Walker Wellness Retreats is a wellness company offering a unique vacation experience aimed to revitalize your mind, body, and soul.
We have designed an all-inclusive model that takes care of everything once you arrive at your destination. All you have to do is relax and enjoy the journey.
We are passionate about travel and wellness. Through the years we've noticed that one of the biggest obstacles for people wanting to experience the world is the stress surrounding the planning process. So we decided to remove that stress by planning retreats where your wellness is top priority.
We serve all people over the age of 18 regardless of race, gender, or creed. Everyone deserves to travel, and we want to make that happen.
We've traveled to nearly every continent. That means that we know what to look for and what to avoid. Travel can be extremely nuanced, but we're here to make it easy!
We believe traveling with people is a must, but big groups can be overwhelming and impersonal. That's why we keep our retreat sizes small. It's much more enjoyable that way.
A letter from the owners:
Welcome to Walker Wellness Retreats! Thank you for taking the time to learn about us!
A little about us...
Amy and Brian Walker created Walker Wellness Retreats to share the positive impact travel can have with as many people as possible. Travel makes the world seem not so large. It opens your mind to new ways of thinking.
Amy has a master's degree in social work but also believes with all her heart that she learned more traveling the world than she ever did in a classroom. She has traveled to over 75 countries and has experienced many methods of traveling, from backpacking and staying in hostels to budget large-group travel to luxury five-star resorts. She wanted to create a unique way of travel, exactly what she has been looking for but couldn't find in her years abroad: Small, luxury group travel with like minded travelers. Amy created Walker Wellness Retreats in 2016 and has loved showing hundreds of people all the world has to offer!
Brian has a degree and background in Product Marketing and loves hiking, snow-skiing, and the great outdoors. He has been working in the business leading retreats and handling all the financial aspect of the business.
Together, Amy and Brian use their diverse skills and experience of traveling the world to design and plan incredible adventures to bring like-minded travelers together to unique places around the globe!
We hope to share our love of traveling and exploring the world with you. See you soon!
Love,
Amy and Brian Walker
Jessa has been teaching yoga since 2015. She has her 500-hour RYT, 1000-hour+ E-RYT, and certification in SUP Yoga. Her favorite styles of yoga to teach are power, hot, and SUP. Jessa also loves to teach yoga to athletes, beginners, and yogis of all levels. She wholeheartedly feels a calling to share breath, movement, and mindfulness while creating connections with those she teaches.
Over the years, Jessa has personally experienced so many benefits from bringing yoga into her life. She feels that on some level she can sense what her students may need and lead them with an open heart. She enjoys incorporating the chakras and the elements into her and her students' practices. She loves helping them find their own growth and strength, and the space to go inward and reconnect with more than just the movement of their bodies. As yoga can give us the ability to cleanse our minds, our bodies, and souls, Jessa strives to make each practice accessible to all. Her mantra is, "Yoga is for everybody and every body."
Come join Jessa in practicing yoga during our Zion National Park Hiking & Yoga Wellness Retreat.
Shantel is the owner and founder of Core 7 Fitness, Misfit Mentoring, and Fueled Health. In addition to owning her own businesses, she is an Alignment Coach, International Speaker, certified experiential coach, NLP practitioner, and certified Fire Walking Instructor, as well as multiple fitness and yoga modalities.
With a diverse range of certifications and qualifications, Shantel is well-equipped to guide others on their journey towards healing their health and lives, personal growth, and transformation. Her grounded approach focuses on building a strong foundation, allowing individuals to feel confident and capable in their bodies.
Come join Shantel on our Zion National Park Hiking & Yoga Wellness Retreat and our Sedona Hiking & Yoga Retreat.
Alle Salazar, MSW, LCSW, RYT-200, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker working as a full-time therapist and clinical director in Salt Lake City, Utah. Alle received her Master of Social Work from the University of Utah in 2013 and completed her Yoga Alliance-Accredited Yoga Teacher Training at Avenues Yoga in 2014. Alle has additional certification in both Trauma-Informed Yoga and Yoga Nidra.
In her clinical practice, Alle specializes in working with trauma, anxiety, depression, adjustment, and identity. Alle fell in love with yoga in college, recognizing its power to heal the mind and body, strengthen mindful awareness, and bring a deeper presence to everyday life. When she’s not doing therapy or yoga, Alle enjoys gardening, hiking, and enjoying the beautiful outdoors of Utah with her husband and critters.
Come practice yoga with Alle on our Zion National Park Hiking & Yoga Wellness Retreat and Yellowstone National Park Hiking & Yoga Retreat.
Aimee is a personal and farm-to-table chef as well as a chocolatier, aspiring herbalist, food preserver, and farmer. She has lived across the United States and traveled the world, collecting flavor combinations and cooking methods from many cultures and cuisines. Her style is healthy, feel-good food, using high-quality and locally-sourced ingredients whenever possible. Aimee is talented at adapting to requests, dietary restrictions, and needs.
In Aimee's world, food is love. When she's not traveling the world cooking, Aimee resides in Manitou Springs, Colorado.
Come taste Aimee's delicious food on our Zion National Park Hiking & Yoga Wellness Retreat.
