This interview shares the story behind HIYÄM Wellness Living. How her life, travel, and early struggles shaped her work. She speaks about rest, care, and listening to the body. Not fixing people, but creating space for healing.
A journey built on attention, trust, and quiet strength. From childhood memories to retreats around the world, she shows how presence, small rituals, and human connection help people feel calm, grow, and find themselves.
What first sparked your interest in wellness, and how did that lead you to start HIYÄM Wellness Living?
From a very young age, wellness was not something I discovered; it was something I was born into. My earliest memories are woven between the intensity of my childhood years in Saudi Arabia and the profound return to freedom once I left. That contrast, between confinement and liberation, awakened in me a lifelong devotion to movement, healing, and the deep intelligence of the body.
When I returned home, my mother, who lived by the principles of natural medicine, taught me to trust the rhythms of nature: plants, food, intuition, and the quiet power of rest. Everything was organic. Everything was ritual. That is where the first spark happened, in the simplicity of everyday alchemy.
Years later, my 1,000 hours of yoga teacher training across India became a doorway. Those studies reshaped my understanding of presence, somatic intelligence, and the artistry of breath and movement. They also opened something much more intimate: the desire to share this way of living with others. Not as a “program,” but as a sanctuary, a place where people could return to themselves.
HIYÄM Wellness Living was born as a natural extension of how I live my life. A nomadic Maison of wellness where movement, gastronomy, silence, and beauty coexist. Where guests are welcomed in a tailor-made circle, held with intention, elegance, and an Epicurean sense of nourishment. It’s not simply a retreat business. It is my life’s work, crafted through every chapter of my journey.
Your retreats are known for being luxurious and personal. How do you make each experience feel unique for your guests?
For me, true luxury has never been about extravagance, it has always been about attention. Even in my early years leading group retreats in Panama, when fifteen guests would gather in the same space, I treated every person as if they were the only one in the room. Whether I was guiding yoga, teaching martial arts, or serving in world-class restaurants, I learned that presence is the most refined form of care.
This philosophy is the soul of HIYÄM Wellness Living.
Every retreat is built from the ground up for one guest, one couple, or one intimate circle. I listen deeply to their story, their rhythm, their fatigue, their dreams. From there, I craft a tailor-made journey of movement, somatic practices, Epicurean nourishment, rituals, silence, or adventure that reflects exactly what they need at that moment in their life.
What I discovered over the years is that this ability, this instinct to offer deeply personal, curated attention, is not something I learned. It is part of my DNA. Even through group retreats, I felt in every fiber of my body that I was meant to create tailor-made retreats: intimate, refined, crafted with intention. It’s my natural essence, a never-ending fountain of giving. Offering this level of care feels effortless because it is who I am.
I believe the new luxury is human connection not mass experiences, not pre-set programs, but conscious presence and genuine contact. When a guest arrives, they feel it instantly: in the way I read their energy, shape the rhythm of the day, and curate every detail uniquely for them.
In the end, what makes each retreat unique is not the location, it is the alchemy between two humans, and the sanctuary I create for them to recalibrate, refine, and rediscover themselves.
How does your experience as a tea sommelier influence the retreats you design?
This is such a beautiful question, because being a tea sommelier is not just a profession, it’s an art form, a ritual of presence, and a language that naturally weaves itself into everything I create. Tea has its own rhythm and its own lineage. It knows how to gather people and how to soften them. Over the years, I’ve learned that its essence can elevate a retreat in the most subtle, elegant way.
Many of my guests prefer a non-alcoholic journey during their retreat, they want clarity, vibrancy, and a softer connection to themselves. Tea becomes our anchor. I prepare cold infusions, iced herbal blends, delicate chamomile, hibiscus, and some of my signature iced teas that accompany the day. I also have a deep love for Japanese matcha; a cold matcha, especially, feels like the purest dose of nourishment and focus one can offer.
The ritual is always present, even when it is simple. I don’t always lead a full ceremonial tea session unless a guest specifically requests it, but I bring the same intention, the same artistry, to every cup I serve. The ceremony lives in the gesture, not the performance.
