Urban Rewilding Culture

Around 9 million years ago a lineage of primates split. One branch eventually evolved into apes like chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and bonobos. The other branch went through numerous different hominins which either went extinct or evolved and finally, in the last 300,000 years, formed homo sapiens.

The slow and gradual changes in the environment and lifestyle allowed the DNA to optimise its host to not only survive but thrive in harsh natural environments. To hunt and gather food, build shelter and tools and fend off predators, procreate and take care of offspring. A self-regenerative state-of-the-art machine was developed that had a fine-tuned sense of the surroundings and itself. A universe in and of itself.

The DNA of modern homo sapiens is a bit confused, to say the least. The digestive system adapted to the first major changes like the use of fire. Thousands of years later, when agriculture was adopted the shift in lifestyle, food consumption and movement was so big it still has a hard time catching up. When we think of the lifestyle changes of the past 150 years, the word ‘perplexed’ doesn’t even begin to describe the state our body’s intelligence is in.

What kind of world we live in

If a primate within you looks around, what does it see? A world of flat, predictable and safe manmade surfaces with year-round comfortable temperatures and bright lights. It completely lost connection with what its own body is telling it. The prepackaged, mass-produced food has been depleted of nutrients and demoted to a list of its chemical compounds without the realisation of what it actually means to us as animals. Food is not just fuel like we are some kind of machine. It is a universe of beautifully and carefully selected and combined nutrients, packed with love by our mother Nature. 

Food not only holds an emotional value and brings us together, but it also contains precious information to our DNA. Information about what the outside environment is like. What genes should be turned on and off to accommodate that? Heck, most of the food we eat today would be unrecognisable by a pre-agricultural homo sapien! Bombarded by pollutants of not just air, water, food and soil, but also our minds we live in a perpetual state of craving for more. More something, anything. More stuff.

Survival mode engaged

A regular day of a modern urban ape starts with a stressor in a form of an alarm clock and a laundry list of duties it owes to the tribe. The tribe doesn’t count 150 people anymore, but billions that are somehow connected albeit very superficial. 

As its survival mechanism kicks in to fight off the imminent danger, a cascade of stress hormones kicks in to enable it to escape. Despite the elevated heartbeat and increased blood flow to the extremities that go unnoticed, it reaches for a strong caffeinated drink to kick itself into a higher gear, or any gear for that matter. The organism is so tired from the day before and the day before that one, the sleep is consistently poor, breathing is shallow and panicky and cravings for quick energy fixes are so strong that the modern ape doesn’t pay attention to anything anymore. The body finally realises the danger is not so life-threatening, but persistent nevertheless. The ape just keeps going through the day, snacking on masterfully engineered foodlike products loaded with sugar, oil and salt only to drop in the bed like a log and catch another 4-5 hours of light un-restorative sleep. 

When the weekend finally arrives, a new delivery of toxins, usually in the form of alcohol (and more sugar and processed oils) arrives through the gap in the face. Something for the overworked cells to deal with and detoxify, like they aren’t already struggling enough and wanting to quit. 

Rewild yourself

It is not all doom and gloom. We just got a bit sidetracked with all the comfort and the fancy gadgets that demand attention. Simply stop for a moment and zoom out. Think primal, prioritise good sleep, breathing, real food, and real human connections. Reintroduce small moments of movement, more manual labour, a spontaneous workout or stretching. Improve interaction with nature - and with your own body. It is as simple as that, yet very complicated. 

If it feels like you are swimming against the current, you are. It is clear as day that the endlessly growing industry of food, medications, and technology doesn’t want you to be independent, strong, and content with little. There is no money in it.

I know, it is quite utopian to say we can all live off nature, produce food and shelter for ourselves and be constantly happy. This is not what Urban Rewilding Culture is about. It’s not even about romanticising the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. It fully embraces the reality that most of us live in urban environments and are not planning on inhabiting the forest any time soon. So we have to make the most of our primal lifestyle in the city. 

Small steps

Urban Rewilding Culture seeks to find opportunities where you can align your primal biology with the modern lifestyle. Whatever change you are trying to make in your life, always first assess your sleep and breathing. Work on these two elements first. Then, think about food: what and when you eat. At the same time focus on stress management and movement; last but not least seek increased exposure to temperature variation. 

If you want to make a sustainable change, start by taking small steps, one change at a time. Let’s begin with movement.

The world depends on your movement

We outsourced pretty much all our movement needs to other humans or to machines. Cars and planes come to mind first, but often we don’t even gain any speed with outsourcing, we just want to move less, period. And every time we don’t move, someone or something moves for us. When we do it we create more carbon footprint and deprive ourselves of the opportunity to become stronger.

