Spain Retreat 2025 Guide Team
We have put together a stellar team of highly experienced professionals that include a licensed therapist, yoga studio owner, craniosacral therapist and photographer that specializes in visual storytelling. This team understands the power of intention setting and has seen the work unfold in their own lives as mothers, friends, and colleagues. They offer this work because it has been so impactful to their own lives. They also believe in the power of peer support, and that you are the expert in your own experience.
CLINICAL THERAPIST & FACILITATOR
Kay Alton, LICSW, M.Ed, RYT 500
Kay was born into an intentional community of nonprofit workers in Kenya, Africa and then Brussels, Belgium that centered their work around consensus building and third world development. At the tender age of 18 she completed a year long Technology of Participation training alongside her mother in their new home of Minneapolis, MN. The mother-daughter team led strategic planning sessions in the non-profit and for-profit sectors for years as Kay completed her first masters in Education. Kay was greatly influenced by her many canoe trips in the Boundary Waters of MN and found her way to Wilderness Therapy in Hawaii before returning to the mainland to complete her Masters in Social Work in 2012. Kay solidified her belief in the power of mindfulness through her advanced yoga training in Cambodia in 2015 before moving to the Columbia Gorge in 2016. Kay has been working with vulnerable populations ever since, most recently as an instrumental founder of programming at CultureSeed nonprofit that supports youth at the intersection of mental health and the outdoors.
Kay is able to combine her technical training on the neuroscience of communication with her clinical and social lens of the impact of individual stories and systemic oppression to provide a strong container for folks to be seen and heard whether in one on one therapy or in groups. Kay has sat alongside her co-facilitator, Kika Kielpinska, for over 6 years in circles. Kay recently left a lifetime of nonprofit work and has started her own private practice, Alton Counseling and Consulting LLC, that is focused on de-mystifying and de-specializing therapeutic work for individuals and organizations across the nation and abroad. She continues her community work under her banner “Aspen Collaborative Care” to provide care to local non profits and incarceration systems.
CRANIOSACRAL THERAPIST, CO-FACILITATOR
Kika Kielpinska, BCST, RYT 200
Certified as a craniosacral therapist and somatic coach, Kika brings curiosity and pragmatism to both the session and the circle. Her work centers the inherent health and intelligence of each participant. Over the last decade, Kika has created and facilitated somatic and circle-based programming for various life stages, including MamaRites, an experiential program focused around the initiatory journey of motherhood. Whether in individual sessions with adults, or while guiding a weekly group session of adolescents in her current nonprofit program director role, Kika is passionate about exploring the intersection of what’s true, what works, and what’s possible now.
Kika is also a second-generation land steward. She homesteads with her daughter and a collection of oversized fluffy animals in a small self-built house in the Columbia River Gorge. She is invested in building a world where people of all ages are empowered stewards of their bodies, lives, and places.
YOGA TEACHER
Alejandra Retamales, RYT 500
Alejandra, known to most as Ale, began teaching yoga in her Hood River garage in 2020. Her powerful voice, challenging sequencing, and calm demeanor quickly earned her a loyal following of committed Gorge yogis. When a wood-planked, sun-drenched space became available in the Heights in 2021, Ale hustled to create Machi Yoga, named after the indigenous healers of her native Chile. Slowly and steadily, Ale has knitted together a well-rounded yoga community which welcomes students of every level who desire a safe, sweet space to practice.
To experience Ale’s teaching is to invite a rich physical practice of challenging and unique sequencing onto your mat. However sticky or distracted you feel when you enter Ale’s flow class, be prepared to leave in a more joyful, sweaty, and mobile state with a clearer sense of presence and gratitude.
Ale is at her best surrounded by family, on a trail and in her bright kitchen.
PHOTOGRAPHER
Nazara Matos
Nazara, whose name fittingly means "To See," is a seasoned photographer with over a decade of experience. She studied photography at the University of Minnesota, graduating with a degree in Studio Arts and Youth Studies. Specializing in capturing bands, families, businesses, headshots, and architecture, Nazara is known for her ability to tell compelling visual stories.
Alongside her professional work, Nazara is passionate about sharing her knowledge through photography workshops for people of all ages. She believes in photography as a powerful storytelling tool that can shape lives and futures. Her talent has earned her recognition in prestigious galleries like the Gordon Parks Gallery and features in publications such as the Smithsonian Magazine. She's been honored with grants and awards, including the Minnesota State Art Board Creative Individual Grant and the Metropolitan State University Art Purchase Award.
Beyond photography, Nazara finds inspiration in travel, dance, and being a single mom. Her work reflects a deep appreciation for the human experience, always chasing the perfect play of light and shadow.