India's first forest healing centre inaugurated in Uttarakhand's Ranikhet

By Asheesh Goyal
Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], March 7 : First Forest Healing centre of the country was inaugurated on Sunday at Ranikhet in Kalika Uttarakhand.
The forest fealing centre has been developed by the Research Wing of Uttarakhand Forest Department after research on healing properties of the forests and its revitalizing impact on overall health and well being. It is spread over an area of around 13 acres.
Chief Conservator of Forest (Research), Sanjiv Chaturvedi, said, ''It draws inspiration from Japanese technique of forest bathing (shinrin-yoku) and ancient Indian traditions and that basic theme is, be silent, go slow, think less and feel more."
He further said that it involves many activities like forest walking, tree-hugging, forest meditation and sky gazing.
He said, it has been found that because of typical molecular vibration patterns of trees, tree-hugging has a beneficial impact on the increase in the level of feel-good hormones like oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine, creating the pleasant effect and in countries like Iceland forest department has been making efforts to facilitate this activity for benefit of health purpose of local citizens.
This healing centre has been established in a pine-dominated forest as it has been found in various studies that coniferous like Pine trees emit certain oil compounds to safeguard themselves from various microbes and pathogens, which are called phytoncides. It has been found in various researches that these compounds help to multiply natural killer (NK) cells in our blood, which help in fighting infections and cancerous growth and enhance overall immunity.
Another important activity in this healing centre in forest meditation which is distinct from the traditional meditation system of controlling thoughts or concentrating the awareness on some particular point. This practice is based more on immersing oneself in silence and the ambience of the forest without making any extra effort.
Another activity is sky gazing which involves having a gaze at the swaying canopy above and the ever-changing sky. This uncommon view offers a new perspective as well as deep relaxation.
The healing centre maintains a register in which visitors share their experience. Various self-explanatory boards explaining these four activities in a simple language has been placed at the very entrance and also the instructions for leaving behind the phone, camera or any other destruction and also resist talking if people move in groups. For forest meditation and sky-gazing exercise, tree platforms have also been created.