Episode 265 - Soulful Trailblazer Honoree: Cindee Brown-Mills of Breathe Alaska
Cindee Brown-Mills, Founder of Breathe Alaska, joins Christine as the Soulful Trailblazer honoree for this week’s soulful conversation, produced in collaboration with Strictly Jane Austen Tours.
We continue our special Soul of Travel series celebrating three extraordinary women who are being recognized as Soulful Trailblazers—women who are creating positive change through travel while opening doors and creating opportunities for others. We are excited to share that we are partnering with friend and colleague Becki Rupp, Founder of Trailblazer Wellness, to honor these trailblazers.
Words of Wisdom
TBD
- Cindee Brown-Mills
Cindee Brown-Mills is the founder of Breathe Alaska, where she creates experiences designed to help people slow down, reconnect with themselves, and experience Alaska in a more meaningful way. A breathwork facilitator, nervous system educator, guide, and longtime Alaskan, Cindee’s work sits at the intersection of personal wellbeing, nature, and intentional travel.
After more than 20 years working in corporate, government, and nonprofit finance, Cindee stepped away from a career that no longer felt aligned and began building a life and business centered around connection, presence, and the things that make her feel most alive. Through Breathe Alaska, she works with individuals, groups, and workplaces through breathwork and nervous system education, while also creating intimate Alaska experiences that invite guests to move more slowly and connect with the land, local food, community, Alaskan culture, and themselves.
Cindee has called Juneau, Alaska home since 1998 and believes some of the most meaningful travel experiences happen when we stop trying to see everything and give ourselves permission to truly be where we are. Whether she is guiding someone through the forests of Southeast Alaska, sharing a meal around a table, or helping someone reconnect with their breath, her work is rooted in creating space for people to pause, notice, and leave a little more connected than when they arrived.
Cindee was nominated as a Soulful Trailblazer by Midgi Moore, CEO of Juneau Food Tours. In her nomination, Midgi shared how Cindee designed an experience for cruise visitors who want to step away from the busy pace of the ship and find their center in Alaska's wilderness.
Slowing Down, Listening, and Being Present
Cindee spent 20 years following the path she believed she was supposed to take: career, family, and a steady climb up the familiar corporate ladder. By the end of it, like so many of us in the travel and women’s wisdom space, Cindee was experiencing anxiety, overwhelm, and reactivity. She reached the point where she no longer recognized herself. "I looked at my husband and I said, 'I can't do this anymore,'" she recalls. After the loss of her father, she began to look closely at what mattered most, and living authentically rose to the top.
The change took time. Three years later, Cindee is proud of the new path she has built, feeling comfortable veering off-course to find work that is meaningful. "It's never gonna be perfect," she says, “I get to see people heal and transform and become their authentic self too. And I wouldn't change that for all the fame and glory, if you will, all the money.”
Thinking back to a family trip to France, a friend wisely advised Cindee and her family to stay outside the city and spend their time walking. They found a neighborhood park, an alleyway market, and small shops they would have missed on a faster itinerary. "All of this is about slowing down," Cindee explains. For her, travel is "about quality over quantity."
The Simplicity and Power of Breath to Move Us
Cindee tried therapy, coaching, and self-help books before she found what finally worked for her. "I happened on a breathwork class, and that is the thing that changed my life," she shares. As she began talking with others, especially women, she heard the same stress and overwhelm she had carried. Breath became the tool she wanted to share, because "our breath is something that we have with us all the time. We don't have to change clothes and go to a gym. We don't have to open an app."
Be sure to tune in for Cindee’s beautifully simple explanation of the physiological process of breath; she shares that most of us spend much of our time in fight or flight, breathing shallowly into the chest. "When we're breathing shallow, we're using only about 30% of our lung capacity," she notes. That state is meant for short bursts, yet modern life keeps us stuck there. "Most of us live right here in fight or flight all the time because the threats are our inbox."
Cindee describes breath as a remote control. The body runs it automatically, and humans can also change the channel on purpose. "Shorter inhales, longer exhales, that's going to tell your body that you're safe and everything's okay." Breath also helps release what we hold onto. She often shares a line from 19th-century physician Henry Maudsley: "Sorrow with no vent in tears may make the other organs weep." In her words? "Our breath can help us release all of that stuff."
