We lead group hiking adventures that explore the interconnectedness of personal, collective and ecological well-being through mindfulness, ecological awareness and peak experiences that are trigged through nature immersion.
Step Into A World of Awe and Wonder
1. Mindfulness
Mindfulness helps us to stop identifying with our habitual judgements, labels, comparisons and biases so we can shift our attention to our immediate sensory experience and feel more joyful and alive.
2. Ecology
Ecology helps us better understand our local ecosystem and the interconnectedness of life by studying the relationship between humans, plants, trees, fungi, birds, animals and the four life-giving elements.
3. Peak Experiences
Peak experiences allow us to hit the reset button on our stresses and feel a deeper sense of unity and connectedness with something greater than ourselves.
Our story began in the spring of 2016 with a forest meditation workshop in Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia.
This 1000-acre forest oasis has a remarkable ecology of old-growth groves and towering giants that rise almost as high as the apartment blocks in Vancouver’s West End neighbourhood.
These forest meditation workshops began as a way to teach visitors and new residents about mindful walking practices while exploring the interconnected plants, fungi and forest ecology in the rainforests along the British Columbia coast.
From there, we began leading weekend mindful hiking adventures in the Coast Mountains where participants could discover the unique rainforest ecology in the mountains and learn ecological mindfulness practices to explore and expand their senses.
Each of our experiential learning adventures combine a unique combination of learning about local mythology, natural history, mindful hiking and the interconnected forest ecology of Western Canada’s vast mountain wilderness.
We also facilitate 2-5 day rites of passages where participants can fully unplug from all modern technology and be safely guided on wilderness camping adventures where they can cultivate a deeper sense of awe, wonder and reverence for natural world.
In addition to mindful hiking and backcountry camping trips in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario; we have also led hiking adventures in the mountains of Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Portugal, Bulgaria, Greece and Thailand.
Photo Gallery
A collection of photos from our hiking adventures, workshops and retreats.
OUR MISSION
Better Physical And Mental Health Through Outdoor Education
Our mission is to promote outdoor education and help build regenerative communities where people spend more time outside learning from the natural world.
At the root of so many of today's physical and mental health problems is the sedentary nature of modern life where so much time is spent indoors, sitting and staring at screens.
90%
Average time awake spent being sedentary indoors
10+
average hours a day sitting and staring at screen
5,000
average steps walking per day, much less than what's considered healthy
This is a thought-provoking short video about our sedentary culture.
My Story
About The Founder
My name is Kyle Pearce and I grew up in the countryside outside Ottawa where I developed a love for nature and learning about local species of plants, trees, mushrooms, birds and animals through participation in Scouts and local conversation organizations.
I attended the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria studying a combination of ancient history, modern politics and entrepreneurship.
I had a near death experience when I was 23 while climbing Cascade Mountain in Banff National Park, which lead me to become skeptical of the Western materialist worldview and it helped spark my interest in flow states, peak experiences and animism.
For the last decade, I’ve run an online learning community called DIY Genius helping entrepreneurs design, launch and sell workshops, online courses, coaching programs and membership communities.
I started Mindful Ecotourism to spend more time sharing mindfulness in nature practices outside, which I believe is the best place to learn about mindfulness, ecology and peak experiences — rather than in a classroom, reading a book or staring at a screen.
One of the foundational practices I do with all of my online learning clients is to create a mind map to clarify their most important influences that inspire what they share and teach so here’s mine:
Animism: David Abram, Graham Harvey, John Michael Greer
Positive Psychology: Abraham Maslow, Dacher Keltner, David B. Yaden, Scott Barry Kaufman
Deep Ecology: Arne Naess, Joanna Macy, John Seed
Forest Ecology: Qing Lee, Diana Beresford-Kroeger, Lynn Margolis
Ecopsychology: Theodore Roszak, Gregory Bateson, Linda Buzzell, David Suzuki
Mythology: Joseph Campbell, Joshua Michael Schrei, Mircea Eliade
Meditation: Eckhart Tolle, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Thich Nhat Hahn
Nonduality: Nisargadatta Maharaj, Rupert Spira, Loch Kelly
Flow Psychology: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Steven Kotler, Jamie Wheal
Vedanta: Paramahansa Yogananda, Jeffrey Armstrong, Patanjali
Herbalism: Sajah Popham, Stephen Harrod Buener, Julia Graves
Mycology: Paul Stamets, Merlin Sheldrake, Peter McCoy
Indigenous Wisdom: Robin Wall Kimmerer, Russell Means, Wade Davis, Jack Weatherford
Ancient History: Terence Mckenna, Freddy Silva, Graham Hancock, Jared Diamond
Sacred Texts: The Bible, Tao Te Ching, Dhammapada
Education: John Taylor Gatto, Ken Robinson, Ivan Illich
Media: Douglas Rushkoff, Marshall McLuhan, Neil Postman
Colonialism: Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Michael Taussig
Storytelling: Michael Margolis, Jonah Sachs, Charles Eisenstein, Seth Godin
I always like to chat with new people, feel free to reach out anytime through email.