unlike in a mountain hike or other outdoor therapies you neednt be involved or active says acharya neeraj a spiritual and yoga guru who conducts wellness workshops on forest therapy and then one day on one of her wildlife conservationist friends invitation she retired to the wild for a few months these months get light showers and the valley is covered in sparkling hues the mixture of varied tree colours cant be described in words shola forests western ghats shola forests are montane evergreen forests found in the highest reaches of the western ghats idea is to simply surrender the evergreen trees of the tropical forest never shed their leaves and unlike other forest trees form a thick canopy not permitting the suns rays to penetrate the foliage it is an abode of the endangered nilgiri tahr and the majestic flower neelakurinji which blooms every 12 yearschopta uttarakhand the colourful chopta forests display a dramatic transformation once youve discovered the magic of being in a forest you try and conserve it and build a lifelong relation with it says swathi chatrapathy a bengalurubased writer and traveller according to him the senses get regulated well in a forest setting and hormones reach a harmonious balance with more than 35 symptoms of fibromyalgia she tried several treatments from acupuncture and pilates to psychological counselling but nothing worked the idea took form way back in 1982 but is finding enough relevance in the presentday chaotic world the japanese invented the curative practice of shinrinyoku literally translating into taking in the forest atmosphere or forest bathing wellness is big and travellers are waking up to the sights smells and sounds of nature on their vacations for physiological and psychological wellbeing get this cleanse if your average walk in the park makes your day a forest bath could do much more situated in the heart of kumaon it has 50 sq km of high altitude protected area with dense oak rhododendron and pine forests the the stress here is on not doing anything man and nature go back a long way she adds the healing nature of a forest also depends on its thickness slow down one must explore the rhododendron forests of brahmatal and deoriatal or the talle valley in arunachal a rather unexplored havengreen you are in a forest make the most of it the best time i would say to try out forest therapy is in the flowering season marchapril in the jungles of uttarakhand we evolved out of the forests after all unlike in a hike or other outdoor therapies you neednt be involved or active in a forest bath acharya neeraj spiritual guru i used to dread visiting malls and crowded roads since they left me exhausted she recalls situated in the palakkad district of kerala it is a garden of eden for students of life sciences professional scientists and field biologists other than of course peace lovers for life why do we instantly connect with the woods all kinds