Tea also travels with us, it adapts to the destination.
If we are in a cold, wintry setting, a ski retreat, or somewhere with a fall atmosphere, I craft warm, comforting blends. I create my own Earl Grey, I love preparing London Fog, and if we were in Edinburgh, Scotland, or London, tea would naturally take an even more honored place. A simple slice of lemon, a story about tea culture, a moment shared in warmth, these are all part of the experience.
My Lebanese roots also find their way into the pot. I often infuse teas and herbal blends with orange blossom water or rose water, scents and flavours that are deeply nostalgic for me. They add a fragrant, sensual, almost poetic dimension to the experience.
Tea even enters my gastronomy. I use certain blends in marinades, broths, and infusions to bring depth, softness, or brightness to the dishes I prepare.
So, my tea sommelier background influences every retreat, through ritual, through season, through culture, through nourishment, always adapting to the destination, the guest, and the moment. It’s a quiet but powerful form of alchemy that helps people arrive fully into themselves.
Can you share one wellness tip you often give that surprises people?
I love this question because the wellness tip that surprises people the most is also the simplest: your body does not want intensity first, it wants rest.
Before every private retreat, guests often tell me during our call or in their emails that they want to wake up at dawn, train hard, juice, eat raw, meditate for an hour, and live the “perfect wellness routine.” The bar is set incredibly high. But something magical happens the moment they arrive: their whole nervous system softens. The shoulders drop, the breath deepens, and the body finally tells the truth, “I need rest before I need discipline.”
The most surprising tip is this:
Your transformation begins when you stop forcing and start listening.
Rest is not a weakness. It’s the first doorway.
Another truth I love sharing, and this is something I have seen in martial arts, yoga, and every retreat I’ve ever guided, is that people often give me credit for their breakthroughs. They say, “Hiyäm, this was the best class of my life,” or “Your retreat changed me.” But the magic is not mine. I am only the channel, the guide, the facilitator.
Everything they experience on the mat, on the sand, in meditation, or during a ritual is something they allowed themselves to feel.
I simply create the sanctuary where their own inner wisdom can rise.
People are always surprised to hear that their healing is something they generate from within, not something I “give” them. And I think that realization is one of the most empowering gifts they take home:
You are the source. I am just the space where you remember it.
How do you find the right balance between relaxation and transformation in your retreats?
In a way, I touched on this in the previous question, because for me, relaxation and transformation are not opposites, they are partners. One cannot exist without the other. Transformation does not rise from force; it rises from a body that finally feels safe enough to let go.
When a guest arrives at a HIYÄM Wellness Living retreat, something inevitable happens. The moment they step into a space that feels sacred, held, curated, and deeply human, the body begins to exhale. Safety creates softness, and softness creates truth. Once they feel cared for, truly cared for, the nervous system unravels on its own.
And from there, everything becomes a natural sequence:
Rest brings discipline.
Discipline brings celebration.
Celebration brings joy.
Joy brings freedom.
This pattern has been the same whether the guest is a CEO, an artist, a yogi, or someone simply longing to breathe again. When you create an environment of presence, refinement, and intimacy, the balance between yin and yang emerges organically. The quiet moments invite clarity; the movement practices open the body; the rituals ground the spirit; the Epicurean nourishment awakens pleasure and vitality.
You don’t have to “choose” between relaxation and transformation.
When held with intention, the two merge into a single vortex, one that recalibrates the body, liberates the mind, and invites a profound sense of aliveness.
Is there a story from a retreat that has stayed with you or left a big impact?
I must begin by saying this: every retreat leaves an impact on me.
Every single one. And if I may say, often an even deeper impact on me than I could ever imagine.
And that brings a quiet tear of joy to my eyes, because even though a retreat is not my moment to transform, it is the guest’s moment, their sanctuary, their chapter, I always evolve with them…
Any good teacher, guide, somatic practitioner, or movement artist knows that we hold space for others, but we never stop learning from them. At the end of each retreat, I give myself a full week to recalibrate, to reset my heart, and to integrate everything that was shared.
