Purescapes came into being thanks to its founder, Reza Niam. He studied and practiced engineering in Toronto, Canada before deciding to follow his heart into health and wellbeing.

Entrepreneur, wellness expert, consultant, innovator and engineer, Reza brings a deep understanding of the fundamental criteria for success of fitness and wellness retreats, tourism, and innovation. He has specialized in end-to-end development and execution of internationally acclaimed, luxury programs at destinations in Europe, Africa, North America, and the Caribbeans. He has successfully executed multiple PR campaigns internationally with articles published in various magazines including Condé Nast Traveler, Harper’s Bazaar, Runners World, and Men’s Health UK.

John is a clinical hypnotherapist specialising in skills coaching for mind and body transformation. He is also Personal Trainer to Hollywood actress, Cate Blanchette.

As a PT, he is an affiliate of the Register of Exercise Professionals, certified in disciplines that include Core Stability, Plyometrics, Functional Training, Circuit Training, Cross Training, Nutrition for Health & Fitness and Weight Management.

He is a Tai Chi Chuan (Wu Dan Style) and Qi Gong instructor, with a Teaching qualification from Dan Docherty, director of Tai Chi Chuan International.
John is also a cycling enthusiast. One of his recent challenges was climbing 4,500 meters over 207 km in 8 hours at the Gran Fondo Campagno International. He really enjoyed the ice bath after.

Matt trained and qualified as an osteopath and naturopath in the 90’s and went on to complete a post-graduate MSc in Osteopathic Medicine in 2000. He was invited to become a Faculty Member at the British College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1998; a role which he embraced through to 2003. In 2001, Matt began studying with the CHEK Institute in corrective, holistic exercise kinesiology, completing this training in 2005. During this period (2003), Matt was invited to lead his own course at the University College of Osteopathy (called the British School of Osteopathy at the time), a role which he enjoyed until 2005 when he was offered consultancy work with Chelsea Football Club in 2005, as well as several other elite sports teams and athletes.
In 2006, Matt trained up to become a Faculty Member for the CHEK Institute and now teaches 5 of their courses at various levels of the Institute’s training program. During this year, Matt was also asked to write a chapter on Rehabilitation in a Natural Medicine Textbook, by the renowned osteopath, naturopath and author, Leon Chaitow. When this text was published in 2008, Leon invited Matt to take on a role as Editor of the Rehabilitation Section for Elsevier’s popular Journal of Bodywork & Movement Therapies (JBMT).
Since this time, Matt has written nearly 50 papers for the journal and has authored chapters in textbooks and presented locally and internationally at various conferences, congresses, and symposia. In 2017, Matt was invited to become Head of Education and Head of Faculty for the CHEK Institute. This role and his role with JBMT have continued in parallel with Matt’s clinical work, where he naturally tends to cater to either end of the performance spectrum from chronic health conditions to elite performance, as well as everything in between. Matt’s special interests include holistic medicine, human potential, evolutionary theory, behavioural change, and persistent pain.

Dr. Greg Wells has dedicated his career to understanding human performance and how the human body responds to extreme conditions.
At Purescapes he advises us on high performance conditioning and the science behind it all.  He occasionally joins us at our retreats and share his vast knowledge with our guests!

Greg has coached, trained and inspired numerous elite athletes to win medals at World Championships, the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics.
He is the author of Superbodies: Peak Performance Secrets from the World’s Best Athletes, The Ripple Effect, The Focus Effect, & Rest Refocus Recharge. He is a sought after speaker on the topic of human performance, having talked at TEDX and the Titan Summit, alongside Sir Richard Branson. He also contributes expert analysis on various premium TV channels.
He served as the sports medicine analyst for the Canadian Olympic Broadcast Consortium for the 2010 and 2012 Olympic games and was also the assistant professor of Kinesiology at the University of Toronto where he studied elite sport performance.

Greg is also the CEO and founder of Wells Performance, a global consulting firm on a mission to elevate how we live our lives at work and in life.

Tara Norton co-hosts the Purescapes cycling-focused escapes.

Whilst completing her Bachelor of Science Degree in psychology she swam and rowed for Trent University, becoming Trent University Rowing Club’s President. Tara then completed a Massage Therapy degree at Sutherland-Chan School and Teaching Clinic.

Tara knows all about the physical and psychological challenges of a comeback, having snapped her fumor in 2016, and returned to become Ultraman World Champion in Hawaii.

She also broke the Ironman Lanzarote bike course record in 2010, has an Ironman personal best time of 9:32 and has 25 top ten finishes in global triathlons to date.

Tara is an ambassador for the I WILL FOUNDATION, a non-profit organization that helps people overcome adversity, and uses sports science and psychology to support and motivate our cyclists on their literal and internal journeys.

Lucille Howe has spent two decades working as a journalist for the UK’s most prestigious publications, including The Times, Conde Naste Traveller, The Telegraph and Psychologies magazine. She was also Features Editor on Cosmopolitan magazine, Australia. If you Google her, you may also discover she is an actress (recently in a supporting role in feature film ‘Off the Rails’ with Kelly Preston and Judi Dench). She is constantly moving, with a practice that includes hot yoga, tennis and wild swimming.

Lucille is Purescapes’ words girl. It is her job to communicate the Purescapes philosophy, keep the community up to date with the retreat schedule and share insightful posts, on the website and social. She will also be a presence on retreats to document the experience, with consideration of (depending on your preference) your privacy or love of sharing. She is also assisting Reza in designing the Purescapes retreats, so do message her if you have any requests or ideas!