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Nature Connection

Mourning A Lost Connection: A Plea For A Return To The Evolved Nest

By Justine Collet

Tonight, I cried… I cried, and my body released an overflow…

These tears mark the breaking point in the face of a systemic reality: the way our current society treats childhood constitutes a fundamental flaw in our humanity.

The primary cause of this distress lies in children’s radical disconnection from the Living World, which I observe as a facilitator of Deep Nature Connection. Confined to indoor spaces and saturated with screens, they grow up in profound ignorance of Nature and disconnected from their bonds with it. Between the ages of 6 and 10, the average child cannot identify more than two species of birds, yet they can easily rattle off brand names or virtual characters. Orienting oneself by the cardinal directions, observing animal tracks, or the simple ability to sit in silence for five minutes to listen to one’s senses are skills that have been lost. I am always saddened to see the skepticism that takes hold of them when I mention the possibility of communicating with plants, hugging a tree, or practicing gratitude toward living things… this reflects a rupture in the ancestral bond between humans and their environment.

This disconnection is linked to a second tragedy: the explosion of internal violence in children, which is directly related to the pervasive violence in this society. Lacking quality time with their attachment figures—often reduced to just a few hours at the end of the day—and in order to meet adults’ expectations, children sacrifice their authenticity to preserve a precarious bond. This emotional insecurity turns into anxiety, pathological shyness, or explosive aggression, mimicking the normalized violence they absorb through the media and their environment. I have witnessed, in educational and family settings, this silent suffering, these moments of distress where adults’ inaction implicitly validates the norm of “ordinary educational violence.” Yet let us remember that all violence is a symptom of unacknowledged pain…

This violence is transgenerational. It is the toxic legacy of parents who are themselves traumatized, repeating patterns they never had the opportunity or the courage to heal. Caught in a vise of stress, loneliness, and social pressures, modern, exhausted parents become the unwitting carriers of this chain of suffering. Lacking models of emotional regulation and the time for their own healing, they pass on to their children a legacy of reactivity and disconnection.

This observation extends to the very architecture of our “acultural” society. We have normalized the abnormal: segregation by age, confinement in sterile homes that isolate us, early separation of mother and child, industrialized food, and the primacy of work over human connection. Within this system, “anti-social” networks become the sole refuge for connection, paradoxically marked by toxicity and verbal violence that reflect the state of collective disarray.

Faced with this bleak picture, the solution does not lie in tweaking superficial educational methods, but in a radical return to our evolutionary biology. As theorized by psychologist Darcia Narvaez, we must rebuild the “Evolved Nest.” This developmental nest, essential to a child’s neurobiological and emotional health, is based on nine components that our society has eroded:

The Lived Experience of the Evolved Nest (see the Learned Experience here.)

  1. Nature Immersion and connection
  2. Regular healing practices
  3. Prompt and warm responses to the child’s needs (not letting them cry).
  4. Years of breastfeeding on demand.
  5. The constant presence of several nurturing adults (the role of the “village”).
  6. Positive physical care and gentle touch on a daily basis.
  7. The freedom to play independently with children of various ages.
  8. Soothing perinatal experiences.
  9. A welcoming environment

Recognizing this lack is painful, especially when it collides with the reality of our own children and the difficulties and suffering they may experience. However, neuroplasticity and the ability to repair the attachment bond offer tangible hope. Secure attachment can be rebuilt through patience, compassion, love and play.

We stand at a crossroads. Millions of years of evolution cannot be erased by a few centuries of industrial disconnection. The need for this “Evolved Nest” remains ingrained within us, accessible through our deepest intuition. While exhaustion in the face of a sick society may tempt us toward exile or withdrawal, our collective responsibility calls on us to work, here and now, to reweave this bond. Showing our children that another reality is possible—one rooted in the wisdom of Indigenous peoples and respect for all living things—is not an option, but a vital necessity for the future of humanity.

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Justine Collet

My name is Justine. I am a mother of two unschooled boys. I strive to raise them following the “Evolved Nest” model developed by Darcia Narvaez.

Trained as a physiotherapist, I worked for nine years with children with disabilities before turning toward my artistic passion. For two years, I attempted to make a living through illustration, creating nature-inspired works and a first children’s book using watercolors I make myself from natural pigments.

Realizing the difficulty of sustaining a livelihood solely through illustration, and reflecting on how much better I felt outdoors during my years as a physiotherapist, I deepened my connection to nature. I trained in nature animation before founding my association, Graines de Sauvages. Its mission is to facilitate connection to nature and to one another through forest workshops, programs and guidance for children, families, and parents.

It was during the launch of the association that I discovered the 8 Shields » model – Deep Nature Connection, following the teachings of Jon Young and the Connection First team. Since then, I have integrated these connection routines into my daily life and work.

In parallel, I launched the podcast Nature et Connection, where I had the privilege of interviewing Jon Young. It was he who advised me to explore the Evolved Nest model. This discovery was a revelation: I saw it as the “cornerstone” and the missing link connecting all my convictions. This model not only offers a complete map of fundamental human needs but also provides the scientific validation behind these intuitions. This is how I became an ambassador for the Evolved Nest.

As an ambassador, my objective is twofold:

Transmit knowledge: Through conferences to raise public awareness about our fundamental needs, what we have lost, and what is urgent to reclaim.
Put it into practice: Through the Dawn Chant ( Le Chant de l’aube) program, with which I support parents in restoring this connection. These sessions blend theory, nature practices, and live exchange times to foster social bonding.
Finally, drawing on my experience as a facilitator, I became aware of the trauma carried by many adults and decided to pivot toward family therapy to better support children, parents, and families. I am currently training in Gabor Maté’s approach « Compassionate Inquiry » and Dafna Lender’s Integrative Family Therapy based on Attachment. I subsequently plan to train in family and systemic psychotherapy and the Theraplay method.

I aim to integrate the principles of the Evolved Nest into my future therapeutic practice: nature therapy, play therapy, collective healing rituals, community regeneration, and the promotion of a benevolent climate – the importance of nurturing fundamental needs from childhood, specifically through positive touch and breastfeeding.

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