The Wisdom of Wildness: Healing the Trauma of Domestication

Written by Ren Hurst

Narrated by Ren Hurst

• Explores 13 principles of unconditional love for addressing the trauma of domestication, healing relationships, and restoring deep connection to the inner guidance of your wild soul

• Explains the nature of trauma from the perspective of emotional development

• Provides experiential practices for the cultivation of authentic relationships that are free of exploitation and codependency

HOW CAN WE RECLAIM our wild soul and approach life with authenticity and emotional maturity? Looking deeply into the nature of domestication and humanity’s relationship to other animals, Ren Hurst finds our own domestication—and our resultant disconnection from nature—to be the root trauma for much of the human experience, which we seem to perpetuate by domesticating others. Ren offers another path: she reverse-engineered the conditioning process that leads to domestication and discovered a practical road map for deprogramming and undomesticating yourself in order to heal, restore connection, and reclaim the innate wisdom of wildness within.

Sharing enlightening moments from her journey with a half-wild husky, Denali, The Wisdom of Wildness shows how only when emotional awareness and authentic leadership link in with your own wild parts can an authentic relationship between human and animal—or between oneself and another person—be possible.

In her transformative body of work, Sanctuary13, Ren unveils 13 principles of unconditional love for deprogramming yourself, healing the trauma of domestication, and reviving deep connection to inner guidance, your wild soul, and, ultimately, freedom. Experiential practices help you cultivate authentic, undomesticated relationships free of exploitation and codependency, whether with human or animal companions. Instinct, intuition, and inspiration are just waiting to be reclaimed on this paradigm-shifting path toward healing and true soul connection.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster/ Inner Traditions
• Release date: Apr 2, 2024
• ISBN: 9781797163130

Ren Hurst

Ren Hurst is an author, mentor, tracker, and guide helping people address the trauma of domestication. After 20 years of being a professional horsewoman, Ren produced a body of work called Sanctuary13 to help people restore connection to their most authentic, wild human animal nature. Ren lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Reviews for The Wisdom of Wildness

[cathorse · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The author is honestly and openly telling her story, including the difficult parts and her shortcomings, which I appreciate. I think most of us can somehow relate to the critical reflections about how we treat or have been treating animals, so it's not necessarily an easy read. What I found a bit too black and white, is to say that having a pet is always abuse. Even if abuse is defined in a softer way in the book. Co-dependency yes, and yes, we humans often have a pretty screwed up perception of what true love means (due to our own domestication, or I would rather say: felt sense of being separate from all other living beings on this planet), and yes, humans have been using animals for personal gain and some pets have to carry (too?) much of their guardiands emotional burden, that they themselves are unable to handle alone and perhaps in an ideal world "should" be able to take more responsibility for taking care of themselves, and yes: we could many times do better by the animals in our care, but isn't calling it abuse a bit unnessary harsh on well meaning pet guardians, who are trying the best they can, based on what they know how to at the time, and often feeling guilty about their inadequacy anyway? Yes, telling people that there can be other, perhaps more equal and respectful ways is great, but is it necessary to do it through a form of shaming? Perhaps it's her painful conclusion stated plainly, and somehow ringing true enough to hit me too, and I think that can either provoke us into a promise to try to do better, or then it might perhaps be painful enough to cause depression, despair or a strong counter-reaction for some who are not ready to hear it? The book is dismissing the excuse of animals having a soul contract to help us. And yes, IF used as an excuse to treat them without the respect and appreciation they deserve, then it IS a problem, but be it by soul contract or not, I still think we are all here on a shared journey, and we are all dependent on each other in one way or another, and ultimately dependent on Mother Earth for our bare survival. And yes, humanity is in dear need of help, and animals are here beside us to guide us out of isolation, and showing us the meaning of unconditional love the book speaks about, so that we can feel supported enough to heal and then bring that love into our own lives and interactions with others. The principles are thoughtworthy, and I think all of us can find us self guilty of either having failed on them in the past, or still failing at times, and I think the world would be a much better place for all to live in, if we would follow them. But we can't all move into the desert or other remote place of wilderness just like that though (or can we? What is it that is holding us back...?). Fully practising the principles can be challenging in a more urban setting, with all the human conditioning, safety concerns and perceived need of control in a city. We might simply feel that we don't have the time or place to build co-operetion based on trust, if we have vehicles, people and other dogs all around us, and then we might feel the need to resort to more harsh methods of control. Not that I'm saying that it's easy to live isolated in a desert either, but it comes with different challenges than the pressure of society and being with other humans. The most important message though, was to be fully present and to feel everything through our bodies, so we can be able to follow our inner guidance. If all the impressions and mixed energies of a modern western life are not too much to cope with in a state of such high sensitivity, that is. The book is not giving much advice on how to handle living among people; or might the principles actually work for that too? To know the difference of what is "to fully let the emotion through", and when the animal might need some help to learn how to self-regulate in order to not get re-traumatized by spending too much time in an agitated state is not that easy, as not all adult animals are emotionally mature or without trauma. neither is it clear when we need to control the pet in our care to "keep them safe", and when are we mainly just limiting them from becoming who they are meant to be? How and when to set healthy boundaries, if the behaviour is for some reason escalating to a degree that we fear it is getting out of control, and when would it be wise to let go of some, or even most of, the control we feel we need in order to feel safe? I think many things are a delicate balance and not that simple to navigate. At times I feel a paradox between the blant statements in the book, and how she acts, or how most of us would probably act too, when faced with life's challenges, but maybe that's an intentional style of expression? Or of getting her message through to the audience? Anyway, she is raising important questions to consider by all animal lovers, and those parenting human animals too. But don't expect any easy answers or quick-fix solutions, and I recommend to get ready to potentially face some pretty uncomfortable emotions while reading this book.