The Zen of the Wild

In the process of exploring and understanding more about the benefits of being in nature, many of us have taken up swimming, forest bathing, cycling, hiking and running in the open air. But when we spend this time in the wild, are we really connected to it? Sanzaro argues that we often obscure opportunities for real connection through our attachment to screens, our anxieties about our ‘everyday’ lives, or simply through our egos. When we observe nature, we rarely do so without subconsciously filtering out the parts that don’t fit into the perfect snapshot we crave. To foster a genuine connection with the natural world, and to better protect it, we must embrace its contradictions as well as the surface beauty. Through deeper engagement with our environment, we can discover the wild within ourselves, too.