For most of human history, people lived in reciprocal relationships with wild animals, plants, elements, and cycles out of necessity for survival. We had to be keenly aware of our surroundings in order to have enough to eat and drink, to make medicines, to be sheltered, and to avoid being preyed upon. We moved our bodies regularly, relied on our senses and communities, and followed the rhythms of the sun and the seasons. Only in the last several hundred or thousand years have we diverged dramatically from this way of living.
This sudden radical shift causes grave impacts on our health and well-being as well as that of other species and all ecosystems on Earth. While it would be impossible for us to go back to the "old" way of living, we can take the wisdom and teachings that have been passed down from indigenous cultures across the globe and apply it to our daily lives now. The deep nature connection practices are a way of doing just that. These practices have been synthesized over decades of study, observation, research, and practice, and mimic what we used to do naturally in order to survive in the wild.
Practicing them opens up potent neural pathways in our brains that enable us to experience life in a new electrified way. Quite naturally our minds quiet down, our bodies relax, and our senses become heightened. Gratitude, wonder, and care flow freely in our hearts and aliveness infuses our daily lives.