Soneva Stars

A highly accomplished maestro in the field of energy healing, meditation and martial arts, Master Sifu Aniket brings his unique expertise as an international yoga teacher from the Himalayan tradition, certified crystal-reiki master, hypnotherapist and a gold medal winner holding black belts in Hapkido, Taekwondo and Kung Fu.

A master fitness trainer, Jonathan Owen is a multi-faceted coach and consultant with more than 20 years of experience. A lifelong athlete, he has amassed a diverse skillset during his career and is passionate about guiding, inspiring and educating others to achieve optimum health and reach their ultimate potential. Working with clients from all walks of life, Jonathan’s intuitive coaching is intentional, attentive and motivational, building a strong connection with his clients to help expand their well-being practices. His focus is to inspire them to gain or regain control of their life through effective mindset, nutrition, movement and recovery. His passion lies in designing programmes and courses that incorporate nature, as well as helping his clients move more efficiently, breaking through pre-conceived boundaries, and enabling them to enjoy life to the fullest.

During her 15-year career, Hortensia has collaborated with the UN, Olympics Sports Federations and several private clinics. She has a Master’s in Osteopathy and degrees in Sports Education and Physiotherapy. Originally focused on a traditional osteopathic approach to treating sports injuries, Hortensia’s methodology evolved to reflect evidence that stress, emotions and unchanneled trauma have a direct impact on the body. She works closely with you to get to the root of your concerns, using a unique, multi-pronged approach that combines traditional osteopathy with her deep knowledge of the body’s biodynamic, skeletal, muscular and craniosacral systems.  

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston first joined the British Merchant Navy in 1957, passing his Master’s Certificate in 1965. Whilst based in India, he built his 32-foot Ketch “Suhaili” and sailed her back to London via the Cape of Good Hope. In 1968, he participated in the Sunday Times Golden Globe race, a challenge to be the first person to sail alone, non-stop around the world. Of the nine starters, he was the only finisher after 312 days alone at sea.   He subsequently achieved Line Honours in the 1971 Cape Town to Rio Race, won the two-handed round Britain Race in 1970 and 1974, crewed in the British Admiral’s Cup Team in 1973 and 1975, won the RORC Class One points Championship in 1976, Line honours in the second and 4th Legs of the Whitbread Around the World Race in 1977/8, the Class 2 Multihull championship in 1985 and in 1994, with Peter Blake, won the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest non-stop circumnavigation of the world in just under 75 days. In 1996 he established the Clipper Around the World Yacht Race for amateur sailors, which has given more than 6,000 people the chance to race in the oceans of the World.  The 14th in the series started on the 3rd of September 2023.  He took time out in 2006/7 to participate in the solo Velux around the world race, coming 4th. Four times British Yachtsman of the Year, in 1995 he was the International Sailor of the Year. Apart from training the 6,750 crews for the Clipper Race, he was President of the Sail Training Association from 1993 to 2002 and served on the Council, and as a Trustee of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution for 37 years. He continues to sail, visiting the Caribbean during 2002/3 and recently made a voyage to the Arctic Circle in Greenland.

The 27-year-old from Moscow first picked up a tennis racket at the age of six and launched his professional career in 2015. Daniil is currently ranked world number three and is leading the new generation of players taking over the ATP tour. During his breakout year in 2019, he won two consecutive Masters 1000 and reached the final of the US Open in New York, losing to Rafael Nadal after an unforgettable four hours and 50 minutes of playing time. In 2020, Daniil won the prestigious ATP Finals beating the then third-best-ranked player in the world. The same year he also won the Masters 1000 in Paris. In September 2021, he defeated Novak Djokovic to win the US Open in a startling display of power and creativity. Recently, he reached the finals in five consecutive major tournaments – Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai, Indian Wells and Miami – marking the first occurrence in the last 42 years of the sport’s history. In May 2023, he also won the Masters 1000 in Rome, one of the world’s most prestigious clay court events. Fluent in Russian, English and French, he trains with renowned French coach Gilles Cervara in Monaco, where he currently lives.