I am a forever student.
Every human brings me a deep impact.
There are a few stories I can share without revealing identities, because their trust is sacred.
One was a young mother from New York, a well-known stylist in a major magazine. She had recently given birth, and the father had disappeared from her life. She wrote to me saying she couldn’t attend my group retreat because she had no one to care for her six-month-old daughter, Rio.
I remember reading her message and feeling her exhaustion through the screen.
So I adjusted everything.
I lowered the price, bought a baby crib that travelled to the island by ferry over several days, and wrote to every participant to ask if they would welcome a mother and her infant. They all said yes.
And this mother, with little Rio, arrived with her entire world in her arms.
It became one of the most beautiful retreats I’ve ever held, a circle of women helping her rest for the first time in months, rocking the baby so she could breathe again, watching her find her strength and softness at the same time. Rio changed all of us.
Another story was a female composer and artist who came alone for her 45th birthday. She arrived with bright, buzzing energy, wanting to do everything, accomplish everything, “fix” everything. By the second day, her body softened. She cried. She laughed. She surrendered. She would sit quietly at the kitchen counter just watching me cook, rediscovering presence through the poetry of food. She left with a new relationship to herself, tender, grounded, luminous.
And I will never forget the single mother who had raised her son alone for five years. Letting go felt almost impossible for her. But with time, with breath, with somatic grounding, her heart opened again. She rediscovered rest, beauty, and the sensation of being held by life instead of carrying everything alone.
Each of these stories taught me something essential:
When you create a sanctuary of safety, kindness, and presence, people don’t just relax, they transform. And their transformation transforms me.
This is the alchemy of my work.
A sacred exchange.
A deep impact, every single time.
What’s one small thing in your day that instantly makes you feel calm or centered?
The smallest thing, and yet the most powerful, is abdominal breathing, what we call the yogic breath. I return to it many times a day. I inhale by letting my belly rise, allowing the diaphragm to expand fully, feeling the ribcage open and become spacious. And on the exhale, the belly softens, the diaphragm releases, and the chest gently falls.
It sounds simple, but it has been one of the greatest healers of my life.
Like anyone else, I’ve lived through anxiety, heartbreak, and moments that shook my nervous system. Years ago, during a profound betrayal in a past relationship, it was this breath, this ancient, humble yogic breath, that helped me come back to myself. Sometimes I still practice it four times a day, five minutes at a time, especially when I need to re-center or ground.
I’ve also practiced Vipassana many times, and when I combine it with yogic breathing, simply feeling the delicate sensation of the breath leaving my nostrils, everything inside me recalibrates. I return to my roots, to presence, to a place where the world becomes softer and clearer.
And if I’m honest, there is one more thing that brings me instant joy and calm, something a little lighter, but very true to who I am. I love fashion.
Shoes, boho-chic dresses, a beautiful piece that makes me feel feminine, artistic, and alive. Just thinking about it makes me smile. In life, it’s always a balance of yin and yang, the deeply spiritual and the delightfully fashionista. Both recalibrate me in their own way.
A single breath.
A beautiful dress.
Both are rituals of presence.
Your retreats combine luxury and mindfulness. How do you keep both feeling natural, not forced?
For me, mindfulness is the new luxury. They are not opposites, they are twin energies, soft partners that move together with elegance and truth. When you live with presence, refinement naturally follows. And when you live with refinement, presence becomes effortless.
Luxury is often misunderstood. People think it means excess, sparkle, or indulgence. But true luxury, the luxury I create at HIYÄM Wellness Living, is much more intimate. It’s the way a place makes you feel. It’s the light, the silence, the taste of real food, the softness of linen, the quality of attention. Luxury has palettes, moods, and essences, just like fashion, gastronomy, or wine. It can be sensual, minimalistic, wild, or poetic.
Mindfulness, to me, is the art of paying attention. Luxury, to me, is the art of elevating that attention.
So, the two merge naturally because they come from the same place: intention.
