• V. Oviya

A study in the area “Therapeutic Landscapes” explores the connection between natural place and well-being. Gesler, who developed the concept of “Therapeutic Landscapes” in 1992 explains how the “healing process works itself out in places (or situations, locals, settings and milieus)” (743). The great Alps are one such therapeutic landscape which is a natural remedial place, and one will eventually forget one’s all mental and physical illness just by getting the spectacular sight of the mountain range, rocky cliffs, the glistening valleys and the pasture. About the Alpine gentians, D. H Lawrence describes as “darkening the day-time, torch-like with the smoking blueness of Pluto’s gloom” (4). The beauty, the healing magnitude and flora and fauna of Alps are vividly portrayed in one of the remarkable Swiss classics, Heidi by Johanna Spyri. The Alps and her little village become an inevitable part of Heidi's daily life. The affliction which she goes through when she parts her small village shows that the very breeze, the deep blue sky, roaring of fir-trees and wild roses became one with her soul. Moreover, the Alps here act as a therapeutic landscape in restoring both Heidi and Clara Sesemann’s natural health, thereby awakening an insight towards eco-consciousness.

Therapeutic landscapes, Alps, homesickness, eco-consciousness, psychological trauma, harmony with nature.

"Unearthing the Therapeutic Value of Nature in Johanna Spyri’s Heidi", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 5, page no.481-482, May-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1905473.pdf

"Unearthing the Therapeutic Value of Nature in Johanna Spyri’s Heidi", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 5, page no. pp481-482, May-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1905473.pdf