Rewilding the Nervous System: Nature As Teacher

Your body is not a problem to fix. It is a landscape. Most of us live like we are trapped inside a fluorescent office. No windows. Stale air. Buzzing lights. Rewilding is the act of opening a door and walking back into weather.

You do not need a week in the woods to feel the shift. Step outside for ten minutes and let your eyes rest on something alive. A cedar. A crow that does not care what you accomplish today. The nervous system loves what moves but does not demand. Branches sway. Water flows. Your breath remembers how to match it.

Try the micro practices I use with clients. Park far from the store and take the long route under real sky. Touch a leaf on purpose. Drink water outside. Sit with your back against a tree and feel the texture through your shirt. Let yourself be the animal you are. Animals settle when they can see distance. Find a view, even if it is the longest street in your neighborhood. Scan the horizon and notice what happens in your ribs.

Bring nature inside on days that keep you home. A bowl of cold river stones. A bundle of rosemary. A window cracked open while you work. Put your phone on a shelf. Put your bare feet on the floor. Your body knows that ground means safety. You do not have to think your way into calm when your body can feel it.

Healing is rarely dramatic. It is the steady rhythm of contact with what is real. The ocean does not care about your inbox. The forest does not reward hustling. You are not a machine. You are weather. Let yourself change.