When a guest wakes up to the sound of the ocean, when they eat a perfectly ripe papaya with lime, when their movement practice is curated for their body, when they feel seen, deeply seen, luxury and mindfulness become a single gesture.
Nothing is forced because nothing is “performed.”
Everything is organic. Everything is curated with authenticity and heart.
This has been true since the very beginning of HIYÄM Wellness Living, and even in my own personal life. The beauty is that they don’t just complement each other… they enhance each other, softly, gracefully, like two notes in the same melody.
How do you make corporate retreats feel personal and not like just another team- building exercise?
For me, a corporate retreat is no different than guiding a yoga class with sixty people and making every single one of them feel seen. Personalization is not about the number of participants; it is about the quality of presence. And presence is the foundation of everything I do.
When I design a corporate retreat, I blend coaching, wellness, creativity, and somatic intelligence in a way that speaks to both the mind and the heart. Teams don’t just need “motivation”; they need grounding, clarity, inspiration, and a moment to breathe. They need space to reconnect to themselves before they reconnect to each other.
I curate schedules that touch every dimension of the human experience:
The mind, through conscious coaching and clarity practices.
The body, through movement, breathwork, and mindfulness.
The spirit, through quiet rituals and moments of reflection.
Creativity, which I believe is one of the highest forms of wellness.
But what makes it truly personal is the environment, the sanctuary we create for them. The villas we choose, the gastronomy we curate, the softness of the mats, the Palo Santo, the textures, the rituals, the light, the music, the sensory atmosphere. These details matter. They transform a “team-building exercise” into an experience of renewal and connection.
Corporate guests arrive as colleagues, but they leave having touched something deeper, presence, unity, spaciousness, and a recalibrated sense of purpose.
This is what makes it personal.
This is what makes it unforgettable.
A corporate retreat with HIYÄM Wellness Living is not a program, it is a curated sanctuary where humans, not titles, are invited to breathe, evolve, and rediscover themselves.
Have you ever designed a retreat just following your instincts? What happened?
Absolutely, instinct is at the heart of every retreat I create. HIYÄM Wellness Living was born from intuition, and it remains my compass in everything I design. I can study anatomy, scout villas, explore destinations, or refine my coaching, but the soul of a retreat always begins as a feeling, something I channel, write, and bring to life from an inner knowing.
Unless a client specifically asks for a strict, minute-by-minute structure, I avoid heavy scheduling. I prefer light, elegant frameworks that give space for flow, breath, and human truth. Too much rigidity pulls people back into their everyday life. And most guests come to escape that world, not recreate it.
My instinct is what allows me to design what their body truly needs, not what they think they “should” do.
And what happens when I follow my instincts is incredibly beautiful.
People realize that timing is not the same as scheduling.
Timing is intuitive.
Timing is felt.
Timing respects how they arrive, not how they believe they must perform.
This is where true transformation occurs.
Guests soften.
Their nervous system unwinds.
Their shoulders drop.
They rediscover joy, freedom, presence, and a renewed connection to themselves.
Sometimes, it isn’t easy. I’ve had guests who found the lack of strict structure almost confrontational at first. But that resistance always melts. They end up laughing, breathing, and opening in ways they didn’t expect. They leave feeling uplifted, liberated, and profoundly reconnected.
So yes, I follow my instinct constantly.
And what happens is simple: people transform more deeply, more honestly, and more naturally than any rigid program could ever allow.
What were some of the biggest challenges when starting Hiyäm Wellness, and what did you learn from them?
One of the greatest challenges, and one of the most beautiful, was saying goodbye to the world of scheduled group retreats and having the courage to create something entirely new: tailor-made retreats with no set dates, no fixed formats, and no predefined structure. For many people, that would seem risky. For me, it felt like a calling.
I often say that challenges are simply beautiful life experiences in disguise. In French, I call them beaux défis, the kind that wake you up, stretch you, and ask you to rise. They are like standing at the edge of a cliff with a bit of vertigo, knowing the view will be extraordinary once you jump.
