How to rewild your relationship

It’s all too easy to let your relationship settle into a passion-quenching routine of household chores, TV and choosing dinner. We were sure that the outdoors was the answer, so we spoke to the gurus at Project Love about how to rewild a relationship. With their 16 years' experience in coaching, psychology and helping love flourish, we asked them for their top five tips to rewild your relationship. These simple exercises give you a few ways to connect to nature and each other. Do try these at home!

Photos from tips one and four are from The Project Love Rewilding Weekend at Brook House Woods.

Get out and check-in

Go for a walk in nature and check-in with one another. How is life and how are we? Take it in turns to answer three simple prompts:

-What would you like to celebrate right now in your life?

What is a challenge for you at the moment?
What positive intention would you like to set going forward e.g. ‘three times a week I am going to switch my phone off every night at 6pm’ or ‘I’m going to make my wellbeing a top priority this month’

Dream big

Taking time to step back, reflect and ask ourselves if we’re creating lives that we love is vital. Doing that together with your partner is all the more powerful. Gaze up at the open sky and share the deep ambitions you normally keep hidden. Promise mutual support to each other in fulfilling them and make plans for doing so.

Hearts and crafts

Have a go at creating a mandala, out of natural ingredients. Gather (no cutting or picking) natural items and arrange them in a circular pattern. Making something together in this meditative way helps to foster intimacy and presence in a space of stillness.

Grow together

According to research one of the key things couples can do to grow closer is to try new things and learn new skills together. Find something that you both want to learn and that gets you outdoors - whether that’s paddle boarding, green woodworking or straw bale building - feel your relationship strengthen as your new skill grows.

Read and share

Learn together about the wonders of nature. Read books like The Secret Life of Trees, How Animals Grieve or Forest Bathing - take it in turns to read excerpts from the book as you lie out in the open. As you deepen your understanding of the natural world, you deepen your connection with your surroundings and with one another.