Welcomed Into Alaska Native Culture
Cindee's husband and children are Alaska Native, and she has been adopted into Tlingit culture. Tlingit society is organized into two moieties, Eagle and Raven, which represent balance. Her husband is Eagle, and her father-in-law, who is Raven, adopted Cindee and her daughters into the Raven side of the family. "What I experienced was an immediate wrapping around of, an inclusion in the family and the culture," she recalls. Growing up in a non-Native family, she had never known that kind of extended family connection, and it gave her a sense of finally arriving somewhere that spoke to her heart.
That connection reaches beyond family to the land itself. Ravens are her brothers and sisters, and the salmon that feed the community are part of that same web of relationships. Walking among devil's club, a plant sacred to the Tlingit people, she says, "It's like being among grandmothers and grandfathers in the forest."
Connecting Travelers to Land and Culture in Alaska
Cindee noticed how quickly cruise visitors moved through Juneau, taking photos, rushing through excursions, and heading back to the ship. With Midgi's encouragement, she created an experience that slows the visit down.
When Cindee leads tours into the wilderness, she and her guests walk along a quiet trail outside Juneau that is used mostly by locals and their dogs, well away from the cruise crowds. Along the way, she talks about mindfulness and why time in green spaces helps people feel calm and regulated. She invites guests to notice the berries, flowers, and plants they pass and to learn how each one is used.
Culture is woven into the walk. Cindee shares the significance of devil's club and teaches that "in the Tlingit language, there is no word for hunger because there's so much bounty in our forest." Her ability to see and understand both perspectives allows guests to ask questions they might hesitate to ask elsewhere. The walk ends on a beach with wide views of the water and mountains, often under Juneau's familiar clouds.
The response has been nearly universal. Guests tell her it is the best experience of their trip (even skeptics come around!). One traveler who joined at a partner's urging told her, "Everybody needs to do this because it is the most amazing experience that I've had."
Cindee credits Midgi as a mentor and encourager. "She has been a mentor, she has been a cheerleader and an encourager of everything that I do," Cindee says. Her own work now offers the same kind of support to the travelers she guides, inviting them to pause and to remember that "our lives are miraculous and messy."
Soul of Travel Episode 265 At a Glance
In this conversation, Christine and Cindee discuss:
· The importance of slowing down, listening, being present in our lives and in our travel experiences
· The simplicity and importance of breath in our lives and how it can transform our experiences and help us to heal and feel more connected to self and others
· Cindee’s experience being welcomed into Native Alaskan culture and the value that has added to her life
· Sharing experiences with travelers to help them to connect more deeply to land and culture in Alaska
Join Christine and Cindee Brown-Mills now for this soulful conversation.
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Related UN Sustainable Development Goals
Sustainable Development Goal #3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
Resources
Learn more about Breathe Alaska here, including retreats, private tours, breathwork, and nervous system education designed to help people slow down, reconnect with themselves, and experience both travel and everyday life more intentionally.
Connect with Cindee: Instagram / Facebook / LinkedIn
Find out more about Alaska Forest & Feast, a small group experience Cindee created through Breathe Alaska that blends nature, local food, mindfulness, and connection to place in Southeast Alaska.
Special thanks to Strictly Jane Austen Tours for your partnership in the production of Season 7 of Soul of Travel Podcast!
About the Soul Of Travel Podcast
Soul of Travel honors the passion and dedication of people making a positive impact in the tourism industry. In each episode, you’ll hear the stories of women who are industry professionals, seasoned travelers, and community leaders. Our expert guests represent social impact organizations, adventure-based community organizations, travel photography and videography, and entrepreneurs who know that travel is an opportunity for personal awareness and a vehicle for global change.
Join us to become a more educated and intentional traveler as you learn about new destinations, sustainable and regenerative travel, and community-based tourism. Industry professionals and those curious about a career in travel will also find value and purpose in our conversations.
We are thought leaders, action-takers, and heart-centered change-makers who inspire and create community. Join host Christine Winebrenner Irick for these soulful conversations with our global community of travelers exploring the heart, the mind, and the globe.
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Credits. Christine Winebrenner Irick (Host, creator, editor). Grace Philipp (Guest). Original music by Clark Adams. Editing, production, and content writing by Carly Oduardo.
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