Sustainability Spotlight: Breathe Alaska
Our Sustainability Spotlight series is aimed at broadening the conversation surrounding sustainable tourism for visitors and businesses by sharing the stories of our Adventure Green Alaska certified businesses. To learn more about Adventure Green Alaska certification please visit our about page.
Cindee Brown-Mills founded Breathe Alaska in 2023 after a 20-year corporate career. She found herself burned out, anxious, and overwhelmed by grief and panic attacks. Discovering breathwork was truly life-changing. It offered her a way to reset the nervous system, release deeply held emotions, and reconnect on a more meaningful level.
Cindee became certified as a breathwork coach and launched Breathe Alaska with the intention of helping others, especially women, who feel stuck, stressed, or emotionally exhausted. She wants to create experiences that offer a real sense of relief and reconnection.
Today, Breathe Alaska offers both in-person and virtual breathwork sessions, along with their signature Mindfulness in the Wilderness program. This one-of-a-kind experience combines guided meditation, immersive time in nature, and nourishing local meals designed to quiet the mind, restore balance, and foster a deep sense of emotional freedom. It’s wellness, Alaska-style: wild, intentional, and deeply healing.
Sustainability has been a core value of Breathe Alaska since day one. Cindee has been committed to creating experiences that not only support personal wellbeing but also respect and protect the natural environment she’s privileged to work in. Mindfulness and sustainability go hand in hand. Both are about intentional choices, presence, and long-term care. Whether it’s minimizing impact on trails, supporting local food systems, or partnering with like-minded organizations, sustainable practices are woven into everything Breathe Alaska does.
Cindee’s advice for tourism businesses starting their sustainable journey is to start simple, stay intentional, and let your values lead the way. Sustainability isn’t a checklist, it’s a mindset. She argues that businesses don’t have to overhaul everything overnight, and instead small, consistent actions make a big difference. These changes are as simple as looking at your daily operations and asking, “How can we reduce harm and increase care?” Whether it’s minimizing single-use items, choosing local suppliers, or educating guests on how to be good stewards of the land, every choice matters. Also, sustainability isn’t just about the environment, it’s about creating meaningful, respectful connections with people and place.
Cindee is most proud that sustainability has been a foundational value of Breathe Alaska from the very beginning, not an afterthought or an add-on. These practices have been woven into how they guide experiences, care for the land, and engage with their community. From minimizing environmental impact on trail to educating guests on respectful interaction with nature, every decision is made with sustainability in mind.
Breathe Alaska aligns most closely with the environment and Alaska history and culture pillars of the Adventure Green Alaska program. Their work is rooted in helping people reconnect with the natural world through breath and mindfulness, and they take great care to guide our experiences in a way that honors and protects the land. Breathe Alaska also acknowledge and respect the deep cultural history of the places where they operate, especially the unceded lands of the Áakʼw Ḵwáan and they incorporate that awareness into the way they lead and speak about their experiences. For Breathe Alaska, sustainability isn’t separate from mindfulness, it’s an extension of it.
Breathe Alaska was recently awarded Adventure Green Alaska certification, and they’re honored to be recognized alongside other businesses committed to sustainable tourism. “While we’re still in the early stages of sharing this achievement, we see it as a powerful way to show visitors that they can experience Alaska in a meaningful, mindful way while also supporting sustainability. This recognition helps us communicate our values more clearly and encourages travelers to choose experiences that care for both people and place,” says owner Cindee Brown-Mills.
To learn more about Breathe Alaska, visit their Green Business profile and their website.