Ecological Horizons: Rewilding the Self, One Breath at a Time

In the rhythms of modern life, hurried, digitised, often disconnected, we can lose touch with the very elements that root us: the earth beneath our feet, the breath in our lungs, the quiet murmurs of the body. This disconnection from the natural world often mirrors a split from our own inner knowing. Many carry a silent ache, a longing for something unnamed yet deeply remembered. Might this be a call from the earth itself, an invitation to return?

Ecological Horizons is a therapeutic vision that gently opens a doorway to reconnection. It honours the body as a vessel of sensing, the psyche as a forest of symbolic meaning, and nature as both mirror and guide. Rooted in eco-feminism, art therapy, authentic movement, and mindfulness, this approach reweaves the strands of our relationship with the more-than-human world, inviting us to find ourselves not in opposition to nature, but as part of its deep ecology (Buzzell and Chalquist, 2009; Abrams, 1996).

What is Ecological Horizons?

Ecological Horizons draws on the principle that our psychological health is entwined with the living world. Inspired by the embodied wisdom of somatic therapy (Gendlin, 1981), the intuitive expression of authentic movement (Adler, 2002), and the symbolic depth of art-making, this approach restores awareness of the “felt sense,” the subtle, bodily knowing that often speaks before words.

From a Jungian perspective, nature carries archetypal energy. Forests may reflect the unconscious, rivers our emotional life, and mountains our inner authority (Jung, 1964). When we reengage with nature through sensory play, movement, or the symbolic use of natural objects, we also tend to the archetypal layers of the psyche.

Nature as Healer: Restoring the Inner Landscape

Modern therapy rooms, however effective, are often visually sterile, flat, acoustically sealed, and stripped of organic texture. In contrast, nature offers what ecopsychologist Howard Clinebell (1996) called “eco-therapy,” the healing that arises when the psyche is re-situated in the living world. Natural materials such as clay, stones, leaves, and wood ground us, reminding us of our origins and the cyclical patterns of life.

As individuals create art with these materials, a dialogue emerges between body, psyche, and earth. This echoes the depth psychological idea of participation mystique, an unconscious identification with the surrounding world that brings psychic wholeness (Levine, 2014).

Authentic Movement and Mindful Presence

Authentic movement invites the body to become a compass, expressing what words cannot reach. It is an embodied form of active imagination, where movement becomes a symbolic narrative (Whitehouse, 1979). When practiced mindfully, it nurtures the inner witness, the part of us that can observe without judgment and allows shadow material to emerge gently, within the safety of bodily awareness (Totton, 2011).

Mindfulness, when woven with ecological awareness, deepens our capacity to attune to the moment. Walking slowly in a grove, feeling the moss underfoot, or simply breathing beside a houseplant, we return to the rhythms of being rather than doing (Kabat-Zinn, 2005). These moments invite us out of fragmented, over-stimulated mental states and into relational presence—with ourselves, with others, with the earth.

The Embodied Benefits of Ecological Horizons

Engaging in Ecological Horizons practices can bring:

• Reconnection to Self: Through touch, movement, and creative work with nature, we become more attuned to our inner landscape.

• Emotional Specificity: Natural materials activate sensory and emotional memory, offering subtle access to unconscious feelings (Levine, 2012).

• Expanded Eco-Consciousness: The feminist perspective embedded in this approach honours relationality, interdependence, and care for the earth as an extension of care for self (Plumwood, 1993).

• Aliveness and Vitality: Interaction with the natural world enhances parasympathetic nervous system regulation, decreasing stress and increasing energy (Ulrich et al., 1991).

• Symbolic Integration: Working with archetypes and embodied imagination allows the psyche to reconnect with meaning, wholeness, and the sacred (Hillman, 1995).

Bringing Nature In: Everyday Practices

Even without access to wide green spaces, we can create sanctuaries of reconnection:

1. Create a Nature Altar: Gather feathers, stones, leaves, or bark. Let each item represent an aspect of your journey or inner life.

2. Art with the Earth: Work with clay, sand, or wax to give shape to what lives beneath words. Allow symbols to emerge unbidden.

3. Mindful Movement: Let your body move without choreography. Follow the breath, the sensation, the impulse, allowing meaning to arise through motion.

4. Nature-Inspired Rituals: Light a candle as the sun sets. Water a plant with intention. Let small acts root you in time and place.

Closing Reflections

To reconnect with the natural world is not only to find peace it is to remember who we are. Through symbolic engagement, embodied sensing, and the invitation of natural elements into our lives, we reawaken the ancient pathways of belonging.

In Jungian terms, the Self is often represented by a mandala, whole, circular, and interconnected. Might nature itself be our living mandala, calling us back to the centre?

When we move slowly enough to notice a leaf falling, to feel clay warming in our hands, to follow the body's silent knowing, we remember: the world is alive, and so are we.

Let yourself return.

References

Abrams, D., 1996. The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World. New York: Vintage Books.

Adler, J., 2002. Offering from the Conscious Body: The Discipline of Authentic Movement. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions.

Buzzell, L. and Chalquist, C., 2009. Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books.

Clinebell, H., 1996. Ecotherapy: Healing Ourselves, Healing the Earth. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Gendlin, E.T., 1981. Focusing. New York: Bantam Books.

Hillman, J., 1995. The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and Calling. New York: Random House.

Jung, C.G., 1964. Man and His Symbols. London: Aldus Books.

Kabat-Zinn, J., 2005. Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness. New York: Hyperion.

Levine, S.K., 2012. Art Opens to the World: Expressive Arts and Worldmaking. In: Levine, S.K. and Levine, E.G., eds. Art in Action: Expressive Arts Therapy and Social Change. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, pp.23–41.

Levine, S.K., 2014. Poiesis: The Language of Psychology and the Speech of the Soul. 2nd ed. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Plumwood, V., 1993. Feminism and the Mastery of Nature. London: Routledge.

Totton, N., 2011. Wild Therapy: Undomesticating Inner and Outer Worlds. Ross-on-Wye: PCCS Books.

Ulrich, R.S., Simons, R.F., Losito, B.D., Fiorito, E., Miles, M.A. and Zelson, M., 1991. Stress Recovery During Exposure to Natural and Urban Environments. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 11(3), pp.201–230.

Whitehouse, M., 1979. C.G. Jung and Dance Therapy: Two Major Principles. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 3(1), pp.3–17.