Lighter, calmer, more connected
On care, listening and the art of treatment. A conversation with Grete Lepa, Lead Therapist & Treatments Manager
The best treatments are rarely only about the body.
Grete Lepa joins Eha as Lead Therapist & Treatments Manager, bringing years of experience shaped by a deep belief in the transformative capacity of attentive, personalised care. Her approach is grounded in listening, not only to what a guest asks for, but to what their body is actually ready to receive. At Eha, she leads a treatment team whose work is woven into the rhythms of the island and the intentions of each season.
Here, as Eha prepares to welcome its first guests this September, she reflects on what has kept her in this work, what it means to offer care within an environment as particular as Hiiumaa, and what she hopes every guest carries home.
Your path into treatment work began with a personal interest that became a vocation. What was it about this work that held you, and what drew you specifically to Eha when the time came?
What has kept me in the wellness world is the people along the way. The guests who have found their way to my treatment room, and the colleagues I have had the pleasure of working with over the years. As a therapist, working so closely with people, you feel your impact every day. Seeing someone lighter, calmer, or more connected after a treatment is what has kept me in this work.
What drew me to Eha is its uniqueness in the area, and the retreat concept itself. A guest arrives and has time to simply be. No responsibilities, no rushing to the next thing, nothing forced. Just time to let the experience settle so the benefits have room to integrate. Here, treatments are not isolated appointments. They become part of a wider journey.
What drew me to Eha is its uniqueness in the area, and the retreat concept itself.
You speak about listening to what a guest asks for and to what their body needs. Those two things are not always the same. How does that kind of attentiveness shape the way treatments are offered at Eha, and what is your favourite part of leading the treatment team here?
It is true that what the body needs and what its owner wants are not always the same. Our nervous systems today are so often overwhelmed that many of us have lost the ability to listen to ourselves. Eha is made for exactly that: the time to be, listen, and understand what we really need. We have the space, the tools, and most importantly, the people to guide each guest along the way. The treatments are built around the seasonal intention while always leaving room to adapt to each guest's wishes.
My favourite part of leading the treatment team is that we get to stay focused on a small group of people. There is something meaningful about holding that space for a guest over days rather than a single hour. It allows us to notice the small changes that happen from one day to the next and shape the experience around them.
Eha sits within a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve on Hiiumaa, a place shaped by stillness, silence and the rhythms of the natural world. What does it mean to offer treatment work within an environment this particular, and how does the island itself become part of the care?
It feels as though nature becomes another member of the team. One supports the other. Hiiumaa is shaped by the rhythms of the seasons, and none of that is simply a backdrop to our work. It is part of the care itself. By the time our guests arrive at Eha, the island has already begun the work. The slower pace, the silence, and the landscape gently quiet something inside.
Our role is to make room for that, to let the rhythms of Hiiumaa and the treatments work together. The seasons guide what we offer, so the care always feels in step with the natural world rather than apart from it. In the end, the calm a guest feels comes as much from Hiiumaa itself as from anything we do in the treatment room.
Eha opens to its first guests this September. As you prepare to welcome them, what do you hope they carry with them when they leave the treatment room, and when they leave the island?
I hope our guests carry the calm and stillness of Eha and Hiiumaa back into their world and hold onto it for as long as they can. My wish is that they remember how it felt to slow down, and that they find small ways to return to that feeling in everyday life.
The treatments and the time in Hiiumaa should feel like a good hug, something the body remembers long after they have left.
