurant management and large-scale catering, honoring the way food and ritual bring people together. Today, Kate brings her passion into schools and communities, helping children and educators create gardens that are living classrooms and green spaces that foster curiosity and connection.

 

Foraging, wild fermentation, shepherding, dancing, playing, and making music all contribute to her daily practice of rewilding. At the heart of her work is a devotion to the harmony between human and ecological health, and the understanding that both thrive when tended together.

Amanda Elemental is a healer and intuitive channel who blends somatic guidance with energy work to help people reconnect to their inner clarity. She’s also a DJ, bringing the same attunement to the dancefloor that she brings to her sessions. When she’s not working, she’s out in nature with her dog Ralph or chasing the rhythms that keep her inspired.

As a California native, Kate has long been drawn to nature, a pull that led her to live on a permaculture farm—a turning point that shaped her path toward regenerative agriculture and sustainable living. Over the years, she has managed organic farms and farmer’s markets, installed backyard gardens, taught horticulture, and become a certified Master Gardener and Permaculturist. Alongside this, she trained as an Integrative Nutritionist, merging her knowledge of plants with the wisdom of the body, teaching how nutrition and agriculture are inseparable. Her experience also includes restaurant management and large-scale catering, honoring the way food and ritual bring people together. Today, Kate brings her passion into schools and communities, helping children and educators create gardens that are living classrooms and green spaces that foster curiosity and connection.

Foraging, wild fermentation, shepherding, dancing, playing, and making music all contribute to her daily practice of rewilding. At the heart of her work is a devotion to the harmony between human and ecological health, and the understanding that both thrive when tended together.