Hippie, tree-hugger, free-spirit, crunchy, granola. Living a Neo-Hippie Lifestyle in the 2020s is a little different than the original hippies of the 60s, but there are many similarities. The key to being a modern day hippie lies in a hippie’s liberal views, love of mother earth, spirituality, and a belief in freedom of the body.
Embrace love, peace, and freedom of mind and body!
Original Hippie Lifestyle: What is a hippie?
Hippies originated in California, United States, in the 1950s and 60s as a counterculture—in other words, it went against mainstream society. Hippie philosophy was seen as a youth movement. In this hippie movement, young people began rejecting materialism and living in communes. These free spirits’ history is full of psychedelic music, sexual freedom, and the use of drugs to achieve alternative states of consciousness.
Let’s learn a little more about those original 60s hippies.
Fashion
When it came to hippie fashion, the hippies of the late 60s wore ripped bell-bottom jeans, long hair for both men and women, tie-dye, vests, peasant tops, and long skirts. They would often make their own clothing in protest of corporate culture (capitalism).
Men would often be shirtless and women frequently did not wear bras.
Peace signs and flowers were popular.
Embed from Getty Images“Free Love”
Taboos surrounding sex went out the window with hippies in the 60s. Polyamory, homosexuality, group sex, experimentation, and sex in public all became commonplace. Sex and relationships were more open, and they were more talked about without jealousy or anger.
Many held the slogan “If it feels good, do it!”
Drugs
Many hippies were seeking an alternate state of being, and they did so through the use of drugs, both natural and manufactured. Peyote, mushrooms, and LSD were all very common in the hippie culture. Cannabis use was also very prolific.
Music
Because of the use of drugs, acid rock or psychedelic rock became popular. People like Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix led the way, with other popular bands like Jefferson Airplane. Music festivals were also incredibly popular.
Politics
Most of these hippies were active in changing the policies of the day. They were fiercely liberal and attended marches. In fact, I even have a prior coworker whose parents were hippies and took her as a child to the march on Washington, in 1963!
It’s worth noting that many of these original hippies were actually white, middle class youth who had the luxury of being able to just leave it all and take off on a trip. Yes, they hated the Vietnam war and preached world peace. They supported the Civil Rights Movement. They fought capitalism with their lifestyle and how they spent their money.
But it is worth noting that these types of hippies would rather spend their time hanging out, doing LSD, and going to concerts than protesting. While hippies had liberal ideals, they did not spend their time on actually changing the policy of society.
Spirituality
Hippies rejected organized religion in favor for more personal spiritual beliefs and religions like Buddhism or Taoism. Even Wicca, which was a religion invented by Gerald Gardner in the 1950s out of old pagan beliefs and traditions, was popular with hippies.
Modern-Day Hippies of 2024
None of these things are to glorify the hippies of the 1960s. They may have been idealists who believed in utopia, but they also didn’t bathe and did a lot of drugs. But through their example, they helped lead the way to better policies and positive change.
For example, because of those original hippies, we have gradually (since the 60s) developed a more mainstream acceptance of the spectrum of sexuality that culminated in the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015.
We can also thank those original hippies for helping gain a wider acceptance of marijuana use, which, hopefully will be legalized country-wide this year. Oregon became the first state to legalize all drugs in November, 2020.
Things are a little different in today’s world, but many of the core values of hippies have remained. Let’s learn how to be modern-day hippies!
Neo Hippie or Hipster
Just a note here: don’t confuse the terms “hippie” and “hipster”.
“Hipster” was a term that appeared in its current meaning in the 1990s, but it grew in popularity in the 2010s. Usually it refers to “bohemians” who exist in a counterculture and reject anything mainstream.
As “Travels Of Adam” defines it:
Hipsters try to set themselves apart from culture as a whole, while simultaneously remaining within the culture.
The main difference between a hippie and a hipster is how they relate to the world. Hippies embrace their culture fully and don’t care what mainstream people think of them. Hipsters want to appear different. Yes, they care about some important issues, but hipsters value the look over the philosophy.
