Environmentally Friendly Retreat Centre
You are supporting sustainability of the fragile Burren environment by booking your retreat with the Burren Yoga and Meditation Centre.
The ethos of the Burren Yoga and Meditation Centre is to provide the best quality yoga and meditation teaching within a responsible holiday retreat package to The Burren where we spend time in Nature and the whole package follows the principles of conservation of the environment.
The centre was designed and built using timber framed buildings which have ceiling to floor windows that provide passive solar heating and amazing views over the Burren Hills.
The buildings are super insulated and also have under floor heating throughout so that they are warm and cosy all year round.
We are committed to environmental good practice and related principles including the Geopark Sustainable Code of Practice for Tourism which has helped us to monitor and continually improve our impacts on the environment.
The Burren is located on the Wild Atlantic Way on the west coast of Ireland.
Retreat Holidays on the Wild Atlantic Way
Environmentally friendly practices
We have tried our best to keep Burren Yoga environmentally friendly by
- best design practices in order to minimise utilisation of energy
- using passive solar features in the design
- Green Purchasing policy to minimise packaging and support local community
- recycle as much as possible
- composting leftover food
- providing filtered water from our well to guests so they don’t buy plastic bottled water
- providing training to our staff to minimise waste and improve recycling
- only use Eco friendly products for cleaning
- minimise impacts of travel by Sustainable Transport including sharing cars on our outings, setting up a taxi sharing scheme, give information on public transport options to get here
- raise awareness of our guests of the fragile nature of the Burren and it’s biodiversity
- promote the Burren Code and Leave no Trace code to our visitors
- donate yearly to BurrenBeo and provide membership forms to our visitors so they can join themselves
- donating items to housing shelter in Galway when we upgrade our equipment
- continually assess how we are doing and look out for new ways to improve
- undertake training ourselves and stay abreast with new developments to help protect the environment
- completed EcoTourism training with Burren Ecotourism in 2012
- completed EcoTourism training with Burren & Cliffs of Moher Geopark in 2014
- we are committed to continual improvement and have included a lot of forward planning in the design of our new building which we plan to begin building in 2018
Ecotourism Supporting the local community
The eco yoga retreats are designed to support the local community by
- employing local people where possible
- buying our organic vegetables locally direct from growers when ever possible
- bringing our visitors to sample the local cuisine in local restaurants and cafes for lunch
- bringing our visitors to local attractions such as the Raku Pottery shop, local craft places and more
- linking in with local providers for surfing lessons and kayaking and more
- setting up reduced fare taxi schemes from Shannon and Galway airport
Conservation of the Environment
We have developed our Green Purchasing Policy to agree with our suppliers to use re-usable packaging, only purchase energy efficient electrical applications, purchase Fair Trade products and to purchase local produce where possible.
Our Healthy Food Policy uses
- only vegetables and no meat or fish
- mainly organic vegetables when available
- Gearoid our chef sources fresh produce in the Kinvara market and other local growers
- Paddi, one of our cooks grows many of the salads and vegetables at her home
- Paddi has written her own book of vegetarian recipes
- does not use deep fat frying so no waste oil
- raises awareness of the environmental benefits of a vegetarian diet
Sustainable Tourism
The Burren is a very unique magical place on the west coast of Ireland. Much of the Burren is protected and in 2011 it was awarded Geopark Status by UNESCO.
The Burren Yoga and Meditation Centre limits the maximum number of course participants to 15.
We also follow the guidelines from the National Parks and Wildlife in using recommended trails and ensuring that we follow best practices in order to prevent even minimal damage to the Burren and it’s biodiversity.
Dave feels that he is privileged to live in this beautiful unspoilt natural environment and ensures that the eco yoga retreats are run to the best of standards in order to preserve the environment and to ensure long term sustainable tourism in the Burren.
Burren Ecotourism
When Dave founded the Burren Yoga Retreat in 1999 he ensured that the retreats were run in such a way as to protect the environment, and this is very much in keeping with the more modern term of Ecotourism.
From 2011 to 2018 we were part of the Burren Ecotourism Network.
This is a network of businesses in the Burren who are all interested in protecting the environment and providing sustainable tourism offerings each in their own way.
Their goals were very much in line with Dave’s concern for the environment and included introducing and maintaining the best practices to protect the environment, and to provide sustainable tourism in this fragile landscape.
Reviewed 14th March 2019
Words won't be able to do this justice!!!! (But I will try) What an amazing trip from start to finish. I did a weekend here and from the moment I walked in the door I literally felt all my worries float away. I went by myself (which I have never done before for anything) and I have to say everyone is just so welcoming and I felt like I knew them all for years. I felt so relaxed…
