3. Watch the sunset or sunrise as often as possible. This is an amazing free spectacle that fills you with good vibes. The early morning light is energizing, while evening light has a calming effect. Enjoy.
4. Become a gardener. Spending time growing and caring for plants on any scale, be it a house plant, window box, garden or allotment, will ground you in nature like nothing else.
5. Rewild part of the planet. Leave some of your garden wild and uncultivated or, if you don’t have a garden, join a community project that is doing this in your local area. The Earth will thank you!
6. Spend some time learning about the plants and animals in your area. The more you immerse yourself in nature around you the wilder you will become! There is wildness in us all – it just needs to be awakened.
7. Take up the Japanese practice of forest bathing. Doctors in both Japan and here in the West believe that spending time walking in a forest is incredibly beneficial for physical and mental health. It just feels good, and is a great way to commune with nature.
8. Get on the river. Or, better still, get in it! Try canoeing, take up fishing, go wild swimming. Rivers and riverbanks are often tranquil places where you can surround yourself in nature, slow down a little and pick up on its gentle pace.
9. Brush up on your bushcraft. Learning some woodland skills – such as building a shelter or fire-making without matches – will make you feel more at home in the great outdoors.
CHAPTER 5
SIMPLE FOOD
One of the best things you can do, if you want to really escape the ‘matrix’, is SORT OUT YOUR DIET! We ARE what we eat. Quite literally. If you eat badly, you will feel crap. If you eat well and consciously – organically grown food bursting with nutrients – you will feel amazing. It’s that simple. Buy food packed with goodness not chemicals. And where possible, buy from local businesses, health food shops and farm shops, rather than the big supermarket chains. There is a world of difference, trust me. The vibe you get from supporting the little guy and getting a more direct connection with the food you eat just makes you feel better, too. You will notice a difference in your mental and physical wellbeing when you start getting more ‘conscious’ with what you choose to put into your beautiful body.
Eating like an Earth Warrior
In order to simplify what I eat, so that I feel healthier, less stressed and more in-tune with my environment, I call to mind my mission to be an Earth Warrior (see page xvi). An Earth Warrior eats wisely, and well. Where possible, locally sourced food or, better still, home grown. They eat to remain in homeostasis and balance, so, not too much sugar, not too much coffee, not too much of anything that sways the system from being in balance.
I truly believe that food affects our consciousness and that we absorb the consciousness of the food we eat. So, if we eat battery-farm-bred cheapo crappy chicken every day, we will be ingesting the trauma of those birds in all those tiny cages. Not so nice. If, on the other hand, we eat food that has been grown outside, in the sun, in the fresh air, with no chemicals being sprayed upon it – we will take in this energy to our being. And this is what will keep us feeling good. Sustained. Healthy. Bright. Vital. ALIVE.
Drinking spring water
I’ve experienced vibrantly good health since I stopped drinking tap water around five years ago. I get all my water from springs now. And I meet hundreds of other people who are on the same trip. They’ve had enough of the tap water. Tap water is, sadly, full of chlorine, fluorides (which are, incidentally, in large amounts a poison) and chemicals that frankly aren’t very good for you. Chlorine is a chemical that has been proved in scientific studies to affect the pineal gland, which is the ‘doorway’ to your consciousness in the front of your brain. It can ‘shut down’ your pineal gland, resulting in a lack of clarity in your thinking and the inability to make clear choices.
The great news is that – amazingly – there are springs EVERYWHERE. Even today. Towns used to be built where springs existed. So, in most towns, there is a spring, somewhere. You just have to search it out. It’s amazing to discover that lots and lots of people are also finding these old springs and sourcing their water from them. You can also check out an amazing website called findaspring.org – which shows you the exact location of your local spring. It’s a really fun adventure to try to find your local spring.
Another option is to buy a water distiller, which removes all the nasty chemicals from your tap water. Lots of people (especially in cities) are doing this these days. But there is something really magical about spring water. It’s Alive. Vibrant. It has energy. It does magical things to you!
Growing your own
There is something so special about growing your own veg. It is hard to put into words the feeling that I get when I eat my own lovingly grown food. It’s, well, primal. We’ve done this for ages, us humans. It goes way back. So, just the simple act of gardening takes us back to that feeling of having roots and a connection to the land. And that’s what we’re all searching for, right – connection?
There is something amazing about how food tastes when you grow it yourself. As well as feeding your body, it feeds your soul. Watching it grow from tiny seedlings to lovely big juicy organic vegetables and fruit is an incredibly rewarding and grounding experience. There is a huge sense of achievement to be gained from planting a seed in the ground in the spring, nurturing it and witnessing it become your yummy health-giving food by the end of summer. Awesome.
And we haven’t even mentioned here the other benefits. Namely that growing your own food results in FREE FOOD!! Apart from the minimal costs of the seeds, growing your own food is free. And healthier than anything you could ever buy in a supermarket. Growing your own just makes total sense! From the months of June through till October, I can pretty much, and do, eat only from my own garden. And even if you don’t have a garden, your can grow food on a windowsill or source your produce from local collectives or allotments, or even get an allotment yourself. Eating this way is just so rewarding.
I feel so at peace when I’m gardening. I guess it must be a deep primal feeling that I’m tapping into. But it happens every time I garden, and so I garden more and more… because it grounds me and makes me feel good. I feel connected and plugged into the Earth, to the land. Highly recommended.
A POEM (by yours truly)
SOUL GARDENING
I’m learning to live at a different pace.
I’m learning to live from a different place,
A place that is gentle, connected and strong,
Like the roots of this oak tree singing its song.
No rush, no fuss, I am solid and here.
Grounded. Unbounded, no room for fear.
This is the new way, the Warriors tune
Give – LOVE – but strong and true.
I slow myself down, there is no shame
In taking time, to tend myself.
I garden my Soul – like I garden the Soil…
Softly, but surely – with my own bare hands.
I’m making the choice now to live from this place,
To check in, fill up, and go into my day,
Not straight into the program of mind, rush and have to,