Though it looks an ordinary statement, but it has an enormous implication.
Just a small rewind to about 31 years ago when I first started trekking on off beat trails in the hills and jungles of Tripura & Meghalaya, two small North-Eastern states of India. Trekking then almost did not exist in the country as an activity. Yes, there were pilgrimage travels or "Tirth Yatras" as called in India, to holy places in the Himalays - like Kedarnath, Badrinath, Amarnath, Panch Kedars, Kailash- Mansarovar and few more, where the devotees would hike to reach the shrines, but then those routs were pretty tough, not as convenient as now. It was only the hard core veterans who trekked. There was no information about trekking, there was no talk about safety, preparedness, nobody knew much about trekking trails, neither understood the potential and benefit of trekking.
We enthusiast trekkers want everyone to trek - regular people like us, our parents, young ones, students, everyone. I have seen trekkers come back and tell us that their lives have changed after a trek, their perspective and understanding about life has changed.
Especially when you trek in the Himalayas, stand in front of a majestic mountain, your that feeling of being someone great in your society, among friends, or in professional life, your vanity, pride just vanishes in seconds, then you understand that we are just a spec on this planet. Considering the formation of the Himalayas which began 50 million years ago and continues today, we are just "Pop-ups", imagine how many like us have come and gone before us and will, after us, we then realise by our coming & going this Earth gets least effected.
The majestic Himalayas by it's grandeur, flora & fauna and mysterious nature makes us realise the nature of life that we are as created by that Eternal Source, our possibilities are limitless as compared to any other life on this planet, provided we realise our capabilities and move in that direction.
During a trek you will realise that, how in most part of our active life we are too much engrossed in building career, family, fame, position, greed for excess wealth, status....... as if we are immortals, in this process have we ever thought how much time we really spent on ourselves, what have we done to attain that state of self realisation and be really in a state of joyful and contributed to other living beings and mother nature.
Human body is a treasure per se and it should be nurtured as nature does to humans. Being passionate about trekking and fitness, I believe in the power of development of soul, body and mind through trekking.
Let me narrate a small incident that myself witnessed during one of my treks in the Himalayas. It was September of 2003, as always was on a solo trek to the Tritiya (third) Kedar of the Panch-Kedars (5 Kedar Temples) "Tunganath - Chandrashila" in the Norther Indian state of Uttarakhand, in Garhwal district. Tunganath Temple situated at an altitude of 3680 meters (12070 ft.), is the one of the highest Shiva temple located at second highest altitude in the world, after Muktinath (3710 meters) in Nepal.
Situated at an elevation of about 3,690 metres, Chandrashila summit provides views of the Himalayas, including Nandadevi, Trishul, Kedar Peak, Bandarpunch & Choukhamba peaks. It was early morning, dawn was just breaking, and I had just reached the summit - Chandrashila, as I came up saw the magical sunrise happening in the mountains. One by one few other trekkers from Bangalore with whom I had met during my trek to Tunganath also came up, and more or less when every one were up at the summit I gave myself some time to experience the beautiful sunrise, these are some of the rare moments of life time, which we miss in our day to day city life.
Later in the evening when I went back to the base camp, I asked Mr Karthik (I am still in contact with him) his story, his burst of emotions had much deeper past, he was in his mid 30's , he was recently promoted as a project manager in a renowned IT company at Bangalore, he was very surprised by this promotion as he was not at all expecting it. He was one of those very soft spoken, kept to the background but did his routine work very religiously and go home. He was someone who was under confident and lacked self-belief . This trek had a profound impact on Mr. Karthik, he discovered on his climb to Chandrashila summit that he had that inner resolve and inner strength which went much beyond himself. He realised that he could overcome difficulties that he did not know he was capable of, he was filled-up with positivity which no amount of pep talk or counselling could do, and this positivity stayed with him for long, when he went home he was a changed person and this change was permanent. This is not a stray incident, I hear many such incidents from many of my trekking friends from all over the world.
The above incident reconfirms what scientists have been telling us for a very long time, that the mountains or trekking has a very big impact on our body, mind and spirit, a much bigger impact than what we ever imagined it to be.
