How to Heal the Wound of Feeling Disconnected from Nature
Increasingly many of us are feeling isolated, exhausted, and overwhelmed but unable to name what it is that we are missing. It’s like an integral part of us feels hollow and disconnected from what once sustained our spirits while we continue to go to work, pay bills, and go about our daily lives in a haze of time passing without moments that have meaning.
We often spend more time watching what people are doing on social media rather than joining together in ceremonies and rituals in line with the rhythms and movements of the earth. While we may feel ungrounded in the chaos of the world, the earth is still there beneath our feet and has never left us. We just need to turn our awareness back to her to rediscover her wisdom and the ability to heal the wound of our separation from her embrace.
The Soul’s Ache: When We Forget We Belong to Nature
As a part of the earth herself, when we separate our focus from nature it cuts us off from our source of nourishment and meaning. Even just taking a moment to remember that everything we consume comes from her reminds us that she is where all things are birthed and sustained. When we lose contact with this awareness, it can lead to feelings of isolation, emptiness, and lack of purpose. This is one of the driving forces behind the massive increase in anxiety experienced by much of the human population. It can make us feel hollow and filled with dread and lack of meaning rather that connected to all of life on earth.
Ancient and indigenous traditions often focus on the sacredness of nature and gratitude for all that she provides. Typically calling the earth our mother, they had contact with nature and understood that she is the source of vitality, connection and spiritual wellbeing. They communicated with the plants and animals as allies and teachers rather than seeing them as less conscious beings as many people are now taught especially in the west. Losing the contact and appreciation for nature and the wisdom of all the beings on earth leaves us sinking deeper into loneliness and disconnection from both the physical world as well as the spiritual realms. These same plant and animal spirits were recognized as guides and guardians by traditional peoples, and by disconnecting from the earth, we have also forgotten our place in this web of life.
Our Forgotten Kinship with the More-Than-Human World
So, we have not only distanced ourselves from the earth in our modern life, but we have separated from our earth family as well. We have disconnected from our support system in addition to our mother who nourishes us, provides everything we need, and is also suffering from our separation from her and our disrespectful behavior towards her and the beings who share this planet with us. Thus, it is not surprising that we would feel hollow and alone in our current state as a society.
Losing Our Way in the Noise of Modern Life
Modern civilization with all of its lights, technology, and modern time keeping have further pulled us out of the natural rhythms of time, seasons, and cycles of the earth and sky. These urban environments take us physically away from nature and instead surround us with cement, bricks, and electric wires. The rapid pace of urban life puts pressure on our bodies and minds to keep up without the cycles of rest and rejuvenation offered by natural rhythms. Bringing ourselves into alignment with the true time of earth movements can bring our body, minds, and spirits back towards flowing with the energy of nature again.
From Bricks and Screens to Branches and Sky
We spend more time on screens than we do sitting in the sun, and we put nature scenes on our screen savers rather than taking time to sit by a river or walk into the mountains. We breathe recycled air or that filled with exhaust and fumes instead of the ocean breeze. More attention is put on the stock market and the constant expansion of profits rather than the expansion of the heart and appreciation for the beauty and wisdom of the natural world.
We, as humans, once worked with the land, in tune to the seasons, perceiving communication from nature for planting and harvesting times, and our relationship with the earth was core to our very existence. Further back, as hunter gathers we were well aware that we are nature, and cultures of that nature have a deep understanding of the sacredness of nature and the entire web of life. The more we as people have drawn away from the earth, the less we feel connection, gratitude for her, natural cycles, and wisdom. Therefore, it is essential that we reconnect with our mother and all of the beings that are a part of her if we want to heal this alienation and loneliness that fills us with heartache and disillusionment.
Walking Home: Everyday Rituals of Reconnection
Fortunately, there are many ways that we can reconnect with nature. Some of them are simple things that you can do throughout your day, while others provide activities we can set aside time for to really focus on rekindling our bond with the earth.
Listening with the Senses: Nature as Medicine
Mindful time in nature is of course a big one, but it is important for this to be engaging. Whether walking in the natural world or sitting somewhere outside, consciously pay attention to your senses. Listen to her sounds, become aware of her smells, be conscious of the textures and how things feel on your skin. Scan the natural world around you and be open to how it feels to just witness all of the beings who share this planet with us.
Rooted in Stillness: Earth-Based Grounding Practices
Grounding practices can also be really helpful for reconnecting to the earth and her energy. This can be barefoot walking slowly and intentionally, laying on the earth, or sitting against a tree and connecting to its energy. Trees are wonderful for welcoming us back to rooting into the earth, and they hold the keys to remembering the wisdom of the forest as a whole, so they are beautiful allies for those of us who need to remember that call.
Tending the Garden of Your Soul
Of course, working with plants in any way can help as they are teachers and allies for us, which I am grateful for every day. While doing shamanic practices like master plant dietas are amazing for this, you can also keep it simple. Tending to a garden has always been one of my favorites, and my garden is both my safe place and where by body can just be relaxed in its natural state. Foraging, with the proper understanding and guidance, can be wonderful. Remembering how to find food and medicine in the wild is an incredible way to reconnect if you have access to learning what, when, and how to forage various plants without impacting the ecosystem. Bringing nature into your home by having house plants, working with herbs, or placing plants on the altar are all great methods of working with and honoring these beings that share the earth with us as well as their wisdom and guidance. Crystals, stones, and other natural items can also be added to the altar to be communicated with and honored.
