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n Japan, its called shinrinyoku,which translates as forest

bathing. Its the practice of immersing yourself in nature to improve your
well-being, and interest in the concept
is growing, with spas, resorts, retreat
centers, gardens and parks offering
guided forest bathing experiences.
These programs take participants
into the woods for a slow, mindful walk
to contemplate nature with all the senses. Its not a hike, because you dont go
far or fast. And while the term forest
bathing may lend itself to jokes about
nude hot springs, rest assured: You dont
take off your clothes.
We walked through the woods
and were just able to absorb what was
surrounding us: the beauty of nature,
the beauty of the world, from the smallest details, the pebbles under your feet
or the branches and the bark on the
trees, to how the air felt and listening
to the sounds around us, said Rona
London, who participated in a forest
bathing experience at Mohonk
Mountain House in New Paltz, New
York. It was absolutely wonderful.
The benefits of shinrin-yoku
were formally recognized in the
early 1980s by Japans Ministry of
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
While it might seem obvious that
a walk in the woods is good for you,
theres also research on the physiological effects showing that it can
lower blood pressure, heart rates and
stress hormones.
Amos Clifford, who founded the
Association of Nature and Forest
Therapy Guides and Programs , leads
a variety of forest bathing experiences,
from walks in Sugarloaf Ridge State
Park in Kenwood, California, to programs at Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary
in Freestone, California, and The
Lodge at Woodloch, a resort in Hawley,
Pennsylvania.
Clifford, who has a background in
Zen meditation and in marriage and
family counseling, also trains guides in
forest therapy. But hes careful to say that
forest therapists are not qualified to
diagnose or treat mental health issues.
We say the forest is the therapist,he
said. The guide opens the doors.
Cliffords three-hour guided walks
might cover only a quarter-mile (fourtenths of a kilometer). The ideal trail,
he says, is two-thirds covered by a forest canopy but also has some meadow open to the sky, along with a stream
and plant diversity. But it doesnt have
to be a wilderness area. Hes led walks
in retirement center gardens and in city

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parks near freeways.

Clifford compares the experience
to a guided meditation, in which participants are prompted to consider,
What are you hearing, seeing,
smelling? We invite people to notice
whats in motion in the environment
around them: the swaying of trees, the
flow of water, butterflies or birds or
whatever it might be.
Prices for forest bathing experiences range from $30 for Clifford's
three-hour walks in Sugarloaf state park
to a $199 all-day experience at Osmosis
Day Spa, which includes a massage,
lunch and footbath using forest products like cedar. At Mohonk, a 50-minute
guided forest bathing experience is
$160. Group forest therapy walks at the
Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois,
cost $25 per class or $115 for a series
of five.
Charles Leary, a co-owner of Trout
Point Lodge in Kemptville, Nova Scotia,

says the lodge has always believed in

having our guests immerse themselves
in nature. Then we discovered the
research on forest bathing and formalized things a little. Now our nature
guides who take people into the wilderness areas explain the concepts of forest bathing along with the local ecology.
The National Park Service doesnt
offer formal forest bathing programs,

but the agency does have a Healthy

Parks Healthy People initiative to
promote the restorative qualities of
spending time in nature, and some
groups organize programs in the parks
on their own combining nature and
mindfulness experiences, according
to Kathy Kupper of the National Park
Service. A recent report done for the
NPS by Fatimah Jackson of Howard
University looked at ways to experience

mindfulness and spirituality at the

Grand Canyon.
Terri Henry leads forest bathing
experiences on the Caribbean island of
Dominica for guests at Secret Bay, a
boutique property with eight private villas. We go for a mindful walk, very
slow in pace, like a walking meditation,
she said. The whole idea is to become
super aware of the senses. A lot of the
time, people have so much going on,
theyve got sensory overload, they
have to shut it down.
She helps guests open up the senses as they smell wild herbs, listen to
birdsongs, feel the textures of leaves
and even create artwork from foraged
materials. Henry also helps people
find ways to integrate what they've
learned into their everyday routines.
If someone has a garden, I
might say, Well, you can do this in
the garden. Or maybe they have a
park nearby, she said. Everybody
feels great after a vacation. Then you
go back to the grind. So when you
get home, how do you apply it in
simple ways?
0?

