The Healing Power of Nature: Finding Ourselves in the Wild – In the rush of modern living, we’ve forgotten something essential: we are nature.
Not separate from it, but fundamentally part of it. This forgotten connection might explain why many of us feel disconnected, anxious, and lost. My own journey back to this primal truth began with an assignment from my ecology professor in undergrad that irritated me but ultimately changed everything.
The Reluctant Wanderer
As an ecology student, I was used to scientific methods that yielded clear outcomes. So when my professor gave us the vague assignment to ” wander,” I was perplexed and irked. “Go out and wander,” was all he said. “When you find something that speaks to you, notice it and maybe engage with it.”
What was I supposed to learn from this? Where was the structure? The metrics? The grading rubric?
I set out on a cold morning, irritation simmering beneath my jacket. The forest seemed indifferent to my academic frustrations as I trudged along unmarked paths, mentally composing complaints about ambiguous teaching methods.
Then, something shifted. I realized I had wandered deeper into the woods than intended. The human noises had faded, replaced by the subtle symphony of the forest. That’s when I saw a massive fallen tree split partially up its trunk, creating a natural seat in its fractured heartwood.
Without thinking, I climbed over and nestled myself into the split. The fit was perfect, as if this ancient tree had been waiting for precisely my shape. What happened next defies scientific explanation: I was overcome by the profound sensation that I was sitting between the legs of a mother. Tears came unbidden. Something ancient and wordless passed between me and this fallen giant.
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” — Lao Tzu
Nature’s Mirror
Before that moment, I had no conscious connection to spirituality, though there were spiritual teachers in my lineage or any notion that the natural and human worlds mirrored each other. I was a data-driven student, not a mystic. Yet there I sat, crying in the embrace of a fallen tree, experiencing something that transcended rational understanding.
This wasn’t an isolated incident. Since then, I’ve had similar moments of profound connection: beneath star-scattered night skies that seemed to download wisdom directly into my consciousness, beside oceans whose rhythmic waves synchronized with my heartbeat, on mountains whose vastness put my human concerns into perspective.
Science is beginning to catch up with what indigenous cultures have always known. Studies show that time in nature reduces stress hormones, lowers blood pressure, improves mood, and enhances cognitive function. The Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, or “forest bathing,” is prescribed by doctors. But these benefits only hint at deeper truths.
Nature heals us because it reminds us who we are.
In its presence, the conditioned self, one driven by deadlines, social media, and achievement, falls away. What remains is our authentic core, the part of us that has always belonged to the wild.
“When people move away from nature, their hearts become hard.” – Lakota native paraphrase
The modern world pulls us away from this truth. We live in constructed environments, surrounded by human-made objects, breathing recycled air. Is it any wonder we feel disconnected? Our bodies and spirits recognize this separation as a kind of exile.
Healing begins with return. Return to the forest, the mountain, the desert, the sea. Return to the grandmother tree that waits to hold you in her split trunk. Return to yourself.
Ready to experience this profound reconnection? Join my Wild at Heart Wilderness Retreats, where you’ll experience transformative encounters with nature.
Come and remember what your ancestors never forgot: you are wild at heart.
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