The Animal Teachers Who Walk Beside Us
As a huge animal lover, I have to highlight the animal kingdom as a part of our path back to connecting with the earth. We can foster relationships with animals in many ways including watching them in nature, putting out bird, bee, and pollinator feeders which has the added benefit of giving back to them, and working with animal totems. I have a few small statues on my altar of animal allies that I work with as well as feathers that I have found in nature. You could use things like these or other items that represent these creatures to you as long as they are sourced responsibly.
Anyone who knows me also knows how much I love companion animals especially dogs. These animals have been living alongside us for centuries if not thousands and thousands of years. They have been in deep relationship with us, sharing food, companionship, wisdom, protection, and love together throughout time. I recently read that the bond we have with a cherished dog teaches us unconditional love in a way that few other things can, and I definitely believe that.
Currently, I have 2 dogs both of which I love, but one of them is a soul dog who I know we have been together many times before. The love and bond we have is one of the things that I will treasure most in this life, and I have learned more from her wise spirit than any book or class. And all animals hold this capacity to help us grow and expand by connecting with them, and these relationships are an incredible way to fill that hollow space we feel inside us with love.
Returning to the Rhythms of Moon, Sun, and Soil
As mentioned, we are also pulled away from the natural cycles and seasons of the earth, so inviting practices into our life that acknowledge and honor them ushers us back into that connection. This is another way that ancient and indigenous peoples have honored the earth and her movements as well as the sky above us.
Living in Ceremony with the Moon and Seasons
Each phase of the moon has specific energies she brings in, and with each one we can utilize rituals of either releasing what we need to let go of or manifesting what we want to call into our lives. As the moon works with the tides, the phases of the moon in a way reflect the rise and fall of the tides and teach us to allow that same flow to happen within us and our lives. The new or full moon can also be a great time for charging crystals or water depending on the intention with which you want to use it.
Creating seasonal ceremonies to honor the equinoxes and solstices is also a wonderful way to reconnect to the rhythms of the earth. Here we are more working with the solar energy and how the light is getting longer or shorter, with periods of more light being warmer, more outward and active, and the periods of more darkness are colder, more inward, and time to rest.
For these rituals, I like to choose plants that may be in bloom or their highest growth at the time you are celebrating and bring them into the work. In this way, you are connecting not only the the patterns in the sky, but also the beings on the earth that are illuminating the energy of that season.
Creating a Sacred Space in the Natural World
There are unlimited options here because any action that connects you to the earth fulfills this need within us. You can set intentions with a river or by blowing mapacho, planting a tree or plant, or any means of offering gratitude the earth. Just as it is beneficial to have a place where you normally meditate inside or an altar where you sit to do your spiritual work, having an area outside where you commune with nature can magnify the connection you feel there.
Designating an area of the garden or a spot under a tree or whatever feels good for you, created a sense of sacredness in that place in the same way as an altar. In addition, you begin to create a relationship with that one piece of land and the nature beings there which can really amplify your depth of connection.
The Earth Remembers You
While we may now be feeling like we have lost our connection to the earth and are filled with anxiety and separation, I believe that this is actually just a part of yet another cycle. In our long history, we have fallen away from and back in love with the earth over and over again. We have been through cataclysms of various kinds that have almost destroyed us, yet here we are still here, alive. The very fact that we are here, present and breathing, is a sign that we are a part of those that carry us all home, back to the earth, connection to nature and spirit, and a remembrance of the unified web that we are all weave and are woven into.
Healing this wound of disconnection is reflective of the disconnection we have from ourselves. All of the practices that bring us back to her will also reunite us with the deeper sense of who we are, remembering our plant and animal allies, and the wholeness of being we are a part of. By making the intentional choice to call out to the earth, to welcome the nourishment she provides, and reignite our bond with her and all who are a part of her, we can mend the fractures created by modern life and use mindfulness and ritual to step back into our proper place in nature.
The earth is calling. Are you ready to listen? Are you ready to open to the wisdom and healing she provides?
Start With One Step, and Let the Earth Meet You There
I encourage you to start with one of the suggestions above or one that you are called to yourself, and do just one thing. Begin there, and if you stay dedicated, the path will unfold. If you would like further support, I would be honored to assist you in creating practices and ways to create meaning and connection in your life.
If you’re feeling the call to reconnect with the Earth and remember your place in her web, I would be honored to support you on that journey. You’re welcome to message me through my coaching page here at PMP, or scroll to the bottom to explore session options. If you’d like help creating personalized rituals or earth-based practices, you can also book a call with me to begin weaving that connection back into your life.
About the Author
Lindsay Calliandra Rose is a Medicine Carrier, an accomplished herbalist, Plant Medicine integration specialist, and a woman with a profoundly sacred relationship with nature. She began her Plant Medicine journey many years ago with Ayahuasca and Huachuma, and she has completed multiple Master Plant Diets with beings like Rose, Bobinsana, Juniper, Jurema, Cacao, Oak, and Blue Water Lily. Lindsay is an initiated server and carrier of Hapéh. She now works as a preparation and integration guide for those answering the call to work with sacred medicines, and she is apprenticing in the art of guiding Master Plant Diets as well. She is a passionate advocate of safe and transformative experiences with the plants, and she loves helping people navigate these mysterious spaces with grace, love, and support.
