We’re about as a far away as we can get from the habits of our ancestors. And it shows.

Despite the fact that we’re living longer, we’re radically less healthy.

This would have something to do with transitioning from a predominantly outdoor existence to an indoor existence. It seems that our ‘creature comforts’ have not actually been that good for us.

Once upon a time, we would wake up with the sun. No alarm clocks because, well, no electricity! We would immediately begin moving around outside.

We sat very little. Which meant that our posture was different. Posture does not simply have an effect on our spine. Good posture allows our digestive systems to work properly.

It also allows our Vagus Nerve, a crucial interior ‘highway’ that delivers messages to and from our brain and gut.

We ate differently. We ate seasonally, we ate fermented foods, and protein and fat made up the staple of our diets, especially if we lived in the Northern Hemisphere.

Nothing was sprayed or genetically modified.

Fast forward to modernity. Life most certainly has become easier but that has come with costs to our health.

We don’t need to live in caves in order to usher in some crucial Ancestral Lifestyle Hacks that can drastically improve our health, state of mind and longevity. Here are some changes that you can make that can really move the dial on your wellbeing.

Get Early Morning Sun Exposure

Early morning sun exposure does a number of things. First, it triggers the cortisol which wakes us up and gives us energy. At the same time, it increases seratonin, the ‘feel good’ neurotransmitter. It also sets us up to sleep well that night because the sun triggers our circadian clock. The more sunlight you get in the morning, the better you sleep that night. It also gets much needed Vitamin D - which is anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-depressant, heals eczema…amongst many other benefits - into our bodies. We’ve become very afraid of the sun in recent years. And yes, some people need to be careful. Largely, redheads and very fair skinned people need to watch their sun exposure. But we desperately need sunshine. Especially those of us living in the northern hemisphere. Our bodies are a storehouse for Vitamin D. The more you get in the summer months, the longer it will take you through the winter months.

Get Your Bare Feet On The Ground

‘Grounding’ or ‘Earthing’ has been studied now for decades. And the benefits are endless. The earth releases a never-ending and vast supply of electrons. Reconnection with the Earth has shown to reduce inflammation, reduce pain, improve sleep, regulates cortisol secretion, shifts the nervous system from a sympathetic state (fight or flight) to a parasympathetic state (rest and digest). We evolved to have regular contact with the earth and our bodies regulate themselves when we allow this contact, even in cold weather! This means TAKING OFF YOUR SHOES and having bare feet on the ground. At one time, the soles of our shoes were leather and that still allowed us to ground. But soles now are mostly rubber which do not allow us to conduct the Earth’s electric energy. I garden barefoot and generally do not wear shoes outside of my house in the summer. It feels AMAZING.

Let Food Be Thy Medicine

It is no surprise that our world of plenty has not been kind to our bodies through diet. At one time, we ate just what we needed and we ate the macro-nutrients (meaning, the nutrients that we cannot live without) as our primary food supply. We also ate seasonally and according to where we lived. If we lived in the northern hemisphere, we largely lived on wild meat and fish, fat and some tubers and fruit when they came into season. Many researchers, including Weston A. Price, a dentist who travelled the world and lived with traditional, ancestral tribes to find out why they simply did not have tooth decay, found out that when we eat an ancestral diet, we simply do not get sick. This would look like what is often referred to as a Paleo Diet. This diet includes meat, fish, fruit and vegetables. It also includes fermented foods and foods that are properly prepared. Ancestral diet, alone, can completely transform a body-mind.

Dance

We’ve been dancing in community for thousands of years. We didn’t have gyms or yoga classes even 100 years ago but we were not overweight and were not lacking in movement. Dancing moves the entire body and it does it joyfully. Dancing to joyful or soulful music does something to the Soul. We still use dance in early ‘mating rituals.’ When young adults go off to college or University, what do they do for fun…they go to clubs and dance! But it seems to take some time before we can dance without any self-consciousness. And that is the key to good dancing…dancing with other people in joyful and unbound ways. It is simply the best :-)

Smarter Technology

We’re officially ensconced in the era of tech and that is likely not going anywhere. But most of us have come into imbalanced relationships with our tech. We want to use IT…we don’t want IT using us. That means letting go of any social media sites that are not in some way useful to you. It means shutting down our phones and our computers after dinner. We know now that when we’re on our phones, our dopamine becomes imbalanced and our nervous systems become amped. We need lower light at night and we need to calm down our brains and bodies in order to sleep properly that night. For years now, I’ve gotten into a habit where I put my phone away after dinner. I’ve never had my phone in my bedroom…ever. I turn down the lights in our house and if I have to look something up on my computer, I shift light on my screen to ‘night light.’ Get used to reading books again. Talk to your loved ones. Read one news source a day and then stop reading the news. It’s depressing! And it creates reactivity. Take up a hobby that replaces mindless scrolling. Knitting, gardening, walking, reading (actual books), dancing, meditating, praying…anything that gets you back into your body and soothes the system.

Meditation or Prayer

I’ve been a long-time meditator. Recently, I shifted my meditation to prayer. As I recently wrote about my new journey into the Catholic Faith - to read more about this journey, please go here.

For thousands of years now, meditation or prayer has simply been our way of connecting to something powerful…something beyond the mundane and beyond our conceptual grasp. It is well known that people who both meditate and pray are healthier, have better relationships and come into a deeper relationship with something else that I’ve written about at length…Surrender.

Living a surrendered life does not mean to live nihilistically or in some kind of submissive manner. It means to align with whatever we deem to be the Highest Authority in this Universe and to ask with sincerity: SHOW ME THE WAY.

When we hit a wall, which is what we do here as human beings, this is when the Invitation to go beyond ourselves comes right to our door. It is the greatest of all invitations because it means walking the highest path that we could possibly walk. It means that we come into Communion with that which breathes life into us.

And of all of the Ancestral Hacks that I know of - of all of the hacks of any kind that I know of - this one soars above the rest.

There is a beauty and a simplicity to Life that awaits us. It is in nature, relationship, good food, fun and spirit.

Cancel the noise…remove the distractions and come Home to your health, your happiness and your Soul.