Horticulture Therapy Healing without Pain
The Magic of Horticulture Therapy
Horticultural Therapy is a facile method of healing by engaging patients in garden and garden related activities. The vastness of nature has magical ways of healing without pain.
Plants as Healers
Horticultural therapy was started when first civilizations existed. Kings used gardens for soothing and relaxing their minds. Monasteries and temples, where healers cured patients, had lovely gardens that were therapeutic in nature.
Therapy of the Gardens in a more structured form
Later it became more popular during the time of world war I and II. Dr. Benjamin Rush used horticultural therapy for injured soldiers to make them forget pain and to help them restore their physical and mental health.
Healing Benefits of Horticultural Therapy
Working in nature can help to get various physical, mental, cognitive and social benefits. Caring for plants will make people more committed to other living creatures and themselves. Gardening also helps to improve behavioral impact.
Wo r k i n g i n g a r d e n w i l l s t r e n g t h e n t h e i r muscles and impro ve fine and gross motor skills. Indoor and outdoor activities enhance h a n d - e y e c o o r d i n a t i o n . F l e x i b i l i t y,
Physical Benefits
Working in a garden will strengthen patients’ muscles and improve fine and gross motor skills. Indoor and outdoor activities enhance flexibility, coordination, body balancing, hand-eye coordination and vocational skill developments.
Mental Benefits
HT activities help to overcome stress and tension. Skill-developing activities improve their self-esteem and self-confidence. HT makes patients more comfortable in society and enables them to live independently
Social Benefits
HT enhances the social commitment in the patients. Community gardening and group HT activities improves communication and social interaction skills.
Cognitive Benefits
Horticultural activities helps to enhance attention span of the participant. Fragrance and color of flowers and leaves will help to recall the past memories of the patients and also offer peace and relaxation.
For whom do we conduct HT?
HT is beneficial for People of all age groups. It is especially useful for people who are injured, under treatment, having various disabilities, drug addicts, elderly people and so on. Nature and the garden become a huge health sink that can help alleviate the condition of many mental and physical ills.
Where do we conduct HT?
Horticultural therapy can be conducted in any garden. If patients find it difficult to get to a garden, then containers with plants can be taken to their bedside and activities could be performed based on the needs and capacities of the patients.
HT Activities – To satisfy Physical well-being
Selected gardening activities helps to improve the physical skills. The activities and how to approach the method will depend on patients’ needs.
HT Activities – To satisfy mental well-being
Craft activities helps to improve the mental strength and creativity. Card making, twig toys making, accessories making using natural materials and terrarium like activities boost their self esteem and self confidence. Hand-eye co-ordinations, fine motor skills, distraction from pain are some of the benefits from these activities.
HT Activities – To satisfy more needs
Color, fragrance and interesting installations can make much impact on human emotional system and cognitive skills.
Healing Naturally…
Plants are the natural healers. Just being amongst them will bring balance to the human race. Horticulture Therapy uses certain techniques to enhance this quality of healing and modes of absorbing and offers patients a therapy that they will find easy and joyous to take up to heal.
Want to learn how to conduct this therapy for your wards?
Register with our workshops And learn how you can heal your wards yourself.
Call: Karthikeyan @ 8762679127 or send mail to [email protected]
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