Blue Turtle Mindfulness Proposal 4 day camping (1)

Blue Mindfulness Retreats Baja California Sur, México

BLUE TURTLE Dear Mindful Person, SUSTAINABLE Blue Turtle Sustainable is an organization dedicated to empowering Jaiba #124 coastal fishing communities in ocean stewardship through La Paz, BCS, 23090 responsible seafood and conservation tourism. Incidental capture in México fishing gear, termed bycatch, is potentially the greatest threat to sea turtles and other marine life. We want to recognize and www.BlueTurtleSustaianble.org highlight the fishers who are taking initiative to reduce bycatch +52-1-612-202-8035 through responsible fishing practices. These fishers also take initiative to clean and protect vital mangrove habitat and provide nesecary outreach and eduction in their communities. Many fishers go unrecognized for their valieant efforts and some even take risks to combat poaching in their small communities. Their reonsible seafood products are mixed in with destructive and illegal fishing. We are employing Shellcatch technology with our partners, Upwell Turtles and Grupo Tortuguero de Las Californias to create a traceable, fair0trade seafood identity that distinguishes them as responsiblefisher, \"Pescador Responsable\". Our research helps identify hotspots where fishers voluntarily apply conservation strategies for a unique Community-Based Fisheries Managment program. Join us with your fork to consume responsible seafood or join us with your time to participate in sea turtle research with fishers while beginning or advancing your mindfulness practice. Mindfulness if not just sitting still for hours. It is also walking meditation, flaoting meditation, boat meditation, breathing intentionally with an endangered sea turtle. See you soon! Namaste, Saludos, & Turtle Love Steph Stephanie J. Rousso, M.S. Founder, Marine Ecologist, Yogini, & Mindfulness Facilitator



BLUE MINDFULNESS The buddha of Mindfulness, Jon Kabat-Zinn, describes Mindfulness as, \"paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally\". Now just add the ocean and you have Blue Mindfulness. Mindful travel to ocean destinations allows us to gently and calmly integrate the contemplative nature of mindfulness with compassion for the ocean, her inhabitants, and the coastal communities who care for our one and only Mother Ocean. It is any coincidence that our cells in our bodies are 73% water, just as our earth is 73% water? We need the water, the ocean, because she is part of us and we are connected and dependent on her. In his book , \"Blue Mind, marine biologist Dr. Wallace J. Nichols reflects on the on the remarkable effects of water for wellness. The book combines neuroscience with compelling personal stories to scientifically prove how proximity to water can improve performance, increase calm, diminish anxiety, and increase professional success. Blue mind is the meditative state of mind that is the antidote to the “red mind” of an overly anxious and highly connected modern world and the perfect tool to reverse burnout and mental fatigue. Our trips embody this concept through slow. mindful ocean travel.



Mindful travel involves being completely present for the experiences you’re having in a new place. Mindful Travel Principals 01 Travel Slow and Mindfully: Traveling more slowly allows you to form a deeper, more meaningful connection to the place you’re visiting and the people you meet along the journey. Practicing mindfulness as you travel helps you to slow down and get a deeper feel for your surroundings. 02 Savor every moment. When you walk along the beach, notice each foot as it touches the ground, lifts, and swings. Notice the feel of air on your skin and the smells as you surrender and passionately wander. 03 Reconnect with Mother Nature: In the wild, let yourself become part of the natural world to awaken your senses and remember at a cellular level, we are all connected. Tapping into the restorative powers of the natural world boost mental acuity and creativity and promote wellness. 04 Let go of expectations. Mindful travel is perfect for self-discovery as you become aware of how your thoughts, feelings and sensations are impacting your reality. When you’re curious, you tend to learn more, which is good for brain health and will make your journey more meaningful.



GETTING HERE La Paz is the capital city of the state of Baja Our retreats are located on the west side California Sur. The airport (code: LAP) is just of La Paz Bay which connects to the beginning to grow and there are a few options to biologically diverse Gulf of California; arrive directly to La Paz. Currently, Tijuana via what Jacques Cousteau deemed, Otay Mesa Cross Border Express (CBX) flies direct \"The Aquarium of the World\" to La Paz on Volaris Airlines. Recently, American Airlines just opened up two limited, seasonal direct Our retreat begins early morning when we routes to La Paz through Phoenix and Dallas. pick you up from our enchanting 8 km malecon (boardwalk) that lines the Bay of While ideal to fly into La Paz, San Jose del Cabo La Paz. We have two choices for a airport (code: SJD) has a myriad of flights from fabulous Blue Mindfulness retreat: coastal many international airports. Getting to La Paz is desert ecoLodge or island pampered easy on the Eco Baja Shuttle. From SJD, sit back in camping. We recommend that travelers comfort with Wifi and charging stations, an egnlish arrive to La Paz the day before and stay speaking chofer will take you safely to La Paz in in one of our partner hotels and enjoy a apox 3 hours. sunset stroll along the malecon. The journey begins as we take backroads through this magical coastal desert paradise to your destination. Enjoy the journey as we pass through coastlines, mountains, and a beautiful vegetated desert, remnants of the Sonoran desert. Keep an eye out for the Mexican eagle, \"Caracara\", red-tailed hawks, jackrabbits, chipmunks, iguanas roadrunners, and the nocturnal Baja Babisuri. Once at your retreat site, the wildlife abundance continues and your true blue mindfulness immersion begins.