María is a Michelin-starred Spanish chef and restaurateur, renowned for her celebration of iconic Spanish ingredients, refreshingly authentic culinary style and exceptionally high standards. Her signature approach is founded on the low-key evolution of the natural flavours found in the best ingredients that Spain has to offer. Based in Alicante, she is the proprietor of Grupo Gourmet Alicante, a collection of six restaurants and an artisan bakery workshop that sets a new paradigm in Spanish gastronomy. With her Michelin-starred restaurant Monastrell, this high-energy, highly creative visionary has returned to her roots to explore natural foods and healthy approaches to world-class cuisine. Her menu pays homage to its Mediterranean location, showcasing a bounty of locally sourced ingredients from extra virgin olive oil, local rice varieties, seafood and saffron, to vegetables grown in her own “huerta”, and artisan breads created in her bakery workshop. She is a frequent speaker and instructor for various international events and forums around the world such as Madrid Fusión, the Culinary Institute of America in California, Food and Fun in Iceland, and the Congress of Gastronomy and Neuroscience at Valencia.

Glass artist Trine Drivsholm returns to Soneva Art & Glass for her third residency to continue her latest endeavour in glass, the Lapsis series. Trine often uses recognisable forms as a starting point for her glass sculptures, but it is the aesthetic properties of the vessel that interest her most as opposed to its functional use. She creates balanced shapes with definitive proportions and combines colours and surfaces. From matte and silky finishes to delicate tones that emphasise soft, wavy organic lines. Trine’s Lapis series has been assembled to imitate cairns (a man-made stack of stones) with textures that have been weathered by wind, dust and time, and has been developed during her residency at the Soneva Art & Glass studio. This delicate harmony of tone and texture and its seamless connection with nature resonate with Soneva’s SLOW LIFE philosophy, which is rooted in the desire to deepen and conserve our connection with the natural world. Her previous sculptures have also been acquired by a number of prestigious international institutions, including Glasmuseum Ebeltoft, Denmark National Arts & Design Collection, the Holland Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg and the Racine Art Museum in Wisconsin, USA.    

Paweennuch Soisongsee, also known as Khun Noom, is a highly experienced healer who has dedicated over 20 years to practising different modalities across Asia, Europe, Australia and North America. Committed to “setting man free” through the transformative power of Reiki and sound healing, her classes are known for their powerful awakening and transformational effects and have been sought after by people from all over the world. Her ultimate goal is to help people heal from their physical, mental, and spiritual suffering, while also assisting them in achieving a state of awareness where they can tap into their inner truth.

Founded in 2017, Xige Estate is a young winery that is both challenging and leading the development of a new era of Chinese fine wine. Situated in the Dove Mountain Area, in the heart of the Helan Mountain Wine Region, Xige Estate currently owns a total of 2,000 hectares of planted vines in the Ningxia Province in the northeast of China. As a fine wine producer with scale, their philosophy is to find harmony between modern technology and preserving nature. While at Soneva Jani, owner and winemaker Zhang Yanzhi will be hosting a wine event to share the story of Xige Estate and the Chinese fine wine industry, along with a tasting.

Head Château Ambassador of the region, Elodie Chabot will passionately share the stories of great winemaking and heritage of Château Lafite Rothschild with Soneva Fushi’s wine lovers for an exclusive event at Out of the Blue. Born in France, Elodie grew up in a world of fine food and wines. Raised between her winemaker grandparents from Bordeaux and parents passionate about Champagne and Alsace wines, it is no wonder she chose the path of the wine industry for her career. Since 2018, Elodie has been Asia Pacific Area Manager for Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) based first in Hong Kong and now in Bangkok, handling Asia Pacific markets outside China and Japan, as well as the Indian sub-continent. Lafite was one of the five wine-producing châteaux of Bordeaux originally awarded First Growth status in the 1855 Classification, placing it amongst the best of the best from Bordeaux. Since then it has been a consistent producer of one of the world’s most expensive red wines.

Hailed as one of the best football freestylers in the world, Marcel Gurk is the current German champion, holds ten Guinness World Records and is the author of the world’s first book on football freestyling. He made it to the semifinal of Germany’s Got Talent, Das Supertalent, and travels around the world sharing his unique skills. Having studied sport and media management in Dusseldorf, Marcel also specialises in working with children and has designed his own unique concept to help take his students’ skills to the next level. While in the Maldives, he will be hosting football freestyling workshops for Young Sonevians at Soneva Fushi and Soneva Jani.

Gregory Beale is an orthopaedic manual therapist, movement coach and spa trainer with over 15 years of experience working in the United States, Vietnam and Thailand. His unique approach combines manual therapy with exercise prescriptions to treat chronic pain, improve flexibility, increase athletic performance and aid recovery after injury. Each session includes a mix of trigger point therapy, deep tissue massage, fascial stretching and corrective exercise. While at Soneva Kiri, Gregory is conducting manual therapy sessions at the Soneva Kiri Spa and personal training and movement classes in the Gym. He will also be running a series of complimentary movement classes and bodywork fitness sessions.