When we spend time surrounded by nature, our bodies produce less of the stress hormone cortisol, and our heart rates and blood pressure decrease. The calming effect of nature can also improve our overall mood and increase feelings of happiness. A bath of negative ions and of forest nutrients promotes health and vigour.

Mountains, in particular, have a unique effect on us, they are a symbol of strength and stability, and they represent a sense of permanence and grounding. They breathe and pulsate with life, they attract and collect invisible energies from their surroundings: the forces of the air, of the water, of electricity and magnetism; they create winds, clouds, thunderstorms, rains, waterfalls, and rivers. They fill their surroundings with active life and give shelter and food to innumerable beings. Such is the greatness of mighty mountains and the sense of security they impart, which can be particularly beneficial for those struggling with anxiety and personal challenges.

From the Andes to the Himalayas, Mount Fiji to the Alps, China to Africa to Middle East and everywhere mountains have an extraordinary power to evoke a sense of the sacred that imbues their lives with meaning and vitality. Many mountains are revered as places of awesome power, providing altars for making offerings to gods and spirits, taking the form of places of worship, shrines, temples, monasteries, churches. We shall undertake to experience this sacral geography though visits to the Dalai Lama Temple, Monasteries like Gyuto, Nechung, Temples like Kangra Devi, Guna Dev, Churches like Saint John in the Wilderness etc. We shall endeavour to experience this spirit through forest walks to prayer flag areas and meditation points that create and seek to infuse us with devotion, reverence, quiet, introspection, peace etc.