‘Mud, glorious mud’

The healing power of getting dirty

By Jeannine Tidwell
Reader Contributor

It emerges from the ground with a soft, wet, earthy smell in the spring and summer. When the sun hits it, it shines. You can squish your toes in it and feel delight from its cool, smooth dampness. You can slide in it and be surprised at where you’ll land. You can build with it, make art with it, soak or take a bath in it, wrestle in it, stomp in it and get downright dirty in it. And one of the best parts is, it’s free!

Mud, glorious mud.

In today’s sanitized world, mud might not be in your reach. However, when I consider the rich textures that make up life, mud is marvelous. It’s an essential ingredient and an important element in our connection with nature.

I ran a program with a bunch of kids one summer, guiding them in deep connections with nature. They experienced all the rich qualities of childhood: jumping into the cold waters of ponds and streams, sensing the palpable hot sun on their bodies, stalking through beds of damp leaf litter and dry pine needles, smelling green, tasting the curious flavors of bitter dandelion and savory chickweed, and getting completely covered in mud — a practice we incorporate into our summer nature camps across the Inland Northwest.

At the peak of that week, my students were guided to creep and prowl through the mud, transforming like chameleons as their bodies changed color. After an hour of slithering together through a mudslide, one student approached me and said, “Well, now I’m cleaner.”

And he was right. This wasn’t the first time I’ve seen students emerge from the muck feeling purged — cleansed not of dirt, but of schedules, screens and the constant transition from A to B. It was clear he didn’t need soap to feel fresh; all he needed was mud.

Nature connection is crucial for it gives all of us, young and old, the opportunities to touch and feel the very real textures that make up life. But nature-connection alone is not enough. We need mentors who serve as catalysts and coaches, to visibly and invisibly guide us into uncomfortable, growth-expanding moments and routines of nature-connection like creeping through mud or through thickets. 

It is in those thicket moments when we’re faced with the very real substance of ourselves. We are given the opportunity to see who we are in tough times and where we’re going with ourselves when things get itchy and uncomfortable.

While the norm is that children — and people in general — don’t get dirty, substrates like mud offer us the potential to go slow and absorb, get dirty and wet, hot or muddy. With the process of mentoring, we’re trying to break down and recycle these boxes that say we can’t get dirty or we can’t do this or that.

This summer, prioritize these unpolished, earthy experiences — for your children and for yourself. Step off the path, leave the pristine clothes behind, and give yourself permission to get unapologetically muddy. Embracing the dirt is as vital for adults as it is for that crucial 6-13 age range.

It helps us shed our rigid, day-to-day armor; relieves the pressure of perfection; and models a fearless connection to nature for the next generation. Give your whole family the space to step out of the human-made world and dive deep into the magic of the wild.

When we navigate the mud and come out the other side, we aren’t just dirty; we’re resilient. We’ve touched the earth, and in doing so, we’ve touched the very real substance of who we are.

Jeannine Tidwell is the co-founder and co-director of Sandpoint-based Twin Eagles Wilderness School, which for more than 20 years has offered survival skills, animal tracking, outdoor adventures, forging, storytelling and songs to cultivate empathy, awareness, aliveness and resiliency in local youth of all ages. Twin Eagles will host its signature Wilderness and Outdoor Survival Camps in Sandpoint, Coeur d’Alene and Spokane this summer, open to kids ages 6-13. Learn more at twineagles.org/outdoor-adventure-camp.html.