The 15 Practice Keys

Each Practice Key is a simple, repeatable way of spending time with nature. Some will call to you straight away; others will make sense later. There is no right order.

← All 15 Practice Keys

Practice Key

Awaken your mind's eye

Hold what you saw in your mind and see it again later.

A single white wood anemone above deeply cut leaves

A clear peaty stream winding through heathland

Your mind's eye lets you recall an encounter, not just how it looked but the sounds, smells and textures too. Practised on purpose, it strengthens memory and imagination together, and it's one of the core routines of nature connection described by Jon Young.

Look carefully, close your eyes and rebuild what you saw, then open them and check. What you notice outside becomes something you can carry and revisit, and that sharpens your attention the next time you're out. Just keep what you imagined separate from what you actually observed.

Try this week

Study a flower for a minute, close your eyes, and picture it.
Replay this morning's walk in your head before bed.
Sketch a leaf from memory, then compare.

Explore 17 Awaken your mind's eye activity guides Back to the Practice Keys

Safety, and where the activity guides come from

Look after yourself and others. Outdoor activities carry real risks: fire, tools, water, weather, heights, plants, fungi, animals and getting lost. Every activity guide includes safety notes, but you are responsible for your own safety and for anyone in your care. Supervise children closely, get the landowner's permission, follow the Countryside Code, never eat anything you cannot identify with complete certainty, and only light fires where it is allowed and safe. If in doubt, leave it out.

With gratitude to the lineage. The Wilding Practice Keys and many of the activities in the activity guides have been adapted from the core routines of nature connection in the 8 Shields approach (Coyote Mentoring), mapped by Jon Young and shared in Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature (Young, Haas & McGown).

These ways of noticing and belonging are far older than any book. They grow from the knowledge of Indigenous and land-based peoples around the world, who have lived in close relationship with the land for thousands of years and have kept that knowledge alive, often in the face of great loss. Jon Young describes 8 Shields as built on patterns of nature connection he found in Indigenous cultures around the world, and on what his mentors taught him, including the teachings passed down through Tom Brown Jr. from Grandfather Stalking Wolf. Our own ancestors in these islands once knew the land in this way too.

I offer Wilding with deep respect and thanks to all of them. It does not claim or copy any culture's ceremonies or sacred practices. It is a UK way of carrying forward simple, shared human ways of paying attention, giving thanks and belonging to a place. — Jay