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15 Sure-fire Signs You Live a Neo Hippie Lifestyle
Hippies are more than just tie-dye and bell-bottoms. You’ve seen from above the importance of some serious social issues in a hippie’s beliefs. Let’s take a look at how those translate to your inner hippie in 2024.
Hippie Lifestyle Sign #1. You vote liberal
Political ideology is an important aspect of being a hippie. As you read above, “Hippie” is all about rejecting mainstream culture and Judeo-Christian influence. While those original hippies were more about “live and let live” in their practice, modern hippies are more involved in politics, especially here in the United States. They paved the way for us to break through many of the social structures that exist to suppress the voices of non-white, non-Christian lives.
Modern-day hippies might believe in the legalization of marijuana.
They might believe in a woman’s right to an abortion.
Black Lives Matter, Indigenous nations’ issues, and intersectional feminism are all strong movements to support as a hippie in 2024. Tearing down the structures that contribute to religious oppression, white supremacy, climate change, and rampant capitalism are also important.
Moreover, hippies have extreme empathy and respect for all living things and generally believe that everyone should have basic rights and support to live.
#2. You’re passionate about recycling and reducing plastic use
A neo-hippie lifestyle typically means that you are all about recycling, minimizing waste, and finding alternatives to plastic. Especially one-time use plastics.
Neo hippies are passionate about our earth and things that are natural, just like our fore-hippies before us. The difference is that climate change and plastics were not in the dire state that they are in in 2021. Single-use plastics are terribly detrimental to our earth. So you might be interested in reusable metal straws. Or you might carry your own reusable tumbler to Starbucks in the morning.
Or maybe you use reusable silicone wraps in place of plastic wrap, or make your own reusable sandwich bags.
The hippie today practices different ways of changing our habits around single-use plastics.
Hippie Lifestyle Sign #3. You practice meditation
Many of those original hippies used drugs to seek an alternate state of consciousness. But we modern hippies reject drugs in favor of a more pure state of being, which definitely isn’t the worst thing!
Meditation is the quieting of the mind to help us live in the present moment. It has been practiced for thousands of years, and it’s scientifically very healthy for us. It can lower stress, ease pain, and lower our blood-pressure.
Mindful magazine says,
We “practice” mindfulness so we can learn how to recognize when our minds are doing their normal everyday acrobatics, and maybe take a pause from that for just a little while so we can choose what we’d like to focus on.
This helps us negate our anger, let go of fear and jealousy, and aid in our spiritual development, just like hippies of over a half century ago.
#4. As a neo hippie, you dress unconventionally
When looking at pictures from the late 1960s, there is never any doubt if someone was a hippie. But today, hippies have a wide variety of styles and might be a little harder to pick out of a crowd.
Modern hippies still dress unconventionally. Most workwear today is constructed from polyester—a fabric made from coal, petroleum, air, and water. YES- you’re wearing plastic that has been created from the same stuff that is used to make gasoline, kerosene, and other oils.
Most modern clothes have polyester. But modern hippies don’t dress traditionally because they opt for more natural fibers, like linen, cotton, and wool. Fabrics made from bamboo and hemp are also more eco-friendly and might be something you see a hippie wear.
While 1960s hippies wore long, natural hair, the men wore beards, and the women didn’t wear bras, hippies today may not look the same, but we don’t necessarily look “mainstream”.
Bohemian styles have become more mainstream, but that doesn’t mean that hippies have given them up. Many hippies choose to wear peasant-tops, long skirts, feathers, and jeans. Some even still wear bell bottoms! But there’s a much wider variety of styles that a modern-day hippie employs.
So whether you practice mindful shopping and buy only eco- and ethically-made clothes with natural fibers, or you shop at a thrift store for used clothes, the modern hippie is very conscious about their clothes.
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#5. Your hippie lifestyle includes a garden
As crunchy, earth-loving, granola hippie mamas, you might have a garden, particularly a vegetable garden. Hippies are certainly huge lovers of nature!
