Kathleen Bednarek

Every Small Interaction

Wild Inside grounds itself in memoir as Lockyer explores her nomadic upbringing and wayward youth before finding her vocation as an occupational therapist. As the founder of the NatureLed™ approach, Lockyer emphasizes our biological need for nature, relationship, and regulation. With engaging clarity, she demonstrates how conscious attention to our bodies and the natural environment can reclaim a profound sense of joy in our lives.

The true gift of Wild Inside is it prizes utility. The book poses thought-provoking questions paired with mindfulness cues, blending Lockyer’s perspectives along with scientific data, step-by-step exercises and reflections, ultimately revealing how even after trudging through our modern, sensory disorienting world, we can easily reconnect.

Consider this example Lockyer offers:

"Have you ever walked barefoot across small pebbles? Think about how your body changes. You slow down, lower your center of gravity, bend your knees, widen your stance, and let your hips absorb the impact. You place your feet carefully, unconsciously testing for sharp stones before committing your weight."

Reading this I shifted into realization: When was the last time I stopped to notice such a simple act? While I may have registered the sensations of walking barefoot, I had never truly delved into how it connects and serves my physical wellbeing, or my sanity. I realized I had either taken these moments for granted or dismissed them as ordinary actions with no deeper purpose.

While Wild Inside is primarily geared toward parents and caregivers, its insights into our “neural-nature networks” are profoundly useful for any reader.

As a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), providing support to children and young people caught in the confusing, and often chaotic, child welfare system, I recently integrated Lockyer’s insights during a visit with the child I represent. I could feel the wisdom of Wild Inside returning to my mind as I watched the young girl—who is typically confined to the urban landscape of Philadelphia—play in a creek at a local park. She was completely entranced as we collected stones from the creek bed, absorbing the beauty of what she called "crystals." As the cold, running water rushed over her hands, and as she rinsed the silt away to reveal the colors of the stones, her wonder was evident. By the time we had to leave, her transformation was palpable: she was genuinely happy and content. There was no placating and no complicated actions needed to soothe, just the peace of her pure, unstructured interaction with nature that she instinctively found on her own. And, the practical beauty of it? The creek was only a minute’s walk from the main road–it didn’t take long to be transported.

Let them play. Let them feel. Let them discover who they are by moving through the world in their own skin.

Wild Inside finds power in this deeper resonance. We know a hike is good for us, but Lockyer explains why on a neurological and embodied level. Her knowledge is tested and rooted in clear explanation. She reminds us that nature offers sensory coherence—patterned signals like a bird’s call or the smell of rain allow our brains to relax. In contrast, screens and manufactured blinking, beeping toys often create sensory dissonance.

Wild Inside is a call to respect nature as if our lives depend on it—because they do. Lockyer warns that we must champion our natural sources of coherence. After all, in the modern world, a mobile phone is often easier to locate than a large, sturdy tree to climb or a creek to explore. It comes at a great cost if we don’t— as outdoor play has decreased over recent decades, rates of anxiety, depression, and behavioral challenges in children have increased.

We may be living through the first era in history when, instead of actively taking part in raising our young, we have reduced nature to mere background noise and discordant notes. The road to becoming human is increasingly blocked.

As humans we experience a rich sensory interplay. For instance, interoception (a sense of our internal states–a gut sense), ecoception (a sense of nature), and alloception (a sense of each other). Lockyer urges us to consider how these elements create the story of our habilitation–physical nourishment for our senses, space for emotional processing, and a sense of social belonging. Notice it’s not re-habilitation (fixing something we perceive as broken), but habilitation–developing the innate and fundamental state to which we are naturally receptive.

And like so many of us, I had to learn that healing begins not necessarily with what we do, but with how we show up.

Wild Inside invites us to “be well.” Lockyer reminds us that our wellbeing is not a place to reach, but a state already written into our nature.

One we are meant to nurture and share with each other as we honor the natural world with a growing sense of gratitude and awe.