Earthly Bodies

Environmentalist and educator Vanessa Chakour uses our unique connection to the animal world to reveal new ways to get the most from our inner life

What can we learn about sustaining love from the behavior of seahorses? How can the habits of jaguars help us channel our creativity? What guidance do the hunting patters of red-tailed hawks offer us about deepening our insight?

In <Earthly Bodies<, Vanessa Chakour shares&nbsp;pivotal encounters with creatures that reconnected her to the rhythms and demands of the primal,&nbsp;showing how to effectively use and rely on&nbsp;the intelligence of gut instinct; the magnetic pull of attraction; the body&rsquo;s mandate for restorative rest; and the sacred bonds of love. Like wolves, foxes, bears, and our other wild kin, our earthly human bodies can bring us pleasure, love, wonder, healing, and connection&mdash;yet we often cut ourselves off from identifying with wild animals out of fear, ignorance, or disgust.&nbsp;

Chakour reframes the notion that animal instincts are to be corrected or corralled, and honors how these parts of us guide us to meet our most basic needs&mdash;hunger, desire, anger, and other emotions we are taught to short-circuit&mdash;and open us up to deeper self-actualization and a stronger connection to the wisdom of the animal kingdom.

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Vanessa Chakour

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Examining the cultural belief that our animal instincts are to be corrected or corralled, nature advocate and rewilding facilitator Vanessa Chakour explores our inner and outer landscapes through the lens of wild animals.

How can wolves, misunderstood in myths but vital to ecosystems, teach us to rewrite dangerous stories and respect nature’s wisdom? How do the peaceful coexistence strategies of black bears offer insights into sharing resources? How can the engineering feats of beavers guide us in fostering regenerative building solutions and vibrant ecosystems? What can the loyal partnership of seahorses teach us about nurturing and love?

In Earthly Bodies, Vanessa draws parallels from struggles she has weathered in her own life to those endured by twenty-three wild animals—from wolves to sea lions—exploring our unease of feeling like prey; challenging the entrapment of our limiting beliefs; contextualizing the turmoil of fractured landscapes; and affirming our primal ache to belong.

Vanessa’s pivotal encounters with creatures in sync with their primal rhythms and demands illustrate the necessity of relying on the intelligence of gut instinct; of the magnetic pull of attraction; of the body’s mandate for restorative rest; and of the sacred bonds of love. We often cut ourselves off from identifying with wild animals—like wolves, foxes, bats and bears, and other animal relatives—out of fear, ignorance, disgust, or misunderstanding, yet our earthly human bodies can lead us in our pursuits of pleasure, love, wonder, healing, and connection.

With each section containing an aspect of injured animal’s return home to their natural habitat, and—in our case—to an embodied, instinctual self, Earthly Bodies meditates on how this journey from enclosures, to rehabilitation, to soft release, and finally to homing raises questions about our humanity. In so learning, we understand how we might benefit from embracing our own animal nature to gain deeper self-actualization, find common ground with our fellow animals, and learn to thrive together.