Hiking as healing for people and the planet

I love to hike. Walking out in nature is what led me to resonate deeply with the idea of rewilding. Much of what I have initially talked about here on this Rewilding Child platform is the concept of wilding our human soul. Writing, traveling, conversing deeply with those we love, opening our eyes to the beauty that can be. These are all ways that I feel a wild, primal nature bloom within me. Yet rewilding is also about the relationship we create directly with our natural environments.

To rewild is to plant ourselves in nature, to connect with our forests, oceans, and deserts. To advocate for conservation, to play in meadows, to plant a garden, and learn to compost to see that all life is interconnected.

Hiking can be healing for our souls and the planet. When we get out in nature in respectful and responsible ways, it can be beneficial for the environment too. In short-- the more we connect with our natural world the more we appreciate her and will live a life creating less waste, listening to indigenous knowledge, voting for new green policies...

Nature isn't better off without humans. We are all interconnected. People and the planet alike benefit when we learn to love each other and treat our environments as our home.

Just this week I was called off my restaurant shift at the last minute due to inclement weather, so I jumped at the chance to hike in the woods. This timing was aligned as I'd been feeling anxious all week and a little floaty. Out in Caspers Wilderness Park in Orange County, California, I hiked to heal all I was feeling. I delighted in patterns of shadow and light. Watched hawks circle overhead. Heard the crunch of leaves beneath my feet. The fresh wild air and greenery were like a balm for the anxieties I'd been carrying.

In two hours I completely rewired my nervous system. I was alone but didn't feel lonely. I admired the divine design of cacti flowers and the veins of leaves and was filled with awe. I felt connected to my body and to the body of the Earth, and in seeing her as a body, as mountains of flesh and blood, I renewed my desire to hold her close like a sister.

Maybe her body and mine aren't all that different. We are both comprised of light and shadow, we endure different seasons, we evolve. We wrinkle in the sun and we shout and dance and cry. We can protect one another.

Rewilding is most popularly defined as the act of returning an environment to its natural state. So, how can hiking or finding other means of connecting with wild places help restore our planet? And how might it also restore our souls to a natural state of kinship with the world around us?

Love,

Ava //

Rewilding Child