what is rewilding?
Rewild /riˈwīld/
(verb) To re-awaken the innate human skills and mind sets, utilising them once more in our everyday lives, to bring meaning and fulfilment back to our routines.
Rewilding is a concept based on a desire to reconnect to some of the attitudes, values and more primal ways of living that are believed to be innate to humans. During our recent and rapid evolutionary progress, we have been great at capitalising on efficiency and we use a lot of energy ‘keeping up’ with what seems to be happening around us. We are seduced by grand future promises and we fall into the trap of believing that what we have is not good enough. A vision that encourages us to believe that happiness comes through the attainment of status and wealth. By being in a state of constantly seeking, we are missing out on the immense feelings of contentment, comfort and joy that come from a sense of gratitude for the present moment.
True happiness is not a commodity nor an image, it is immaterial and exists freely within everyone.
Thankfully, more and more people are catching on to this and realising that wealth is not exactly the reliable sponsor of happiness that they had anticipated. Reflecting on how we got to where we are as individuals helps us to fully appreciate and take pride in the effort we put into the things we do. Understanding our relationship to the collective, and learning about our cultural roots can help us access a sense of accomplishment handed down from our ancestors, which can deepen our sense of gratitude for the present. So much of our cultural heritage has been forgotten and discredited; deemed as outdated and irrelevant in the face of our modern, ‘progressive’ ways. Agricultural developments lead to a commercialisation of the resources that previously were fundamental in bringing our communities together. In the past, we thrived off trade culture; each person in a community felt as though they were a part of the whole and there was a greater sense of connection, cohesion, participation and empathy. A lot of real life social interaction has been replaced by social media, which tricks us into thinking that we are connecting to others. This deceptive form of ‘connection’ is leaving more and more of us feeling isolated and disconnected and left wondering why. We have lost interest in the art of sharing and exchanging through tight-knit relationships within our communities and have forgotten the value of these bonds that cultivated our sense of purpose and place. As a result of mass production in the modern era, we are becoming mindless consumers of products made by corporate companies run by people we haven’t met.
Of course, there have been so many amazing things that have come of our evolution as humans. Technological advances allow us to maximise efficiency and give us the ability to produce enough resources to meet the needs of our booming population.
It can be hard to reconnect with our roots, our primal human instincts, when we are so well acquainted with the ways of modern life. Fortunately we don’t have to start living like cavemen to reconnect to our environment, and we don’t have to devolve to know what it is to be human. Rewilding doesn’t seek to erase evolution by ignoring or denying the needs of contemporary society and the benefits modern technology can provide. It urges us to take a step back in order to become more conscious of the way we are living — to properly reflect on the bigger picture in life, to determine what it is that makes us feel most alive. By looking at the cultural practices of indigenous communities in the past and present, we discover different styles of living that put into perspective our own lifestyle so we can better evaluate where our values lie. Rewilding encourages us to embrace our advancements in ways that serve us.
The increasing prevalence of mental health complications such as anxiety and depression in our society is an ongoing concern and as a result, science is having to dive deeper into understanding the mechanics of the human mind. We are gaining increasing insight into the specific chemical processes that occur in the brain during the interactions between the human body and its surroundings in the hope to alleviate some of the stresses imposed on us through modern life. Through these discoveries, we are beginning to see a huge emphasis on the importance of physical health, mindfulness and contact with nature — things that are central to rewilding. Rewilding draws from intuitive traditions among our ancestors that were created based on a faith in innate human wisdom.
Rewilding supports the philosophy behind some of these ancient cultural techniques and practices, and provides answers for the growing curiosity on how we might be able to benefit from this preexisting cultural knowledge in a modern context. The claims and reported benefits of rewilding-based practices are becoming increasingly alluring as they are being validated and substantiated by recent findings in the fields of neuroscience and biochemistry.
Rewilding can be looked at through a variety of lenses:
A more ecological approach to the term focuses on the regeneration of our environment and restoration of the native plant and animal species that once occupied the land.
A physical, human-movement-based perspective inspired by Georges Hébert’s The Natural Method, put simply; “be strong to be useful” (Erwan Le Corre, 2016).
“humans, in their most natural and primitive state, in the wild, are compelled to lead an active life in order to sustain their needs, fulfilling complete physical development by only performing natural and functional exercises.”
A system that focuses on conscious living and self-sufficiency — keeping a balance between giving and receiving.
Reconnecting to your intuition, your innate desires, your inner child — the place inside all of us that is open, loving, curious, adventurous, playful, authentic.
Letting go of the image you hold yourself to — embracing your freedom, your wild side, without judgment. Embracing your ‘flaws’. Allowing yourself to get messy, loose, silly. Accepting the ‘good’, the ‘bad’, the ‘pretty’ and the ‘ugly’.
“It is not necessary to ‘go back’ in time to be the kind of creature you are. The genes from the past have come forward to us. I am asking that people change not their genes but their society, in order to harmonize with the inheritance they already have.”
