World Environment Day; Re-connecting with Nature through Active Rest.

World Environment Day: Reconnecting with Nature through Active Rest

At Active Rest Retreats, we believe that caring for the environment starts with deepening our connection to it. Sarah and I met in Port Lincoln in 2016, brought together by our shared passion for connecting people to the environment through adventure tourism experiences. We thrived off of imparting knowledge on the endangered Australian Sealion to our guests, or sharing the company's war on waste strategies on to social media. Active Rest Retreats is also an ode to nature. It’s a space for women to learn from Traditional Owners, move with deep presence through outdoor yoga, and explore the land on foot through mindful bushwalking. This World Environment Day, we're reflecting on the ways we help women slow down, step outside, and feel a sense of belonging in nature—because in the words of Sir David Attenborough, we can only care about what we understand, and we can only understand what we have experienced. 

Our retreats are intentionally designed to immerse you in the natural world—not just to observe it, but to breathe with it, move with it, and learn from it. Whether it’s rolling out your yoga mat under the trees, walking mindfully along ancient clifftops, or sitting in circle with Traditional Owners and hearing stories of Country, nature is our greatest teacher.

1. Learning from Culture: Country as Teacher

We run our retreats on Adnyamathanha, Ngarrindjeri and Peramangk Country, and our relationships with local Indigenous educators are foundational to what we offer. Learning about Country from Traditional Owners invites us into a deeper understanding of our place in the world. It shifts the way we walk, think, and relate to the land—not as something separate, but something we are a part of.

Through yarning circles, basket weaving with Melanie Koolmatrie from Yiditji Arts, and story-sharing we begin to understand that the land is alive. It holds wisdom, memory, and identity. This connection inspires care—not out of obligation, but out of respect and relationship. This mindset shift is at the heart of genuine environmental stewardship, and we often talk to our guests about how to be true "guestodians" upon Country, and remind them that Country is everywhere, even when they return home. 

2. Practising Yoga in Nature: Movement as a Form of Listening

Outdoor yoga is more than just stretching under the sun—it’s a practice of presence. When we breathe deeply beneath trees, feel the wind on our skin in savasana, or hear birdsong between poses, we’re reminded that we belong to something bigger.

Yoga invites us to slow down and tune in—not just to our own bodies, but to the environment around us. In doing so, we foster awareness, humility, and reverence for the natural world. Our mats become places of quiet gratitude, and our practice becomes a way to honour the land we’re on. Sarah's sunrise ceremonies always include meditations that invite presence and reverence for the elements around us. Whether it’s the red dirt beneath us at Wilpena or the cool sand at Kings Beach, nature has a way of leaving us in awe—if we pause long enough to truly notice. 

3. Bushwalking: Reconnection at Nature’s Pace

Walking has always been one of the simplest ways to return to ourselves. At Active Rest Retreats, we see bushwalking as a moving meditation—a way to ground, to notice, and to be with the land rather than just pass through it.

Guided walks on our retreats aren’t rushed. We pause. We breathe. We share stories, learn names of plants, and sometimes walk in silence to hear the land speak. Hiking along the Waitpinga cliffs, the dipping valleys of Newland Head Conservation Park and open grasslands helps us recalibrate. The land sets the rhythm, and we follow. Looking at the horizon, witnessing green and growing things, and walking on Country as humans have done for thousands of years is a deeply natural and instinctive way to connect with nature. 

This World Environment Day…

We invite you to do just one thing to reconnect with the earth. Go for a walk and notice the textures underfoot. Breathe in the air like it’s a gift. Thank the land you're on. Rest outside. Let nature hold you.

Because when we return to nature, we return to ourselves. A more rested society is a more environmentally sustainable society. When we move from a rested place, we can care more deeply—for Country, for community, and for our shared future.

#WorldEnvironmentDay #ActiveRestRetreats #WomenWhoWalk #MindfulAdventure #CountryAsTeacher #NatureHeals

Sunrise views Along the Heyson Trail Looking Back Towards Kings Beach and The Bluff, where we walk on the Fleurieu Retreat.