how to rewild yourself
In a world dominated by concrete jungles, wide-eyed endless scrolling, and pearly fluorescent lights, it’s easy to feel disconnected from the natural rhythm of life.
It’s almost as if the very fabric of our culture was shaped to purposefully guide you on the most profitable path – away from the mossy forests and sunlit meadows, and deep into the soulless, beige landscape of fast food, sidewalks, and corporate jargon. Huh. Wouldn’t that be crazy? If our billionaire oligarch overlords designed it that way? Hm… anyway.
Rewilding yourself is about stepping out of that noise, and finding your way back to something raw, something primal, something real. Forgetting the fear of dirt, walking off the beaten path. As a 25-year-old witch and herbalist who spends most of her time tangled in the woods, I can tell you firsthand: this is about more than just taking a walk in the forest. Anyone can do that and come out exactly the same.
This is about remembering who you are and where you came from. Waking up the sleeping part of our brains that needs the smell of pine and moss like we need water to drink and air to breath. The part of you that sees a river and wants to swim, sees a tree and wants to climb, sees a path and wants to run.
Here’s how you can start your journey to rewild yourself, one intentional step at a time.
reconnect with the earth
The first step in rewilding is to remember that you are not separate from nature – you are nature. We forget this often, since everything about the world we have built works to separate us from that truth and redefine us in exploitable terms.
Take off your shoes and go outside. Feel the dirt, moss, sand or leaves under your feet, wherever you are – its not what it is that’s exactly important, its where it is. Breathe deeply, to the bottom of your lungs, the parts that don’t work in our smog-cities.
Close your eyes. The earth is alive beneath you, and she knows you – loves you, even. Feel your energy slip out of your skin and into the ground, cool and light.
This is grounding, a practice that aligns your energy with the Earth’s frequency.
Grounding has been proven to be extremely beneficial in numerous ways outside of spiritual, including reducing inflammation, which is considered a primary offender at the root of most illness and disease. See? It’s not just for spiritualists and pagans! There are even special grounding shoes, grounding bedsheets, grounding mats. These are good for incorporating grounding into the parts of your life where you can’t be weird, like at work or while sleeping (although who says you can’t be weird there, really) But they still do not replace the sacred act of stepping on dirt – or, as the kids call it – touching grass.
Spend time outside daily, whether it’s sitting under a tree with your morning tea or wandering aimlessly through the woods. Nature doesn’t need a purpose to thrive, and neither do you. Don’t plan what you do, only when.
Ways to Start:
Forage Mindfully: Learn to identify wild herbs, mushrooms, or berries. Start with something simple like dandelion greens or nettle, which are abundant and beginner-friendly. By putting energy and focus into understanding the natural world, we automatically begin to attune ourselves to it.
Garden with Intention: Even if you’re in an apartment, grow something. Anything, I beg. Herbs like basil, thyme, or sage can even be grown in your kitchen, with the right equipment. If you’re stuck in a closed space, try something like this, an Indoor Growing System, that can fit right on your studio apartment bar top. I had one of these in college, and it just made everything better. If you can’t swing that, even a little Pothos from a garden center will help bring some green into your life. Baby steps are still steps – they still count.
Sit Still: This is actually one of my favorites, and surprisingly difficult to do. You’ll see.
Go to your favorite patch of forest and just sit. Listen. Close your eyes.
Notice the way the sunlight filters through the trees in columns. a golden event called Komorebi. Hear the windchime-rustle of the leaves, and feel the steady rhythm of the wind. Exist as one with nature, as much a rhythm as anything else. I like to do this flat on my back somewhere – a field, next to a river, wherever you can swing it.
learn the language of plants
As an herbalist, I can’t stress enough how entirely vital it is to know the plants around you.
They’ve been our allies for centuries, healing us, feeding us, and guiding us. They have been patiently waiting for you to return.
Start small, as always, if a big leap isn’t for you. Learn the plants growing in your yard or nearby park. Look them up in books and say their Latin names, sketch them in a journal, and get to know their properties and personalities.
All of nature bends towards you as you walk through parks, past forest edges, reaching for you. It is time to reach back.
Tips:
Keep a Plant Journal: I am a firm believer that journaling is the answer to everything. Document the plants you find, their uses, and how they make you feel. Draw them, press their leaves, or write down their folklore. Don’t pluck them if you don’t have express intentions with them – rewilding is not about domination, its about harmonious existence with the untamed nature that lives in us, just as it lives in the earth.
Make Herbal Remedies: One of my favorites, obviously. Try creating a simple infusion or salve. I promise you, its not that hard. The idea that only medical doctors – armed with pills and pharmaceuticals – are the ones that can heal you, is a lie perpetuated by the propaganda machine. You can do this.
For example, chamomile tea soothes the nerves, while a lavender oil infusion can help you relax. If you want to go bolder and address something more physical, make a skin salve for cuts and burns with comfrey and calendula.
Build an Apothecary: The end all, be all of learning the language of plants. When we hear Apothecary we conjure images of beakers and steaming tubes, blue glass bottles and copper kettles, herbs strung across the ceiling in crisscrossing strings. It does not need to be that dramatic.
Stock up on staples like calendula, rosemary, and peppermint – these herbs are versatile and easy to incorporate into daily rituals. Start with these three, then work to five, then maybe ten, if you’re feeling it.
