Issue 9 of Australian Yoga Journal is on sale. Inside you’ll find my story about beautiful Uma Paro Bhutan (oh my gosh, I so want to go back!), along with stories about the path to becoming a yoga teacher, understanding your chakras, yoga for back pain, yummy recipes and more. Copies are available in good newsagents or you can subscribe online.

Located in the northwest corner of Western Australia, Broome is one of the most remote towns in Australia. Even more remote is Eco Beach Wilderness Retreat, located 119 kilometres and just over an hour’s drive south of Broome, or 27 nautical miles by boat across Roebuck Bay.

I recently checked out Eco Beach on behalf of Australian Yoga Journal – and I loved what I saw. It’s a special place that on first and lasting impressions is both awesomely authentic and in keeping with the vision for an eco-friendly, sustainable tourism project. It feels like a personal invitation to explore a very loved part of this rugged and beautiful coastline from a place that knows what it is.

On offer is the chance to explore an amazing part of Australia, stay in beautiful accommodation (the Eco Tents are like an Australian version of an African Safari), eat yummy food from their organic garden, relaz and they offer daily morning yoga.

Eco Beach Wilderness Retreat is located 1.5 hours drive south of Broome in Western Australia. Eco Beach also runs yoga retreats with visiting teachers throughout the year and offers group bookings to yoga schools and teachers looking for the perfect venue to host a retreat with tailor-made activities schedules and menus. For bookings and enquiries phone (08) 9193 8015 or visit www.ecobeach.com.au

With my Gen.a hat on, I was captivated by the country’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) index. Landlocked between China and India, it is in many ways centuries removed from the economic giants it share it’s borders with, but underpinned by its policy of GNH it also feels light years ahead of most developed economies in terms of its approach to big issues like sustainable economic development, environmental conservation and looking after its people.

Implemented in the early 1970’s, GNH was part of the former King, Jigme Singye Wingchuck’s visionary modernization plan that sought to build an economy that would serve Bhutan’s unique culture. Grounded in Buddhist values, the premise of GNH is built around the idea that social development takes place when material and spiritual development happen concurrently. In some ways it’s like a national experiment in ‘do what you love and the money will follow’.

A precursor to modern approaches to trying to make the world a better place, GNH is built on four solid pillars including: the promotion of sustainable economic development (including its approach to tourism and the management of its natural resources), the preservation of cultural values and heritage, conservation of the natural environment and good governance.

Before I arrived in this fabled Buddhist Kingdom in the Himalayas, I was captivated and intrigued by the idea of Bhutan. On departure, I am left besotted by its beauty, purity and the devotion of its people.  I also discovered a new aspect of happiness that is not dependent on good things happening, but happiness for its own sake. So maybe this Gross National Happiness thing works. As modernisation and the impact of globalisation creep in, I pray that this rare country will also keep its own single focus and stillness.

As a yoga therapist, she specialises in content development and presentations for the mass media and is best known for her role as the host of Australia’s YOGA TV (Network Ten and the Lifestyle Channel), which has been on air in the United Kingdom, United States, Turkey, Israel and New Zealand. Kris has studied Ryoho Yoga with Andzej Gospodarcyk and Lisa Foster, Ki Yoga with Jack Marshall and Zen Shiatsu with Sakis.

She has taught for Elix’r Health Club in Sydney, Virgin Active in Cape Town as well as corporate providers – Karma Yoga and Yoga for the Seasons.  She was co-founder of the Karma Detox Yoga Program and now teaches in Sydney in Rushcutters Bay Park (when the sun is shining) and runs yoga retreats with Peppers Salt Resort & Spa at Kingscliff and Peppers Anchorage Port Stephens, NSW.

As a freelance writer, author and editor Kris specialises in yoga, health/wellness, and travel with a focus on body and soul escapes. Kris currently writes for Australian Yoga Journal and female-friendly travel website, Holiday Goddess. She co-authored Yoga for Switched on Living (Pan McMillan 2002) and has written for marie claire magazine (South Africa), MiNDFOOD, Spa Life and dumbo feather … pass it on, and was a regular columnist and feature writer for body+soul (Sunday Telegraph, News Limited Australia).

As a marketer, Kris draws on her 15 years experience as Group Marketing Manager with Peppers Retreats Resorts & Hotels, and as Group Synergies Manager for Stella Group. She recently worked in the Media Unit of the Australian Red Cross and now works as the Editor-in-Chief/Writer for strategic communication and design consultancy, Gen.a. Kris is also the Founder of Exchange for Change – a fundraising campaign in support of Oxfam Australia.