Editor’s Note: This is a first-person founder story by Oscar Trelles, a certified Wim Hof Method instructor and systemic coach. It reflects his experience and approach. Published in our Beyond the Spa series. Not medical advice, practice safely, and consult a professional if needed.
Before the pandemic, I lived between time zones, on a plane every other week, chasing growth across New York, London, and Singapore. I remember entire months where the only sunrises I saw came through airplane windows and to the hum of jet engines.
The market research company I had co-founded was thriving, and by every external measure, I was too. Only I really wasn’t. I wasn’t in good health, my closest relationships were crumbling, and I was too numbed by the noise of success to even notice.
When lockdown hit, everything that had defined me disappeared. The high-stakes meetings, the travel, the constant busyness that had once kept me distracted, all stopped at once.
What stayed were the questions I had avoided for years. Who am I to the people I love? How does the world see me without momentum? What happens when achievement stops working as anesthesia?
The answer began, unexpectedly, with a breath.
The Breath That Changed Everything
I first heard about the Wim Hof Method from a friend in London, an avid runner who swore the breathing technique gave her the endurance she had never known before.
Later, while living in Germany, I almost joined a group plunging into a frozen lake (in February!), but I hesitated and missed the chance.
It wasn’t until months later, while back in New York visiting my family, that I finally attended a workshop. The room was quiet except for the sound of collective breathing, deep and rhythmic, like waves rolling in and out.
Within minutes, I felt an electrical stillness take over my body. When it ended, I sat in silence, almost unable to contain my astonishment. For the first time in years, my body and mind were in the same place.
That single experience changed everything. It gave me calm, clarity, and the courage to rebuild my life from presence instead of pressure. It also changed the way I do business.
Why Málaga Became the Reset
Months later, I moved to Málaga, on Spain’s southern coast. I fell in love with the climate but stayed for the rhythm. The light here has a way of slowing you down.
Mornings begin with birdsong echoing through narrow streets, afternoons stretch lazily toward the sea, and evenings soften into the kind of silence that makes reflection possible.
The Mediterranean lifestyle didn’t just feel good; it showed me that health wasn’t about optimization anymore. It was about alignment.
Building a Framework for Resilience
My work as a startup mentor and coach kept bringing me back to one recurring theme: resilience. I saw the same burnout patterns I had lived through, only wearing different clothes and job titles.
As I began teaching the Wim Hof Method, I noticed that the practices that had changed my own health the most (breathwork, fasting, movement, heat, and cold) all worked together as a system.
They could be combined into a coherent framework that helped people recondition their physiology, not just their mindset.
That framework became the foundation of The Reverse Aging Challenge, a seven-week, science-based program and seven-day retreat designed to help people reset their biology and extend their healthspan using natural tools.
Choosing a Place That Lets the Nervous System Exhale
Designing it felt more like composing music than building a business. Each element needed its own tone and tempo, yet had to flow into the next with purpose.
For the in-person retreat, the setting mattered as much as the science. I wanted a place that offered comfort without dulling awareness. I found it at Costa del Soul, a beautifully designed retreat space in Guaro, hidden among olive trees and whitewashed hills between Málaga and Marbella.
It is close enough to the airport for easy travel yet far enough for the nervous system to exhale. There is no spa menu, no background soundtrack, no marble. Only birds, wind, and sunlight dancing across the greenery. Here, nature does the heavy lifting.
A Typical Day on the Reverse Aging Challenge Retreat
Our days follow the body’s natural rhythm. We begin with breathwork as the sun rises over the hills, golden light spilling into the shala as people exhale in unison.
Meditation follows, then the day’s main theme and practices. Meals are Mediterranean and served family-style, to reinforce the idea of choice and agency.
They are timed to support metabolic repair, but no one counts calories here. Afternoons invite slow movement, swimming, or reflective walks through the countryside. Evenings are for integration: journaling, conversation, and stillness by the fire.
The Science Behind the Simplicity
Behind the simplicity is science. Over the past few years, I have compiled what I call the Reverse Aging Evidence Matrix, a growing collection of peer-reviewed studies showing how short, controlled stressors such as cold, heat, fasting, and conscious breathing activate the body’s repair mechanisms, resolve inflammation, and improve metabolic health.
We make these findings accessible and practical because data alone does not transform people. What truly changes them is the lived experience of meeting discomfort and realizing they can deal with it.
Why This Is the Future of Wellness Travel
Wellness travel, to me, is not about escape or indulgence. It is about reconnection: with nature, with others, and with oneself.
The most transformative moments I have witnessed happen when someone steps into an ice bath, trembling with fear, and steps out astonished by their own strength. That instant, when biology and belief meet, is what the future of wellness travel must honor.
We do not heal by adding more comfort. We heal by cultivating capacity. By remembering that stress, when met intentionally, becomes medicine.
Adding Life to Your Years
Today, the Reverse Aging Challenge aims to bring together people from around the world who share the same curiosity: to live longer not by fighting age, but by adding life to their years.
Each retreat becomes a small community and a reminder that health is not something we buy; it is something we practice together.
My journey from corporate acceleration to embodied deceleration has been the most meaningful venture I have ever built.
The destination was never a place. It was a state of coherence. The irony is that I had to travel halfway across the world only to find home inside my own breath. But this is just the beginning.
Oscar Trelles is the founder of Breathing Flame, a systemic coach, certified Wim Hof Method instructor, and the creator of The Reverse Aging Challenge, a science-based retreat and online program focused on longevity, resilience, and natural performance. Formerly a New York entrepreneur, he now lives in Málaga, where he leads workshops and retreats across Europe and with global expansion plans.