Your home Apothecary doesn’t need more than a few multi-use staples. I get my herbs from Mountain Rose Herbs, so if you choose somewhere else, make sure you source sustainably.
move like you’re wild
Rewilding isn’t just about what you do – it’s about how you move. I know that sounds like a YA fantasy novel, but hear me out.
Modern life has confined us to desks, cars, and chairs. We arch dutifully over our overlord phones, crane our aching necks, bend our cracking knees. Our bodies are built for so much more.
Go climb a tree. Crawl on the forest floor like a freak, it will feel so good. Nobody is judging you, watching you. You don’t have to perform in the forest -only exist.
Take off your pinching shoes and spread your toes wide, find a stretch and run as fast as you can, and I mean that, as fast as you can.
Stretch your body in ways that feel natural, not prescribed by a gym routine. It’s your body, repossess dominion over it.
Ideas:
Barefoot Walking: Strengthen your feet and connect with the ground. Our shoes were not designed for our feet – our feet have been restructured for shoes. Grounding is powerful when it is direct, and as a major point of energetic entry on your body, using your feet is the best option.
Climb and Explore: Trees, rocks, hills—let your inner child lead the way. I know you think the same thing I do when I see a curvy, horizontal branch – that you want to lounge in it, cradled in the curve of the tree like a panther lies in wait. Do it, then! We have conditioned ourselves to judge every thought and decision we make before anyone else does, we censor and control ourselves, to avoid being perceived as anything other than conformative, even the bravest of us. Abandon the other in your head and just exist without restraint.
Eat wild, live wild
The modern diet has become so sterile and disconnected from the earth that it genuinely makes me depressed to think about.
Food is not just fuel, and anyone who tells you that is living a very sad life.
Food is medicine, food is joy.
Rewilding your eating habits means choosing foods that nourish you in a holistic way, not just in an immediate-gratification way, like my mortal enemy: McDonalds.
Begin frequenting your farmers market or try your hand at foraging, safely. Try to avoid processed foods whenever and if at all possible – processed foods are killing you. Remember, food is magic – it’s an offering, a connection, a medicine, and a spell all in one.
Food is just fuel my ass. Get that guy out of here.
Suggestions:
Foraged Feasts: Add wild greens, berries, or mushrooms to your meals. Mushrooms in particular carry an essence with them, an ancient and extant one.
Fermented Foods: Things like sauerkraut, kimchi, and kombucha reconnect us with ancient food preservation methods. Plus, fermenting is sooooo easy, and incredible for your gut biome.
Cook Over Fire: There’s something primal about cooking outdoors, something that alights that ancient creature that used to gather around the pit and sing songs of the gods. If you can, make a small firepit and roast your dinner under the stars.
align with the cycles
One of the harder ones, but with a larger payoff.
The moon, the seasons, the tides, – nature moves in cycles, and so do we, even on a chemical level.
Rewilding is about tuning into these rhythms that connect us. Let the seasons guide your rituals, your meals, and even your rest.
Take the winter slow, the summer joyfully, the autumn restfully. Let the moon remind you to set intentions, release, and renew for the coming cycle.
Watch the tree in your yard up close as it blooms, brightens, wilts, falls, decays, dies, and births anew every year.
Practices:
Seasonal Living: Seasonal living will change your life, of that I can promise you. Eat what’s in season for your area of the world instead of relying on imported fruits, celebrate solstices and equinoxes as the day and night switch places, and adjust your activities to the energy of each season. Live slowly, live intentionally.
Moon Rituals: Use the new moon to set goals and the full moon to reflect and release. The moon is the divine feminine, a cosmic force that controls the tides – so whose to say she can’t affect you, in turn? Your emotions are hers – see how you intensify with the full moon, and relax with the new. Don’t fight this, rather, fall headfirst into it. Rewilding is letting go of control, releasing the iron-grip you have on yourself. Trust nature to catch you.
Rest When Needed: Rest is difficult, because we are all conditioned on some level to believe that time spent on things that are not “conventionally productive” is time wasted. We place our value in how hard we work, how well we obey, how quickly we can type little numbers into the fancy computer boxes. So I will say this once, and you listen well.
Your worth is not tied to how hard you work, how much you make, how many accolades you acquire. You can spend an entire year doing nothing, and still be just as hard-working and valuable as you were 356 days before.
Winter is a time for rest, just as spring is a time for growth. Follow the cues of the natural world. It will not hurt you.
create your wild sanctuary
Rewilding doesn’t mean you have to abandon modern life entirely, although I do harbor the sneaking suspicion that we all should.
It’s about creating balance and bringing nature into your everyday, melding the kind of life that exists today with the kind of life that existed before.
Transform your home, your car, your office, into a sanctuary that reflects your love for the wild. Decorate with dried herbs, crystals, and earthy tones – abandon the white and beige, for the love of the gods. Keep windows open to let fresh air flow, i guarantee it smells better than the “fresh linens” air spray.
Use beeswax candles and natural incense to cleanse the energy. Weave your rewilding into the very fabric of your life, until it is as intrinsic as breathing.
Closing Thoughts
Rewilding yourself is not about perfection. There is no one or right way to do it. You could do everything on this list and feel no change, or do none of it and forge your own path, to ample results. It’s about a slow, intentional journey back to your roots, forgetting this version of the “self” and revealing the one beneath. It’s about remembering that you are not separate from the woods, the rivers, or the skies – you are a part of them, and they are a part of you.
So kick off your shoes, wander into the trees, and let the Earth remind you what it means to be wild. The path is waiting – are you ready to take the first step?
