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
There 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.
The Burren Ecotourism Network strive to introduce and maintain the best practices to protect the environment, and to provide sustainable tourism in this fragile landscape.
The Burren Yoga and Meditation Centre have made a huge effort to ensure their complete business from design and build of the yoga centre itself and also the delivery of all the eco yoga retreats are all carried out to the highest standards to ensure protection of the environment.
Burren Yoga joined the Burren Ecotourism Network in 2011 and have recently received an Ecotourism Award in 2012 in recognition of their environmentally friendly eco yoga retreats and how we are committed to conservation and providing the best of ecotourism holidays to the highest standards.
The Burren Ecotourism Network (the B.E.N.) is a membership organisation embedded in a sustainable tourism ethos. It was formally established in 2011. Its purpose is to:
• connect tourism enterprises in the Burren region and enable them to work together to deliver economic, social and environmental benefits, both for themselves and for their communities;
• provide members with training, networking, marketing, business development and partnership opportunities;
• enable members to make an active contribution to the conservation of the region’s natural and cultural heritage.
The B.E.N. mission is to contribute to transforming the Burren region into a truly sustainable destination by being a thought-leader and advocate and by providing learning, development and business opportunities to tourism enterprises.
B.E.N. is a network of tourism businesses with the objective of establishing the Burren as a premier internationally-recognised sustainable tourism region ensuring the future economic and social growth and sustainable development of its communities, environment and heritage. It seeks to support continued training, mentoring and accreditation in sustainable tourism for its members and for businesses interested in joining the Network.
The Burren Ecotourism Network and the management organisation of the Burren and Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark enjoy a special relationship. Both organisations are committed to the promotion of responsible tourism that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people. Having agreed in late 2012 to pool their resources in pursuit of their common objective, they work together to promote ‘The Burren & Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark’ as a leading sustainable visitor destination, celebrated for high standards in visitor experience, conservation and learning.
The Burren and Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark
In 2011 the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher gained Global Geopark status, already spectacular neighbours,
their coming together formed a destination of natural wonders. Making up over 530 square kilometres the
Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark offers diversity that is second to none. This rich and alluring
landscape of staggering sea cliffs, limestone karst terraces, fertile valleys, vibrant villages and welcoming
communities offers some truly inspiring experiences.
The Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark not only has outstanding natural and culture heritage but a
management organisation that supports its people and organisations to work together to ensure a cared-for
landscape, a better-understood heritage, more sustainable tourism, a vibrant community and strengthened
livelihoods.
For more information visit www.burrengeopark.ie
Fragile Burren ecosystem and bio-diversity
The Burren is famous for it’s huge range of wildflowers and the farmers bring the cattle down from the hills between April and September in order to protect the wildflowers and the fragile bio-diversity of the Burren.
When we go on our guided outings we take care to respect the farmers land and their livestock and also to take care of the bio diversity and explain to our visitors not to pick the flowers and to follow the Leave No Trace code where we take leave nothing behind and the only thing we take with us is photographs.
Eco Friendly hotels
Within the Burren Ecotourism Network there are eco friendly hotels and eco friendly B&B’s. The Burren Yoga Centre offers what we believe is an even more enriching experience than eco friendly hotels where we maintain the maximum number of course participants to 15 people, and Dave takes the groups himself to visit the local attractions and to spend time in Nature on all of our courses which we offer in The Burren on the west coast of Ireland.
Burren Ecotourism Eco Retreat in The Burren
We are the only Eco Yoga Retreat within the Burren Ecotourism Network and we have been running these eco retreats since 1999.
Our eco yoga retreats are a perfect combination of the best of yoga and meditation instruction combined with time spend in Nature on our guided outings and outdoor activities.
Support Ireland Green Holidays
Many people are staying in Ireland instead of travelling abroad for their holidays. More people are becoming responsible in their decision not to bring money out of the country on their holidays, but instead to invest that money back into local Ireland Green Holiday businesses which in turn helps the Irish economy.
Ecotourism Accommodation
As part of our eco yoga retreats we provide accommodation, guided outings to local attractions, outdoor activities, and amazing vegetarian meals.
If we have last minute space available we also provide ecotourism accommodation.
Ecotourism Ireland Certified
In 2012 Burren Yoga was audited by Ecotourism Ireland and were offered a silver award in recognition of their work in all the areas identified by Burren Ecotourism as being important in protecting the environment, providing sustainable holidays and also supporting the local communities.
A huge amount of work has been put into the design and running of the centre and was given the Award in recognition for the highest standard as an Ecotourism holiday provider.
More more detail on this, please see
To be certified by Ecotourism Ireland we had to provide details of ‘3 experiences‘ which were used on which to carry out the audit.
We choose to present experiences which would reflect the whole business and these are
- Nature and Yoga weekend eco retreat at the Burren Yoga and Meditation Centre
- Nature and Yoga 6 day eco holiday retreat at the Burren Yoga and Meditation Centre
- Overnight Drop in Eco Yoga break at the Burren Yoga and Meditation Centre
Dave is looking forward to continuing to improve the Burren Yoga and Meditation Centre over the years to come both in terms of levels of comfort for guests and also in terms of incorporating the latest in terms of protection of the environment and also in educating and inspiring others to care for the wider world in which we all live.
We would like to thank you for supporting our green ecotourism business, the local community of The Burren and on a wider perspective the Irish economy.
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Reviewed 14th March 2019
