Going out to the mountains tones the body, strengthens the muscles and eliminates toxins. Walking through it now provides the well-being and health necessary to face the coming months. Find out how to organize the excursion to the mountain to get the most out of it.
The contact with the mountain always makes us feel something special, perhaps because the physical effort to ascend stimulates physically and psychologically and gives a greater depth not only respiratory but psychological. I invite you to organize an excursion to the mountain: recover your mountain shoes or rescue the bicycle and go out to the mountain. Every town has its mountain to greater or lesser proximity to its horizon, it is enough to approach the closest.
Upon entering its slopes, we discover not only the sporting option of climbing but also its plants, its animals, its stones, its art, its smells, its colors, an encounter with nature and with yourselves. We tell you how to organize the excursion and what activities you can do to make the most of it.
MOUNTAIN EXCURSION: HOW TO ORGANIZE IT AND WHAT TO DO
Isn’t the mountain road hard? It is always tiring, whether you go up or down, but it also has its greatness and, above all, its healthy part.
As our fellow doctor and mountaineer José Tape says, the mountain is the great integrator of mind and body, because it is always a source of physical, psychological and spiritual growth. Thus, mountaineers have better mental health indicators than the general population. To make the most of it, we propose these activities:
WALKING IN THE MOUNTAINS
When you walk through the mountain, do it at your own pace, rest from time to time, admire the landscape and try to go physically spare, thinking that then you should walk the way back.
If you spend the night in the bush, it is advisable to wear warm clothes, since the temperature changes are abrupt, as well as a good raincoat.
I love to take the camera and the notebook to write down because the mountain always teaches.
Something that we are going to find in the mountain is the quality water of its springs. To take it we have to trust instinct, know how to choose the transparent, with the right smell and taste, avoiding those that generate suspicion.
We can find water sources of great quality to drink and also medicinal sources that allow small drinking cures, as they are true natural kits.
As with plants, knowing the properties of these springs allows us to value them as authentic sources of health at the service of all people and helps prevent actions that may contaminate or spoil them.
HARVESTING FRUITS
The forest walk can also become an outlet for plant picking. Picking these fruits to eat is not difficult, in addition there are many abandoned trees, whose fruits are not picked by anyone, so you only have to compete with birds and wild boars.
If it has rained, we will also find mushrooms that I recommend you collect, but only those that are well identified to avoid poisoning.
There are many species and many also the properties of these edible mushrooms, virtues that we know better every day, especially the interesting ability they have to stimulate the immune system and thus protect us from colds and respiratory infections that may manifest in the coming months.
We also have the opportunity to collect medicinal plants. Nothing prohibits collecting them for personal use, it is another thing to do it for commercial purposes. It is positive that each person selects and collects their own plants, provided that they know how to recognize and collect without destroying the bush.
This harvest favors its conservation, since it fosters the relationship between the plant world and us and teaches us to respect it.
Recognizing that a plant can save your life or cure an ailment makes you take a liking to it and protect it.
You can find berries, such as juniper, blueberry, or elderberry; Leaves such as walnut and hops, and roots such as licorice or gentian, which are more delicate.
Not by uprooting the licorice root is exterminated. Sometimes, by removing its roots we facilitate the plant to extend new roots, but the situation of gentian is more delicate, a plant that grows next to streams and lakes of high mountains and that should only be collected for strict health reasons.
EATING IN THE MOUNTAINS
When preparing an outing to the mountain, food supplies focus a good part of the preparations, because you have to opt for those that are nutritious, easy to eat and that do not overload the backpack.
Nuts and dried fruits are ideal on these occasions thanks to their exceptional nutritional value and energy intake.
The potato omelette is a classic food of excursions. Fresh fruit can complete the menu.
Water should not be missing either, calculating that it is necessary to carry at least one liter per person. You can also take an isotonic drink that helps replenish the minerals that are lost through sweat.
MEDITATE ON THE MOUNTAIN
Whether you have meditated or not, if you know what it is to meditate or do not know, my advice is to go to the mountain.
Why is it that in all cultures and religions the mountain has been chosen to retreat, the mountains have been sacralized and made the dwelling place of gods and saints?
From the Greek Olympus, the Kailas of Buddhists and Hindus, Mount Sinai, where Yahweh speaks to Moses, Fujiyama, Macchu Picchu, the Himalayas… and so many sanctuaries and hermitages perched on our mountains.
The mountain gives off the telluric and cosmic force that leads us directly to the encounter with ourselves. When we enter it, breathing and consciousness are modified, the mountain that made us sweat is capable of creating admiration in us and acquiring before our eyes a special color.
To any tree we find you can ask about meditation, they know more than anyone about it. We do not need Buddha’s fig tree, the quintessence of that world, for everyone has learned to be planted before the wind, the sun and the rain, rooted to the earth.
As Lanza del Vast said in his book The Threshold of the Interior Life, if you want to meditate, observe the tree.