Gardens are historical, but saw a boom in the 2010s as people became more health-conscious and wanted to know what was in their food.
Not only are gardens great for growing our own produce, but there’s actually evidence that gardening increases our health and longevity. And if those hippies of old wanted more reason to remain dirty and not take a bath, here’s some good evidence:
There is both good and bad bacteria in dirt, which, when our immune system is exposed to it, it develops defenses against it! So if you want a healthy, hippie child, let them roll around in the dirt all they want!
#6. You take regular hikes, travel, and visit different cultures
Important to both modern-day hippies and hipsters, travel is an amazing way to learn about the world. Hippies prefer to learn through immersion in a culture and experiencing it rather than reading about it in a book. This can help the development of empathy, as discussed in #1 above.
Not only that, but travel can enhance our spiritual experiences.
From YourTango:
Travel can heighten curiosity about different spiritual practices. Sometimes, a long road trip or a secluded retreat away from home is the missing key that finally unlocks the new spiritual quest we’ve been hoping for.
Hippie Lifestyle Sign #7. You embrace Eastern or non-traditional religion ideology
Many people who are neo hippies embrace what we think of as “alternate” religions in our world. However, hippies know the real deal.
The fact is that while Christianity has been around for 2,021 years, Buddhism has been around for over 2,500 years. And Hinduism, which is practiced in India and the surrounding area, has been around for 4,000 years. Paganism—although it is not a single, organized religion—refers to polytheism and ritual practices that predate Christianity.
(Just a quick note that neo-hippies know that Native American religions are very sacred to Native American communities, which do not support the cultural appropriation of their religious rituals!)
You don’t have to adopt an entire religion. Many hippies burn incense, use singing bowls, burn intention candles, or find and celebrate gods and goddesses that resonate with their lives. You might believe in a higher power, and the healing power of your own bodies.
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#8. You love animals and/or eat vegan as a neo hippie
Living a neo hippie lifestyle is more apparent if you love animals.
Hippies love having fun and enjoying themselves, and what better way than to take a run with your pooch or play with your cat?
And we’ve discussed the hippie’s connection to empathy already, and people often feel a strong empathetic connection to animals. A hippie’s high value of all living things can manifest in the love of animals.
Another side to loving animals is eating vegan. You believe that animals are beautiful creatures of God, the creator, the universe, and they should be treated fairly.
Eating animals is not only detrimental to our environment, but it is detrimental to the collective spirit of the human experience. If you don’t eat vegetarian diets, you’re likely very conscious about where your meat comes from, especially considering how beef farms contribute significantly to global warming.
#9. You embrace no-waste methods in the kitchen
Composting is a way of life?! So much food goes to waste in our modern world, but composting can turn our food waste into beautiful gardens. Here are some things that can be composted:
- egg shells
- tea bags
- raw vegetable pieces or peels
- banana peels
- apple skins
- leaves
- potato peels
- citrus rinds
No fats or meats can be composted though, so be careful.
What a beautiful way to recycle and celebrate our earth!
Make sure you check out Best Boho Baby Clothes for Girls and Boys
#10. Your hippie lifestyle includes using public transportation, biking, or live close to work
More people are saying no to toxic fossil fuels and choosing alternative means of transportation, like biking, for example.
Burning fossil fuels like gasoline or oil is bad for the environment and bad for public health. Most families started moving away from cities and into the suburbs in the 1950s, which meant they had a much bigger commute to get to their jobs in the city.
The dependence on fossil fuels was just starting, but hopefully, with innovations like electric cars and powerful climate change activists like Greta Thunberg, that will be changing very soon.
And neo-hippies like yourself are helping to do your part. More people, especially young workers, are moving back into the cities and living closer to work, biking to work, and taking public transportation! Go you!
Hippie Lifestyle Sign #11. You believe in a woman’s right to choose
Choose what?
Choose to breastfeed or not.
Choose how to dress.
Choose to have sex or not.
Choose to buy her own house or not.
Choose to have an abortion or not.