Wendy Paul is a bestselling author known for the 101 Gourmet Series, a collection of cookbooks catering to both novice and advanced bakers. Her passion for cooking and baking is matched by her enthusiasm for sharing her creations with her family, including her husband and four kids.
In addition to her writing, Wendy contributes to Studio 5 on KSL TV, where she demonstrates recipes and cooking techniques monthly. She also teaches at various events like the Salt Lake Home and Garden Show and offers private cooking classes.
Her latest project, Core 7 Fueled for Core 7 Fitness, focuses on healthy eating and includes over 150 recipes for entrees, salads, appetizers, and desserts. Wendy also offers Dinner Rescue, a monthly meal plan service that simplifies meal preparation with family-friendly, nutritious recipes.
Taste and savor Wendy's healthy creations on our Yellowstone National Park Hiking & Yoga Retreat.
Amber is a Denver-based chef and health coach, with a certification from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. With an early career in hospitality, working for companies like the Walt Disney World Resort, and a continued career of over 15 years in corporate and special events, Amber comes with a broad skill set and passion to provide the highest level of guest service.
In addition to her integrative health coaching certification, Amber is also a Reiki practitioner, and is currently pursuing training and education in somatic wilderness therapy and herbalism.
Outside of work, Amber enjoys hiking with her husband and pup Sunny, traveling, gardening and reading, and of course cooking!
Come enjoy healthy and delicious food with Amber on our Zion National Park Hiking & Yoga Wellness Retreats.
Because each retreat is different, each itinerary will list what specific items are included and not included. If you have questions, please email us at contact@walkerwellnessretreats.com.
Taken from an interview of Amy Walker done by VoyageUtah Magazine in September 2022.
My love of travel began when I visited Paris when I was 16. Since the , I've spent my life researching, learning, and going on every type of international travel you can imagine. I've visited 63 countries and counting, with a goal to someday get to them all!
In 2013 I received my master's degree in international social work and wanted to incorporate my passion for travel with wellness and helping others. Living in Utah, my husband Brian and I started Walker Wellness Retreats in 2016 by leading hiking and yoga retreats to Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks. We hosted our first international retreat in 2017 when we took a group to hike the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu in Peru. Since then we've grown little by little, and we now lead 12-14 domestic hiking and yoga retreats and 6-7 international retreats each year.
Throughout my travels, I've experienced all different types of trips based on group size and budget. While it's easy to find the large, 50-passenger tour groups constantly on the move, it's a much more meaningful experience to find a small, personalized travel company that treats you like family.
As a mental health therapist, I firmly believe that connecting with nature, enjoying the company of others, and challenging your body through fitness and yoga can be "just what the therapist ordered" to combat feelings of sluggishness, depression, and anxiety that we all experience from time to time. When creating Walker Wellness Retreats, I wanted to create a unique travel experience that would leave people feeling positive and happy without the stress and hassle of trip planning. Creating this unique experience meant taking care of all the details so our guests could show up and truly enjoy their vacation!
Once we started organizing trips, we developed a good feel for the most important aspects of traveling that we wanted to incorporate. As a result, all our trips now are small group luxury vacations and, most importantly, all-inclusive. Our guests pay once, then show up knowing every detail has already been planned for and taken care of. We cater to all ages and backgrounds but specifically target solo travelers looking to connect with other world travelers.
Walker Wellness Retreats focuses on all the best parts of travel: culture, food, and history. I've taken all of the things I've learned over the past 20+ years and made it my mission to show others all the positive benefits of traveling.
Well, in 2020, there was this thing called "COVID-19"...
But, seriously, being a small business with limited cash reserves, giving back thousands of dollars in refunds, and watching our entire business grind to a halt was challenging. There was no pandemic guidebook, and we learned much throughout that time. We made mistakes and had our resolve tested, but we focused on controlling what we could control and keeping our spirits up. It could have been worse, and we were encouraged when our domestic hiking and yoga retreats to Zion picked up as soon as lockdowns lifted by the fall of the first pandemic year. Hopefully, that was the last pandemic and economic shutdown we'll have to endure!
We created Walker Wellness Retreats to share the positive impact travel can have with as many people as possible. Travel makes the world seem not so large. It opens your mind to new ways of thinking.
Amy has a master's degree in social work but believes with all her heart that she learned more as an international English teacher traveling the world than she ever did in a classroom. She has traveled to over sixty countries and has experienced every type of travel, from backpacking and staying in hostels to budget large-group travel to luxury five-star resorts. Brian has a degree and background in Product Marketing and loves hiking, snow-skiing, and the great outdoors.
Together we can use our diverse skills and experience of traveling the world to design and plan incredible adventures to bring like-minded travelers together to unique places around the globe!
Growth doesn't happen inside your comfort zone!
We started small while Brian and I were still working full-time jobs. Then, in September of last year (2021), we took the most significant risks of our lives and left our comfortable, 9-5 corporate jobs to focus our time, energy, and love on Walker Wellness Retreats. We put our home up for rent and have been traveling around the globe ever since, leading and researching future retreat destinations.
This month (September 2022), we took another courageous step and hired our first full-time employee to help us scale.
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