How to tune in to nature when you live in the city

Gathering food directly from your natural surroundings is profoundly connecting and satisfying. You can't get much closer to nature than by feeding yourself from the mother's breast, so to speak. This goes for hunting and fishing, too, of course, but there are more rules and regulations to consider before embarking on a hunt.

You can get a quick primer in wild edibles by attending a local class at a wildlife center or survival school or by picking up a book such as Robert Henderson's The Neighborhood Forager.

Use caution when identifying wild edible plants and go slowly when trying new foods to avoid potential allergens.

Growing your own food or useful decorative plants in small spaces is well-suited to the city. Balconies, patios, and small lawns can make much-needed improvements to a city environment. You can include water catchment devices, marsh puddles, or even a planted green roof if you own your home or building. The frogs, birds, and butterflies displaced by the pavement will thank you.

Check out Square Foot Gardening and Less Lawn, as well as Heather Flores' book Food Not Lawns for more ideas.

Sedintary lifestyles are typical and detrimental to health. Break up the monotony with an outdoor walk, run, bike ride, or swim. You'll feel invigorated, energized, and alive, because you're doing what your body knows it's supposed to do. Move, breathe, have fun.

Get even more natural: Go barefoot. Try Barefoot Running or Chi Walking.

Cities are noisy. On a subconscious level, your nervous system may be crying out for a break. Quiet your mind. It may be the only space you have have control over.

Try walking mediation, sitting mediation, and any other activity that creates a peaceful, quiet mind.