Choose how to live.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, may she rest in peace, was an ultimate hippie spirit, paving the way for women of all walks of life to live as freely as men and to have total ownership of their bodies.
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#12. Your hippie lifestyle includes a love of nature
If you’re the kind of person who finds themselves watching the sunrise, admiring the beauty of wildflowers, or observing the way veins run through a leaf, you might be a hippie.
The wonderful gifts of nature are all around us, but it is frequently taken for granted. In fact, nature has a lot of good health benefits.
Being in nature, or even viewing scenes of nature, reduces anger, fear, and stress and increases pleasant feelings. Exposure to nature not only makes you feel better emotionally, it contributes to your physical wellbeing, reducing blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and the production of stress hormones. It may even reduce mortality.University of Minnesota
Neo hippies may even use nature to decorate their homes or bodies!
#13. You enjoy your body and believe others should too (their own or yours!)
One of the biggest beliefs that hippies held was: “If it feels good, do it!”
Sex was a huge part of hippie culture back in the day, and it’s just the same now. Whether you’re in a monogamous relationship, practice polyamory, or like having sex with both women and men, neo hippies celebrate pleasure. They believe there should be no shame or taboo around sex.
Hippies of all flavors support LGTBQ+ and their ability to be open, out, and safe in our society. Modern hippies are also extremely body positive and believe that we should love our bodies!
For more body positivity, check out yoga teacher Jessamyn Stanley.
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#14. You practice minimalism as a modern-day hippie
If you’re a hippie, you might be interested in owning fewer things in your life because of opposition to materialism.
This is known as minimalism.
Hippies in the 1960s made their own clothes, ditched their body care items, and went out on the road with few possessions. Now-a-days, modern hippies have a tendency to reign it in a little while still minimizing their possessions.
The Minimalists Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, from my hometown of Dayton Ohio, say:
We focus on making room for more: more time, more passion, more creativity, more experiences, more contribution, more contentment, more freedom. Clearing the clutter from life’s path helps make that room.
Minimalism is a huge movement and it means something different for each individual that practices it. But decluttering your stuff to find more enjoyment in your life is a very hippie thing to do!
#15. You reject traditional cleaning products
Last, you might reject those awful chemicals in cleaning products. Hippies celebrate the natural world and want to preserve it, but chemicals just pollute it more. The original hippies didn’t bathe a lot anyway, so they would have supported your quest to clean a little less.
Cleaning your home and space with things like baking soda, vinegar, or essential oils is not only better for the environment, it’s actually healthier for you. While traditional cleaners can contain carcinogens (or chemicals that cause cancer), cleaning with vinegar and water is just as good.
Besides, you remember those good bacteria from dirt in the gardening example above? The same applies here. When you kill off all bad and good bacteria, you’re putting your immune system in jeopardy.
15 More Signs You Might Be a Neo Hippie
Here are some other hippie lifestyle choices that you might find yourself doing:
- You volunteer
- You breastfeed your babies
- You used cloth diapers for your babies
- You don’t wear a bra
- You collect wildflowers
- You use a bidet
- You practice natural contraceptives like the fertility awareness method
- You go barefoot or wear zero drop shoes
- You pick up litter on the ground when you see it
- You have an affiliation for long skirts, wild hair, crochet, or feathers
- You dig astrology
- You use cloth napkins instead of paper towels
- You watch what you eat… no to chemical-filled junk, yes to fresh fruits and veggies
- You’ve tried microdosing on shrooms
- You listen to ambient sound music
Check out some more Hippie Posts!
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Conclusion
I have found that being a modern day hippie helps me live a healthier life, practice self-love and find a stronger sense of belonging with my community.
Are you a modern hippie?!
Drop me a comment below and share what your experience has been like! I’d love to hear from you!
Fan tastic
Thursday 20th of July 2023
BIG BIG POINT: WOMEN CHOOSE TO HAVE CHILDREN OR NOT. WE CHOOSE!! and it should be totally acceptable (which still isn't) if we don't want them. Society needs to accept childless by choice.
