My work today is the result of more than two decades of asking one question: what actually allows a human being to thrive?

I’m Rina Golan, a certified coach specialising in Ayurvedic psychology. For over 20 years, I have worked with individuals and groups through retreats, mentoring, teaching and wellbeing programmes, helping people make meaningful changes to the way they live.

My journey into this work began with my own health crisis.

After years working in the fast-paced world of TV news production and living an equally fast-paced life outside work, I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and type 1 diabetes.

What initially felt like an end became a profound beginning. I wanted to understand not only what was happening in my body, but how the way I was living had shaped my wellbeing.

That search took me to India, where I immersed myself in Yoga, Ayurveda and the Vedic approach to psychology. I continued travelling, studying and experiencing different approaches to human wellbeing across India, Africa, South America and Europe.

I trained in Ayurvedic psychology at the Rosenberg Academy in Germany, Relational Life Therapy with Terry Real, and studied nutritional and detoxification approaches with Dr Gabriel Cousens.

But some of my most important learning also happened outside formal training.

I had the privilege of learning from wisdom keepers, including Malidoma Somé, and spending time with indigenous traditions in Brazil. These experiences deepened my understanding of the role of ritual, ancestry, spirituality, community and our relationship with nature in human wellbeing.

After decades of learning and working with people, I kept arriving at the same conclusion:

Human beings cannot be separated into parts.

Our physical wellbeing is connected to our mental and emotional life, our relationships, our work, money, sexuality, community, purpose, environment and relationship with nature. They are not separate areas of life. They form one human ecosystem.

This is the foundation of my work today.

I look at human wellbeing as a whole ecosystem and ask what needs to be nourished, restored or changed for a person, a community or an environment to thrive.

For more than two decades, I have led retreats, mentored individuals and developed wellbeing programmes that bring these different dimensions together.

My work has also expanded into the environments around us, creating and advising on retreats, wellbeing programmes and wellness ecosystems for practitioners, organisations, hospitality projects and estates.

(Check out bookretreats.com for more retreats).