Pearl Islands El Pardito Fish Camp La Duna Ecology Center Las Pacas Fish Camp

ACCOMMOD

DATIONS

LA DUNA ECOLOGY CENTER La Duna’s mission is to inspire the protection and restoration of the natural community through collaboration, scientific research, ecological practices, spirituality and nature-inspired art. Rest, restore, and relax while the coastal dunes whisper sweet dreams through ocean breezes. Gabriela Flores, owner, has eight natural cabins, double occupancy, with either 1 queen bed or two twin beds. The cabins encircle the primary yoga palapa. Only steps away is the spacious, open dining area perfect to share stories from the days' adventures while feasting on our delicious gourmet healthy foods, a fusion of Eastern ingredients with a Mexican essence. Let your toes engage the sand while you sip on an assortment of Baja brewed coffee, Mexican artisanal teas, local kombucha, fresh hibiscus mint water, or maybe indulge in a Baja wine from the Sierra de la Guadalupe. La Duna is off-grid with solar electricity provided from 7 am to 10 pm in the main areas and portable solar lights for each cabin. Several designated walking trails invite guests to explore the ecology center where you will find a labyrinth, bonfire pit, and private access to a pristine, mineral-rich volcanic dune-beach ecosystem. Your package includes a 4 day, 3- night stay at La Duna. You may choose to extend your stay in La Paz with our partners to swim with whale sharks, visit a working ranch, or join an overnight whale watching excursion to the most southern Pacific Baja bay where grey whales calve their young and begin the mating cycle anew, continuing their beautiful circle of life.



Day - 01 Itinerary overview Backroad Journey Along a paved highway and short dirt road trek through the coastal desert, we arrive at the La Duna Ecology Center. After a short orientation and staff introduction, you will be escorted to your shared or private cabin during our facility tour. Day - 02 mandala mindfulness Take a stroll along the volcanic sand beach collecting artifacts from the tide line. Find your spot and settle in while you design your beach mandala. Explore the tide pools with our naturalist and take a siesta in the shaded cloth hammocks onsite. Day - 03 Sea Turtle Research Embark early on an adventurous backroad journey through the Sierra de la Giganta mountains then a short panga ride to the extensive, mangrove forest of Isla San Jose.. Help fishers search for and capture, name, and release endangered sea turtles. Splash into a coral reef and connect with your inner colors. Day - 04 dunes walk-a-bout Fill your panza with a delicious breakfast buffet then enjoy a leisurely walk through the coastal dunes. Guided by our naturalist, connect with all the mini-ecosystems hidden in the coastal jojoba scrub. \"Wherever you go, there you are\" ~Jon Kabat Zinn



PEARL ISLANDS CAMPING The San Jose Archipelago is approx. 60 miles north of La Paz and the next set of islands north of Isla Espiritu Santo. Its lack of proximity to any main roads or significant townships affords this group of islands, the luxury of escaping the crowds. Our journey starts along a rugged backroad through the Sierra de la Giganta mountains. Arriving at We access the island by driving up a dirt road for a couple of hours and launching from the coastline that is roughly adjacent to the southern end of the archipelago. Gabriela Flores, owner, has eight natural cabins, double occupancy, with either 1 queen bed or two twin beds. The cabins encircle the primary yoga palapa. Only steps away is the spacious, open dining area perfect to share stories from the days' adventures while feasting on our delicious gourmet healthy foods, a fusion of Eastern ingredients with a Mexican essence. Let your toes engage the sand while you sip on an assortment of Baja brewed coffee, Mexican artisanal teas, local kombucha, fresh hibiscus mint water, or maybe indulge in a Baja wine from the Sierra de la Guadalupe. La Duna is off- grid with solar electricity provided from 7 am to 10 pm in the main areas and portable solar lights for each cabin. Several designated walking trails invite guests to explore the ecology center where you will find a labyrinth, bonfire pit, and private access to a pristine, mineral-rich volcanic dune-beach ecosystem. Your package includes a 4 day, 3- night stay at La Duna. You may choose to extend your stay in La Paz with our partners to swim with whale sharks, visit a working ranch, or join an overnight whale watching excursion to the most southern Pacific Baja bay where grey whales calve their young and begin the mating cycle anew, continuing their beautiful circle of life.



