Night Rewilding - Alice’s Story

Alice* was very curious about night rewilding when her friend, who had been before mentioned it to her.

“When I first heard about the rewilding night, I was very intrigued and wanted to participate, though I thought 'what a strange thing to encourage women to do!’”  Here, she shares the spectrum of her experience.

Sitting in solitude in nature seemed daunting at first, I wondered how I would last 45 minutes to an hour, though it turned out to be very refreshing and a much calmer experience than I would've expected. Although I have pre-taught cautions about going into the woods at night, I was still surprised at how much fear played a role in those first few minutes, tuning in to every snap of a twig, shadow, and even questioning the possibility of wolves! However, once I settled, my mind quietened and I found that I was easily able to overcome the uneasiness. It was extremely refreshing and powerful to be able to sit and be a part of nature despite taught fears and to also sit alone with my thoughts.  I felt that being without anybody else or without a form of tangible entertainment allowed me to relax in a way that is never quite achieved elsewhere and gave my mind a sense of quiet that we can't often experience in our day to day lives. I am not a very outdoorsy person, so I felt a sense of achievement that I did in fact enjoy the quiet and feel a new connection to the world around me. Through noticing the sounds of the woods, the growing quietness of the dark and the feel of the earth and cold beneath me I felt that I was able to feel at peace and was surprised to find that I did not feel 'out of place'. It was a new and somewhat unfamiliar sense of connection that surprised me. Being in the woods at night was also a very non-typical way of how I would think to connect to nature which contributed to its power and really made me think about how we as women connect to the world around us. I also loved sitting with the group of women afterwards by the fire and sharing tea and snacks, chatting about our experience as we sat in the woods! I felt this really contributed to the experience and enhanced a sense of connection to a very primal part of being.