‘Friluftsliv' - Healing Touch of Mother Nature

Dr Surya Prakash throws light on the importance of spending time in nature to reap amazing physical and mental health benefits.

- Dr Surya Prakash

Lockdown imposed due to COVID-19 was frustrating for many of us but at the same time it gave us an opportunity for self-introspection as well. Many of us were listening to our favourite music, watching TV shows and films, and enjoying good times with our families. Whenever we plan or think of any picnic or outing with family or friends, we usually imagine a place where we can enjoy solitude in the lap of Mother Nature and where there is a natural music of waterfall or a river with fresh water flowing in a background of synchronized melodies of birds chirping. We feel very good to be away from the noisy and chaotic urban world, even if it is for a short duration.

Being a nature lover, this lockdown inspired me to read more about the mysteries of nature and compare the same with my own mother. I think they both are the same as they both shower the same love, care and give us a healing touch under adverse circumstances.

I ask all the readers to think when did you have had your last outdoor activity? When did you feel the stimulus of natural sunlight falling on your face while walking barefoot on lush green carpeted lawns of a garden or a forest? Wasn’t that outdoor activity calming, soothing and invigorating and incredibly rejuvenating for our mental and medical health? I am sure it certainly was, I can say that because our lives have become so busy, monotonous and fast these days that we hardly find any time for outdoor activities.