There seems to be a resurgence of “rewilding” happening, perhaps as a counter movement to the current destroy and conquer mentality present in our nation’s leadership. The term rewilding evokes a certain sense of primal re-discovery and attunement. It can also provoke fear of losing control and power.
What is rewilding? While the ecological meaning of rewilding has received more attention, the mystical meaning of rewilding is also worth exploring. In fact, as I was writing this blog and contemplating what I thought might be a fairly new or unexplored subject, Emergence Magazine posted an article on the exact same topic about a mystical rewilding along Portugal’s Rio Côa (1). The author, Nicholas Triolo, who is in search of the Iberian lynx, explores what it means to return to one’s inner knowing and wildness. The Iberian lynx is one of the most endangered cats on planet earth whose population has been estimated to be just over 2,000 individuals in 2023.
The true current of rewilding, I begin to see, is return.
-Nicholas Triolo, A Small King: A Mystical Rewilding Along Portugal’s Rio Côa
It is fascinating how this type of collective consciousness on a particular subject occurs on a regular basis. Current social media and computer platforms, along with AI, have catapulted our collective knowledge practically overnight. And while we may view this instant information whirlwind with suspicion, it can also serve as a portal into the unknown with others of like mind who are contemplating the same mysteries as we are.
Take the sheer number of podcasts on spirituality and related subjects, for example. The recently produced Telepathy Tapes went viral in a short time period and is changing hearts and minds about precognition and a deeper understanding of autism and neurodivergence. In the midst of this understanding, lies the question about our own intuition and the ability to communicate beyond words and connect to a greater loving universe than the mind and words have to offer.
Ecological Rewilding
The meaning of rewilding from a conservation stand point is to:
restore (an area of land) to its natural uncultivated state (used especially with reference to the reintroduction of species of wild animal that have been driven out or exterminated).
"talk of rewilding North America gives some people nightmares of wolves running through the streets of Chicago and of grizzlies in LA."
Even within the online definition of rewilding, we see reference to the fear of wild animals roaming the street in pursuit of their next victim.
Recently in Colorado, we are experiencing a return of native species with the reintroduction of the wolf in 2023, and more recently with the passage of state legislation to reintroduce the wolverine to Colorado’s high country. In fact, May 20, 2025 is the one-year anniversary of Colorado's Restoration of Wolverines Act. Legislators from both sides of the aisle came together to pass this forward thinking legislation as a unique demonstration of the value that wildlife has to the state, not only as a resource, but because it belongs here. Wolverine are the text book definition of a quintessentially wild creature living at high elevation and traversing hundreds of miles in a day in otherwise challenging terrain.
There is a connection between ecological rewilding and spiritual rewilding for those of us willing to explore the deep meaning of the loss of a species. In a recent interview on Buddha at the Gas Pump, Rick Archer interviews Stephan Martin, an astronomer, educator, and author who has taught astronomy, physics, and consciousness studies at colleges, universities, and learning centers across the US for over thirty years. The interview is full of analogies between physics and inner spiritual experience, with a particularly good discussion of the loss of species on the planet and how that impacts the universe.
We are in an ecological crisis right now where we think we are “it”, humans are the center of everything. And we are a center, but the natural world is also made up of the center of everything as well. The loss of any species is the loss of a particular way that the universe knows itself.
Stephan Martin interview, April 25, 2025 | Minute 26:35
In an attempt to control the outcomes of every day life and minimize risk on our own species, we have tamed the planet and the life she supports without consideration of the deep loss that unfolds as a result.
Spiritual Rewilding
It turns out, the same fear of rewilding exists within our own hearts, minds, and bodies. A spiritual rewilding is a return to our natural state, answering “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?”
Just as we extirpated the grizzly bear, wolf, wolverine, river otter, and so many other species, so we have extirpated our connection to inner knowledge of who we are and how we are connected to the planet and the universe. The years of abiding by social norms, growing up, and being an adult, have caused a sort of forced amnesia of our origin story.
Inner Rewilding: Earth Exchange
It is through a variety of meditative practices that one can experience a rewilding of the heart and self, a return to the oneness of our existence. It can be scary and challenging, but the payoff is great.
There are so many ways to explore the inner galaxies that comprise our existence. Breathwork is one that I have found particularly useful. And that is why I continue to offer 1:1 and group breathwork sessions to discover and experience an exchange with the planet.
Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions, interest, or alignment you may have about rewilding yourself and the planet.
(1) A Small King: A Mystical Rewilding Along Portugal’s Rio Côa by Nicholas Triolo. April 17, 2025.
