Pilates Classes, Back Pain Management, Personal Training & Biomechanics Coaching

Caroline Ponto

Pilates Instructor and Biomechanics Coach (UK & Portugal)

Caroline's professional fitness journey began at age 18 when she trained to become a gym instructor. Prior to discovering Pilates, Caroline spent 8 years delivering yoga, circuits and personal training sessions in body building gyms, leisure centres and private health clubs across London and the South East.

Understanding hypermobility and severe low back pain rehabilitation personally (following painful pregnancies and traumatic childbirth), led her to pursue an Advanced Diploma in Mat Pilates. This was followed by GP Exercise Referral and specialism in Exercise for Low Back Pain, also with Future Fit.

With an additional 8 years hands-on Pilates teaching experience, personal rehab post-COVID and twins (!) and a further diploma in Biomechanics Coaching, her focus shifted away from health clubs towards community classes and private coaching at her home practice.

Caroline has opened opportunities for her clients to deepen their Pilates knowledge with weekend workshops and by collaborating with other wellness professionals, to curate local luxury day retreats in rural Sussex and escapist eco-retreats to the heart of Portugal.

Her emphasis is on clear instruction, moving without pain and connecting the mind with the body, to help people create strong, aligned and resilient bodies. Caroline continues her learning journey with anatomy trains, fascia and pelvic floor health to best guide her clients so they can live, move and breathe with ease and vitality.

Carly Tomei

Pilates Instructor & Holistic Health Practitioner (Portugal)

In 2016, Carly left the UK to join her parents in Central Portugal to help with the renovation of their new quinta and assist with maintaining the 10 acres of land. It was here in Portugal that her Pilates journey started.

With over 10 years experience as a Holistic Health Practitioner in the UK and a background in dance, Carly already had a good level of fitness and understanding of the body. When her days consisted of digging trenches, strimming brambles and chopping wood, she knew she needed to focus on strengthening her core and lower back.

It was then that Carly found a local Pilates class to attend, and within 6 months, she couldn’t believe the transformation. Life changing. So much so, that when the Pilates Instructor announced her relocation, Carly decided to train to become a Pilates Instructor; to continue her Pilates practice but also to support and guide other members of the community. Throughout 2018, Carly travelled back and forth to the UK to complete her Advanced Diploma in Mat Pilates, and this is where she met Caroline Ponto.

For the last 8 years, Carly has been teaching weekly mat Pilates classes and private 1:1 sessions to her local community in Vale de Prazeres. She is also fortunate enough to be mentored by the daughter of one of the original 12 Pilates Instructors that Joseph Pilates taught!

Carly continues to offer Reflexology treatments from her off-grid homestead, working the land, growing food, being a mother and wife, whilst living a life connected to nature and its rhythms.

Carly’s vision has always been to hold Pilates and Wellness retreats here in Portugal: to bring people into nature and step out of the busyness of the everyday. So when Caroline reached out and asked to collaborate the answer was immediately “yes”!

They have recently launched their new brand Flow de Vida and are very excited to host their first retreat together at Vale de Moses in October 2026.

Soraya Hatimi

Flow de Vida Pilates Retreats Resident Chef (UK)

Soraya Hatami had the idea for Taarof back in 2018 after initiating and running an extremely successful weekly curry club for Worthing’s homeless community.

Using recipes from her cultural heritage of Iran and South Africa whilst holding the belief that everyone has the right to homemade, nutritious, organic, freshly cooked ingredients, Soraya cooked hearty, tasty family food for people that deserved to feel loved.

Using this ethos, Soraya’s catering company was born. The word “Taarof“ is a Farsi word describing an intricate system of etiquette and hospitality emphasising extreme generosity, humility and respect - devoid of any social rank or hierarchy.

Soraya’s food not only looks and tastes amazing; it is about sustenance, tantalising flavour and stunning presentation.

But her food is also about deeper things… Things that bind us as people; memory, family, legacy, celebration, education, story, history, geography and resistance. Through food, Soraya encourages people to meet, to converse, to experience, to learn, to share, to heal and to change.

Food develops our palates and our tastebuds, therefore it widens curiosity and encourages our engagement with cuisine and culture. Food is transformative and Soraya creates magic at every event, bringing delight to every mouthful.

At our luxurious day retreat, Soraya will be treating us to her delicious, plant-based Persian dishes using locally sourced organic produce, and she will be talking to us about food as source of love and community.

Ruth Summers

Flow de Vida Pilates Retreats Resident Sound Therapist (UK)

Ruth founded Dao Natural Health in 2012, offering sound therapy, Tai Chi Qigong and Medical Qigong. She was also a senior tutor at the British Academy of Sound Therapy for over a decade. Ruth specialises in both 1:1 sound therapy treatments and group sound baths. Using a beautiful blend of Himalayan singing bowls, crystal bowls, gongs, and therapeutic percussion, she creates deeply immersive sessions that invite relaxation, balance and reflective awareness.