Day - 01 Itinerary overview Backroad Journey Along a paved highway and short dirt road trek through the coastal desert, we arrive at the La Duna Ecology Center. After a short orientation and staff introduction, you will be escorted to your shared or private cabin during our facility tour. Day - 02 mandala mindfulness Take a stroll along the volcanic sand beach collecting artifacts from the tide line. Find your spot and settle in while you design your beach mandala. Explore the tide pools with our naturalist and take a siesta in the shaded cloth hammocks onsite. Day - 03 Sea Turtle Research Embark early on an adventurous backroad journey through the Sierra de la Giganta mountains then a short panga ride to the extensive, mangrove forest of Isla San Jose.. Help fishers search for and capture, name, and release endangered sea turtles. Splash into a coral reef and connect with your inner colors. Day - 04 dunes walk-a-bout Fill your panza with a delicious breakfast buffet then enjoy a leisurely walk through the coastal dunes. Guided by our naturalist, connect with all the mini-ecosystems hidden in the coastal jojoba scrub. \"Wherever you go, there you are\" ~Jon Kabat Zinn



BLUEMIND

ACTIVITES

SEA TURTLE RESEARCH Our mission is to empower coastal communities in Our journey begins with a 3-hour rugged yet stunning ocean stewardship. One way we do this is to take backroad journey through the Sierra de la Giganta groups to participate with small-scale fishers that Mountains. When we arrive at Portugues Beach, collaborate in protecting sea turtles and leading brothers, Juan and Felipe Cuevas, fishermen from El their communities to reduce the incidental capture Pardito Island take us to the sea turtle feeding area, an of sea turtles in fishing gear and reverse the culture extensive island mangrove wetland, protected as a fish of poaching refuge zone with the non-profit, Niparaja. This special trip offers our groups the chance to When we spot a turtle, the fishers use a special participate in collecting valuable data on the research net to capture them. We carefully bring them population status and health of endangered sea on board, cover their eyes to reduce stress, then take turtles. The data is provided to Grupo Tortuguero, turns measuring, weighing, and photo-documenting each the Mexican Turtle Network for ongoing population one. We mark their flippers with a special identification analysis. On the way back to land, we stop by a sea tag, give them a name, then release them back into the lion colony and bring sustainably-caught fresh fish wild blue ocean. Your participation helps us provides an back with us for our lunch the next day. alternative economic activity for fishing communities to collaborate in scientific research and conservation helping to support the UN's Sustainable Development Goal of \"Life Below Water\".



EL PARDITO FISHING VILLAGE El Pardito is a very small island in the Gulf of California. It is located between Isla San José and Isla San Francisquito, about 15 kilometers from the coast of Baja California Sur. The closest city is La Paz, which is about 150 km to the south. Our mission is to empower coastal communities to take an active role in conservation. One way we do this is to take groups to participate with small-scale fishers that collaborate in protecting sea turtles and leading their communities to reduce the incidental capture of sea turtles in fishing gear and reverse the culture of poaching. Local fishermen helped identify an important hawksbill habitat on the islands near La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur. Fishermen from Isla El Pardito continue to play a key role in monitoring this site and the estuary on Isla San José, collaborating with researchers from the University of California at Santa Cruz and the local nonprofit NGO Niparajá. Currently, monitoring includes the use of acoustic and satellite markings and the deployment of video cameras for a better understanding of their movements and habitat preferences. Work with local fishermen to monitor the hawksbill turtle. Identify as many people as possible using flipper tags. Identify hawksbill foraging habitat preferences using acoustic and satellite telemetry in El Pardito, Espiritu Santo and recently in Cabo Pulmo. Develop protection measures to guarantee the absence of illegal fishing in hawksbill hotspots. Help with the management of protected areas.



BACKROAD JOURNEY La Paz is the capital city of the state of Our retreat begins when we pick you Baja California Sur. Currently Tijuana via up from our enchanting 8 km malecon Otay Mesa, Phoenix and Dallas fly direct to (boardwalk) that lines the Bay of La La Paz (airport code: LAP). La Duna is a Paz. Along the highway to our beautiful 30 min journey from the airport. coastal desert paradise, pass The larger airport of San Jose del Cabo through coastlines, mountains, and (airport code: SJD) maybe more accessible. beautiful vegetated desert. Keep an From SJD, you will take a 3-hr airport eye out for the Mexican eagle, shuttle via EcoBajaTours to La Paz. La \"Caracara\", red-tailed hawks, Duna sits along the west side of La Bay, jackrabbits, chipmunks, iguanas the largest bay connecting to the roadrunners, and the nocturnal Baja biologically diverse Gulf of California; Babisuri. Once at La Duna, the wildlife what Jacques Cousteau deemed, \"The abundance continues and your true Aquarium of the World\" wellness immersion begins.



