As you probably know, Wild Movement is primarily focused on teaching you how to gain strength and vitality through natural and functional movement. It’s about teaching you how to run efficiently, climb powerfully and feel vibrantly healthy in your body. About helping you transform into the strong, fit and happy human you were born to be.

But movement alone is only part of the puzzle. Truth is, as humans living in the modern world, we face a much bigger problem than a sedentary lifestyle or inadequate nutrition. It’s a problem that is nearly universal yet virtually unknown. AND, it sits at the very heart of Wild Movement philosophy.

What problem am I talking about? Simply this: Inadequate exposure to the natural world. Or, as Richard Louv describes it, “Nature Deficit Disorder.”

The world we live in is foreign to our bodies. Evolutionary signals within us are screaming for air, earth, water and movement. We need nature. It’s time we heed this calling.

Rat Park

The harmful effects of “nature deficit disorder” are best illustrated by a fascinating study done in the 1970s by a Canadian psychologist named Bruce Alexander. The study, typically called “Rat Park,” was designed to test the researcher’s hypothesis that drugs do not cause addiction, and that the apparent addiction to opiate drugs commonly observed in laboratory rats (who were exposed to the drugs) is attributable to their living conditions, NOT to any addictive property of the drug itself.

Prior to this study, researchers had come to the conclusion that humans, if left unchecked, would naturally resort to compulsive drug consumption. After performing a great number of experiments where rats displayed an unstoppable desire to inject themselves with a morphine to the point of death, researched theorized that this behavior was “natural” and attributed human drug addiction to a similar form of internal wiring.

But Alexander thought differently. He believed that the real source of addiction lay not in faulty cognition, but rather in unnatural living conditions. He believed that these prior experiments (in which laboratory rats were kept isolated in cramped metal cages, tethered to a self-injection apparatus) demonstrated only that “severely distressed animals, like severely distressed people, will resort to drug use if they can.”

To test this hypothesis, Alexander built “Rat Park,” a 95 square foot rat wonderland — 200 times larger than a standard laboratory cage. In this “park” he placed over 20 rats of both sexes, balls, wheels, an abundance of food and natural surroundings. He then gave the rats a choice between plain tap water and water laced with morphine. To the surprise of many, when placed in their new natural environment, most of the rats chose the plain water! As Alexander wrote, “Nothing that we tried produced anything that looked like addiction in rats that were housed in a reasonably normal environment.” Even more astounding, rats who were previously addicted to morphine slowly weaned themselves off the drug when placed in “Rat Park.”

While this study focused primarily on drug abuse, I believe numerous connections can be made to the widespread atrophy we see in humans today. While obviously not as extreme, our modern environment slightly resembles a metal cage. We are isolated from each other. We are separated from our natural environment. We no longer perform innately human activities.

While natural movement and a Paleo style diet can help bridge this evolutionary disconnect, exposure to the natural world — to our natural environment — is absolutely vital to our health and wellbeing. In order to reach our fullest potential as human animals, we must adhere to the evolutionary drivers within us. In order to counteract “Nature Deficit Disorder” we must escape from our cages and embrace the park we were born to embody: nature.

As this video accurately concludes, “Drug abuse can come not from the drug, but from living in a cage.”

3 Ways to Embrace the Wild

If you are a “zoo human” looking to dive into the world of evolutionary living, here’s a short “quick-start” guide. It can be difficult to live naturally in our modern world, but with the right knowledge, insight and consistency, it can be done. Here are three ways to get started.

1) Run/Walk Barefoot: Find a field, park or trail. Walk or run without shoes for 10 or more minutes.

Nothing promotes present moment awareness better than bare-footing. Nothing brings you fully into your body and wakes you up to the sensations of life better than a walk, run or hike shoeless. Though seemingly treacherous at first glance, bare-footing really isn’t as dangerous as it sounds. Stick to grass at first, pay diligent attention, and bask in the feeling of the Earth beneath your feet.

To help you relearn your most basic movement skill (bare-footing), I’ve created two comprehensive resources for you.

- For a complete guide to barefoot running technique, click here.
- For a free 8-week training plan that walks you through each step of the transition, click here.

2) Climb a tree: Find a tree (In nature) and climb it. Be careful. Play it safe. Have fun.

As kids, most of us spent days climbing trees and creating imaginative battles and adventures. Unfortunately, most adults, constrained by responsibilities and busyness, have lost their sense of childish enthusiasm and haven’t climbed a tree in years. Tree climbing gets you in touch with your body and your natural enviornment and is one of the most powerful exercises for building functional strength. Plus, it’s ridiculously fun!

To download my free guide, “The Ultimate Guide to Barefoot Tree Climbing,” click here.

3) Have an Epic Adventure: Go out in the woods (or any other natural setting) and explore. Move freely, be creative. Like Huck Finn, seek reckless adventure wherever you go.

In the summers, my friends and I like to go on what we call “epic adventures.” We venture into the woods for hours, climbing trees, swimming in the river, fording streams and chasing deer like wild boys. These adventures are some of my fondest memories, some of the times when I felt the happiest, strongest, and most alive. Even today I exercise in this way, scrambling up hills, under bushes, over porcupines… I’ve yet to find something as fun or health promoting as an epic adventure.

Bottom Line

While each of these activities can act as a gateway into vibrant health and wellbeing, the BEST thing you can do is simply spend time in nature. Get out of the house, office or car. Step into your natural environment. Move freely. Naturally. Eat foods that come directly from the earth. Breathe clean, fresh air. Sleep beneath the stars. Respect your evolutionary heritage and live wild in the modern world.

Stay strong and barefoot,

Logan