Anetta Alexandridi
Founder & Director
Gestalt Psychotherapy - Yoga and Zen Meditation - Energy Medicine Practitioner

Anetta has always been inspired to strive for the conscious integration of body and mind. Through her personal work and the activities at Synthesis Center, which she founded in 2010, she is passionate about sharing experiences and methodologies for personal development and true contact with our inner, sacred world.

aised in the USA and Greece, her path began in the sciences, with a BSc and MSc in Computer Engineering and PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Subsequently she worked for several years in the fields of medical engineering research. However, feeling unfulfilled and wishing to be of more direct service to others, she turned to the study of the nature of mind. She went back to University to complete a BSC in Psychology and then trained as a Gestalt Psychotherapist. In the meantime, she taught and practiced yoga intensely, delving into the philosophy as well as the experience. Her dabbling with Meditation turned to a committed practice and she began guiding Zen Sittings. Her endless curiosity and intuition brought her to the Four Winds and to Energy Medicine, which she finds to be the most comprehensive synthesis of all her life’s seeking and questioning.

She has a private practice at Synthesis, where she combines Psychotherapy, Body practices, Mind practices and Energy Medicine to tailor a holistic and personal approach to each person’s Life Quest. She is honored to be on the faculty of the Four Winds online and residential programs.

Despina Boutos
Assistant Director
Yoga and Meditation Teacher, Systemic Psychotherapist, Founder of "Psychology in Yoga" Method

Despina, after long experience and study on the benefits of psychotherapy and yoga and their mutual complementarity, has designed a synthetic program, Psychology in Yoga Sessions, with the aim of developing holistic self-awareness and self-management. In these group or individual sessions, she uniquely combines psychology and neurobiology with yoga and meditation.

She has been practicing yoga and meditation since 2008. In 2012 she founded Ganesha Yoga Studio. Since then she has been teaching hatha yoga and meditation to beginner and advanced groups and has specialized in therapeutic yoga.

Studies in music and theater cemented the notion in her that art is therapeutic. Combining all these elements, her teaching and practice always includes a creative and artistic dimension, which offers the practitioner an experience with all senses participating, leaving them relaxed, strong, activated and inspired. ​

You can see her full bio here

Katerina Spitha
Yoga teacher with a special interest in the History and Philosophy of Yoga

For Katerina, yoga is a path of self-research, the roads of which we, as practitioners, try to unfold, driven by a different starting point of awareness each time as we go. This constant questioning of our existence, which is born sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously, through redefining our knowledge about what this body and mind is, that acts above and beyond the foundation, gives this research the philosophical dimension that she herself loves so much.

Her own journey of redefining her perceptions and goals for life brought her to her encounter with yoga, which continues. After completing her studies in History and Archeology at the University of Athens, she sought development prospects in the postgraduate program she attended on Digital Humanities at UCL in London.

Now she sees her development through the lens of her practice in the Ashtanga yoga system as well as writing articles and works on the philosophy of Yoga. ​

Yanna Athanasopoulou
Shiatsu Therapist, TCM practitioner, Reflexology Therapist

Yanna Athanasopoulou began her studies in holistic therapies in 2005 with Professional Training in Shiatsu, Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Academy of Ancient Greek and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Since then, she continuously enriches her knowledge with additional studies in Nutrition, Herbs, and Reflexology.

In 2010 she attended post-graduate clinical practice and theory training in Beijing-China, and has since delved into Shiatsu and Acupuncture with seminars from many international teachers.
Since 2010 she has been teaching Shiatsu and other courses at the Academy, while organizing workshops with simple techniques and natural tips for better health aimed at more and more people to be able to manage their own health.

She is a member of the Greek Shiatsu Society, practices Yoga, Qi Gong and is a mother of 3 boys.

You can find more information at www.yannashiatsu.gr.
If you would like to book an appointment with her, please contact her directly at +30 694 9733 694 or through e-mail: yanna@yannashiatsu.gr

Manolis Dafermos
Yoga Teacher, Chinese Medicine Practitioner

Manolis was born in Athens in 1976. He has practiced yoga for over 10 years, under the guidance of Kristina Karitinou and Manju P Jois. He is a teacher at Synthesis and the founder of the Ashtanga Yoga community in Ledas, Crete. He has taught in various studios in Athens, both large and small, as well as workshops abroad. He is also trained and practices Traditional Chinese Medicine / Acupuncture, in which he recently completed post-graduate training at the Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China.

Combining these two ancient therapeutic modalities, he offers a unique view and understanding of the personal needs of each practitioner, emphasizing an individual approach to practice that caters to the needs of each person.

You can see his full bio here

Hyon Gak Sunim
Zen Master

Hyon Gak Sunim (Paul J. Muenzen) was born in 1964 to a family of devout Catholics in New Jersey, U.S.A. Educated in literature and literary theory at Yale University (1987) and comparative religions at Harvard Divinity School (’92), he was ordained in 1992 in China. He is the first Westerner ordained in PRC China since the Cultural Revolution. He has been doing Zen training in various remote mountain places in Asia, including 3 intensive 100-day solo meditation retreats and some forty 3-month intensive meditation retreats (“ango") in the ancient Zen temples of Korea.

Hyon Gak Sunim is the author of the Korean-language bestseller, From Harvard to Hwa Gye Sah Temple, an autobiography which became a number-one bestseller in Korea for nearly two years. The book is widely credited with leading a revival of interest in Korean Buddhism, especially among the young generation in Korea, where Buddhism had been perceived to be in decline. Sunim is also the editor or translator of several best-selling translations into Korean of Zen Master Seung Sahn's English-language books.

In 2009 he moved to Germany and in 2016 he founded the Meditation Center Zen Center Regensburg e.V., where he teaches and holds retreats.

Christos Karapiperis
Social Worker - Gestalt Psychotherapist

Christos Karapiperis the father of three kids. He lives and works in Patra, a vibrant and cultural city in Greece.

He has a degree in Social Work from the TEI of Patras and has been trained in Gestalt Psychotherapy at the Gestalt Foundation of Athens.

He has worked for many years as a councellor in support programs for unemployed women and underpriviledged social groups. From 2005 to 2015 he was director of programs for the support of refugees and unaccompanied minors of migrants in the Hellenic Red Cross branch in Patra. He has collaborated in scientific and workshop projects with the School of Social Education in the TEI of Patras

In 2010 he founde the Center for Psychotherapy and Expression in Patras, where he works psychotherapeutically with individuals and groups. He also collaborates with colleagues in organizing experiential workshops in the private and public sector.

Mariella Markianou
Yoga teacher, Somatic-Psychoeducation (fascia) Healer, Fascial Fitness trainer, Refined Pilates teacher, Reiki Master

Marialla Markianou has been practicing yoga since she was very young.

She trained and has been teaching Hatha Yoga since 2004, under the guidance and support of Jenny Colebourne.
In the meantime she began studying Ashtanga Yoga with Anetta Alexandridi, and in 2015 also began to teach, after training with Kristina Karitinou and Manju P. Jois. She has attended many seminars with many respected teachers throughout her years of involvement with yoga, including Sharath Jois, David Swenson, Tim Miller, Nancy Gilgoff, Eddie Stern, Eva Ruchpaul, among others.

She has also worked for many years as a Lawyer (BS from LausanneUniversity and LLM from University College London). She has completed her training (Bachelor's and Master's from Fernando Pesoa University) in the Danis Bois method of Somatic-Psychoeducation. She is a Refined Pilates teacher, Fascial Fitness Trainer, a Somatic-Psychoeducation healer and a Reiki Master.