BLUE MEDITATIONS Meditation is more than siting still for 15 minutes. While this is a fabulous daily practice to have morning and evening, during a blue mindfulness retreat, we explore various meditation techniques. Our guided meditations are planned into each day's itinerary to help build new neural pathways that are embedded into the subconscious. This allows you to take home the essence of the ocean with you so you can pull from it whenever and wherever you need when you are back to family and career life. as well as evening yoga nidra to optimize sleep. Our mission is to introduce you to walking, standing, sitting, and floating meditations each day. We embrace the principals of the Japanese art of forest bathing, \"shinrin-yoku\" Yet, at the interface of the coastal desert and the abundant Gulf of California, we use the principals of exchanging precious oxygen and carbon dioxide with the coastal vegetation and the seaweed. Another meditation is where we sit at the tideline and feel the ebb and flow of the ocean as it washes over us. Floating meditation under the moon and a star-lit sky, with our ears below the water surface, listening to the night activity of the reef below is an intense surrender to the power of the ocean. The most memorable meditation may be when we focus on the silence in the presence of an endangered sea turtle in between her breaths. Sea turtles as air breathing reptiles must intentionally surface from the ocean depths to inhale air. They are therefore conscience of every breath, reminding us to use our breath as a reminder of each present moment. In each meditation we incorporate a theme relating the neuroscience of our brain and nervous system with a connection to nature. Afterwards we invite discussion of each persons experience and journal our intentions and perspective with inspiring quotes and question prompts.



CORAL REEFS & TIDE POOLS coral reef fish crash course Id - enjoy tide pools at La Duna Pearl Islands snorkling - protected by best fishing practices and reserves, Niparaja. unercover sea cucumbers, brittle ea stars, sun stars, hermit crabs, marine invertebrates - Albert Einstein quote - understand everything microecosystems under the rocks better in nature. academic groups and citizen scientist fans will enjoy heling local biologists collect data using transect lines and quadrats. CHANGE PHOTOS OF SNORKLING BELOW, NOT TURTLE.



COASTAL DUNES & GEOLOGY gEOLOGY AT iSLA sAN JOSE COASTAL DUNES AT LA DUNA - DUNE WALK ABOUT

MINDFUL EATING Mindful Eating Means Making Food Choices That Protect Our Planet. It involves seeking out food that is sustainably sourced\" by Shahzadi Devje, March 4, 2019, Huffington Post Travelling responsibly means being conscious about how your actions, including what we put into our mouths, affect the local environment. There are several ways to become a more sustainable traveller, but one way to start is by being mindful of our food and water purchases. Now that our planet is characterized by climate change, more of us are grateful to access healthy food that increasingly depends on sustainable food systems. Recognizing that many mindful travelers appreciate plant-based options, our kitchen staff led by Chef Andrés Acevedo, sources only the freshest, organic produce from regional farms. We honor all dietary preferences and we intentionally use regional honeys and agaves for sweeteners rather than refined sugar. We source local ranches for artisan cheeses, breads, and eggs to support local and sustainable farming practices. While our menu is plant-based, we find that many people want Baja seafood as an option. Yet, local doesn't necessarily translate into sustainable based on the high amount of sea turtle mortality we document annually. The responsible seafood we provide is purchased fair-trade with collaborating artisanal fishermen from Baja California Sur and Sinaloa.



READY? Let's make a date! $1400 includes: 1.Pampered island camping; 4 days and 3 star-filled nights 2.Delicious meals from pick up to drop off (unlimited purified water) 3.Private ground transportation from La Paz boardwalk 4.Marine ecologist-guided sea turtle research 5.Twice daily guided neuroscience-based blue mindfulness meditations 6.Guided shared beach yoga and prompted journaling 7.Naturalist guided snorkeling and hiking 8.Mini- course on Gulf of California reef-fish biodiversity ID 9.Sea Turtle Ecology and Sustainable Fisheries workshop 10.Unique cultural experience with active artisanal fishing village (Not included: airfare, travel insurance, airport transfer, La Paz hotel stays, gratuities 15-20%)

YOUR CONTRIBUTION Your participation in a Blue Turtle group trip or direct seafood purchase is helping us reach the regional goal of reducing bycatch by 20% by 2025 and applies to the UN Sustainable Development Goal #14. GRACIAS! To learn more about where the money flows, please visit our website. www.BlueTurtleSustainable.org

[email protected] www.BlueTurtleSustainable.org