When we are on the mountains and we are trekking, we have nothing to distract us, it is just us and the nature. We are constantly surrounded by the positive imaginary of the nature, we are seeing mountains, valleys, snow, grass lands, meadows with herd of sheep grazing, forests, seeing sun rise, sun sets, moon rise , moon set, night sky filled with bright stars, this constant positive imaginary of nature surrounds us so much so that it removes any negative thoughts from our mind, forget negative thoughts it removes any thoughts from our mind. We even forget what day and time it is.
This has a miraculous impact on our minds. It has a calming effect, the buzz that is in our mind starts to move and fade, the nerves try to sooth, we start feeling happier, we become lighter and laughter and smile flows immediately, there is a spring in our step. There is a science behind it, and the science that got to do with hormones. During a trek we get a big boost of Endorphins - the hormone that makes us feel happy, we get a large boost of Serotonin - the hormone that relaxes us, there is also the push of Dopamine - the hormone that triggers our reward sense, makes us feel accomplished. Also, lots of Oxytocin gets pushed into us, these helps us to be in a feeling of tranquility, feeling of love , all these hormones put together makes us feel happy, collected and energised.
Now, it is known to us that nature has a major impact on our mental state, this has been known to us for tens, hundreds and thousands of years, yet in the modern world we seem to be ignoring this. Forget about mental strength, trekking has a big impact on our body, one hour of trek can burn about 450-550 calories, imagine what a 5-6 hours of trekking can do, this is usually a trekking time in a day.
Trekking uphill is almost like climbing stairs or doing lunges, our glutes, quads, hamstrings, calf muscles are working over and over and getting stronger. A trek is not on an even surface or on a road, our body is always making micro adjustments every second , every minute, no two steps are alike. These micro adjustments are done by our abs and lower back muscles, so, this is nothing but strengthening our core. If you are carrying a backpack it is an additional weight training. By strengthening of our core, scientist have told long ago that, if you want a longer and fitter body you need to have a strong core, because a core gives us a sense of balance and stability, and that is what the micro adjustments are doing, it is giving us a balance and stability as we are trekking.
How many years of trekking experience you may have , has little to do as every new trek will bring in new challenges and varied level of difficulties, so one has to be always prepared before every trek.
The biggest impact of trekking is on the human spirit. Human spirit is nothing but the human nature that we are, the person we are, the person we become. Trekking repairs relationships together, making good friends, we become better human beings. Now, on a trek there is nothing to distract us, there are no electronic device, there are non who will interrupt your thoughts, the conversations you have with your trek mates are very honest, free and frank and free flowing. We have a common venture, sharing same tents, we are pitching our tents, rolling our sleeping bags, and a common adventure to navigate. This common adventure and free flowing conversations helps in forming deep bonds with our trek mates. We allow ourselves to open up. During a trek people talk more intimately with their trek mates whom they are with for 5 or 7 days, than they did with friends of many years.
Now, in this modern world when acquaintances are fleeting and friendships are fickle, the chance to bond with somebody for life time can not be ignored.
Treks help those who are struggling in life, facing difficulties, because a trek is almost like a journey of difficulties which mirrors it, in a trek we are always battling adventure which we are overcoming difficulties, difficulties of terrain, difficulties of altitude, weather, even our own physicality. When we overcome these, we become more resilient, we are able to tackle life's problems easily. It is like - "If I can do this trek, I can do anything in life".
A trek makes us creative and think more clearly, you will get more innovative ideas during a trek, than sitting in your office. Have seen people change their profession, their careers, dive into something new after they finished their trek. Trek has a profound impact on people, it makes us overcome challenges, overcome difficulties, it helps us to take on knew things, makes us more focused, creative, sensitive, it makes us healthy, our body gets better, making a huge impact on our MIND, BODY & SPIRIT, that we can not ignore it.
If you have not yet started TREKKING, then perhaps you MUST.
IMPORTANT :
💪 It is always advisable to consult your doctor / a qualified instructor before starting any new exercise routine.
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