It is in the mountains that the questions easily arise: what is important for life? Where is your security? Are you able to survive in the bush, are you able to survive in life? Do you need the security of your car and its heating to withstand the rain?
A few hours of mountain catch up on our frailties and greatness. What good are titles, business and credit cards or social pompoms for the most important thing in life?
Sleeping in the bush offers much more than doing it in a 5-star hotel. What are a few stars, all the same, before the stars I have oaks sleeping outdoors? And if we talk about space, immensity, the night sky transports us to worlds that we cannot even dream of.
The mountain, like nature, reminds human beings of their common essence, stripping them of the superfluous to offer them new incentives.
The mountain also imposes its respect, announces its goodness and its dangers, all of it is an announcement of efforts, of uncontrolled factors that, in an instant, can lead to death even the best prepared to live in it. Neither the mobile nor the latest technology material free us from it.
When you have seen the image of death in the mountains you always have the footprint, the mark, the imposition of respect and admiration towards that peak and a great reflection towards life, on the security of putting our feet and our fragility before the natural elements.
It makes us humble, cautious, attentive and with a fixed idea: there is nothing more important than survival.
TAKE A DIP IN THE RIVER
Barefoot and bathing in a river allows us to feel the force of the natural elements: earth, air, sun and water.
The feet are one of the most sensitive parts of the body and their correspondence in the sensory area of the cerebral cortex is exceptionally wide. That is why any action that is performed on them affects the whole body.
Walking barefoot on the ground is a strengthening exercise of the healing capacity of the person, to which are added the advantages of being able to practice in very different ways, according to the state of health, the environment and the age of each one.
In the walks through the mountains, we will take advantage of some of the breaks to put our feet in contact with the earth or with the water of the mountain streams.
We must always check that there is a good reaction. For this there is a simple method: after walking in a natural and cold environment the feet react and are warmer. If the medium is not adequate, the feet get too cold.
Natural cold is used to react, stimulate, tone and balance the body.
In addition to facilitating the rest of the feet during the walk, it improves blood circulation, strengthens the muscles of the feet and calves. It also stabilizes the vegetative system and prevents infections, so it is especially indicated in case of:
- Mild alterations of arterial circulation
- Varicose veins
- Tiredness and dejection
- Chronic headache
- Propensity to infections
- Excessive sweating of the feet
However, bathing is not recommended if you have menstruation, a urinary infection, sciatic nerve pain, cold or arterial occlusion.
LISTEN TO THE SOUNDS (AND SILENCE) OF THE MOUNTAIN
The beauty of the environment, in large part, will be a reflection of what we know how to project from our interior. It is said that the charm of the mountain also resides in the interior of the human being, so it is necessary to open the eyes of contemplation to appreciate the beauty of each landscape.
The natural sounds coming from the wind, birds and other inhabitants of the mountainous areas compose a music that accompanies the silence of these landscapes. Music and silence, of charms and joys and sorrows and tragedies.
When entering this natural world, the worries and obligations will change focus and it is important to direct them to gain health and recharge the batteries to face a new stage of work and projects with serenity.
Walking means recovering the landscape, history, paths of the ancestors, feeling the beat of nature and making it close to the beating of our heart when walking.
Walking makes us see and value, in its proper measure, the path and what surrounds us and also value ourselves because that inner perspective is where we are going to focus the great value of nature.
Advertising sometimes uses landscapes to take us out of ourselves. The mortgaged beauty of ski chalets is sold, but beauty flees from the massified and the value of nature is everywhere, not where the market of speculation establishes it.
I do not understand how there are architects who, in order to carry out their work in the mountains, have to destroy everything and fill it with iron, cement and concrete at the cost of destroying nature.
WHAT DOES THE MOUNTAIN CONTRIBUTE TO OUR HEALTH?
Mountain walks along with climate adaptation are an opportunity to get stronger.
The change in altitude causes a decrease in oxygen that, together with the effort of exercise, increases breathing and heart rate. On the other hand, we will find a pure and clean air ideal for our respiratory tract.
Temperature changes throughout the day and night will help us adapt our thermoregulatory system and improve immunity.
After a few days of being at a certain altitude the body tries to increase the number of red blood cells by producing erythropoietin (the hormone declared a drug in the world of sports, the famous EPO), which is a natural stimulant to adapt to the height and to restore blood balance.
Temperature changes and exercise will also stimulate our metabolism, helping to regain weight, whether you are thin or obese, because this metabolic regulator is also appetite.
Trees increase oxygen during the day and carbon dioxide at night, which also influences the regulation of sleep and wakefulness.
All this reminds us of the suitability of these walks in the mountains for the convalescence of patients, recover anemia, strengthen children’s health and prevent possible respiratory infections.
Finally, I would only like to convey the feeling of joy that I have lived whenever I have been invited to go to the mountain and that satisfaction is available to those who wish to experience it. Happy excursion.