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ndividual beliefs can play a

potential role in worsening
Iinsomnia
and pain experiences

in patients with chronic

pain conditions like back
pain, fibromyalgia and arthritis, a team of researchers
has found.
I won't be able to cope
with my pain if I dont sleep
well, is the common way
patients with chronic pain
conditions think, the
researchers said.
Thoughts can have a
direct and/or indirect impact
on our emotion, behaviour
and even physiology. The way
how we think about sleep
and its interaction with pain
can influence the way how we
cope with pain and manage
sleeplessness, said Nicole
Tang from the University of
Warwick in Britain.
While some of these
beliefs are healthy and useful,
others are rigid and misinformed. Such conditions can
be effectively managed by
cognitive-behavioural therapy
(CBT), the study added.
Based on these beliefs,

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the team developed a scale -pain-related beliefs and attitudes about sleep (PBAS) -- to
measure beliefs about sleep
and pain.
The scale, when tested on
four groups of patients suffering from long-term pain and
bad sleeping patterns, showed
that people who believe they
wont be able to sleep as a
result of their pain are more
likely to suffer from insomnia,
thus causing worse pain.
Further, the scale was vital
in predicting patients level of
insomnia and pain difficulties.
Current psychological treatments for chronic pain have
mostly focused on pain management and a lesser emphasis on
sleep.
However, the PBAS scale
provides a useful clinical tool to
assess and monitor treatment
progress during these therapies, noted Esther Afolalu
from the University of

Warwick.
The study has provided
therapists the means with
which to identify and monitor
rigid thoughts about sleep
and pain that are sleep-interfering, allowing the application of the proven effective
CBT for insomnia in people
with chronic pain.
With better sleep, pain
problems are significantly
reduced, especially after
receiving a short course of
CBT for both pain and insomnia, the researchers concluded in the paper published in
the Journal of Clinical Sleep
Medicine.
80=B

ecent news about multiple mass shootings

R
across United States of
America shocked the whole
world and made everyone
think about the ease of
access to guns in American
society that paved the way
for such ghastly events. As
per media reports, on an
average, over 35 people in
USA have been killed every
day in 2015 as a result of
gun violence. Despite this
high death toll, mass shootings in America show no
sign of disappearing. Its
not just the case of USA,
nowadays its become very
common among the people
across the world to take the
law into their hands and
easily shoot someone who
did them wrong or went
against the social norms.
The whole issue of arms
proliferation is based on the
premise of promoting violence as a power and justifying the use of weapons as
a necessity to maintain law
and order. The dictum of
might is right has been
strengthened by the depiction of violent episodes in
history as well as through
religious writings. There
are many religious scriptures that show that even
Almighty showed His
might by decimating the
evil forces by means of a
violent war to contain
unrighteousness in the
world. Hence, using force to
set a wrong right or to discipline a wrong doer has
been adopted as a norm by
humans at all levels of existence. Even the evolution
theory of Darwin points at
the survival of the fittest or
mightiest. Nature also mirrors this human view
wherein more powerful
species prey up on the
smaller and weaker ones.
That is why right from our
childhood we grow up with
the belief that the one who
is physically strong and
aggressive can survive better and is safer in this world
and deep down we look up
to such safety by aspiring to
be mightier than the other
or by seeking the company
of the mightier one. In their
race to be the mightiest,

humans have sought all

means and methods to
assert their mightiness. The
last two world wars, holocaust, communism and
numerous other wars in
the last century are all sad
proofs of how humans
ruined this world by exerting might over others.
It is said that religion is
the mightiest of all, but
unfortunately religions or
religious leaders have used
their might in the most
insidious and manipulative
way to dominate the masses over the centuries, the
result of which could be
clearly seen in the form of
massive religious wars in
history and cases of persecution and subjugation by
people of one religion on
others inorder to prove
their supremacy over them.
However, in this whole
struggle to prove our might,
we forget a very important
lesson that Might is right
only when we understand it
in its real sense. Just like
people misunderstand religion with following an
organised structure of
beliefs and practices, while
true religion is to live and
act according to the highest
spiritual and ethical values
and live in harmony &
respect with everyone.
Similarly, might is the inner
power of a human being to
withstand not only adversities or challenges but also
temptations, desires, fears
and vices. Thus, true might
is to transform wrong into
right through the power of
truth, peace and love. This
is the true message that is
being imparted in the Holy
Gita as well as other
Scriptures.

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