Also just eat the peels on most fruits and veggies, just scrub it. You can even eat citrus peels, just blend them.
Natural diet, nutrition paired with biohacking is also a big aspect you have missed out.
Dawn Elizabeth
Saturday 22nd of July 2023
I like that you've mentioned diet and biohacking. You're totally right! Thanks for the suggestion!
Charlie M
Tuesday 17th of May 2022
I would like to also add cheerfulness or good cheer to the mix.
Erik Simon Paul
Friday 7th of January 2022
I’ll add that this is still a fairly limited approach to what a hippie is ultimately looking for— for peace, love, joy, unity, purity.
In every movement or culture, there are inadvertent limitations preventing the grand objective.
Regarding the point of religion, we need to abandon all concepts of differentiation or division. The problem with Christianity isn’t Christ; it’s the countless people who have done a poor job doing/living as Christ taught. Not because the teachings were flawed, but humans are flawed, and in the western world we get high exposure to the myriad blunders of people and institutions proclaiming to be “christian.”
The truth is, all truth is truth to the human family, and it’s all been part in the various major religions/philosophies over time. In other words, the Buddha, Muhammad, Christ are all on the same team and taught/believed/lived the same values, but language, interpretation and cultures since, have created lines of separation. “Capital C Christian” - love and empathy for all, humility, non judgement because all are good and we are as imperfect as anyone. Moderation in self for the sake of positive purity, focus, reduction in fleeting distraction, and greater-good utilitarianism (think Dalai Lama or Mother Theresa).*
Interestingly, the Book of Mormon (600bc) (which btw is far more interesting and enlightening than its reputation suggests) mentions a “great whore of all the earth” that twists spiritual teachings to justify abuse of the poor, acts of violence and greed, and leads countless people astray (that covers the gamut of religions, but think of some medieval (or even more recently KKK related) “lower case christian” organizations and the damage and harm they’ve done to people, and in modern times to make all people believe religion is evil.
*https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/evil-deeds/201207/sex-celibacy-and-spirituality-why-the-dalai-lama-doesnt-date?amp
Also, Trump and his mindless folks (pardon my judginess) are the worst, but liberal politics are not sufficient to be the answer either. The “middle way”, win-win for all humanity, is more in line with what I personally imagine hippies idealize.
M
Friday 9th of September 2022
@Erik Simon Paul, The book Mormon was written in 1830.
Jylah
Saturday 29th of May 2021
Hey what di you think about white people (like hippies) wearing dreadlocks, and the critique around cultural appropriation? Is it moralistic, punitive, divisive policing, or is there something legit to the critiques of whites with locks?
Thanks so much for your thoughts!
JOJO
Monday 3rd of January 2022
@Dawn Perez, any time someone copies somebody's style, I was always told that was th greatest compiment, no matter who you are or what you believe.
Dawn Perez
Monday 31st of May 2021
I think there is a huge distinction between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation and that the difference stems from education. The original hippies who sported dreads probably didn't know where dreadlocks came from, just thought saw some Rastafarians and it was cool, so they adopted wearing them. This is definitely cultural appropriation.
Actually, dreadlocks have origins all over the world, including Poland, Vikings, Africa, Australia, India, and the Rastafarian movement, which of course is Jamaican with African (specifically Ethiopian) roots. Sometimes they were religious or spiritual, and sometimes not. In fact, many sources say that early Christians wore their hair in dreadlocks.
Many people today are getting better at learning about the origins of things like this before they decide they decide to adopt a certain aesthetic look. So in today's world, personally, I would certainly expect that a white person with dreadlocks be able to talk a little bit about why they have them, what the history is, and how they appreciate aspects of this culture they're adopting. And if what they want to adopt has very sacred or religious roots to a very specific group of peoples like the Zia symbol on the New Mexico flag (the Zia nation never gave any sort of permission and have very closed religious rituals), if the white person really wants to be respectful, they won't use it.
There's no hard and fast rule for cultural appropriation. I feel it's always best to learn the history and be respectful. These are just my thoughts, I hope they help!