Just think of the automated boot of your car, an escalator or a simple automatic lemon squeezer. Even the wheels on the shopping trolley, your shampoo and Google maps are all forms of outsourced movement. Be it your body through space, your cells or electrical impulses between neurons. Everything in this world moves and you are built to move. The world as we know it depends on your movement.

Change the mindset

Every time you have to pick up something off the floor, or get up to get something, walk somewhere or carry something, don’t see it as a nuisance but as a beautiful opportunity that nudges you to move and become more functional.

Think about all the movement that you outsource. It is not to say you have to grow your own cotton and make clothing, collect water from a spring and travel everywhere on foot. But you can still drastically reduce the amount of outsourcing and still live a good quality urban life. How about refusing to let people wrap food for you? Or to bring it from the other side of the world. Maybe buying better quality clothing that will last longer and that was made more sustainably, driving a bike instead of a car when possible, and being barefoot more would be a good start. Supportive and overly comfortable shoes are (in most cases) an unnecessary form of outsourcing our foot’s and ankle’s mobility and stability to a manmade gadget. 

How low can you go? And how often?

We primates are designed to move throughout the day, walk and jog a lot, with occasional sprints and carrying heavy things - either to drag a kill back to camp or to build a shelter. But when we rest, there are usually three options: to squat, sit or lie on the ground. 

Squatting is our most convenient primal resting position and as they say, those who can squat comfortably carry a chair everywhere. Sadly, only around 13.5 per cent of Americans can squat fully with feet planted on the ground, let alone stay there comfortably for a while. This is mainly due to the fact that westerners rarely ever put their knees above their hips. It begins as early as at the age of six when kids start their endless sitting sessions in school. By the age of nine around half of them can’t squat properly anymore. 

Luckily, the detriments of the sedentary lifestyle are reversible and much of the lost mobility, stability and motor control can be regained. All you have to do is create opportunities to spend more time on the floor.

By spending more time on the floor you will stretch and strengthen a whole army of muscles that enable you to move functionally. Your ankle and hip mobility will improve, while you strengthen your core, back, and knees and improve the ability to efficiently get up off the floor. Don’t worry too much about how you get up, soon enough you will need less and less assistance.

If you practice this on a daily basis what do you think your mobility, stability, motor control, confidence, fall prevention and overall life quality would be like? It is much more likely you would play with your grandkids, go on a hike or confidently take a shower. 

As often as possible, explore the variety of distances between your feet and your hips. Don’t underestimate the power of daily saying no to the comfort of a sofa or a chair and instead opt to squat or sit on the floor.

Health benefits of squatting

"Every joint in our body has synovial fluid in it. This is the oil in our body that provides nutrition to the cartilage,” says Dr Bahram Jam, a physical therapist and founder of the Advanced Physical Therapy Education Institute (APTEI) in Ontario, Canada. “Two things are required to produce that fluid: movement and compression. If a joint doesn’t go through its full range - if the hips and knees never go past 90 degrees - the body says ‘I’m not being used” and starts to degenerate and stops the production of synovial fluid."

Proper squatting ability is known to help in using the toilet and helps digestion. The health of our joints and musculoskeletal system is integral to our overall health and longevity. The test subjects that were able to sit and get off the floor without the use of hands and props had three years longer life expectancy than the subjects that exhibited strain in difficulty getting up.

It doesn’t have to be torture

It’s called floor culture not floor torture for a reason. Make the floor of your home as cosy and inviting as possible. Turn the sofa around or remove it altogether and place cushions on a soft rug. The point is that you get low and get back up as often as possible without giving it too much thought. As you watch TV, read a book, have a phone conversation or eat a meal on the floor (or by using a low coffee table) you will be forced to constantly shift positions which is a good thing. Intentionally create reasons to move more - place a glass of water, remote control or the phone a bit further away.  Put yourself through various stretching positions while you’re there.

Conclusion

It would seem like with modern civilisation we have moved away from the need to squat as they still do in third-world countries like across Africa and Asia. However, once again, it showed that the introduction of perpetual comfort does more damage than good to our long-term health. 

Luckily, there is always a way back. Offer your body gentle but regular ankle and hip stretches, and just spend more time on the floor. If you have difficulty squatting, place a book or a rolled towel under your heels to make it more comfortable. Over time, you will be able to gradually reduce the height of the support until you can comfortably squat with your feet flat on the ground.

If you want to learn more about primal resting positions or movements and get some creative ideas on how to practice your floor culture get in touch for one-on-one coaching, or join our online sessions and follow my Youtube channel.