Choosing to step away from the traditional retreat model and fully commit to a new trend, ultra-bespoke, intimate retreats designed for one to six guests, required tremendous trust. I had to believe deeply in the product, in the vision, and in my ability to elevate my work from “elegant wellness” to a realm beyond luxury. I had to trust that the right clients would feel this vibration.
Another challenge was embracing the partnerships and collaborations that matched this new identity, especially working with a global agency like Issa PR. Their belief in HIYÄM Wellness Living gave me the confidence to step into a larger, more international stage. It taught me to own the value of my craft and the depth of my experience.
And perhaps the most meaningful part is that these challenges didn’t only shape me, they shaped my partnership with my life partner as well. When I shared my vision with him, he immediately understood it. He believed in the product, in the mission, in the way we could bring goodness to humans. His decision to join the project was one of the greatest confirmations that we were walking in the right direction.
So yes, challenges were present.
But each one was a beautiful, meaningful life lesson that made me stronger, made my partner stronger, and made the foundation of HIYÄM Wellness Living even more powerful.
To me, challenge always equals growth.
Always equals beauty.
Always equals evolution.
Do you have a ritual or habit you never skip, no matter how busy life gets?
I love this question because for me, rituals and habits are two different worlds. Rituals are sacred. Habits are practical. Both anchor me, but in very distinct ways.
Let me begin with ritual, because ritual is truly the heartbeat of my life.
In Montreal, every morning begins the same way: I wake up, I rise slowly, and I light a Palo Santo stick or a piece of incense that I placed the night before. I light a candle, whether it’s a bright summer or a dark winter morning, and I put on very soft music. Sometimes it’s piano, sometimes traditional Indian melodies. That combination of scent, flame, and sound creates an instant sanctuary. It’s one of the rituals that nourishes me the most.
Another ritual I cherish is my face ritual, my skincare, my face yoga, my rose water. It feels like touching my own softness, honouring the woman I am becoming every day. My mother was the same, and she taught me that everything we touch can be a ceremony.
Cooking is also a ritual for me. The way I cut fruit, the way I plate food, the way I set the table, even if I am completely alone, is the same way I would prepare for the most glorious guests in the world. Self-love, to me, is the most beautiful ritual we can offer ourselves.
Now, my habits are simpler, but just as grounding.
I’m a perfectionist in the gentle, loving sense of the word. I fluff my cushions. I fold my sheets perfectly. I replace the candle in my bathroom with intention. And I make my bed every single morning, not as a chore, but as a small celebration of order, gratitude, and beauty. It makes me feel like I’m starting the day with reverence.
Even living on a sailing boat, where I can’t always use candles because of the fire element, the essence remains the same: create beauty, create presence, create a moment that belongs to you.
These rituals and habits, simple, sensory, sacred, are tiny devotionals that keep me centered no matter how full life becomes.
What’s the funniest or most unexpected thing that’s happened at a retreat?
I adore this question because retreats are not only transformative, but they can also be wonderfully unpredictable, and sometimes hilarious.
One of the funniest moments happened during a group retreat in the archipelago of Bocas del Toro in Panama. I had brought fifteen guests on a boat to spend the day at Red Frog Beach, the first day of retreat, the day meant for unwinding, resting, feeling the sun, and shaking off the stress of travel.
We arrived full of excitement… and were greeted by the storm of a lifetime.
Grey sky, thunder, lightning, tropical rain pouring like a waterfall.
And we still had a 30-minute walk through the rainforest to reach the beach.
I was the only nervous one, thinking, “Oh no, not on the first day…”
But something magical, and hilarious, happened. Everyone started dancing in the rain. Some tied their T-shirts around their heads like funny little turbans; others were laughing so hard they could barely walk. By the time we reached the beach, people were swimming fully clothed, playing in the waves, and celebrating the chaos.
What I feared would be a disaster became the first moment of true connection for the whole group.
The rain became the icebreaker.
The storm became the laughter.
It was unforgettable.
