Society has been through so many changes in the last few years, which have given us the time needed to pause and reassess our way of life. Many of us have recognised that our way of life was not serving us in a way that supports good health and mental stability. We have longed to live life at a different pace and return to and honour our true nature.
What in the Lower World is rewilding and how on Earth do I do that?
Rewilding is a term for a practice that sees us return to a more natural state - one that is aligned with our own true nature and one that is aligned with the natural flow and cycles of the Earth.
There is science behind rewilding - it resets our body clock to align better with our circadian rhythm, it reintroduces us to family and community living which is great for our mental and social health, it boosts our immune systems, it helps to restore our physical environments - our bodies and our world around us, and it supports self-sustainable living, restoration of complex eco systems and ecological processes that may have been phased out.
In an age where we rely so heavily on technology and convenience, rewilding encourages us to disconnect from the stressful way we live everyday and find a space to reconnect with ourselves and nature. There are two types of rewilding that we may engage in: Radical Rewilding and Gentle Rewilding. Radical rewilding sees us living off-grid and becoming completely self-sustainable with our own power sources, food sources and societal structures. Many of us are not in a position for radical rewilding at the present time, so gentle rewilding is a suitable option for our current lifestyle.
Gentle rewilding suggests a slow and organic process where we return to a more natural way of living that empowers us and reconnects us with our natural world. There are many things you can do to re-wild your life:
Walk barefoot on the Earth for at least 20 minutes a day
Start your own vegetable garden and grow your own food
Get chickens or ducks and create your own egg source
Start a compost bin and learn other ways to minimise your household waste
Eat more plants and less meat
Cook more at home from scratch
Learn to make your own non-prescription medicines or utilise more natural medicinal aides
Set boundaries around using technology - time limits around screen time and leave all screens out of the bedroom - change your social media to follow pages that share ideas around rewilding
Train your body to rely on its natural sleep and wake cycles, and get rid of alarms
Reduce TV time and find alternate activities to do away from a screen - meditate, yoga, exercise, creating -arts, crafts and creative expression
Play more board games, read more books, share meal times with family
Spend more time outdoors in nature - even if it's the backyard
Look at ways to reduce your energy bill and introduce more eco-friendly practices into your household
Start making your own things - household cleaners, body products, pet food and other household items you may normally buy
Start shopping second hand or attending buy, swap and sell markets - online or in person
Start learning ways you can swap services with friends to reduce your reliance on monetary exchanges for services
Rewilding can be simple and doesn't need to require a radical overhaul of your life. Rewilding can also be described as living life more consciously, more connected with the world inside of you and around you. Rewilding is good for everyone: ourselves, our families and communities, our environment and our Earth. There are many resources available to support you own this journey: Living Off-Grid pages on Facebook, books such as "Rewilding: The radical new science of ecological recovery," by Paul Jepson and Cain Blythe, or my favourite: "Rewilding the Urban Soul", by Claire Dunn - available now free on Audible.
So start today, return to the wild and return to true nature of you - the one you were before the world told you who to be.....
