In 2014, Gunaikurnai Maara Nation Descendant Jamie Thomas and Canadian Welsh Australian Sara Jones co-founded the Indigenous Social Enterprise Wayapa Wuurrk P/L and then co-created the first Indigenous wellness modality accredited by the International Intitute for Complementary Therapists (IICT) called Wayapa Wuurrk®, which means “Connect to the Earth” in the language of the Maara & Gunaikurnai Peoples, respectively.

Wayapa® is an earth connection practice that is based on ancient Indigenous wisdom that focuses on taking care of the Earth as the starting point for creating Earth Mind Body Spirit well-being.

Living in harmony with their environment is what sustained Australian Aboriginal people to be one of the world’s oldest, continuous living culture – for over 100,000 years!

Today, for most of us, we have become disconnected from our environment, from our tribe, from our food and from our Spirit. Through a combination of Earth mindfulness, narrative meditation, a series of physical movements and taking action to look after the planet, Wayapa® provides a sense of belonging to the Earth while creating holistic well-being.

Wayapa® is about creating a different lifestyle but for those just starting, it can be done as a 25 minute physical practice, sitting or standing, or as a narrative meditation to slow us right down to sit in the stillness of nature.Wayapa was created to change thinking around how we view the idea of what it means to be well with a focus on Indigenous thinking that includes learning how to develop a relationship with our environment through the concept of ancient earth mindfulness. No matter how many gym sessions we do, steps we count or stretch our bodies into various postures, we can’t be well if Mother Earth is sick.