Another unexpected moment happened during a 12-day corporate retreat. Three days before the end, my chef, exhausted and facing a family emergency, announced that she had to leave immediately. So suddenly, I was cooking three meals a day, teaching yoga, organizing activities, handling logistics, and supporting the entire group while my coordinator and artistic director were also reaching their limits.
We worked almost 24 hours a day, with no pause. And yet… everything was perfect.
Tiring, yes, but also beautiful. It reminded me that adaptability is part of the art of retreats. Somehow, through instinct and teamwork, we created something extraordinary.
These moments taught me that wellness retreats are alive.
They breathe, they surprise, they challenge, they unite.
And sometimes… they make you laugh under a tropical thunderstorm.
How do you know a retreat was successful beyond what guests say to you?
Over the years, I’ve learned that the true measure of a retreat’s success is found not only in a guest’s words, but in everything between the words. My entire life, from working in high-end restaurants and hotels to guiding yoga and movement for decades, has taught me the most sacred skill: the art of listening with my whole being.
People speak with their voice, but they also speak with their silence, their posture, their breath, their eyes, the way they move through space on the last day compared to the first. A guest could tell me they loved the retreat, though it has never happened, and I would still feel, through their energy, if something deeper was left untouched. And when they say they loved it, I can feel to what extent:
Was it a spiritual shift?
A grounding?
A somatic release?
A life recalibration?
Or simply a much-needed moment of rest?
Sometimes, the greatest sign of success is actually distance.
When a guest leaves with a renewed sense of autonomy, when they don’t need me anymore because they have integrated the tools, the breath, the rituals, the clarity, that tells me the transformation worked. They walk away lighter, more rooted, more themselves.
It is a dance of words and non-words. Of intuition, sensitivity, and energetic intelligence.
A skill refined over time, and something I am deeply proud of.
And yet, even with this awareness, I remain a forever student. I will never claim to have mastered the entire human landscape. But I know this: when a retreat is successful, the energy speaks long before the guest does.
If someone came to you feeling stressed and unsure where to start, what simple step would you give them right away?
The very first thing I would do is congratulate them.
It takes courage to say, “I feel stressed. I don’t know where to begin.”
Just naming it is already the beginning of healing.
My years guiding retreats, and even earlier, working in aviation as a flight director, supporting anxious and uncertain passengers, taught me that acknowledging someone’s emotional state with warmth and validation is the most stabilizing first step. When someone feels seen and not judged, their nervous system softens.
After that, I always return to the simplest tool we have: breath.
Not advanced pranayama.
Not a technique.
Just ten soft, conscious breaths with the eyes closed.
Inhale, feel your body expand.
Exhale, feel the stress leave the body, even a tiny bit.
No spirituality required. Just physical presence.
I’ve taught yoga to thousands of people, some practice for spirituality, some for weight loss, some for movement, some for calm. And no matter who stands in front of me, I always bring them back to the same starting point:
Feel your physical body. Feel your breath. Feel what is real, not what is imagined.
In ten breaths, the person returns to themselves. Their shoulders drop. Their throat softens. Their mind becomes a little more spacious. And from there, we can begin, gently, honestly, human to human.
It’s the smallest step, but often the most profound one:
breathe, acknowledge, and arrive.
Editor’s Note
As editors, we read many stories about wellness, but some conversations stay with you longer than others. This was one of them.
What stood out most was not the idea of retreats or luxury, but the deep respect for human rhythm. From childhood memories to years of study and hands-on work, this journey is built on listening rather than fixing. Again and again, the message returns to something simple.
As she says, “Your transformation begins when you stop forcing and start listening.”
Throughout our conversation, it became clear that this work is not about control or performance. It is about creating safety. When people feel safe, their body softens. When the body softens, change happens on its own. Another line that stayed with us was, “I am only the space where you remember it.” That thought shifts power back to the individual, where it belongs.
This story matters because many people today feel tired, rushed, and unsure where to begin. It reminds us that rest is not laziness, and care does not need to be loud. Sometimes, healing starts with one breath, one quiet moment, or simply being held without judgment.
We hope readers take this story as a gentle pause. Not a goal to chase, but an invitation to listen.
