Calling All Wellness Organisations: Join Us for a Worldwide Weekend of Inner and Outer Cleanups!

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This September, a very special collaboration will take place for the first time, as World Cleanup Day and World Wellness Weekend coincide their efforts to promote ‘Wellness For All’ – for both people and planet. Scheduled for the weekend of 20–22 September, this impactful partnership invites wellness organisations worldwide to join a movement that nurtures both our inner and outer environments!

World Wellness Weekend (WWW), active in over 150 countries, encourages millions to enjoy regular physical routines post-summer, breaking the habit of waiting for New Year’s resolutions. Thanks to the efforts of 8,300 participating wellness venues, WWW offers free activities such as fitness classes, yoga, outdoor adventures, and massage workshops. These activities aim to connect communities and introduce new wellness practices, with active support from government ministers and city mayors around the globe.

World Cleanup Day (WCD), while not explicitly a wellbeing campaign, has always had the wellbeing of both our planet and its inhabitants at the heart of its initiatives, with a ‘clean and healthy waste-free world’ as its ultimate goal. Recognised as an International Day in the official United Nations Calendar, WCD annually mobilises millions of volunteers across nearly every nation to clean up litter and advocate for sustainable waste management solutions – for the sake of both nature and communities. 

The collaboration between these two initiatives highlights an important truth: true wellness encompasses both inner health, in our bodies and minds, and outer health, in our external environments. There cannot be one without the other. As Heidi Solba, LDIW President & Head of Global Network, explains, “There is a universal connection between human wellbeing and living in harmony with the environment.”

Join the ‘Wellness For All’ party 

For both organisations, the third weekend in September will be about taking action, but also about throwing a party! By celebrating wellness for people and planet, and having fun while taking action to increase it, both organisations are looking to create a positive impact on the world by mobilising millions of people across borders, time zones, backgrounds and lifestyles, to come together and make a difference. 

As a wellness organisation, here are 3 ways you can make a difference as part of the combined Wellness For All weekend of joint action between WWW and WCD:

• Combine wellness activities with cleaning up nature. The simple act of cleaning up nature is a wellness activity in itself, but why not take it to a whole new level by combining more traditional wellbeing activities and practices with a cleanup event? You could begin your cleanup with some yoga stretching, provide relaxing and uplifting music for volunteers to clean to, and finish off the event with a guided meditation or shared community moment in your newly cleaned natural space. You could even combine the activities more directly by organising activities like ‘plogging’ (picking up litter while jogging), or a meditative paddle-board excursion with a focus on collecting floating trash.        
• Make a wellbeing promise for inner and outer cleanliness. As Heidi Solba explained in her interview with WWW Founder Jean-Guy de Gabriac: “We’re asking companies to ask themselves ‘How can I serve the planet much better?’, ‘What could be the right solutions to serve humanity and be socially responsible?’. But also to make it their highest priority, so it’s not just about the budgets but also about the wellbeing of the planet itself.” And the onus isn’t only on the big companies, she adds, change starts with all of us: “I think if you can make a small promise to yourself of just one thing you can do to consume less stuff and produce less waste, then with small steps we can create a really positive change.” 
• Raise awareness about the waste and wellbeing connection. As people running wellness organisations, you’re in a unique position of being able to connect with people who may not previously have made the link between internal and external wellbeing, or about the impact of their own lives on the wellbeing of the planet as well as their fellow human beings. As Jean-Guy de Gabriac explains, “It’s not just about the action, but the intention. The intention to create a culture of Wellness for All. And that means everyone – clients, staff, communities, everyone! As there is such a great divide between the ‘haves and the have-nots’ of this world.” He also nods to the importance of this weekend as a catalyst for change throughout the whole year and beyond: “It’s not just about the one weekend, but about planting seeds for a culture of wellness to be passed on from generation to generation”.

So don’t delay – with just over 50 days to go until the weekend of 20-22 September, find out more about World Wellness Weekend (in 18 languages) or about organising a WCD cleanup, and start making plans! 

Together, let’s create Wellness For All – for both people and planet!